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Marian art in the Catholic Church
Iconographic depiction of Virgin Mary in Catholic Churches
Our Mother of Perpetual Help, an icon of the Cretan school, in Rome since the 15th century. Archangels Michael and Gabriel are also depicted.
Mary has been one of the major subjects of Western Art for centuries. There is an enormous quantity of Marian art in the Catholic Church, covering both devotional subjects such as the Virgin and Child and a range of narrative subjects from the Life of the Virgin , often arranged in cycles. Most medieval painters, and from the Reformation to about 1800 most from Catholic countries, have produced works, including old masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli. [1]
Blending of art, theology and spirituality
Diversity of Marian art
Early veneration
Nativity of Jesus
Mary in the Life of Christ
Perpetual virginity
Depiction of the Immaculate Conception
Assumption of Mary
Distinguishing characteristics
Galleries of Marian art
Perpetual virginity 2
Adoration of the shepherds
Adoration of the Magi
Madonna paintings
Madonna frescos
Madonna statues
Mary in the Life of Christ 2
Immaculate Conception 2
Assumption into Heaven
Queen of Heaven 2
Apparitions 2
Marian art forms part of the fabric of Catholic Marian culture through their emotional impact on the veneration of the Blessed Virgin. Images such as Our Lady of Guadalupe and the many artistic renditions of it as statues are not simply works of art but are a central element of the daily lives of the Mexican people. [2] Both Hidalgo and Zapata flew Guadalupan flags and depictions of the Virgin of Guadalupe continue to remain a key unifying element in the Mexican nation. [3] The study of Mary via the field of Mariology is thus inherently intertwined with Marian art. [4]
The body of teachings that constitute Catholic Mariology consist of four basic Marian dogmas: Perpetual virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception and Assumption into Heaven, derived from Biblical scripture, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the traditions of the Church. Other influences on Marian art have been the Feast days of the Church, Marian apparitions, writings of the saints and popular devotions such as the rosary, the Stations of the Cross, or total consecration, and also papal initiatives, and Marian papal encyclicals and Apostolic Letters.
Each of these fundamental Mariological beliefs has given rise to Catholic Marian art that has become part of Mariology, by emphasizing Marian veneration, being celebrated in specific Marian feasts, or becoming part of key Catholic Marian churches. This article's focus is primarily on how the artistic component of Catholic Mariology has represented the fundamental Marian doctrines of the Catholic Church, and has thus interacted with them, creating a force that has shaped Catholic Mariology over the centuries.
Part of a series on the
Mariology of the
Virgo by Josef Moroder-Lusenberg
Hymns to Mary
Consecrations and entrustments
Fátima prayers
Hail Mary of Gold
Immaculata prayer
Mary, Mother of Grace
Mary Our Queen
Alma Redemptoris Mater
Ave Regina caelorum
Hail Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star
Immaculate Mary
Avé de Fátima
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
O sanctissima
Acts of Reparation
Consecration to Mary
First Saturdays
Seven Joys of the Virgin
Seven Sorrows of Mary
Three Hail Marys
Movements and societies
Sodality of Our Lady
Congregation of Marian Fathers
Company of Mary (Montfort)
Marianists (Society of Mary)
Marist Fathers
Schoenstatt Movement
World Apostolate of Fátima (Blue Army)
Mariological Society
Our Lady's Rosary Makers
Marian Movement of Priests
Fatima Family Apostolate
Queen of Angels Foundation
Approved, with widespread liturgical
veneration endorsed by the Holy See:
La Salette
Key Marian feast days
Mother of God (1 January)
Candlemas (2 February)
Annunciation (25 March)
Assumption (15 August)
Nativity (8 September)
Holy Name (12 September)
Presentation (21 November)
Immaculate Conception (8 December)
Catholicismportal
See also: Marian devotions, Silent preaching, and Rosary devotions and spirituality
Salus Populi Romani, a popular icon in Rome.
Art has been an integral element of Catholic identity since Late antiquity. [5] Medieval Catholicism cherished relics and pilgrimages to visit them were common. Churches and specific works of art were commissioned to honor the saints and the Virgin Mary has always been seen as the most powerful intercessor among all saints—her depictions being the subject of veneration among Catholics worldwide. [5]
Catholic Mariology does not simply consist of a set of theological writings, but also relies on the emotional impact of art, music and architecture. Catholic Marian music and Catholic Marian churches interact with Marian art as key components of Mariology, e.g. the construction of major Marian churches gives rise to major pieces of art for the decoration of the church. [6] [7] [8] [9]
In the 16th century, Gabriele Paleotti's Discourse on Sacred and Profane Images became known as the "Catechism of images" for Catholics, given that it established key concepts for the use of images as a form of religious instruction and indoctrination via silent preaching (muta predicatio). [10] [11] Paleotti's approach was implemented by his powerful contemporary Saint Charles Borromeo and his focus on "the transformation of Christian life through vision" and the "nonverbal rules of language" shaped the Catholic reinterpretations of the Virgin Mary in the 16th and 17th centuries and fostered and promoted Marian devotions such as the Rosary. [10] [11]
An example of the interaction of Marian art, culture and churches is Salus Populi Romani, a key Marian icon in Rome at Santa Maria Maggiore, the earliest Marian church in Rome. The practice of crowning the images of Mary started at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome by Pope Clement VIII in the 17th century. [12] In 1899 Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) said his first Holy Mass in front of it at the Santa Maria Maggiore. Fifty years later, he physically crowned this picture as part of the first Marian year in Church history, as he proclaimed the Queenship of Mary. The image was carried from Santa Maria Maggiore around Rome as part of the celebration of the Marian year and the proclamation of the Queenship of Mary.
Another example is Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Catholics have, for centuries, prayed before this icon, usually in reproductions, to intercede on their behalf to Christ. [13] Over the centuries, several churches dedicated to Our Mother of Perpetual Help have been constructed. Pope John Paul II held mass at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the Philippines where the devotion is very popular and many Catholic churches hold a Novena and Mass honoring it every Wednesday using a replica of the icon, which is also widely displayed in houses, buses and public transport in the Philippines. [14] [15] [16] Devotions to the icon have spread from the Philippines to the United States, and remain popular among Asian-Americans in California. [17] [18] As recently as 1992, the song The Lady Who Wears Blue and Gold was composed in California and then performed at St. Alphonsus Liguori Church in Rome, where the icon resides. This illustrates how a medieval work of art can give rise to feast days, Cathedrals and Marian music.
Praying at Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Lithuania.
The use of Marian art by Catholics worldwide accompanies specific forms of Marian devotion and spirituality. The widespread Catholic use of replicas of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes emphasizes devotions to the Immaculate Conception and the Rosary, both reported in the Lourdes messages. To Catholics, the distinctive blue and white Lourdes statues are reminders of the emphasis of Lourdes on Rosary devotions and the millions of pilgrimages to the Rosary Basilica at Lourdes shows how Churches, devotions and art intertwine within Catholic culture. The Rosary remains the prayer of choice among Catholics who visit Lourdes or venerate the Lourdes statues worldwide. [19] [20] [21] [22]
Historically, Marian art has not only impacted the image of Mary among Catholics, but that of Jesus. The early "Kyrios image" of Jesus as "the Lord and Master" was specially emphasized in the Pauline Epistles. [23] [24] [25] The 13th century depictions of the Nativity of Jesus in art and the Franciscan development of a "tender image of Jesus" via the construction of Nativity scenes changed that perception and was instrumental in portraying a softer image of Jesus that contrasted with the powerful and radiant image at the Transfiguration. [26] The emphasis on the humility of Jesus and the poverty of his birth depicted in Nativity art reinforced the image of God not as severe and punishing, but himself humble at birth and sacrificed at death. [27] As the tender joys of the Nativity were added to the agony of Crucifixion (as depicted in scenes such as Stabat Mater) a whole new range of approved religious emotions were ushered in via Marian art, with wide-ranging cultural impacts for centuries thereafter. [28] [29] [30]
The spread of devotions to the Virgin of Mercy are another example of the blending of art and devotions among Catholics. In the 12th century Cîteaux Abbey in France used the motif of the protective mantle of the Virgin Mary which shielded the kneeling abbots and abbesses. In the 13th century Caesarius of Heisterbach was also aware of this motif, which eventually led to the iconography of the Virgin of Mercy and an increased focused on the concept of Marian protection. [31] By the beginning of the 16th century, depictions of the Virgin of Mercy were among the preferred artistic items in households in the Paris area. [32] In the 18th century Saint Alphonsus Liguori attributed his own recovery from near death to a statue of the Virgin of Mercy brought to his bedside. [33]
In his apostolic letter Archicoenobium Casinense in 1913, Pope Pius X echoed the same sentiment regarding the blending of art, music and religion by comparing the artistic efforts of the Benedictine monks of the Beuron Art School (who had previously produced the "Life of the Virgin" series), to the revival of the Gregorian chant by the Benedictines of Solesmes Abbey and wrote, "...together with sacred music, this art proves itself to be a powerful aid to the liturgy". [34]
The Madonna of humility by Domenico di Bartolo 1433 has been described as one of the most innovative devotional images from the early Renaissance
Catholic Marian art has expressed a wide range of theological topics that relate to Mary, often in ways that are far from obvious, and whose meaning can only be recovered by detailed scholarly analysis. Entire books, academic theses or lengthy scholarly works have been written on various aspects of Marian art in general and on specific topics such as the Black Madonna, Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, Virgin of Mercy, Virgin of Ocotlán, or the Hortus conclusus and their doctrinal implications. [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]
Some of the leading Marian subjects include:
Life of the Virgin, the group term for narrative subjects, including:
Nativity of Jesus in art
Christ taking leave of his Mother
Pietà
The Assumption in Art
Coronation of the Virgin
Other subjects include:
Madonna (art), including the Madonna and Child and variations such as Madonna of humility and Virgin of Mercy
Stabat Mater (art)
Tree of Jesse
The tradition of Catholic Marian art has continued in the 21st century by artists such as Miguel Bejarano Moreno and Francisco Cárdenas Martínez.
