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| Monumental Christianity; or, The art and symbolism of the primitive church. CHAPTER VIII - 3 |
Page 4 of 6 St. Ambrose, in his treatise on Virginity, simply holds up the Virgin as an example of maidenly piety ; and St. Augustine says that the personal appearance of the Virgin Mary was not known, from whom He (Christ) was miraculously born without male intercourse, and without the corruption of child-birth. His language is in strict accord with that of the Gregorian Sacramentary, when it says in its collect for the festival of the Annunciation that she remained a pure, chaste virgin after conception and child-birth ; but is not invoked as a mediatrix.* {De Trin. 1. viii. c. 5.) Two other frescoes published by De Rossi, of the second century, one from the cemetry of Domatilla, and the other from that of Peter and Marcellinus, represent the scene of the adoration of the Magi very simply, but in case of the former with four Magi, and in the latter only two, both of which are unusual, the number of Magi in all other cases being three. Who knows when the tradition as to these Magi originated? May not these two frescoes have been painted before that tradition ? Or are they so made only for the symmetry of the picture? ' A History of Ancient Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy, Pp. 202-3. London and Florence, 1866. * Mttratori, torn. II. p. 315. This is the collect as given in the Liturgia Romana Vetus, for the eighth kalends of April. " Vertf dignum, &c., aeteme Deus. Qui per beats Mariae Virginis partum Ecclesis tuae tribttisti celebrare mysterium, et inenarrabile sacramentum, in qua manet intacta castitas, pudor integer, firma constantia ; quae laetatur, quod Virgo concepit, quod Caeli Dominum castis portavit visceribus, quod Virgo edidit partum. O admirandam divinae dispensationis operationem ! Quae virum non cognovit, et Mater est, et post ilinm Virgo est. Duobus enim gavisa est muneribus. Miratur, quod Virgo peperit, laetatur, quod Redemtorem Mundl edidit Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quern majestatem, &c." Here is positive statement as to the miraculous conception, &c., but not a trace of worship to the Virgin, or of invocation of her as mediatrix. But what is to be s.iid of this modern collect of the Missale Romanum^ for the festival of the Annunciation? " Deus, qui be^tae Marise Virginis utero verbum tuum, Angelo nuntiante, carnem suscipere voluisti ; prsesta supplicibus tuis ; ut qui vere eam genetricem Dei credimus, ejus apud te in* tercessionibus ^.1 U'-^mur. Per eumdem Dominum nostrum.'* Here is a decided change, or rather addition, in the words of supplication for aid by the intercessions of the Virgin to God, through Jesus Christ. 27 2IO Monumental Christianity, Far away in the secluded valley of Argub, in Cappadocia, whither the -per- secuted Christians had retired to escape the violence of Diocletian, and excavated places of concealment in the mountain sides, the chapels and oratories counted by hundreds, contain pictures of Christian subjects; and among the rest there is one of the Virgin seated in a chair clad in blue, with veil and nimbus, holding the naked child in her lap, who has an open book in his little hand, and points with his right forefinger to some passage in it ; while two angels hover over the bending figure of an aged man presenting a volume to the child. Another figure like a prophet stands behind the chair of the Virgin and Child, holding up his right forefinger towards heaven. It is published by Texier and Pullan, who say, ** Until the end of the fifth century the figure of the Virgin was never represented except as accom- panied by the infant Christ ; and the iconography in the East is quite Egyptian." * This agrees with what Bishop Mtinter says on the subject, in connexion with the portraiture of the Virgin, that no attempt was made at portraitwre either of the Virgin or Child ; but both were idealized. The traditionary portrait of St. Luke is unauthenticated. And besides, the artists of Christian antiquity may possibly have had Isis and Horus before them sometimes, in their representations of the Virgin and