GALLERY
Virgins
My admiration for the Virgin comes from her gaze filled with love and acceptance and her openness to the needs of her children.
Parents understand that children must leave the nest, so to speak, and live on their own as adults, but parenting instincts do not just go away when a child reaches a certain age. Parents need understanding and maturity to let children live their own lives as they grow up. Children, who for years have needed seemingly constant care and attention, grow and mature, and may come to resent what they see as needless “mothering.” They want to be on their own, making their own decisions. For Mary and Jesus, that separation, in mind if not in living space, was unique for both of them. Mary not only had to let her son go, but also begin the relationship with him that was destined from his conception: that he was the Savior, and Mary, like the rest of us, was a sinner in need of salvation. For Jesus’ part, he had to walk in the fullness of his calling, realizing that there was much about him and his life that Mary, in spite of her love for him, would not fully comprehend.
Acceptance of the unacceptable is the greatest source of grace in this world.
Throughout history, there have been women and men who, in the face of great loss, illness, imprisonment, or impending death, accepted the seemingly unacceptable and thus found “the peace that passeth all understanding.” Acceptance of the unacceptable is the greatest source of grace in this world.
This art project is dedicated to my mother for her unconditional love and acceptance and to all the mothers who not fully comprehend their sons and daughters but have learned to love them unconditionally even when they can not fully comprehend them.
To dispel any doubts it is necessary to take action.
One day I heard: “you will find thirteen virgins” and I did.
Immaculate Heart of Mary (also known as The Sacred Heart of Mary)
Country of Origin: Fatima, Portugal.
History: The Immaculate Heart of Mary (also known as The Sacred Heart of Mary) is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all persons. The consideration of Mary’s interior life and the beauties of her soul, without any thought of her physical heart, does not constitute the traditional devotion; still less does it consist in the consideration of the heart of Mary merely as a part of her virginal body. The two elements are essential to the devotion, just as, according to Roman Catholic theology, soul and body are necessary to the constitution of man. In 1855, the Mass of the Most Pure Heart formally became a part of Catholic practice.
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Eastern Catholic Churches occasionally utilize the image, devotion, and theology associated with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. However, this is a cause of some controversy, some seeing it as a form of liturgical Latinisation. The Roman Catholic view is based on Mariology, as exemplified by Pope John Paul II‘s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae which builds on the total Marian devotion pioneered by Louis de Montfort.
Traditionally, the heart is depicted pierced with seven wounds or swords, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary. Consequently, seven Hail Marys are said daily in honor of the devotion. Also, roses or another type of flower may be wrapped around the heart.
Lady of the Rosary
Country of Origin: Prouilhe, Francia.
History: Our Lady of the Rosary also known as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in relation to the Rosary.
In 1571, Pope Pius V instituted “Our Lady of Victory” as an annual feast to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Lepanto. The victory was attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a rosary procession had been offered on that day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Muslim forces from overrunning Western Europe. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast-day to “Feast of the Holy Rosary”. This feast was extended by Pope Clement XI to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October.Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October in 1913, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays.
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Prior to the Battle of Lepanto, in thanks for the victory of the Battle of Muret, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester built the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Victory.
Our Lady of the Rosary is the patron saint of several places around the world and María del Rosario is a common female Spanish name (colloquially abbreviated toRosario or Charo). Rosario can also be used as a male first name, particularly in Italian.
Lady of the Rosary
Country of Origin: Prouilhe, Francia.
History: Our Lady of the Rosary also known as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in relation to the Rosary.
In 1571 Pope Pius V instituted “Our Lady of Victory” as an annual feast to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Lepanto. The victory was attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a rosary procession had been offered on that day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Muslim forces from overrunning Western Europe. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast-day to “Feast of the Holy Rosary”. This feast was extended by Pope Clement XI to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October.Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October in 1913, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays.
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Prior to the Battle of Lepanto, in thanks for the victory of the Battle of Muret, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester built the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Victory.
Our Lady of the Rosary is the patron saint of several places around the world and María del Rosario is a common female Spanish name (colloquially abbreviated toRosario or Charo). Rosario can also be used as a male first name, particularly in Italian.
Mary Help of Christians.
Country of Origin: Constantinople, capital of the Bizantine Impire.
History: Mary Help of Christians (in Latin : Maria Auxilium Christianorum) is a title of Mary Help of Christians (in the Church Catholic Roman) created for the Virgin Mary and that takes its name from the year 345 with John Chrysostom , took power with Pope Pius V in the sixteenth century and was definitely popularized with the development of educational and apostolic works of Don Bosco in the nineteenth century . Although commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church, theOrthodox Church also knows the title from 1030 in Ukraine when the country was able to fend off an invasion Barbara , made the religiosity of the time attributed to theaid of the Virgin Mary.