The Earliest fresco of the Virgin Mary, in the Catacomb of Priscilla from the early 3rd century
Early veneration of Mary is documented in the Catacombs of Rome. In the catacombs paintings show the Blessed Virgin with her son. More unusual and indicating the burial ground of Saint Peter, was the fact that excavations in the crypt of Saint Peter discovered a very early fresco of Mary together with Saint Peter. [41] The Roman Priscilla catacombs contain the known oldest Marian paintings, dating from the middle of the second century. [42] In one, Mary is shown with the infant Jesus on her lap. The Priscilla catacomb also includes the oldest known fresco of the Annunciation, dating to the 4th century. [43]
After the Edict of Milan in 313 Christians were permitted to worship and build churches openly. The generous and systematic patronage of Roman Emperor Constantine I changed the fortunes of the Christian church, and resulted in both architectural and artistic development. [44] The veneration of Mary became public and Marian art flourished. Some of the earliest Marian churches in Rome date to the 5th century, such as Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Maria Antiqua and Santa Maria Maggiore, and these churches were in turn decorated with significant works of art through the centuries. [45] [46] The interaction of Marian art and church construction thus influenced the development of Marian art. [47]
The Virgin Mary has since become a major subject of Western Art. Masters such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto, Duccio and others produced masterpieces with Marian themes.
Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with saints George, Theodore and angels, 6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery.
Mary's status as the Mother of God was not made clear in the Gospels and Pauline Epistles but the theological implications of this were defined and confirmed by the Council of Ephesus (431). Different aspects of Mary's position as mother have been the subject of a large number of works of Catholic art.
There was a great expansion of the cult of Mary after the Council of Ephesus in 431, when her status as Theotokos was confirmed; this had been a subject of some controversy until then, though mainly for reasons to do with arguments over the nature of Christ. In mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, dating from 432 to 40, just after the council, she is not yet shown with a halo, and she is also not shown in Nativity scenes at this date, though she is included in the Adoration of the Magi. [46] [48]
By the next century the iconic depiction of the Virgin enthroned carrying the infant Christ was established, as in the example from the only group of icons surviving from this period, at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt. This type of depiction, with subtly changing differences of emphasis, has remained the mainstay of depictions of Mary to the present day. The image at Mount Sinai succeeds in combining two aspects of Mary described in the Magnificat, her humility and her exaltation above other humans.
At this period the iconography of the Nativity was taking the form, centred on Mary, that it has retained up to the present day in Eastern Orthodoxy, and on which Western depictions remained based until the High Middle Ages. Other narrative scenes for Byzantine cycles on the Life of the Virgin were being evolved, relying on apocryphal sources to fill in her life before the Annunciation to Mary. By this time the political and economic collapse of the Western Roman Empire meant that the Western, Latin, church was unable to compete in the development of such sophisticated iconography, and relied heavily on Byzantine developments.
The earliest surviving image in a Western illuminated manuscript of the Madonna and Child comes from the Book of Kells of about 800 and, though magnificently decorated in the style of Insular art, the drawing of the figures can only be described as rather crude compared to Byzantine work of the period. This was in fact an unusual inclusion in a Gospel book, and images of the Virgin were slow to appear in large numbers in manuscript art until the book of hours was devised in the 13th century.
Main article: Nativity of Jesus in art
Representation of the Nativity on the Throne of Maximianus in Ravenna
The Nativity of Jesus has been a major subject of Christian art since the early 4th century. It has been depicted in many different media, both pictorial and sculptural. Pictorial forms include murals, panel paintings, manuscript illuminations, stained glass windows and oil paintings. The earliest representations of the Nativity itself are very simple, just showing the infant, tightly wrapped, lying near the ground in a trough or wicker basket.
A new form of the image, which from the rare early versions seems to have been formulated in 6th-century Palestine, was to set the essential form of Eastern Orthodox images down to the present day. The setting is now a cave - or rather the specific Cave of the Nativity in Bethlehem, already underneath the Church of the Nativity, and well-established as a place of pilgrimage, with the approval of the Church.
Nativity at Night (c. 1490) by Geertgen tot Sint Jans
Western artists adopted many of the Byzantine iconographic elements, but preferred the scriptural stable to the cave, though Duccio's Byzantine-influenced Maestà version tries to have both. During the Gothic period, in the North earlier than in Italy, increasing closeness between mother and child develops, and Mary begins to hold her baby, or he looks over to her. Suckling is very unusual, but is sometimes shown.
The image in later medieval Northern Europe was often influenced by the vision of the Nativity of Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373), a very popular mystic. Shortly before her death, she described a vision of the infant Jesus as lying on the ground, and emitting light himself.
From the 15th century onwards, the Adoration of the Magi increasingly became a more common depiction than the Nativity proper. From the 16th century plain Nativities with just the Holy Family, become a clear minority, although Caravaggio led a return to a more realistic treatment of the Adoration of the Shepherds.
The perpetual character of Mary's virginity, namely that she was a virgin all her life and not only at her virginal conception of Jesus Christ at the Annunciation (that she was a virgin before, during and after giving birth to him) is alluded to in some forms of Nativity art: Salome, who according to the story in the 2nd-century Nativity of Mary [49] received physical proof that Mary remained a virgin even in giving birth to Jesus, is found in many depictions of the Nativity of Jesus in art. [50]
Filippo Lippi, 1459
Main article: Madonna (art)
The depiction of the Madonna has roots in ancient pictorial and sculptural traditions that informed the earliest Christian communities throughout Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Important to Italian tradition are Byzantine icons, especially those created in Constantinople (Istanbul), the capital of the longest, enduring medieval civilization whose icons, such as the Hodegetria, participated in civic life and were celebrated for their miraculous properties. Western depictions remained heavily dependent on Byzantine types until at least the 13th century. In the late Middle Ages, the Cretan school, under Venetian rule, was the source of great numbers of icons exported to the West, and the artists there could adapt their style to Western iconography when required.
Romanesque enthroned Madonna, Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey
In the Romanesque period free-standing statues, typically about half life-size, of the enthroned Madonna and Child were an original Western development, since monumental sculpture was forbidden by Orthodoxy. The Golden Madonna of Essen of c. 980 is one of the earliest of these, made of gold applied to a wooden core, and still the subject of considerable local veneration, as is the 12th century Virgin of Montserrat in Catalonia, a more developed treatment.
With the growth of monumental panel painting in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries, this type was frequently painted at the image of the Madonna gains prominence outside of Rome, especially throughout Tuscany. While members of the mendicant orders of the Franciscan and Dominican Orders are some of the first to commission panels representing this subject matter, such works quickly became popular in monasteries, parish churches, and later homes. Some images of the Madonna were paid for by lay organizations called confraternities, who met to sing praises of the Virgin in chapels found within the newly reconstructed, spacious churches that were sometimes dedicated to her.
Some key Madonnas
Our Lady of Sorrows by Moreno, hermitage in Warfhuizen, the Netherlands.
A number of Madonna paintings and statues have gathered a following as important religious icons and noteworthy works of art in various regions of the world.
Some Madonnas are known by a general name and concept rendered or depicted by various artists. For instance, Our Lady of Sorrows is the patron saint of several countries such as Slovakia and Philippines. It is represented as the Virgin Mary wounded by seven swords in her heart, a reference to the prophecy of Simeon at the Presentation of Jesus. Our Lady of Sorrows, Queen of Poland located in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń (Poland's largest church) is an important icon in Poland. The term Our Lady of Sorrows is also used in other contexts, without a Madonna, e.g. for Our Lady of Kibeho apparitions.
Some Madonnas become the subject of widespread devotion, and the Marian shrines dedicated to them attract millions of pilgrims per year. An example is Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, whose shrine is surpassed in size only by Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and receives more pilgrims per year than any other Catholic Marian church in the world. [51]
There is a rich tradition of building statues of the Madonna in South America, a sampling of which is shown in the galleries section of this article. The South American tradition of Marian art dates back to the 16th century, with the Virgin of Copacabana gaining fame in 1582. [52] Some noteworthy examples are:
Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos is located in the small town of San Juan de los Lagos in Mexico. It is the second most visited pilgrimage shrine in Mexico, after Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The Virgin of Ocotlán is a statue of the Virgin Mary in Ocotlán, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
Our Lady of Navigators is a highly venerated Madonna in Brazil. The devotion started by the 15th century Portuguese navigators, praying for a safe return to their homes and then spread in Brazil.
Images of, and devotions to, Madonnas such as Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos have spread from Mexico to the United States. [53] [54]
Italy and Spain
Sistine Madonna , Raphael 1513
The Madonna of humility by Domenico di Bartolo, 1433, is considered one of the most innovative devotional images from the early Renaissance. [35]
Raphael's Sistine Madonna . The painting, originally commissioned for the church of San Sisto, Piacenza, is now at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (Germany). It is considered a key example of high Renaissance art.
