MARY IN HISTORY 4

Along the Roads of the
Middle Ages
Traces continues the journey of discovery of Mary’s incidence in history.
In the Middle Ages, devotion to the Mother of God was marked by the birth of new religious orders and the building of shrines. This popular sentiment was also reflected in literature and iconography

by Fidel González

The Middle Ages is the golden age of Marian devotion in the West. Marian theology, iconography and devotion, deeply rooted in the Christian East, grows stronger and stronger in the Western Church, renewed by the influx of new peoples–, Latins, Germans, Celts and Slavs– as they convert to Christianity. On embracing Christianity, these peoples contribute new elements of devotional expression towards the Mother of God, each according to its particular sensitivity. Medieval ecclesiastical writers deepen the theological reflection on Mary’s unique position in the plan of Redemption, eventually establishing that she is due a cult higher than that of the other saints and the angels, the cult called hyperdulia. The Christian people’s sense of faith perceived this in a sublime way, dedicating to Our Lady countless expressions of affection and devotion that permeated the whole life of medieval society, both religious and profane. People were attracted and fascinated by Mary’s greatness: the whole of popular and erudite literature in the Middle Ages bears witness to this.

Marian literature
Marian piety is witnessed in preaching, in codices and in books of liturgical prayer like missals, Books of Hours and illuminated texts used by the choirs of monasteries and cathedrals. Many Marian legends are spread which illustrate the trust people had in Mary and the continuous miracles she worked for her devoted children.
The most famous medieval monks, authors, orators and missionaries in the West–, like the Englishman, St Bede the Venerable (673-735), from whose pen came some of the most beautiful poetry to the Virgin; the great reformer St Peter Damian of Ravenna (1007-1072); St Anselm of Aosta (1034-1109); St Bernard; the Dominican St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419); the Franciscan St Bernadine of Siena; and many more–dedicate a large part of their energies to Marian preaching, and compose homilies, hymns and treatises of great theological and literary depth.
Mary holds the place of honor in painting, sculpture and illuminated codices.
Up to the High Middle Ages, images and sculptures of the Blessed Virgin are to be found everywhere, and will later find their place in the great mosaics in the basilicas, in the Romanesque wall paintings, on church doorways, almost always as part of the cycle of salvation history which has Christ as its center.

Churches, shrines and pilgrimages
The Middle Ages sees great crowds moving from one region to another. As Raymond Oursel notes in his Pilgrims in the Middle Ages. The men, the roads and the shrines, in a climate of great political and social instability, the people do not feel strong links with their own land, and move in search of sure references for their life. Christians conceive the battle for salvation as a drama that lasts throughout life and involves the Church militant on earth in company with the Church suffering (in Purgatory) and the Church triumphant (in Heaven). Above all, there is God, next to Him the Mother of God, Mary, then the angels and the saints (Victor Turner - Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture). Here is the meaning of the pilgrimage, of the churches dedicated to the Mysteries of Christ, to Our Lady and to the saints. The roads crossing the European countries are scattered with churches dedicated to them. Some of these churches become special points of reference, often thanks to miracles or to historical events linked to the Virgin’s protection.
From the 9th century on, more and more churches are dedicated to Our Lady. The greatest number of these refer to the Mystery of the Assumption. When the custom begins of building extra chapels and side altars, there is no church without one dedicated to Our Lady. Votive shrines and small wayside chapels, niches in the countryside and at crossroads are dedicated to her, as well as Church bells; Christians begin to baptize their children with her name; the first great Marian shrines are built, spreading across the whole of Europe, and become places of pilgrimage, like Le Puy en Velay in France; in Spain, Covadonga in Asturias, where the reconquest of Spain begins under the eyes of Our Lady; Montserrat in Catalonia; El Pilar at Saragossa; Guadalupe in Estremadura. In England, known as Mary’s Dowry, Walsingham is founded (around 1061). This Marian shrine came to be considered the cradle of Christianity in England and was perhaps the first Marian church on the island. In 1184, the Normans built a beautiful church there, which was sacked in 1530 at the time of the schism of Henry VIII. In 15th century Italy, we have the Holy House of Loreto, built upon Mary’s house at Nazareth. The whole map of Europe was studded with these shrines that symbolize Mary’s merciful gaze on the Christian people. Marian confraternities sprang up, groups of craftsmen and workers, who solemnized the feasts of Mary and built churches, oratories and altars in her honor.