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The title of Mary Help of Christians has been strongly associated to the nineteenth century to the military defense of all Catholics and Orthodox strongholds in Europe , North Africa and the Middle East against non-Christian peoples, especially the Muslims . Just under Pope Pius V, euro-Christian peoples gathered a huge force to stop the advance of the Turks in 1572 led a powerful army to conquer Europe definitely. While Christians gathered armies of all European nations, finally managed to defeat the invaders, the Pope had asked all Christendom to pray and to include the invocation Sancta Maria Auxilium Christianorum. With the popularization of the Salesiansdid the devotion to Mary Help of Christians in all countries where houses were opened Don Bosco, was given the emergence of numerous shrines, among which the most famous is precisely that of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin .
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Country of Origin: Mount Carmel, Israel
History: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, commonly referred to as Virgen del Carmen or Nuestra Señora del Carmen, is one of several invocations of the Virgin Mary . Its name comes from the called Mount Carmel, in Israel, a name derived from the word Karmel or Al-Karem and which could be translated as ‘garden’. There currently active Carmelite orders spread around the world, male and female, which revolve around this figure Marian.
In Spain is patron of the Tues and the Spanish Armada. So is the Army of the Andes, which led by General José de San Martín, conceived the independence of Argentina, Chile and Peru. Considered Queen and Patroness of Chile, of the Armed Forces and Carabineros de Chile , is patron of the Colombian National Police, the carriers in Colombia, in Peru is “Patroness of Creole” and “Mayor of the City of Lima “in Bolivia is the patron of the nation and its Armed Forces, and in Venezuela is the patron of the Army.
Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos.
Country of Origin: San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico.
History: The sanctuary’s history begins in 1542 when Father Miguel de Bologna, a Spanishpriest, brought a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception to the village. The town was then called San Juan Mezquititlan Baptist but its name was changed to San Juan de Los Lagos in 1623. According to local legends, that year the daughter of some local Indian peasants fell ill, her parents prayed for her health, and the young girl recovered. Following this miracle, the statue began to be venerated by an increasing number of pilgrims including Indians, Spanish andmestizos. During this period the statue acquired its own local identity as Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos. Between the early 17th century and the middle of the 19th century a pilgrimage fair was held each year on November 30 to celebrate the original installation of the statue in the shrine.
Virgin of Lujan
Country of Origin: Lujan, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
History: The Virgin of Lujan or Our Lady of Luján, is one of the invocations that venerates the figure of Virgin Mary in Catholicism. It is considered patroness of Argentina , Paraguay andUruguay.
The original image is small and simple, with only 38 cm high, made of baked clay and representative of the Immaculate Conception. The events that took place around it and determined that their stay in the vicinity of the Luján River in the seventeenth century were interpreted as angels so faithful Catholics. From the first marches toward workers Basilica of Our Lady of Luján in the late nineteenth century to the massive annual pilgrimage in the present, over one million people, Our Lady of Luján has become an emblematic image, which convenes manifestations of faith over Argentina. Today it is considered one of the symbols of the culture of that country.
Lady of Grace.
Country of Origin: Cambrai, France.
History: Our Lady of Grace is a Marian devotion deeply rooted in the land of the Spanish Levante and in other areas of the Peninsula . This Marian devotion has its origins in the sentence that the angel Gabriel told Mary the day of the Annunciation “Hail Mary, full of grace.”
For Christians this title merely highlight this divine quality that God put in Santa Maria.
There are many images that are worshiped under this title, such as Ocaña ( Toledo ),Puertollano ( Ciudad Real ), Caudete ( Albacete ), Villarreal ( Castellón ), Biar ( Alicante ), Arjona, Baleares ), Atalbéitar ( Granada ), Paracuellos ( Cuenca ), Castielfabib ( Valencia ),San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( Madrid ), Archidona and Alhaurin el Grande ( Malaga ) andCastilleja de Guzman ( Sevilla ). In these locations include the festivals held in honor of this Marian devotion. In San Lorenzo de El Escorial is national cultural festival the festival of Our Lady of Grace.
The feast of Our Lady of Grace is celebrated in most places on the second Sunday of September.
Lady of Grace.
Country of Origin: Cambrai, France.
