Marian Art

The wonder and mystery of Mother Mary is that through her God entered into His creation as a tiny child, for our salvation. Through her humanity and her loving ‘yes’ to God, salvation entered this world as her Son, who she loved and nourished for all of her life. He turned to her, and we may now turn to her as well. Not as the Savior, but as the loving mother who guides our every step.

Thomas Merton wrote: “People do not realize the tremendous power of the Blessed Virgin. They do not know who she is: that it is through her hands all graces come, because God has willed that she thus participate in His work for the salvation of souls.”

St. Proclus (c. 390 - 446), Archbishop of Constantinople, described Mother Mary as: the shell which contains the pearl of price, the sacred shrine, the golden altar, the holy oil of anointing, the costly alabaster box, and God’s only bridge to man. She is the “fruitful vine by whom we are carried from death unto life.” Mother Mary is the gentle and protective mother, the icon of the astonishing beauty of true humility. As Dante Alighieri in his master narrative poem, The Divine Comedy, envisioned her, she is the radiant star who leads us eternally to her Son.