Madonna della Strada at the Church of the Gesu in Rome is a historic icon and the patron saint of the Jesuits
The Madonna statue at the altar of Milan Cathedral is an outstanding example of Baroque Marian art
Murillo's Dolorosa Madonna in Seville, Spain is a key example of a sorrowful Madonna
Madonna of the Pillar at Zaragoza, Spain is a highly venerated statue based on a legendary vision of Saint James the Greater.
The Virgin of Montserrat at the Santa María de Montserrat monastery in Spain is a highly venerated statue and the patron saint of Catalonia.
Central and Northern Europe
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa is Poland's holiest relic, and one of the country's national symbols.
Dutch painter Jan van Eyck's Lucca Madonna at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt is a good example of iconography where the Virgin Mary is portrayed as the Throne of Wisdom, with Jesus sitting on her lap.
Michelangelo's statue of the Virgin Mary and a standing Jesus known as the Madonna of Bruges at the Church of Our Lady, Bruges, Belgium shares some similarities with his Pieta which was completed sometime earlier.
The 1898 Refugium Peccatorum Madonna by the Italian artist Luigi Crosio has gathered significant popular following in central Europe and has since been called the Mother Thrice Admirable Madonna, as a symbol of the Schoenstatt Movement. [55] [56] [57]
Christ and Mary, mosaic, Chora Church, 16th century
Main article: Life of the Virgin
Scenes of Mary and Jesus together fall into two main groups: those with an infant Jesus, and those from the last period of his life. After the episodes of the Nativity, there are a number of further narrative scenes of Mary and the infant Jesus together which are often depicted: the Circumcision of Christ, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Flight into Egypt, and less specific scenes of Mary and Jesus with his cousin John the Baptist, sometimes with John's mother Elizabeth. Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks is a famous example. Gatherings of the whole extended family of Jesus form a subject known as the Holy Kinship, popular in the Northern Renaissance. Mary appears in the background of the only incident in the Gospels from the later childhood of Jesus, the Finding in the Temple.
Michelangelo's Pietà, 1498
Mary is then usually absent from scenes of the period of Christ's life between his Baptism and his Passion, except for the Wedding at Cana, where she is placed in the Gospels. A non-scriptural subject of Christ taking leave of his Mother (before going to Jerusalem at the start of his Passion) was often painted in 15th- and early 16th-century Germany. Mary is placed at the Crucifixion of Jesus by the Gospels, and is almost invariably shown, with Saint John the Evangelist, in fully depicted works, as well as often being shown in the background of earlier scenes of the Passion of Christ. The rood cross common in medieval Western churches had statues of Mary and John flanking a central crucifix. Mary is shown as present at the Deposition of Christ and his Entombment; in the late Middle Ages the Pietà emerged in Germany as a separate subject, especially in sculpture. Mary is also included, though this is not mentioned in any of the scriptural accounts, in depictions of the Ascension of Jesus. After the Ascension, she is the centrally-placed figure in depictions of Pentecost, which is her latest appearance in the Gospels.
The main scenes above, showing incidents celebrated as feast days by the church, formed part of cycles of the Life of the Virgin (though the selection of scenes in these varied considerably), as well as the Life of Christ .
Fresco of the Annunciation at the Pantheon, Rome, 15th century
The dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary is the earliest of the four Marian dogmas and Catholic liturgy has repeatedly referred to Mary as "ever virgin" for centuries. [58] [59] The dogma means that Mary was a virgin before, during and after giving birth to Jesus Christ. The 2nd-century work originally known as the Nativity of Mary pays special attention to Mary's virginity. [60]
This dogma is often represented in Catholic art in terms of the annunciation to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God, and in Nativity scenes that include the figure of Salome. The Annunciation is one of the most frequently depicted scenes in Western art. [61] Annunciation scenes also amount to the most frequent appearances of Gabriel in medieval art. [62] The depiction of Joseph turning away in some Nativity scenes is a discreet reference to the fatherhood of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of Virgin Birth. [63]
Frescos depicting this scene have appeared in Catholic Marian churches for centuries and it has been a topic addressed by many artists in multiple media, ranging from stained glass to mosaic, to relief, to sculpture to oil painting. [64] The oldest fresco of the annunciation is a 4th-century depiction in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome. [65] In most (but not all) Catholic, and indeed Western, depictions Gabriel is shown on the left, while in the Eastern Church he is more often depicted on the right. [66]
Annunciation mosaic, Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome, 1291.
It has been one of the most frequent subjects of Christian art particularly during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The figures of the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel, being emblematic of purity and grace, were favorite subjects of many painters such as Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Duccio and Murillo among others. In many depictions the angel may be holding a lily, symbolic of Mary's virginity. [67] The mosaics of Pietro Cavallini in Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome (1291), the frescos of Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (1303), Domenico Ghirlandaio's fresco at the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1486) and Donatello's gilded sculpture at the church of Santa Croce, Florence (1435) are famous examples.
The natural composition of the scene, consisting of two figures facing each other, also made it suitable for decorated arches above doorways.
Murillo's Immaculate Conception, 1650
Given that up to the 13th century a series of saints including Bernard of Clairvaux, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, and the Dominicans in general had either opposed or questioned this doctrine, Catholic art on the subject mostly dates to periods after the 15th century and is absent from Renaissance art. But with support from popular opinion, the Franciscans and theologians such as Blessed Duns Scotus, the popularity of the doctrine increased and a feast-day for it was promoted.
Swiss emblem, 16th century.
Pope Pius V, the Dominican Pope who in 1570 established the Tridentine Mass, included the feast (but without the adjective "Immaculate") in the Tridentine Calendar, but suppressed the existing special Mass for the feast, directing that the Mass for the Nativity of Mary (with the word "Nativity" replaced by "Conception") be used instead. [68] Part of that earlier Mass was revived in the Mass that Pope Pius IX ordered to be used on the feast and that is still in use. [69]
In the 16th century there was a widespread intellectual fashion for emblems in both religious and secular contexts. These consisted of a visual representation of the symbol (pictura) and usually a Latin motto; frequently an explanatory epigram was added. Emblem books were very popular. [70]
Drawing on the emblem tradition, Francisco Pacheco established an iconography that influenced artists such as Murillo, Diego Velázquez and others. This style of representation of the immaculate Conception then spread to the rest of Europe, and has since remained the usual depiction.
The dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception was performed by Pope Pius IX in his Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus , in 1854. The dogma gained additional significance from the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858, with the lady in the apparition identifying herself as "the Immaculate Conception" and the faithful believing her to be the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Piero di Cosimo Immaculate Conception, 1505
From an art historical perspective, the depiction of the Immaculate Conception involves a number of interesting issues. Many artists in the 15th century faced the problem of how to depict an abstract idea such as the Immaculate Conception, and the problem was not fully solved for 150 years.
Since a key Scriptural text pointed to in support of the doctrine was "Tota pulchra es...", "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee", verse 4.7 from the Song of Solomon, [71] a number of symbolic objects drawn from the imagery of the Song, and often already associated with the Annunciation and the Perpetual Virginity, were combined in versions of the Hortus conclusus ("enclosed garden") subject. This gave a rather cluttered subject, and usually was impossible to combine with correct perspective, so never caught on outside Germany and the Low Countries. Piero di Cosimo was among those artists who tried new solutions, but none of these became generally adopted so that the subject would be immediately recognisable to the faithful.
Immaculate Conception by Diego Velázquez, 1618
The definitive iconography for the Immaculate Conception, drawing on the emblem tradition, seems to have been established by the master and then father-in-law of Diego Velázquez, the painter and theorist Francisco Pacheco (1564–1644), to whom the Inquisition in Seville also contracted the approval of new images. He described his iconography in his Art of Painting (Arte de la Pintura, published posthumously in 1649):
"The version that I follow is the one that is closest to the holy revelation of the Evangelist and approved by the Catholic Church on the authority of the sacred and holy interpreters... In this loveliest of mysteries Our Lady should be painted as a beautiful young girl, 12 or 13 years old, in the flower of her youth... And thus she is praised by the Husband: tota pulchra es amica mea, a text that is always written in this painting. She should be painted wearing a white tunic and a blue mantle... She is surrounded by the sun, an oval sun of white and ochre, which sweetly blends into the sky. Rays of light emanate from her head, around which is a ring of twelve stars. An imperial crown adorns her head, without, however, hiding the stars. Under her feet is the moon. Although it is a solid globe, I take the liberty of making it transparent so that the landscape shows through." [72] [73]
Spanish artists such as Bartolomé Murillo (especially), Diego Velázquez and others adopted this formula, with variations, and it then spread to the rest of Europe, since when it has remained the usual depiction.
This particular representation of The Immaculate Conception has since remained the best known artistic depiction of the concept: in a heavenly realm, moments after her creation, the spirit of Mary (in the form of a young woman) looks up in awe at (or bows her head to) God. The moon is under her feet and a halo of twelve stars surround her head, possibly a reference to "a woman clothed with the sun" from Revelation 12:1-2. Additional imagery may include clouds, a golden light, and cherubs. In some paintings the cherubim are holding lilies and roses, flowers often associated with Mary.