Child, without giving character to them.' R. Rochette confirms this view of the matter in his Tableau des Catacombs, (c. vi.) * Now, Isis and Horus are always seated in a chair ; and I have in my possession an antique little charm or amulet of this very subject, possibly to be worn round the neck, or to be hung up for worship ; and the two look exactly like the Chris- tian Mother and Child, even to the blue colour, still retained. It is about an inch and a half long, with a hole at the back of the neck for a* string or chain. It is apparently of baked clay, and one of the cheap sort used by the y:ommon people of ancient Egypt. Fig. 91 is the fac-simile of an ancient bronze, in my possession, of the more usual style. The chair is gone. On the head of Isis is the combined sun and moon, with a serpent's head issu- ing out of her forehead. Horus also has the serpent's head, emblematic of the Divine emanation or wisdom. These attributes of sun, and moon, and serpent, are never seen in early Christian art, in the treatment of the Mother and Child. They were essentially Pagan in a bad sense, and therefore excluded. In all other respects the treatment is the same, viz., that of holy maternity and the Incarnate God. Count Caylus publishes, among other examples of Isis and Horus, this inter- esting variety, bearing obvious traces of Greek workmanship.* ' Byzantine Architecture, &c., pp. 41-2, pi. V. ' Sinnbilder^ Zweit Heft. vi. 26-28. •Paris, 1837. ^Recueil^ &c., III. pi. ix. pp. 41-a. Jesus Christ as Human. 211 It is a beaatiful intaglio of three-coloured agate, the pecuh'arities of which are the lotus flower on the head of the goddess and her divine son, instead of the usual serpent ; and the termination of the chair in the fornn of the cross, or symbol of life. (See Fig. 92.) Is this Egyptian mother, too, meditating her son's con- flict, suflering, and triumph, as she holds him before her, and gazes into his face ? And is thi^ cross meant to convey the idea of life through suffering, and con- flict with Typho or Evil ? It looks like it ; and yet there is another Pagan type of Christ, of more marked significance and unusual clearness. (Fig. 93.) It is an image of baked clay found at Babylon, and described by Sir R. K. Porter as three and a half inches high, bearing traces of glazing in colour.' But he does not say what kind of colour. It ought to be blue like the baked clay figures of Isis and Horus, and like the blue drapery which Christian art gives to the Virgin Mary. The Babylonians wor- shipped a goddess mother and a son, who was repre- sented in pictures and in images as an infant in his mother's arms. Her name was Mylitta, the same as the Cyprian Venus. She was the mother of grace and mercy, the heavenly Dove, the hope of the world, the mediatrix ; and hence called Aphrodite, or wrath- subduer, — she, who by her charms, could soothe the breast of angry Jove, and soften the most rugged spirits of gods or men. At Athens she was called Amarusia, or the mother of gracious acceptance ; at Rome, Bona Dea, or the good goddess. The Divine Son was Tammuz or Adonis, the same as Horus, and invested with all his father's attributes and glory, and identified with Him. This son, wor- shipped in his mother's arms, was a most complete type, both in name and charac- ter, of the promised Messiah. As Christ has the prophetic title of Adonai, or Lord, in the Old Testament, so was Tammuz called Adom or Adonis. He was Fic. 91.— Isis And Horns. * Travels in Persia. &c.. II. pi. 80, No. 3, p. 425. 212 Monumental Christianity. Fig. 9a.— Isis and Horus. the same as Mithras, and worshipped as Medi- ator.* (Fig. 93.) The Babylonian Mylitta was doubtless a derivation from the Hindu Lakshmi, the Lotus or blue-eyed Camala, the mother of the uni- verse, goddess of prosperity and abundance, the consort or sacti of Vishnu, 1. e., the active energy of the preserving Power of the world. She is Ceres, Juno, Venus, all in one. Like Ceres she is the goddess of abundance ; like Juno Lucina she presides over marriage, and is invoked for children ; and like Venus she sprang from the foam of the sea, and became the consort of Vishnu.