You may be pleasantly surprised to know that there are many traditional statues of the Blessed Mother with a weapon of some sort in her hand. In the photo above, the Blessed Mother is on a horse and she is holding a sword in her right hand in a menacing manner.
This statue is in Sicily, and it is called Madonna delle Milizie, or the Madonna of the Militias in English. This is a loose translation from the Italian.
The origins of this fighting Virgin go back to 1091, when the Muslims invaded Sicily and the Catholic population prayed for deliverance to the Mother of God, who obliged their prayers by appearing on a warrior steed and putting the Muslim army to flight.
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