06/06/2026
for our and for the 🐞
The ladybug is named after the Virgin Mary.
In medieval Europe, a plague of insects was destroying the crops and threatening farmers across the continent with starvation. In desperation, the farmers prayed asking the Virgin Mary for help. Soon after, a swarm of small red beetles with black spots appeared and devoured the pests, saving the harvest. The grateful people named them “Our Lady’s Bugs.”
The name remains to this day in many languages. In English it was shortened to ladybug and ladybird. In German it is Marienkäfer, meaning “Mary’s beetle.” In Catalan it is the Mother of God’s Ark. In Sweden it is “Our Lady’s little hen.” In Ethiopia it is “Mary’s beetle.” Across more than forty languages, the same Marian connection survives.
Every feature of the ladybug was seen as a sign of Mary. The seven black spots of the common European ladybug were said to represent her Seven Sorrows, from the Prophecy of Simeon to the burial of Christ. The bright red of its wings recalls the red mantle she often wears in medieval Christian art, a symbol of her love and her suffering.
Even the Oxford English Dictionary confirms that the ladybug’s name was given in honor of the Virgin Mary.
The next time one lands on your hand, you will know who sent it.