* She is represented in her husband's arms, of which there are many various examples. (Fig. 94.) The Lotus is in one hand, and the other embraces her lord. Vishnu is the youthful god, like Apollo; he is here Narayana, and identified with the Spirit of God, holding in his hands the Chank 2Xi^ the Chakra, t\ e.<, the wreathed shell and the discus, the latter of which is aflame, and like Xh^ fttlmen of Jupiter to hurl at the wicked. The Chank is the conch-shell once used as a trumpet in war. With his fore left hand he holds Lakshmi, and his right is giving a benediction. Lakshmi is called prosperity, in the Vishnu Pur ana ; and as Sri she is the sea-born goddess, the bride of Vishnu, the mother of the world, the eter- nal and imperishable ; as Vishnu is all-pervading, so is she omnipresent. Vishnu is meaning; she is speech. Vishnu is understanding; she is intellect. He is righteousness ; she is devotion. He is the creator; she is creation. . . . She, the mother of the world, is the creeping vine; and Vishnu is the tree round which she clings. She is the night ; the ^^^ 93.-Myutuand Tammux. * Hislop's Two BabyloHs, pp. 1 13-14. and 256-7. Fifth edition. • Moor's Hindu Panihe<m, pp. 132-144, plate 1 1. No. I. yssus Christ as Human. 213 god who is armed with the mace and the discus is the day. He, the bestower of bless- ings, is the bride- groom ; the lotus- throned goddess is the bride. Lakshmi is desire; Narayana, the master of the world, is covet- ousness. All that is male is Vishnu or Hari ; Lakshmi is all that is fe- male. As a specimen of the devotion offered to this goddess throned in heaven, I give this from the Vishnu Pur ana: ** I bow down to Sri, the mother of all beings, seated on her lotus throne, with eyes like full-blown lotuses, reclining on the breast of Vishnu. . . . The world is peopled by thee with pleasing or displeasing forms. Who else than thou, O goddess, is seated on that person of the god of gods, the wielder of the mace, which is made up of sacrifice^ and contemplated by holy ascetics t From thy propi- tious gaze, O mighty goddess, men obtain wives, children, dwellings, friends, har- Fio. 94.— Vishna and Lakthmi, or Lakthmi-Narayana. 214 Monumental Christianity. vests, wealth. Health and strength, power, victory, happiness, are easy of attain- ment to those upon whom thou smilest. Thou art the mother of all beings, as the god of gods, Hari, is their father: and this world, whether animate or inanimate, is pervaded by thee and Vishnu. O thou who purifiest all things, forsake not our treasures, our granaries, our dwellings, our dependents, our persons, our wives; abandon not our children, our friends, our lineage, our jewels, O thou who abidest in the bosom of the god of gods. . . . The tongues of Brahma are unequal to celebrate thy excellence. Be propitious to me, O goddess, lotus-eyed, and never forsake me more." * Colebrooke also gives a seven-fold invocation, which concludes thus : " I invoke the goddess who is endowed with the attributes of all the gods, who confers all happiness, who be^tow^ abodes in all worlds for the sake of all people. I pray to that auspicious goddess for immortality and happiness." * Sir Wm. Jones in his hymn to Lakshmi says : " So name the Goddess from h^r Lotos blue, Or Camala, if more auspicious deem*d." ' And so a lotus-eyed goddess is a blue-eyed one. This benignant Pagan mother of the world is the precise model of the Pagan- ized Virgin Mary of the modern Latin Church ; and the invocations addressed to both are much alike, as we shall soon see. And we shall also see this Virgin mother, this pure maid of Israel, this lowly spouse of the carpenter Joseph of Nazareth, rising like the goddess Lakshmi or Venus from the sea in her assumption, and seated on the same heavenly throne beside her Lord Christ, crowned a goddess and receiv- ing the adoration of the saints and angels. The proof of this will be given in its proper place, with another Hindu goddess sometimes identified with Lakshmi. Meanwhile, let us trace this female cultus into Italy, and consider it under that form of worship specially paid to Juno Lucina. whose image is here repro- duced from Count Caylus* collection.