Titian Assumption, 1516
The Catholic doctrine of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven states that Mary was transported into Heaven with her body and soul united. Although the Assumption was only officially declared a dogma by Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus in 1950, its roots in Catholic culture and art go back many centuries. While Pope Pius XII deliberately left open the question of whether Mary died before her Assumption, the more common teaching of the early Fathers is that she did. [74] [75]
An early supporter of the Assumption was Saint John of Damascus (676–794), a Doctor of the Church who is often called the Doctor of the Assumption. [76] Saint John was not only interested in the Assumption, but also supported the use of holy images in response to the edict by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III, banning the worship or exhibition of holy images. [77] He wrote: "On this day the sacred and life-filled ark of the living God, she who conceived her Creator in her womb, rests in the Temple of the Lord that is not made with hands. David, her ancestor, leaps, and with him the angels lead the dance."
The Eastern Church held the feast of the Assumption as early as the second half of the 6th century, and Pope Sergius I (687–701) ordered its observance in Rome. [78]
The Orthodox tradition is clear that Mary died normally, before being bodily assumed. The Orthodox term for the death is the Dormition of the Virgin. Byzantine depictions of this were the basis for Western images, the subject being known as the Death of the Virgin in the West. As the nature of the Assumption became controversial during the High Middle Ages, the subject was often avoided, but depiction continued to be common until the Reformation. The last major Catholic depiction is Caravaggio's Death of the Virgin of 1606.
Meanwhile, depictions of the Assumption had been becoming more frequent during the late Middle Ages, with the Gothic Siennese school a particular source. By the 16th century they had become the norm, initially in Italy, and then elsewhere. They were sometimes combined with the Coronation of the Virgin, as the Trinity waited in the clouds. The subject was very suited to Baroque treatment.
Main article: Queen of Heaven
Salus Populi Romani crowned by Pope Pius XII
The Catholic teaching that Mary is far above all other creatures in dignity, and after Jesus Christ possesses primacy over all goes back to the early church. Saint Sophronius said: "You have surpassed every creature" and Saint Germain of Paris (496–576) stated: "Your honor and dignity surpass the whole of creation; your greatness places you above the angels." Saint John of Damascus went further: "Limitless is the difference between God's servants and His Mother." [79] [80]
Coronation of the icon by Pope Pius XII in 1954
The feast of the Queenship of Mary was only formally established in 1954 by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam. Pius XII also declared the first Marian year and a number of Catholic Church rededications took place, e.g. the 1955 rededication of the church of Saint James the Great in Montreal with the new title Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral a title proclaimed by Pius XII.
Yet, long before 1954 the Coronation of the Virgin had been the subject of a good number of artistic works. Some of these paintings built on the third phase of the Assumption of Mary in which following her Assumption, she is crowned as the Queen of Heaven .
The statue of Our Lady of Fatima includes several Catholic elements, such as being apparition-based, being a crowned statue and holding a Rosary. One of the bullets that wounded Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in 1981 was placed in the crown of the statue.
Catholic devotion to Mary has at times been driven by religious experiences and visions of simple and modest individuals (in many cases children) on remote hilltops which in time have created strong emotions among large numbers of Catholics. Examples include Saint Juan Diego in 1531 as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Bernadette Soubirous as Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858 and Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto as Our Lady of Fatima in 1917. [82]
Although every year over five million pilgrims visit Lourdes and Guadalupe each, the volume of Catholic art to accompany this enthusiasm has been essentially restricted to popular images. Hence although apparitions have resulted in the construction of very large Marian churches at Lourdes and Guadalupe they have not so far had a similar impact on Marian art. Yet images such as Our Lady of Guadalupe and the artistic renditions of it as statues are not simply works of art but are a central elements of the daily lives of the Mexican people. [2] Both Miguel Hidalgo and Emiliano Zapata flew Guadalupan flags as their protector, and Zapata's men wore the Guadalupan image around their necks and on their sombreros. [83] [84] Depictions of the Virgin of Guadalupe continue to remain a key unifying element in the Mexican nation, and as the main national symbol of Mexico. [3]
Apparition-based art is at times considered miraculous by Catholics. Replicas of the distinctive blue and white statue of Our Lady of Lourdes are widely used by Catholics in devotions, and small grottos with it are built in houses and Catholic neighborhoods worldwide and are the subject of prayers and petitions. [85] In Ad Caeli Reginam , Pope Pius XII called the statue of Our Lady of Fatima "miraculous" and Pope John Paul II attributed his survival after the 1981 assassination attempt to its intercession, donating one of the bullets that wounded him to the Sanctuary in Fatima. [81] [86]
The Catholic approach to Marian art is quite distinct from the way other Christians (such as the Protestant and the Eastern Orthodox) treat the depictions of the Virgin Mary. From the very beginning of the Protestant Reformation its leaders expressed their discomfort with the depictions of saints in general. While over time a Protestant tradition of art developed, the depictions of the Virgin Mary within it have remained minimal, given that most Protestants reject Marian veneration and view it as a Catholic excess. [87] [88] [89]
The use of Marian Sacramentals such as the Brown Scapular is a distinguishing feature of Catholic art.
Unlike the majority of the Protestants, the Eastern Orthodox Church venerates Marian images, but in a different manner and with a different emphasis from the Catholic tradition. While statues of the Virgin Mary abound in Catholic churches, there are specific prohibitions against all three-dimensional representations (of Mary or any other any saints) within the Orthodox Church, for they are regarded as remnants of pagan idolatry. Hence the Orthodox only produce and venerate two-dimensional images. [90] [91] [92] [93]
Catholic Marian images are almost entirely devotional depictions and do not have an official standing within liturgy, but Eastern icons are an inherent part of Orthodox liturgy. In fact, there is a three way, carefully coordinated interplay of prayers, icons and hymns to Mary within Orthodox liturgy, at times with specific feasts that relate to the Theotokos icons and the Akathists. [90] [93] [94]
While there is a tradition for the best known Western artists from Duccio to Titian to depict the Virgin Mary, most painters of Eastern Orthodox icons have remained anonymous for the production of an icon is not viewed as a "work of art" but as a "sacred craft" practiced and perfected in monasteries. [90] To some Eastern Orthodox the natural looking Renaissance depictions used in Catholic art are not conducive to meditation, for they lack the kenosis needed for Orthodox contemplation. The rich background representation of flowers or gardens found in Catholic art are not present in Orthodox depictions whose primary focus is the Theotokos, often with the Child Jesus. [95] [96] Apparition-based images such as the statues of the Our Lady of Lourdes accentuate the differences in that they are based on apparitions that are purely Catholic, as well as being three-dimensional representations. And the presence of Sacramentals such as the Rosary and the Brown Scapular on the statues of Our Lady of Fatima emphasize a totally Catholic form of Marian art.
Apart from stylistic issues, significant doctrinal differences separate Catholic Marian art from other Christian approaches. Three examples are the depictions that involve the Immaculate Conception, Queen of Heaven and the Assumption of Mary. Given that the Immaculate Conception is a mostly Catholic doctrine, its depictions within other Christian traditions remain rare. [97] The same applies to Queen of Heaven, for long an element of Catholic tradition (and eventually the subject of the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam ) but its representation within themes such as the Coronation of the Virgin continue to remain mostly Catholic. [86] While the Eastern Orthodox support the Dormition of the Theotokos, they do not support the Catholic doctrines of the Assumption of Mary and hence their depictions of the dormition are distinct and the Virgin Mary is usually shown sleeping surrounded by saints, while Catholic depictions often show Mary rising to Heaven. [93] [98]
For a larger gallery, see Annunciation in Christian art.
Annunciation by Mariotto Albertinelli, 15th century
Annunciation by Murillo, 1655
Philippe de Champaigne, 1644
Annunciation by Pietro Perugino, 1489
Rubens Annunciation 1628 Antwerp
Cestello Annunciation by Botticelli, 1490
Francesco Albani Annunciation The Hermitage
Mikhail Nesterov, Russia, 19th century
For more images, see Salome (disciple).
Adoration of the Magi, ivory, 15th century
Marten de Vos, 1577
Lorenzo Lotto, 1523
Pietro Perugino, 15th century
Pedro Berruguete, 15th century
Giorgione, c1507
Gregorio Fernández, 1614
Gauguin, 1896
For a larger gallery, see Adoration of the shepherds § Gallery of art.
Caravaggio, 16th century
Bronzino, 16th century
Guido Reni, 1630–1642
Gaudenzio Ferrari c1533
Gerard van Honthorst, 1622
Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1485
Giorgione, 1510
Rembrandt, 1632
Rubens, 1634
Botticelli, 1475
Murillo, 17th century
Gentile da Fabriano, 1423
Jacopo da Ponte, 1563–1564
Diego Velázquez, 1619
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madonna structured gallery .
