MEANING, MYSTERY AND MARIAN ART

Glenn Statile

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          In her Magnificat the Blessed Virgin Mary proclaims that her name and memory will continue to be blessed in generations to come (Luke 1: 48).  The history of Marian art testifies to the enduring truth of this prophecy.  Such art also provides the ardent student of Christian culture with ample resources for faithful reflection of a philosophical nature, as well as for delving more deeply, by means of prayerful meditation, into the mystery of the Trinity, the central mystery of the Catholic faith.  If William Cullen Bryant was correct to characterize the landscape paintings of his friend Thomas Cole as akin to religious acts in his funeral oration for the founder of the Hudson River School, then all the more do Marian images provide a proper medium for soulful meditation.  Devotion to Mary is both properly Christological and ecclesiological, as chapter 8 of Lumen Gentium so clearly articulates.  Christ is the way to the Father, and Mary is God’s chosen way to her Son.  Such was the devotion to Mary practiced and preached so ardently by St. Louis De Montfort.  Marian art, therefore, offers an invitation to all those who, like King Lear, would like to take upon themselves the mystery of things.