* Like the Babylonian Mylitta, it is of baked clay, and was found at Tarentum, A. D. 1774. (See Fig. 95.) Caylus suggests that it may be an ex voto offering to Juno Lucina, the goddess of marriage and child- birth, among the Greeks and Romans. Dr. Von DSllinger tells us that, " Originally Juno was the female deity of nature in its widest extent, the deification of womanhood, woman in the sphere « Wilson's Trans, pp. 54. and 78-9. ^Essays, yoI. i, pp. i79-®0- • Warks, vol. xiii., p. 292. * Recueil, &c., III., plate Ix.. No. I, p. aa^. Jesus Christ as Human. 215 of the divine, and therefore also her name of Juno was the appellative designation of a female genius or guardian spirit. Every wife had her own Juno, and the female slaves of Rome swore by the Juno of their mistresses; and as the genius of a man could be propitiated, so could also the Juno of a woman. The whole of a woman's life, in all its moments, from the cradle to the grave, was thus under the conduct and protection of this goddess, but especially her two chief destinations, marriage and maternity. Accordingly, the Roman women sacrificed to Juno Natalis on their birth-day, and observed in like manner the Matronalia in the temple of Juno Lucina, in commemoration of the institu- tion of marriage by Romulus, and the fidelity of the ravished Sabine women. The goddess, as Fluonia, in common with Mena, presided over the purification of women, and was worshipped as Juga, Curitis, Domiduca, Unxia, Pronuba, or Cinxia, according to the several usages immediately concerning the bride, in the solemnization of marriage. As Ossipaga she compacted the bones of the child in its'molher*s womb; as Opigena she assisted mothers in labour; and as Lucina she brought the child into the light of day; and therefore when the time of birth approached, Lu- cina and Diana were invoked, and a table was spread with viands for the former." ' As Matrona and Virginalis, too, Juno was the special protectress of females from the cradle to the grave. With Diana, she was the chaste and pure goddess. The month of June, originally called Junonius after her, was considered to be the most favora- ble period for marrying, and is still preferred by many. The sanctity and inviola- bility of marriage were especially dear to Juno, and all inchastity and inordinate love of sexual pleasures were hated by the goddess. A law of Numa ordained that no prostitute should touch the altar of Juno, or if she had done so, she must with dishevelled hair offer a female lamb to the goddess. In child-bed Juno Lucina was invoked to aid the labour of bringing the child to lights on which account she was like the Greek Artemis or Eileithyia, and sometimes identified with her. As Jupiter Fig. 95.— Juno Lucina and Child. ' yew and Gentile, II., pp. 48-9. 2i6 Monumental Christianity. was king of heaven and of the gods, so Juno was queen of both, the wife and sister of Jupiter. Ast egp^ quae Divum incido Regina, Jovisque Et soror et conjux, una cum gente tot annos Bella gero. Et quisquam numen Junonis adoret Pneterea, aut supplex aris imponat honorem ? * As queen of heaven and the chaste or immaculate protectress of women, Juno was substituted by the Church of the middle ages for the historic and lowly Jewish maiden, the mother of Christ, as she is represented in the New Testament and in early Christian art. It was a shrewd device thus to gain the ascendancy in all social and political life by securing the fervour, affection, and constancy of the women, who even yet are the most enthusiastic devotees of the worship of the Virgin Mary as Juno Lucina, in all countries where the Latin Church is established. Dante twice alludes to this, as when he says in the Purgatory: *' With weary steps and slow We pass'd ; and I attentive to the shades. Whom piteously I heard lament and wail ; And, midst the wailing, one before us heard Cry out, " O blessed Virgin ! " as a dame In the sharp pangs of child-bed ; and " How poor Thou wast," it added, '* wifhess that low roof Where thou didst lay thy sacred burden down." * And again, in the Paradise , the poet says : " In such composed and seemly fellowship, Such faithful and such fair equality, In so sweet household, Mary at my birth Bestow'd me, call'd on with loud cries."' |