Religious Orders
In the 12th century, we see movements of intense reform in the Church. The most significant case is that of the Cistercian order, guided by that great personality, St Bernard. Europe is living in a contest of deep unrest and continuous pilgrimages, with a movement of people on the roads that amazes us today. A great ecclesial movement of knights, crusaders and pilgrims begins. This phenomenon is linked with the new monastic orders that spring from the Benedictine experience, like the Cistercians and the phenomenon of the Regular Canons, who pay great attention to the divine worship in collegiate churches, like the Premonstratensians. They all give a special place to Mary in their Christian experience. The phenomenon of this mobilization on the roads of Europe and towards the Holy Land, in order to visit the Holy Places or because of the Crusades, has a twofold effect: the Christians make direct physical contact with the places linked to biblical history, and especially they rediscover the places of Jesus’ and Mary’s life. From the Holy Land, they take back relics and other objects relating to those places. They then build chapels and churches to house them, where they can be “seen” and “touched.” They institute feasts in order to “celebrate” them; since everyone wants a relic of his own, they are often physically broken into pieces. Popes, kings, bishops, abbots and nobles make gifts of them to people, to churches and to other places as signs of friendship and alliances.
This period witnessed the development of the “Hospitaller” orders dedicated to the care of the sick, and military orders, such as the Templars, the Order of St John and the Knights of Malta, and other mixed congregations of clerics and laity, linked to the monastic communities and the Regular Canons. All these groupings have as their focal point and charismatic center the presence of Mary, who brings the Mystery of Christ near, more carnal and human. By looking at Mary, it is easier to follow more closely the human “traces” of Christ, which everyone wants to touch by visiting the places of His mortal life, or at least the places where these Mysteries are recalled or illustrated.
Now we turn to the new era that begins with the 13th century, “the autumn of the Middle Ages” and the prelude to the modern age. This era is a time of countless conflicts, plagues, wars and fierce confrontation with Islam. Prisoners, slaves and the sick are the order of the day. God grants His Church charisms that answer the needs of the times, such as the Hospitaller orders and those dedicated to the ransom of slaves, like the Trinitarians and the Mercedarians, the latter born in Barcelona under the protection of Our Lady of Mercy.

The Mendicant Orders
This moment of change, the beginning of a new age, sees the birth within the Church of new movements, at times heterodox and neognostic. These very soon place themselves at the margins of the Church and become hostile to her. There are also, though, other movements that pursue the authentic spirit of the Gospel, and are filled with fascination for the renewal of Christian life in fidelity to the Church. These are the Mendicant orders. All these new orders are centered on their experience of the Mystery of the humanity of Christ incarnate, and therefore the presence of Mary. This has always been a sign of their ecclesiality and orthodoxy. Among these we mention a few, like the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites and the Servites of Mary, who place themselves under the protection of Our Lady.
Many Marian devotions are accredited to the various founders, like the Rosary (very much linked with the Dominicans), the Mystery of Christmas (suffice it to recall the first Christmas crib made by St Francis at Greccio), and the devotion of the seven sorrows of Mary, among many others.

The praise of Mary
This immense Marian devotional movement was to have a great influence on the Church’s liturgy and on the institution of numerous liturgical feasts in honor of the various mysteries of Our Lady. Much earlier, certainly by the 9th century, Saturday is already considered a day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. From the 10th century, monks, clerics and lay people begin to recite the Little Office of Our Lady, a short version of the Choir offices. At first limited to Saturdays, it is later extended to the whole week, thanks to the work of the Cistercians, the Camaldolese and the Regular Canons, who add it to the sung office in their churches. Two Marian prayers stand out in this period: the Ave Maria (Hail Mary) and the Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen). From the 12th century, the first, with the addition of the word “Jesus,” will become the most widely recited Christian prayer along with the Our Father; the present form, which includes other invocations after “Holy Mary mother of God…” dates from the 13th century. Many Christians in the Middle Ages begin to recite the 150 Hail Marys in imitation of the praise and invocation of the 150 psalms. This custom spreads also as a simple form to replace the recitation and singing of the Office as carried out in the monasteries. At times, these 150 are divided into groups of ten and other invocations are introduced, as well as the meditation of the Mysteries of Jesus’ life. Thus, the Rosary is born, and other similar forms of reciting the Hail Mary in psalmodic form. The Rosary became one of the simplest and most common forms of prayer of the Christian people. The Hail Holy Queen is also a most ancient invocation, known already before the time of St Bernard (12th century) and widely spread. At the same time we see the spread of hymns, sequences (like the Stabat Mater dolorosa) and rhythmic compositions in Mary’s honor, the lauds and the sacred mystery plays. The prayer of the Angelus begins to spread in the 13th century.

Marian Feasts
Many new feasts of Mary are instituted in the Middle Ages and later extended to the whole Church. One such is that of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was celebrated in England and in Normandy in the 11th century. The Mystery of her preservation from original sin was highlighted in the theology of St Anselm. The feast of the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Elizabeth (at present, May 31st) dates from the 13th century, and Pope Boniface IX (1389-1404) extended it to the whole Church and Pope Clement VIII composed the liturgical texts. The devotion and the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel takes its origin from some Christian knights who retired to Mount Carmel, in Palestine, where the prophet Elijah had defended Israel’s faith in the living God. They dedicated themselves to the contemplation of the Mystery under the protection of Mary, the Mother of God. Thus, the Carmelite Order was born. The first general of the Order, the Englishman St Simon Stock, was given the “scapular” by Our Lady–, as the pledge and the promise of eternal life– and spread the devotion and the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th). Another feast of medieval origin is that of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was later established in honor of Our Lady of Victory, to celebrate the liberation of Christendom from the attacks of the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (Greece) on October 7, 1571, but its origins come earlier. In the Middle Ages, vassals used to offer their lords wreaths of flowers as a sign of honor and loyalty. Christians adopted this custom to honor Mary, offering her the triple “crown of roses,” recalling her joys (the Joyful Mysteries) her sorrows (the Sorrowful Mysteries) and her glory (the Glorious Mysteries) through her participation in the Mysteries of her Son’s life. This is the meaning of the Rosary.