Pre 15th century
Virgin, 6th century, St. Catherine Monastery
Vatopedi, Mount Athos, Greece, pre-870
Russian Theotokos icon, 10th century
Madonna, Cimabue 13th century
Madonna and Angels, Duccio, 1282
Madonna by Giotto, c1300
Giacomo di Mino, 1342
Naddo Ceccarelli, 1347
15-16th century
Taddeo di Bartolo 1400–1405
Jan van Eyck's Lucca Madonna, as Throne of Wisdom , 1430
Madonna and Child, Filippo Lippi 1440–1445
Madonna, with God the Father in evidence, Filippo Lippi, 1459
Benois Madonna , Leonardo da Vinci, 1475
Magnificat Madonna , Botticelli, 1481
Madonna and five angels, Botticelli, c1485–1490
The Glorification of the Virgin , Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1490–1495
Madonna del Granduca , Raphael, 1505
Tempi Madonna, Raphael, 1508
Titian, 1520
Post 16th century
Madonna and Child by Sassoferrato, 17th century
Our Lady of Rokitno [ pl ], Poland, 1671
Dolorosa, Murillo, 1665
Madonna, Pompeo Batoni, 1742
Virgin of the Host, Dominique Ingres, 1852
Franz Ittenbach, 1855
Refuge of Sinners Madonna , Luigi Crosio, 1898
Queen of the Angels , Bouguereau, 1900
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madonna structured gallery#Frescos .
Fontignano. Pietro Perugino, 1522
Saturnia, Tuscany. Benvenuto di Giovanni, 15th c.
Black Madonna, Axum, Ethiopia
Cathedral of Spoleto, Perugia. Pinturicchio, late 15th c.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madonna structured gallery#Statues .
Assumption statue, Attard, Malta
Our Lady of Navigators , Porto Alegre, Brazil
Our Lady of Aparecida , patron saint of Brazil
Our Lady of Saúde, Portugal
Our Lady of Sorrows in Warfhuizen, dressed for October
Golden Madonna of Essen, Essen, Germany
Virgen de los Angeles, Costa Rica
Blue Madonna, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
Assumption statue, Għaxaq, Malta, 1808
Baroque Madonna Altar at the Milan Cathedral
31 metres statue, Haskovo, Bulgaria
Rubens, Lamentation 1614/1615
Marriage at Cana , Giotto.
Christ taking leave of his mother , Correggio, 1517–1518
Deposition of Christ , Regnault, 1789
Michelangelo's Pietà , 1498
Pietro Lorenzetti, Assisi Basilica, 1310–1329
Resurrection of Christ , Fra Angelico, 1437
For a larger gallery, see Immaculate Conception § Artistic representation.
Murillo Immaculate Conception, 1650
Murillo Immaculate Conception , 1678
Velázquez Immaculate Conception, 1618
di Cosimo Immaculate Conception, 1505
Zurbarán Immaculate Conception, 1630
Carlo Maratta, 1689
Statue, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 19th century
Gregorio Fernández, 17th century
For a larger gallery, see Assumption of the Virgin Mary in art.
Andrea Mantegna Dormition 1461
Rubens Assumption, 1626
Mateo Cerezo Assumption, 1650
Guercino Assumption, 1655
Andrea del Sarto Assumption, 1526
Rubens Assumption of the Virgin, 17th century
Charles Le Brun, 1835
For a larger gallery, see Queen of Heaven § Gallery of art.
Martino di Bartolomeo, 1400
Crowning of the Virgin by Rubens, 17th century
Velázquez, Crowning of the Virgin, 1645
Gregorio di Cecco Enthroned Madonna
Giacomo di Mino, 1340–1350
Raphael, 1502–1504
Pietro Perugino, 1504
Giulio Cesare Procaccini, 17th century
The Vision of St. Bernard by Fra Bartolommeo c. 1504
St. Dominic receiving the Rosary from the Virgin Mary by Caravaggio, 17th century
The Virgin Giving Scapular to St. Simon by Pierre Puget 17th century
Statue of the Virgin Mary giving the Scapular to St. Simon, by Alfonso Balzico, Rome, 19th century
Apparition to St. Hyacinth by Lodovico Carracci 1594
Eternal Father painting the Virgin of Guadalupe anonymous, 18th century
Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes , Lourdes, France
Catholic Marian churches
Marian devotions
Madonna (art)
Icon of the Hodegetria
↑ Timothy Verdon, 2006, Mary in Western Art ISBN 978-0-9712981-9-4
1 2 A History of Modern Latin America by Teresa A. Meade 2009 ISBN 1-4051-2051-7 p. 45
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↑ Caroline Ebertshauser et al. 1998 Mary: Art, Culture, and Religion through the Ages ISBN 978-0-8245-1760-1
1 2 Distinctively Catholic: an exploration of Catholic identity by Daniel Donovan 1997 ISBN 0-8091-3750-X pp. 96–98
↑ Janusz Rosikon, 2001, The Madonnas of Europe: Pilgrimages to the Great Marian Shrines ISBN 978-0-89870-849-3
↑ Edel 2006, Madonna: Sacred Art And Holy Music ISBN 9783937406404
↑ University of Dayton Marian Music https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/b/birth-of-mary-meditation-and-illustrations.php
↑ Peter Mullen Shrines of Our Lady ISBN 978-0-312-19503-8
1 2 The Mystery of the Rosary: Marian Devotion and the Reinvention of Catholicism by Nathan Mitchell 2009 ISBN 0-8147-9591-9 pp. 37–42
1 2 The road from Eden: studies in Christianity and culture by John Barber 2008 ISBN 1-933146-34-6 p. 288
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↑ Ann Ball, 2003 Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices ISBN 0-87973-910-X pp. 431–433
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↑ Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Almanac by Matthew Bunson 2008 ISBN 1-59276-441-X p. 123
↑ The Mystery of the Rosary by Nathan Mitchell 2009 ISBN 0-8147-9591-9 p. 193
↑ China's Catholics by Richard Madsen 1998 ISBN 0-520-21326-2 pp. 6–7
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↑ II Corinthians: a commentary by Frank J. Matera 2003 ISBN 0-664-22117-3 pp. 11–13
↑ The image of St Francis by Rosalind B. Brooke 2006 ISBN 0-521-78291-0 pp. 183–184
↑ The tradition of Catholic prayer by Christian Raab, Harry Hagan, St. Meinrad Archabbey 2007 ISBN 0-8146-3184-3 pp. 86–87
↑ The vitality of the Christian tradition by George Finger Thomas 1944 ISBN 0-8369-2378-2 pp. 110–112
↑ La vida sacra: contemporary Hispanic sacramental theology by James L. Empereur, Eduardo Fernández 2006 ISBN 0-7425-5157-1 pp. 3–5
↑ Philippines by Lily Rose R. Tope, Detch P. Nonan-Mercado 2005 ISBN 0-7614-1475-4 p. 109
↑ Arthur Calkins, Marian Consecration and Entrustment in Burke, Raymond L.; et al. (2008) Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons ISBN 978-1-57918-355-4 pp. 725–737
↑ Life in Renaissance France by Lucien Febvre 1979 ISBN 0-674-53180-9 p. 145
↑ Saint Alphonsus Liguori by Saint Alfonso Maria de' Liguori, Richard Paul Blakeney 1852 p. 20
↑ Acta Apostolicae Sedis 5, 1913, pp. 113–117
1 2 Art and music in the early modern period by Franca Trinchieri Camiz, Katherine A. McIver ISBN 0-7546-0689-9 p. 15
↑ Roten S.M., Johann G., "Birth of Mary: Meditation and Illustration", International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton
↑ The Madonna della Misericordia in the Italian Renaissance by Carol McCall Rand, 1987, Thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University
↑ Virgen de San Juan Shrine, by Bonnie Robertson, 1980 ASIN: B0021ZHECE
↑ Luis Nava Rodríguez, 1975 Historia de Nuestra Senora de Ocotlan Tlaxcala: Editoria de periodicos "La Prensa", MLCS 98/02238
↑ The énclosed garden: history and development of the hortus conclusus by Rob Aben, Saskia de Wit 1999 ISBN 90-6450-349-4
↑ M Guarducci Maria nelle epigrafi paleocristiane di Roma 1963, 248
↑ I Daoust, Marie dans les catacombes, in "Esprit et Vie", n. 91, 1983.
↑ The Annunciation To Mary by Eugene LaVerdiere 2007 ISBN 1568545576 page 29
↑ Early Christian Art and Architecture by R. L. P. Milburn (Feb 1991) ISBN 0520074122 Univ California Press page 303
↑ Image and Relic: Mediating the Sacred in Early Medieval Rome by Erik Thun 2003 ISBN 8882652173 pages 33-35
1 2 Mary in Western Art by Timothy Verdon 2005 ISBN 097129819X pages 37-40
↑ Michael Rose, 2004, In Tiers of Glory: The Organic Development of Catholic Church Architecture through the Ages Mesa Folio editions, ISBN 0967637120 pages 9-12
↑ Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions 2000 ISBN 0877790442 page 408
↑ Infancy Gospel of James, chapter 20 Archived 2008-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography by Helene E. Roberts 1998 ISBN 1-57958-009-2 p. 904
↑ Religions of the World by J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann 2003 ISBN 1576072231 pages 308-309
↑ Art and architecture of viceregal Latin America, 1521–1821 by Kelly Donahue-Wallace 2008 ISBN 0826334598
↑ Mapping the Catholic cultural landscape by Richard Fossey 2004 ISBN 0-7425-3184-8 p. 78
↑ Globalizing the sacred: religion across the Americas by Manuel A. Vásquez, Marie F. Marquardt 2003 ISBN 0-8135-3285-X p. 74
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↑ Research on Luigi Crosio Archived 2012-06-29 at archive.today
↑ University of Dayton Archived 2012-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Marian Dogmas at University of Dayton http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/mariandogmas.html
↑ Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Coptic Liturgy of St Basil, Liturgy of St Cyril Archived 2012-05-09 at WebCite , Liturgy of St James Archived 15 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine , Understanding the Orthodox Liturgy, etc.
