The Medieval Mary

The Medieval Mary | The Introduction to Mary in the Middle Ages | by Luigi Gambero

In an earlier publication, dedicated to the patristic era [1], we attempted to gather together the essential elements of the most ancient Christian tradition about the Church's teaching on the Mother of the-Lord, We drew these elements from the writings of the Church Fathers and other Christian authors who lived in their time. That book was intended as a kind of immersion in the original sources of the Church's tradition. The present volume aims to continue the journey already begun, moving on into the next period of history. This period has been called "medieval"-a rather debatable term that still has negative and pejorative connotations. For our part, we consider this period to be a time full of cultural value, in every sense of the word "cultural". We will go through the writings of Christian authors from this period, gathering together the most weighty and significant moments In the development of Marian doctrine and devotion.

The historical period we are considering embraces a span of time reaching from the end of the patristic age (eighth century) to the end of the fifteenth century. The close of this long series of centuries may be fixed by two historical events critical to both East and West, events so significant as to determine the end of an era.

In the East, with the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), the fall of the Byzantine Empire gave rise to particular difficulties within the life of the Byzantine Church. Many scholars of Greek origin and education decided to take refuge in the West, while those who stayed behind found the continuation of theological research and study an arduous and difficult undertaking.

In the West, the medieval era appeared to be in irreversible decline as early as the thirteenth century. Nevertheless, today it is customary to Prolong the medieval era by two centuries, right up to the close of the fifteenth century. In reality, the historical factors that were destined to open the door to the Renaissance were already well under way. The political rivalries of various kings and princes, as well as actual wars, the outbreaks of plagues, the incursions and invasions of the Muslims into European countries, along with a certain stagnation within European culture, such as an obsessive and sterile tendency toward speculation, and other, less important factors, heavily influenced Western learning and culture. On the level of religious learning, properly speaking, one may observe an exaggerated move toward an individualistic approach, which emphasized the desire to pursue the interior life at the expense of a religious commitment to live out the faith in practice. Finally, there occurred the catastrophic events that ensnared whole regions of Christendom, namely, the Protestant Reformation and the English schism. We think, then, that the end of the fifteenth century can be taken as the end of the Middle Ages, during which Marian doctrine and piety were seen as vital components of the Church's life, as much in the East as in the West, and the figure of Mary was considered an indisputable sign of sure faith in the mystery of the incarnate Word.

Continue reading...