History: Our Lady of Grace is a Marian devotion deeply rooted in the land of the Spanish Levanteand in other areas of the Peninsula . This Marian devotion has its origins in the sentence that theangel Gabriel told Mary the day of the Annunciation “Hail Mary, full of grace.”
For Christians this title merely highlight this divine quality that God put in Santa Maria.
There are many images that are worshiped under this title, such as Ocaña ( Toledo ), Puertollano( Ciudad Real ), Caudete ( Albacete ), Villarreal ( Castellón ), Biar ( Alicante ), Arjona, Baleares ), Atalbéitar ( Granada ), Paracuellos ( Cuenca ), Castielfabib ( Valencia ), San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( Madrid ), Archidona and Alhaurin el Grande ( Malaga ) and Castilleja de Guzman ( Sevilla ). In these locations include the festivals held in honor of this Marian devotion. In San Lorenzo de El Escorial is national cultural festival the festival of Our Lady of Grace.
The feast of Our Lady of Grace is celebrated in most places on the second Sunday of September.
Lady of Grace.
Country of Origin: Cambrai, France.
History: Our Lady of Grace is a Marian devotion deeply rooted in the land of the Spanish Levante and in other areas of the Peninsula . This Marian devotion has its origins in the sentence that the angel Gabriel told Mary the day of the Annunciation “Hail Mary, full of grace.”
For Christians this title merely highlight this divine quality that God put in Santa Maria .
There are many images that are worshiped under this title, such as Ocaña ( Toledo ), Puertollano ( Ciudad Real ), Caudete ( Albacete ), Villarreal ( Castellón ), Biar ( Alicante ), Arjona, Baleares ), Atalbéitar ( Granada ), Paracuellos ( Cuenca ), Castielfabib ( Valencia ),San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( Madrid ), Archidona and Alhaurin el Grande ( Malaga ) andCastilleja de Guzman ( Sevilla ). In these locations include the festivals held in honor of this Marian devotion. In San Lorenzo de El Escorial is national cultural festival the festival of Our Lady of Grace.
The feast of Our Lady of Grace is celebrated in most places on the second Sunday of September.
Virgin of Guadalupe.
Country of Origin: Mexico City, Mexico.
History: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe) is a celebratedRoman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.
Two accounts, published in the 1640s, one in Spanish, one in Nahuatl, tell how, while walking from his village to Mexico City in the early morning of December 9, 1531 (then the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire), the peasant Juan Diego saw on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac a vision of a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age, surrounded by light. Speaking to him in Nahuatl, the local language, she asked that a church be built at that site, in her honor; from her words, Juan Diego recognized the Lady as the Virgin Mary. Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her identity.The first sign was the Virgin healing Juan’s uncle. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. Although December was very late in the growing season for flowers to bloom, Juan Diego found at the usually barren hilltop Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, which the Virgin arranged in his peasant tilma cloak. When Juan Diego opened the cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric.
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The icon is now displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most visited Marian shrines.[3] The icon is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image, bearing the titles: the Queen of Mexico,[4] and was once proclaimed Patroness of the Philippines (but later revised) by Pope Pius XI in 1935. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin Mary Patroness of the Americas, Empress of Latin America, and Protectress of Unborn Children under this Marian title.
Our Lady of Fatima.
Country of Origin: Fatima, Portugal.
History: Our Lady of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora de Fátima,) is a title for the Virgin Mary due to her reputed apparitions to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months in 1917, beginning on May 13. The three children were Lúcia dos Santosand her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
The title of Our Lady of the Rosary is also sometimes used to refer to the same apparition (although it was first used in 1208 for the reputed apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children related that the apparition called herself the “Lady of the Rosary”. It is also common to see a combination of these titles, i.e. Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima).
The events at Fátima gained particular fame due to their elements of prophecy andeschatology, particularly with regard to possible world war and the conversion of Soviet Russia. The reported apparitions at Fátima were officially declared “worthy of belief” by the Catholic Church.
Our Lady of Suyapa.
Country of Origin: Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
History: The Virgin of Suyapa (Spanish: Virgen de Suyapa) is an 18th-century statue (6 cm/2.3 in) of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The statue, also known as Our Lady of Suyapa (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Suyapa), is perhaps Honduras‘ most popular religious image, and the focus of an extensive pilgrimage. The statue is kept in the Basílica de Suyapa in Suyapa, a suburb of the capital Tegucigalpa, and toured through various other parts of the country each year in early February. Many thousands of people from all over Central America make pilgrimages to visit the statue on her name day, February 3rd, a commemoration of the day she was found. The statue has been stolen and then recovered on two occasions.
Our Lady of Suyapa is the Patroness of Honduras.