Christian reverence began with the attitude of the apostles who gathered around Mary waiting to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So it is not surprising that images of Mary can be seen on Christian tombs dating back to the second century.
From the “Mother of the Child”...
At the Roman catacomb of Priscilla, Mary is the Mother of the Child Jesus and guarantees the reality of the Incarnation of the Son of God. This title will be adjusted over the centuries according to the needs of the faithful. This is what makes the representations that followed so moving. During times of persecutions, the bas-reliefs of Mary adorned many sarcophagi of martyrs; she is seen sitting as a Roman matron, holding her Son on her knees, presenting Him to the Magi juxtaposed to the three Hebrews in the furnace on the same wall. She appears, at the same time, as the Mother of Christ and the mother of those whose faith helps them to escape the disaster of denial and whom she reunites in a unique act of adoration, whether Jews or Gentiles.
Precious vials from Monza brought back by pilgrims from the Holy Land insist on the reality of Mary’s motherhood. Syrian artists did not hesitate to represent the Virgin lying down, like other mothers, and this position was retained by the painters of icons as well as Gothic artists of the West.
... to the “Mother of God”
However, the solemn affirmation of the Council of Ephesus led the artists of the mosaics of St Mary Major Basilica in Rome and those of Ravenna to use purple and gold in the Mother of God’s clothing and a circle of four angels surrounding her in the fashion of imperial lectors (a special class of civil servants with the charge of attending and guarding magistrates). These signs of honor were soon simplified to represent only the serious expression of the One whom Christians call “The Throne of Wisdom.” These Virgins of Majesty have long been the objects of veneration from Latins and Easterns alike, whether they came in the form of painted or sculpted images, in the wood of the Black Madonnas or in stone on church facades.
Then she became “Our Lady”...
Mary takes the place of the ideal Lady praised by medieval poets, but she belongs to none other than God. She is called Our Lady at the same time that she is depicted as smiling at the Child she holds tenderly on her lap. She has become so close to humanity that her children will dare to carve Pietas, giving thanks to the One whose heart was pierced for them. Wasn’t it the way that Simeon had hailed her?
Mary had so much merit that she would be resurrected and crowned, the first of all the redeemed.
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Marie Jeanne Coloni
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