The Merciful Madonna

This little book is filled with beauty not of the Earth, it simply reminds us that Mary is Our Mother. Our Lady, in the year 1989, gave the book to the World to which attributed the words.

My LadyÓ in Italian...evokes memories of magnificent paintings over the Christian centuries, each artist trying to convey an impression of some aspect in the mystery of Mary, the woman chosen by God for a special relationship in His Incarnation, and through Him to all His people. There have been many Madonnas through the ages, but only one Mary, Mother of Jesus. Like the mystery of her divine Son, her participation in the rightness of divine Truth can only be contemplated by our limited minds from a great variety of approaches. The subtitle, Mary in the Catholic TraditionÓ implies that no matter how her image may vary from one generation or culture to the next, our faith is focused on the authentic Mary of Scripture, Tradition and infallible Church teaching, revered not for herself but as the Mother of Christ.

Leads us into the riches of God's boundless mercy as she teaches us the spirit, the liturgy and the customs of the Lent-Easter season.

The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto is the essential travel guide with clear maps and coverage of the regions unforgettable attractions. From the spiralling Scala de Bevalo to Europe's biggest collection of contemporary art in the Dogana di Mare, The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto unearths the best sites, hotels, restaurants, cafés and nightlife across every price range. You'll find the lowdown on the now-trendy Rialto area and the latest news on the flood barrier and Venice’s other conservation projects as well as the little-known nooks and crannies you should be exploring. The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto includes sections on the city's beautiful water-lapped palaces and lively festivals with specialist coverage of Venetian painting, sculpture and architecture and detailed information on the best markets and shopping-spots. Explore all corners of the region with authoritative background on everything from San Marco to the palazzi of the Canal Grande, relying on the clearest maps of any guide. Make the Most of Your Time with The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto.

The Russian word Poustinia means 'desert¿, a place to meet Christ in silence, solitude and prayer. Catherine Doherty combines her insights into the great spiritual traditions of the Russian Church with her very personal experience of life with Christ.

Mater Misericordiae?Mother of Mercy?emerged as one of the most prolific subjects in central Italian art from the late thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries. With iconographic origins in Marian cult relics brought from Palestine to Constantinople in the fifth century, the amalgam of attributes coalesced in Armenian Cilicia then morphed as it spread to Cyprus. An early concept of Mary of Mercy?the Virgin standing with outstretched arms and a wide mantle under which kneel or stand devotees?entered the Italian peninsula at the ports of Bari and Venice during the Crusades, eventually converging in central Italy. The mendicant orders adopted the image as an easily recognizable symbol for mercy and aided in its diffusion. In this study, the author?s primary goals are to explore the iconographic origins of the Madonna della Misericordia as a devotional image by identifying and analyzing key attributes; to consider circumstances for its eventual overlapping function as a secular symbol used by lay confraternities; and to discuss its diaspora throughout the Italian peninsula, Western Europe, and eastward into Russia and Ukraine. With over 100 illustrations, the book presents an array of works of art as examples, including altarpieces, frescoes, oil paintings, manuscript illuminations, metallurgy, glazed terracotta, stained glass, architectural relief sculpture, and processional banners.

In Virgin Whore, Emma Maggie Solberg uncovers a surprisingly prevalent theme in late English medieval literature and culture: the celebration of the Virgin Mary’s sexuality. Although history is narrated as a progressive loss of innocence, the Madonna has grown purer with each passing century. Looking to a period before the idea of her purity and virginity had ossified, Solberg uncovers depictions and interpretations of Mary, discernible in jokes and insults, icons and rituals, prayers and revelations, allegories and typologies—and in late medieval vernacular biblical drama. More unmistakable than any cultural artifact from late medieval England, these biblical plays do not exclusively interpret Mary and her virginity as fragile. In a collection of plays known as the N-Town manuscript, Mary is represented not only as virgin and mother but as virgin and promiscuous adulteress, dallying with the Trinity, the archangel Gabriel, and mortals in kaleidoscopic erotic combinations. Mary’s "virginity" signifies invulnerability rather than fragility, redemption rather than renunciation, and merciful license rather than ascetic discipline. Taking the ancient slander that Mary conceived Jesus in sin as cause for joyful laughter, the N-Town plays make a virtue of those accusations: through bawdy yet divine comedy, she redeems and exalts the crime. By revealing the presence of this promiscuous Virgin in early English drama and late medieval literature and culture—in dirty jokes told by Boccaccio and Chaucer, Malory’s Arthurian romances, and the double entendres of the allegorical Mystic Hunt of the Unicorn—Solberg provides a new understanding of Marian traditions.

Madonna has long been accepted as a pop culture icon, but this text postulates a greater cultural importance by analyzing her as a postmodern myth. This work examines how Madonna methodically discovered and constructed herself (often rewriting her past), the nature and extent of her ambition and the means she used to reach her goals. It also details the way in which she organized her own cult (borrowing from the gay community), devised her artistic output, and cunningly targeted different audiences. It also studies the fundamental contradiction--virgin or vamp? saint or prostitute?--that fuels Madonna's career and describes how Madonna reflects today's society, its contradictions and its attitudes toward sexuality and religion.