↑ L. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church trans. T. Buffer (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1991), p. 35.
↑ Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (2004). The Encyclopedia of Angels (Second ed.). p. 183. ISBN 0-8160-5023-6.
↑ Medieval art: a topical dictionary by Leslie Ross 1996 ISBN 0-313-29329-5 p. 99
↑ Christian iconography: a study of its origins by André Grabar 1968 Taylor & Francis p. 130
↑ Annunciation Art, Phaidon Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7148-4447-0
↑ The Annunciation to Mary by Eugene Laverdiere 2007 ISBN 1-56854-557-6 p. 29
↑ The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture by Peter Murray 1996 ISBN 0-19-866165-7 p. 24
↑ Paul Cavendish, "The Tridentine Mass"
↑ Marion A. Habig, "Land of Mary Immaculate"
↑ Emblems for Immaculate Conception "Birth of Mary: Meditation and Illustrations". All About Mary. International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton. Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
↑ The whole text Archived 2011-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
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↑ Divine Mirrors: The Virgin Mary in the Visual Arts by Melissa R. Katz and Robert A. Orsi 2001 ISBN 0-19-514557-7 p. 98
↑ As the Virgin Mary remained an ever-virgin and sinless, it is viewed that the Virgin Mary could not thus suffer the consequences of Original Sin, which is chiefly Death. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3819.htm Nicea II Session 6 Decree
↑ Nicaea II Definition, "without blemish"
↑ Christopher Rengers, The 33 Doctors Of The Church, Tan Books & Publishers, 200, ISBN 0-89555-440-2
↑ Mary H. Allies, St. John Damascene on Holy Images, Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption London, 1899.
↑ University of Dayton http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/maryassump1.html
↑ Dictionary of Mary, Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, 1985
↑ Ad Caeli Reginam 40
1 2 Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (2001). The Encyclopedia of Saints. Infobase Publishing. p. 162. ISBN 0-8160-4134-2.
↑ Michael Freze, 1993, Voices, Visions, and Apparitions, OSV Publishing ISBN 0-87973-454-X
↑ Secular ritual by Sally Falk Moore, Barbara G. Myerhoff 1977 ISBN 90-232-1457-9 p. 174
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1 2 Encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam on the Vatican website
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A shrine to the Virgin Mary is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destination of pilgrimages.
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have considerably lesser status.
In art, a Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna 'my lady' (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in Christian iconography, divided into many traditional subtypes especially in Eastern Orthodox iconography, often known after the location of a notable icon of the type, such as the Theotokos of Vladimir, Agiosoritissa, Blachernitissa, etc., or descriptive of the depicted posture, as in Hodegetria, Eleusa, etc.
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, the Marymas or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus.
Catholic Mariology is Mariology in Catholic theology. According to the Immaculate Conception taught by the Catholic Church, she was conceived and born without sin, hence Mary is seen as having a singular dignity above the saints, receiving a higher level of veneration than all angelic spirits and blessed souls in heaven. Catholic Mariology thus studies not only her life but also the veneration of her in daily life, prayer, hymns, art, music, and architecture in modern and ancient Christianity throughout the ages.
Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, but generally rejected in other Christian denominations.
Symbolism of Christian saints has been used from the very beginnings of the religion. Each saint is said to have led an exemplary life and symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church. A number of Christian saints are traditionally represented by a symbol or iconic motif associated with their life, termed an attribute or emblem, in order to identify them. The study of these forms part of iconography in art history. They were particularly used so that the illiterate could recognize a scene, and to give each of the Saints something of a personality in art. They are often carried in the hand by the Saint.
Our Lady of Lourdes is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus. The Virgin Mary is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, of which Bernadette Soubirous told her mother that a "Lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar apparitions of the "Lady" were reported on 18 occasions that year, until the climax revelation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception took place. On 18 January 1862, the local Bishop of Tarbes Bertrand-Sévère Laurence endorsed the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes.
A patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a form of spiritual protection attributed to Mary, mother of Jesus, in favor of some occupations, activities, religious orders, congregations, dioceses, and geographic locations.
The Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence the Deacon & Martyr is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, United States. The church was designed and built in 1905 by Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino along with his fellow architect R. S. Smith and the Roman Catholic community of Asheville. Pope John Paul II elevated the status of the church to minor basilica in 1993. It is a parish church, located within the Diocese of Charlotte. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only basilica in western North Carolina. Its dome has a span of 58 by 82 feet and is reputed to be the largest, freestanding, elliptical dome in North America. Except for the foundation and brick walls, the architectural style is Catalan, with the main example being the stairs behind the altar. It is located in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.
Our Lady often refers to:
Anglican Marian theology is the summation of the doctrines and beliefs of Anglicanism concerning Mary, mother of Jesus. As Anglicans believe that Jesus was both human and God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, within the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglican movement, Mary is accorded honour as the theotokos, a Koiné Greek term that means "God-bearer" or "one who gives birth to God".
Mary, the mother of Jesus in Christianity, is known by many different titles, epithets, invocations, and several names associated with places.
´Marian feast days in the liturgical year are celebrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The number of Marian feasts celebrated, their names can vary among Christian denominations.
The history of Catholic Mariology traces theological developments and views regarding Mary from the early Church to the 21st century. Mariology is a mainly Catholic ecclesiological study within theology, which centers on the relation of Mary, the Mother of God, and the Church. Theologically, it not only deals with her life but with her veneration in life and prayer, in art, music, and architecture, from ancient Christianity to modern times.
The Mariology of the popes is the theological study of the influence that the popes have had on the development, formulation and transformation of the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines and devotions relating to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The veneration of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Catholic Church encompasses various devotions which include prayer, pious acts, visual arts, poetry, and music devoted to the her. Popes have encouraged it, while also taking steps to reform some manifestations of it. The Holy See has insisted on the importance of distinguishing "true from false devotion, and authentic doctrine from its deformations by excess or defect". There are significantly more titles, feasts, and venerative Marian practices among Roman Catholics than in other Western Christian traditions. The term hyperdulia indicates the special veneration due to Mary, greater than the ordinary dulia for other saints, but utterly unlike the latria due only to God.
Catholic Marian churches are religious buildings dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These churches were built throughout the history of the Catholic Church, and today they can be found on every continent including Antarctica. The history of Marian church architecture tells the unfolding story of the development of Catholic Mariology.
Refugium Peccatorum meaning Refuge of Sinners is a Roman Catholic title for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its use goes back to Saint Germanus of Constantinople in the 8th century.
Our Lady of Šiluva is Roman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary in Šiluva, Lithuania. A shrine of the same name has been built and is dedicated to her. The icon is highly venerated in Lithuania and is often called "Lithuania's greatest treasure".
D'Ancona, Mirella Levi (1977). Garden of the Renaissance: Botanical Symbolism in Italian Painting. Firenze: Casa Editrice Leo S.Olschki. ISBN 9788822217899.
D'Ancona, Mirella Levi (1957). The iconography of the Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. College Art Association of America. ASIN B0007DEREA.
Beckwith, John (1969). Early Medieval Art. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20019-X.
Arnold Hauser, Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origins of Modern Art, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965, ISBN 0-674-54815-9
Levey, Michael (1961). From Giotto to Cézanne. Thames and Hudson,. ISBN 0-500-20024-6.
Myers, Bernard (1965, 1985). Landmarks of Western Art. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-35840-2.
Rice, David Talbot (1997). Art of the Byzantine Era. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20004-1.
Dupre, Judith. Full of Grace: Encountering Mary in Faith, Art, and Life, 2010 ISBN 1-4000-6585-2
Gustafson, Fred. The Black Madonna, 2008 ISBN 3-85630-720-6
Christian Iconography from Augusta State University – see under Virgin Mary, after alphabet of saints
Birth of Mary in Art, All About Mary The University of Dayton's Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute (IMRI) is the world's largest repository of books, artwork and artifacts devoted to Mary, the mother of Christ, and a pontifical center of research and scholarship with a vast presence in cyberspace.
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text:
Home Spiritual Health
Community spirit shines in creation of safe space benches
A new bench anchored firmly in the ground overlooks the play area of Clara Hearne Pre-K Center.
Called the Buddy Bench, it is more than a piece of outdoor furniture.
It is a safe space for students which honors a Nash County teen who took his own life.
The idea of Clara Hearne teacher Amy Parker, the bench also represents a spirit of charity.
Clements Mechanical designed and fabricated 21 benches at no charge.
Rose Pate, a speech pathologist, donated the plaques placed on benches while B&T Trophies did the engraving.
The benches have been placed at elementary schools across the Roanoke Valley and even in Nash County. They are at elementary schools in Halifax and Northampton as well as the two elementary schools in the Roanoke Rapids school system. Rocky Mount Academy has one of the benches.
Parker wanted to do something to honor the memory of the son of a close friend — 15-year-old Max Dula — whose parting words to his mother are inscribed on the bench just below the words Parker wrote.
"Keep kindness and love in your heart," are the words the teen left, while Parker's words above describe the purpose of the bench. "On the days that you do not feel your best, have a seat and take a breath. If you need a friend for comfort and support, one will come soon to check on you!" And the young students in her class use the bench for its intended purpose and other students will come to check on the one sitting there. Sometimes a student will just need some alone time on the bench, she said.
