One minor note, the last post was a separate day from the prior one--the photo file dates corrected my memory. Oops!
The next day was quite busy, so the earliest visit of the day will have its own post.
We visited the church of the Nativity of Mary. As most of the holy sites, the actual architecture of the shrine is fairly new. (You may go back to the discussion of Gethsemane for a look at the kind of build-destruction-rebuild history that is common in the Holy Land. Not to mention the names, ahem, of any particular group that is all about destroying shrines that are older than their things. Ahem.)
Inside the upper church. (In background, another group at prayer.)
There is a staircase down into the grotto. The shrine custodians have helpfully placed a sign at the steps.
One of the images of the birth of Our Lady. St. Anna, top left, wiping her face after the labor is completed. St. Joachim, bottom, stewing outside and hoping all goes well for his aged wife.
This was the first time on this pilgrimage that I saw some handwork that I could photograph. (Much of the time the altar cloths were either not easily photographed or looked like they'd been done by machine embroidery.)
It looks like herringbone stitch filling on the lily and chain stitch for the monogram outline. This monogram would be the A-M for Ave Maria. The A legs are included in the M legs I think. The point on top, though, while it could be the echo of the lily, seems to me to certainly be the point of the A. The lily covers over all of the center parts of the monogram.
This looks like chain stitch used as filling for the IHS (Iesus Salvador Hominum, Jesus Savior of Mankind) and also for the cruciform outlines.
This is not embroidery but a mosaic. I liked the way the fish and loaves and basket are made here. (The fish and loaves, being a reference to the miraculous feeding of the multitude, are a Eucharistic symbol.)
This is seen from a difficult angle. It appears to be a painted image on fabric, with pearls added, below the A-M monogram with a crown above, these either in couched-down metallic braid or actual braided goldwork stitching. The crown has a couple of gems added, too. A lovely image of the infant Mary.
This book on the pillow is likely the Gospels but it's not easy for me to tell. The image in the metalwork is of the Cross with Jesus crucified, and Mary and St John at the feet of the Cross. The pillow here matches one in a photo I didn't include, of a crown in a niche like the Infant Mary image above. This photo is included because of the lovely lace hanging from the altar. It might be hand crocheted, or might not, but it's lovely.
The story of the birth of the Virgin Mary isn't actually in the Gospel. It's in the contemporaneous works that are now lumped under the title of Apocrypha. It's a lovely story, which I heard once on a Great Courses set we listened to, but I don't recall it well enough to recap it here. I do remember that St. Anne and St. Joachim are the parents of the Blessed Virgin.
No comments:
Post a Comment