In the short time it's been placed, a teacher has even used it and was met by concerned students. "It was amazing," Parker said.
With the idea to honor her friend's son, Parker reached out to Luke Clements of Clements Mechanical, where her husband, Jarrett, is employed. "He said 'tell me what you want, it will be donated.'"
Then, Parker said, the company, "Designed and fabricated them and didn't want to take any money. It says a lot. Anybody who knows Luke knows what a giving heart he has."
Parker said B&T gave her a fair price on the engraving. "They were so good to work with. We wanted to keep it with local businesses."
Roanoke Rapids Graded School District Interim Superintendent Julie Thompson said, "Mrs. Parker has done an amazing job coordinating the installation of these Buddy Benches in our district."
Thompson said the safe space helps to create an environment to talk about mental health. Doing so, she said, "Empowers students to reach out to a trusted family member, teacher, or friend when needed. We are so thankful for our community partners and their support of our students and staff."
Facebook: A Clinical Assessment and a Call To Action
Tuscarawas Health Department awarded traffic safety funds

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
and as the showers upon the meadow.
a faithful God without deceit, just and upright is he.
according to the number of the children of God.
and no foreign god was with him.


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Facebook has announced the addition of a few tools those are optional for the users of the social network. One of the new tools is a face recognition feature that will help users to find out when they appear in the photos of some other user.
When it is enabled, it will send you notifications to alert you whenever you are spotted in photo without being tagged. This new feature doubles as a security wall so that some other Facebook user does not use your photo without your consent. Also, it prevents someone else from using your photo on their profile.
Once the social network detects your presence in any of the photos uploaded by others without tagging you, it will give you three options. One option will let you tag yourself in the photo, the other will be to leave it untagged, and the last one will let you reach out to the person who has uploaded that specific image.
This new feature that notifies you if you are seen in someone else's photo will use face recognition technology. This technology will analyze the pixels in the photo that you are tagged in already and come out with a string of numbers known as templates. Once the photos and videos are uploaded to Facebook, they will be compared to the template.
You are free to enable or disable this new Face Recognition feature on Facebook. According to the social network, these new features will be made available starting from this week to the global users except for Canada and Europe.
Apart from the face recognition feature, the social networking giant has also added another feature for people with visual impairments. According to the same, the company will make it easier for people with visual impairments to view photos with AI.
You can turn on and turn off these new features from a simple setting as mentioned above. To know more about these features, you can head on to Help Center or your account settings.


text:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens : If Luke was Rey (a.k.a. The ANH "Mary Sue" Rewrite)
Re: If Luke was Rey (a.k.a. The ANH "Mary Sue" Rewrite)
JannTosh
Fantastic. This thread should be pinned to this board
jedi-jones
No one in the movie thought she was nerdy, pushy or arrogant. They kept falling in love with her and offering her jobs.
Colonel Miles Quaritch is like some sort of...non...giving-up...army guy!
keith48322003
On balance she is a useful person to have around and can solve problems very quickly, so her expertise shines forth and impresses Han (though he doesn't admit that she really impresses him, which he thinks if he did admit it she might then run roughshod over him and he doesn't want that - he's the boss on the Falcon). I also think he knows she is an innocent caught up in a bigger war and feels sympathy for her, so all up he's not opposed to her. But I think you would agree that she treats Finn a bit roughly who is a bit hopeless because he possesses no immediately valuable practical skills to help her when she needs it. So she is mite pushy and mentally highly focussed.
InternationaleClique
*Leia says Luke is amazing, thanks him and won't stop talking about wanting to run away with him and devote herself to helping him. Luke is not interested and says he just wants to be friends.

That's my favorite contrast too I think. And it gets to the heart of the "feminist" motivation behind this character. The feminists have been obsessed with "not needing a man" since they got started half a century ago. IRL, we all know most women are desperate to get a boyfriend or get married. But feminists feel the need to construct fiction to counteract that.
mijotter
Get Em!
trpea
Very nice, it's like if Anakin were to beat Darth Maul in Ep 1.
You could also put in there that they meet Yoda, who is not force sensitive, but tells Luke that he has the force and needs to use it.
With the force grab, he doesn't grab it before Vader, he actually overpowers him as Luke is stronger with the force.
Darth Vader also keeps his helmet off for half the movie.
Well, meeting Obi-Wan here is the ANH equivalent of meeting Yoda or Mas.
True on the grabbing, but I was trying to keep this short and the competing grabs are difficult to explain.
I didn't really want to get distracted too much by getting into Vader/Kylo parallels. So I tried to stick to stuff directly related to Rey/Luke's character. And, honestly, Vader's face in ROTJ is kind of creepy and he might've been able to be unmasked while remaining a scary character.
Fair point, I like the post.
jane_bront
Hey, that was pretty good! A well-done Mary Sue rewrite. And of course it all sounds hideous. I hope I never see a "Star Wars" movie like that...
Oh wait...
But if we just lather a lot of pretty, shiny special effects onto every scene, it could still work.
Re: If Luke was Rey (a.k.a. The ANH 'Mary Sue' Rewrite)
fanatic21
It is bonkers that you spent so much time on such a useless post.
You weren't even making points about how Rey was a 'Mary Sue.' You were just describing literally every scene that Rey was in, and replacing Luke's name. That was garbage.
And how ridiculous is it that Rey used the Force so quickly! It's not like Luke used the force to block lasers with his eyes closed 5 minutes after he learns about the force, and destroys the Death Star with his eyes closed using expert flight techniques on a ship he'd never driven before! Oh wait
I can do it the other way too.
If Rey was Luke..
- she would have gotten to heroically save a captured rebel and then gotten a smooch from him.
- She would have gotten to fly the x wing into battle even though she'd never ridden one before.
- she would have gotten to destroy the super weapon herself, with her eyes closed!
- she would have gotten a medal from a prince at the end!
Meaningless garbage.
Almost everything I described was an ANH scene. So you're confirming the whole ANH remake status of TFA at least.
Obi-Wan, an established expert Jedi master and former warrior, directly instructed Luke in using the Force every single time he used it in ANH. And other than the two times you mentioned it, I don't think Luke used it at any other times.
Let's keep in mind the whole point of the movie was that Luke evolves to be able to make that Death Star shot. It's the exact same character arc as in Karate Kid, where the whole movie leads up to Daniel making the final crane kick to win the tournament. You're asked to accept just one extraordinary achievement by this character. You care if the hero succeeds, because he starts out as we all did, as a flawed creature struggling to learn its place in the world.
Luke didn't save the Princess by himself, he had help from Han and Chewie. Then the droids have to rescue him from the trash compactor to complete the rescue. Luke may have got a smooch but Finn was ready to have Rey's babies. And I believe Rey did save Finn's life at times.
She got to fly the Falcon at the end of the movie even though she hadn't flown it before the movie started.
If we're talking overall movie quality, Poe got to destroy the Death Star and he was the movie's supporting Mary Sue.
Um, what? "Almost everything I described was an ANH scene. So you're confirming the whole ANH remake status of TFA at least."
No... Literally every scene you mentioned was from TFA but you replaced Luke's name... You "revised" every part of Luke's story and replaced it with what happened to Rey in TFA. (Luke being a survivalist like Rey, Chewie getting injured like in TFA, Luke taking over as co pilot like in TFA.) you just put all of what happened to Rey into Luke's plot to make God knows what point. It's not clever.
And who gives a fück if Luke only used the force "those 2 times?" Rey only used the force "those two times" (to get out of the restraints and when she fought Kylo.)
Luke seemed pretty adept at the force pretty quickly, and I'm sure if, in ANH, Luke had fought someone that was around his age who wasn't trying to kill him and who was also struggling against the light side and had also just been shot and had also just been scraped with a lightsaber by someone else, then it would have been a fair fight. No?
DnDgames
Luke gets shot by those training droids. Only after Obi Wan instructs and guides him does he start blocking the shots. Just like the death star shot. Obi Wan is in his ear guiding him. Rey just ups and knows everything and its complete rubbish.
Lolol. Yes, Obi wan does say 'use the force' to Luke and then Luke blocks no problem. And doesn't he just whisper 'use the force' before Luke destroys the Death Star? WOW, masterful in depth jedi training right there.
Rey used the force after
#1. Maz told her about the force and tried to convince her to 'let it in,' Rey had a force vision after touching a lightsaber, and after Kylo 'awoke' something in her when he used the force to search around in her mind.
Also - when Kylo reminds her of the force during their fight, which in my mind is pretty much the same thing as Obi Wan whispering 'use the force' in Luke's ear. And then they both channeled the force to great success. What's the difference?
It's not like she just randomly starts using the force. Do you think that no one ever uses the force in the SW galaxy unless they're trained? Do you think Obi Wan or Yoda or other jedi masters are the only way to awake the force in people? Maybe it can happen in different ways?
And I bet you money if Rey HAD learned how to use the force in the EXACT same way as Luke, then everyone would be calling foul and be pissed that TFA was copying ANH.
But don't you remember? Luke mastered the force as well and destroyed the Death Star all by himself!
carrot_handvo
No he didn't. He had to be guided and helped by Ob-Wan
Rey didn't even hear Luke's voice to set her on the path
What a MARY SUE >:(
also far different from mastering Lightsaber combat.
Hack Disney. Hack JJ. Hack Kennedy. Hack Hollywood.
Dirty_Hairy
Luke failed in his initial encounter with the practise remote because he relied on his eyes instead of using the Force – which, at that point, was only a concept. Recognizing this, Obi-Wan placed a flight helmet on Luke's head which obscured his sight and compelled him to use the Force. He deflected three energy bolts with ease. In other words, Obi-Wan had to throw him into the metaphorical "deep end of the pool" for Luke to discover his innate talent for wielding the Force. As for the finale, Obi-Wan only offered a reminder to use the Force for Luke to make that "one-in-a-million shot" that destroyed the death star. This was Luke's accomplishment, not his mentor's.
Whereas Luke had a mentor to teach him to harness the Force, Rey had circumstance. In her initial encounter with Kylo Ren, she took to her heels and was captured. Rey's "sink or swim" moment came during her interrogation. Since she was shackled, the only option available was to use an ability that could not be restrained – the Force. Her next encounter with Kylo Ren was an adrenaline-fueled, life or death situation and perhaps tinged with a bit of rage (at seeing Fin fall). As in the previous films, this makes you more powerful.
Luke's revelation that he could wield the Force took place during a blind fight with a practice drone. Rey's awakening to the Force came when she successfully resisted Kylo Ren's interrogation.
But Rey is far from "knowing everything". Can she harness the force in times of calm? Can she control the intensity of its effects? Does she know proper lightsaber technique instead of hacking and slashing? Can she learn to resist the dark side of the Force? I don't believe she can – yet.
Luke was in plenty of life-and-death situations and still was not able to magically call up Force powers to save himself in ANH, even after receiving some training. Why didn't he use the Force to hold back the walls of the trash compactor or Jedi mind trick the dianoga to let him go? Damn, I should've put that in my script.
Obi-Wan offered more than a "reminder," he was encouraging Luke to believe in the Force. "Trust your feelings." Successful use of the Force does not come naturally. Not to mention this Death Star achievement is something the Rebels fully expected a normal, human pilot could do. The Force didn't help Luke do something extraordinary, it just helped him be a little bit better at a normal human task. So what he did was less advanced than the Jedi mind trick or fighting a trained Force user with a weapon normal humans never use.
movibiju
I don't think that was the first time Rey used a lightsaber. You don't know her life past story.
Blocking three energy bolts while blind and destroying the death star with a "one-in-a-million shot" aren't extraordinary things?
As I recall, the attack on the death star by the rebels was a desperate, last ditch attempt to avoid the end of the rebellion. There was an uneasy murmur in the room when the plan of attack was presented to the pilots. "It's impossible, even with a computer!" Indeed, the first attempt by another pilot missed.
I enjoyed TFA whereas you had problems with it. That's fine.
I'm not claiming some special power to get into the minds of JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan or George Lucas. I don't know every bit of minutiae on and behind the movie screen. But the events of TFA made just enough sense to be believable enough for ME (if not for you). My opinions are reasonable explanations in my own mind's eye.
Suspension of disbelief by the audience is (to some degree) a key part of enjoying SciFi/fantasy. I recall a similar uproar over Indiana Jones surviving an atomic blast inside a refrigerator. If he could be dragged by a truck without a scratch, survive an ocean voyage atop a German U-boat or encounter an 800-year-old crusader, why not?
I didn't change the plot at all. ANH and TFA have the same plot. Characters are established differently and sometimes switch roles, but it's the same plot. This is a very slight rewrite of ANH to apply the same character development that Rey got to Luke. The point is obvious, to show how ANH would've been as a movie if produced today by Disney and J.J. Abrams.
Like everything else it went over your insipid head.
Taylorfirst1
How many months(?) of jedi training did Luke have before he was able to defeat Darth Vader who had been training since childhood?
WE GOT MOVIE SIIIIIGN!
He beat him with rage, not skill.
He didn't suddenly master the force more powerfully than Vader and pull his lightsaber. Unlike this poorly written dreck.
So rage beats the force?
xaxiomatic
No rage let's you use the "dark side" it's sort of implied it will give you a physical edge when you're trying to attack someone and not defending yourself. In this instance Luke trying to defeat Vader.
Luke trainer with Yoda for days (NOT LIGHTSABER TRAINING JUST MOVING THINGS WITH HIS MIND.) he then held his own against Vader. Then he went against Vader and won in ep6. Did he have some extensive training between eps 5 and 6 that I missed?
Twin287
Actually I'm pretty sure in A New Hope Obi Wan begins training him so he did have some training with a lightsaber and it is very likely he continued to train between then and the end of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi so that's not even the same.
Look I'm all for having female led movies but you don't have to go overboard and make them perfect to show that they're strong. Rey was a feminist power fantasy and a Mary Sue it's that simple.
If you don't believe that properties that were successful with male heroes have ever been taken, gender-switched and turned into feminist power fantasies by overpowering the female character I turn your attention to Avatar The Last Airbender and it's sequel series The Legend of Korra. When you watch at that you will have no choice but to see exactly what this whole Mary Sue complaint is about, this is not unheard of.
With that being said we'll see how things go in the next two movies.
Lol, Luke blocks tiny laser shots with a lightsaber for five minutes. He doesn't use it in combat. He didn't get trained with a lightsaber.
"f you don't believe that properties that were successful with male heroes have ever been taken, gender-switched and turned into feminist power fantasies by overpowering the female character I turn your attention to Avatar The Last Airbender and it's sequel series The Legend of Korra"
Lol what? Idgaf about legend of Korra
At least he had some training and he didn't face Darth Vader until the end of the second movie in which he actually trained more extensively with Yoda. There was a large time gap between Obi-Wan's training session and him actually facing Vader. That is in no way comparable to Rey having literally (as far as we know) only touched a light-saber that very same day and is good enough with it to beat a trained user. Luke was in no way a Gary Stu in comparison to Rey's Mary Sue-ness.
I referenced Legend of Korra because y'all keep acting like this is unheard of. This very same thing has happened before, the people agreeing that this female character Rey is overpowered in comparison to her predecessor Luke are not pulling this idea out of nowhere.
Like I said before we'll see how it goes in the sequels.
We don't need to see every second of training Luke gets from Yoda to understand he was trained in many techniques. The movie doesn't have time to show it all. His lightsaber training with Yoda is in a deleted scene on the Blu-ray though.
I gotta get that Blu-ray! I'd love to see that scene.
It's on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK6wqpNKdh0
MtnMan13
Actually, Luke didn't hold his own against Vader in Episode 5. Vader was toying with him the whole time. Remember, his mission was not to kill Luke but to capture him and bring him to the Emperor. Luke, after repeatedly getting his butt kicked, got in one lucky shot, and Vader effortlessly ended the fight 5-seconds later. Luke never stood chance.
Luke certainly got in some additional practice and training between Episode 5 and 6. He was able to use the Jedi mind trick, which he had never done before, and he was much more skilled with the lightsaber. But even then, Vader wasn't trying to kill him during their duel, he was trying to turn him. It was only at the end, when Luke was full of rage and on the verge of falling to the darkside, that he was finally able to overpower Vader.
So we see Luke consistently grow as a character across all three movies. My concern with Rey is that she's already awesome, she has extensive knowledge of the force and is a skilled fighter, she's one of the best pilots in Star Wars saga, and she handily beat the bad guy. Where do you go with a character like that? I can see it now:
REY IS STILL AWESOME
moros161
Only thing I can see to make her interesting is falling to the dark side killing Kylo Ren and becoming the antagonist to the new heroes.
Not sure if serious or just trolling?
But if former... bwahahaha!
revengine
destroys the Death Star with his eyes closed using expert flight techniques on a ship he'd never driven before
It is mentioned more than once during ANH that Luke has above average piloting skills.
Ben Kenobi: "He [Luke's father] was the best star pilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior. I understand you've [to Luke] become quite a good pilot yourself."
X-Wing Pilot: "That's impossible, even for a computer."
Luke: "It's not impossible, I used to bullseye womprats in my T16 back home, they're not much bigger than 2 metres."
Biggs: "Sir, Luke is the best bush pilot in the outer rim territories."
And if you've ever seen ANH you'll notice that Luke's eyes are quite noticeably open when he fires his torpedoes.
"If you're waiting for a woman to make up her mind, you may have a long wait." Preacher
Captain_Wesker
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing .
Mm hm.
MuggCostanza
jedi-jones, you're amazing!
The Shrike
No need to rewrite anything, Luke was a Marty Stu in ANH, but he's a guy, so it's all good.
Obviously he wasn't if it takes about 20 plot changes to get him up to Rey's level of golden perfection.
He needed help from Obi-Wan every time he used the Force, had to obey his aunt and uncle, didn't confront Vader, didn't get the girl, didn't fly the Falcon, got beat up at the Cantina and by Tusken Raiders, had to be rescued from the trash compactor by the droids, couldn't translate languages, spent all movie listening to Han belittle him...
No plot changes necessary, any simple farm boy can go from shooting wamprats to downing a death star almost single handedly....easy peazy.
If doing one challenging task at the very end of the movie with the direct help of a wise teacher makes you a Mary Sue, than Daniel Larusso in Karate Kid is more of an idealized, perfect hero than I ever imagined.
So the only way to NOT be a Mary Sue is to be a complete failure and lose or die at the end of the movie?
You clearly don't understand the term.
Did the Karate Kid deflect lasers blindfolded, I must have missed that.


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