Maria Advocata

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Maria Advocata in Santa Maria del Rosario on Monte Mario, 6th century

The image of the Virgin Mary Advocata has been in the Chiesa della Madonna del Rosario , the monastery church of the Dominican Sisters on Monte Mario in Rome , since 1931 . The icon is considered to be one of the oldest surviving Marian icons and the oldest in Rome.

Different names

The icon has become known by several names:

  • Santa Maria in Tempulo after the small church of the same name in Via di Valle delle Camene 2, where the icon was probably kept from the 9th century to 1221,
  • Madonna di San Sisto after the monastery church of San Sisto Vecchio in Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, where it was kept from 1221 to 1575 (not to be confused with the same title of Raphael's Sistine Madonna ),
  • Santa Maria di Santi Domenico e Sisto after the then monastery church of the Dominican Sisters on Piazza Magnanapoli, where the icon was kept from 1575 to 1931,
  • Santa Maria del Rosario according to the place of storage since 1931 in the monastery church of the same name of the Dominican Sisters on Monte Mario,
  • Maria Advocata or Hagiosoritissa based on the iconographic style of Mary as advocate .

  • S. Maria in Tempulo, kept from the 9th century to 1221

  • S. Sisto Vecchio, kept from 1221–1575

  • SS. Domenico e Sisto, kept from 1575–1931

  • S. Maria del Rosario, kept since 1931

iconography

The icon was still painted using the ancient encaustic technique and had a gold background from the start . During the restoration in 1960, the result of the professional examination was recorded: “Location: Rome. Painter: unknown. Dimensions: 70.2 x 40.5 cm. Thickness of the board: 0.5 cm. Type of wood: perhaps linden, at least so eaten that it is difficult to determine the age. A copper plate holds the picture together from behind, so X-rays are impossible. ”It is assumed that the icon was painted by an icon painter in Syria or Palestine ; various indications are said to point to an emergence in the 6th century.

The wood of the painting ground is badly eaten away, but the portrait as a whole, especially the face, the gold nimbus and a hand, are still clearly visible. In later times the interceding hands were clad with gold sheets to protect them from kissing and a gold cross was added on the shoulder. These gold sheets were removed again during the restoration in 1960; they can still be seen today as an application in front of the icon.

The icon of Mary belongs to the iconographic type of Hagiosoritissa (Ἁγιοσορίτισσα, from hagios = "holy", and soros = "shrine"), ie "icon at the holy shrine" in the former Chalkoprateia church in Constantinople . The more common name is Maria Advocata (= "Maria as Intercessor") or Greek Ἁγιοσορίτισσα (Latin Paraklesis ). In the choice of motifs for icons of Mary, the depictions of Mary without a child ( Advocata ) preceded the images of the Mother of God with a child (e.g. Hodegetria ).

The Mother of God (without child) is shown in a sideways half-figure, eyes on the viewer, both hands raised in pleading. The head is covered by the shawl ( Maphorion ) with the "Mother of God star"; this spica (lat. "ear of corn") was considered a sign of virginity, derived from the brightest star of the same name in the constellation "Virgo". You can still see the old jewelry on the dress and wrists. The golden nimbus is set off from the rest of the gold ground by a slight hallmark . The artist has made clear how Mary intercedes as an intercessor with his means by painting the right hand, raised to the shoulder, beyond the edge of the picture to the edge of the icon. Mary turns to Jesus Christ with raised hands and with a slight turn of the body, as it were, out of the picture, in order to pass on the requests entrusted to her to him.

In this context it is important that the icon Madonna di San Sisto (= Maria Advocata ) was carried in the annual procession on the night before the Assumption (August 15); The icon of Mary and the icon of Christ from the Lateran, which were also carried along, are said to have bowed to each other. The icon of Christ is said to have been one of the oldest portraits of Christ, namely the non-human-made image ( Acheiropoieton , Greek: ἀχειροποίητον), which was kept in the Sancta-Sanctorum chapel of the Lateran Palace. The path of this procession led initially from the Lateran via the Via Sacra and Sant'Adriano at the Roman Forum to Santa Maria Maggiore , later also with stops in front of Santa Francesca Romana and San Sisto Vecchio. The model for this Roman procession was the image processions with icons of Christ and the Blessed Mother, which have been taking place in Constantinople since the 6th century, in which the icons took on more or less personal life and worked as individuals (Belting, pp. 61 and 83).

Up to the 10th century, the priority among the five oldest and most important Marian icons in Rome was controversial, although they sometimes belonged to different iconographic categories: Maria Advocata from San Sisto Vecchio (6th century), Regina Coeli (Salus Populi since the 19th century Romani) from Santa Maria Maggiore (6th / 7th century), Madonna del Conforto from Santa Maria Antiqua and then Santa Francesca Romana (6th / 7th century), temple image of Mary from Santa Maria ad Martyres , the Pantheon (Rome ) (6th / 7th century), Maria Regina from Santa Maria in Trastevere (7th century). According to Belting's research, it is likely that the Maria Advocata of San Sisto played the leading role in the August procession from the 10th century; it was also the first icon of Mary in Rome, which was explicitly declared to be an image of Luke around 1100 .

Among these early Roman images of Mary, Maria Advocata was the oldest and most famous icon: she was the only one painted on a gold background, held a privileged position in the August procession, and more early copies of her were made than any other icon of Mary in Rome. These copies of the Advocata were particularly sought-after because they also took part in the special veneration of the oldest icon of Mary as an image and were also taken with processions in Rome and Lazio. However, only the icons of the iconographic type of Mary as Intercessor and not those of the Hodegetria are considered such copies . The copies of the Advocata that are still preserved today include the icons in: Santa Maria in Aracoeli (8th / 9th and 12th centuries). Century), Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica (formerly St. Gregorius von Nazianz in Rome, 12th century), Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio (12th / 13th century), Santa Maria in Via Lata ( 12th century) ./13. Century), Santi Bonifacio e Alessio (12th / 13th century), San Lorenzo in Damaso (12th / 13th century), Santa Maria Maggiore, Tivoli / Latium (13th century), Cappella Paolina in the Apostolic Palace (16th century).

  • Santa Maria in Aracoeli, 8th and 10th centuries

  • Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica Rome, (formerly St. Gregorius von Nazianz, Rome), 12th century

  • Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio, 12./13. Century

  • Santa Maria in Via Lata, 12./13. Century

  • SS. Bonifacio e Alessio, 12./13. Century

  • San Lorenzo in Damaso, 12./13. Century

  • Santa Maria Maggiore, Tivoli / Latium, 13th century

history

According to ancient tradition, the Madonna of San Sisto ( Maria Advocata ) is said to have been brought to Rome by a pilgrim from Jerusalem or Constantinople before the first iconoclastic period , where it was brought to Rome by a certain Tempulo , one of three from Constantinople who was living in exile in Rome Brothers, acquired and placed in the neighboring small oratory of Sant'Agata in Turri on the ancient Via Appia . This small church was built at the end of the 6th century by the Greek community living there and dedicated to St. Agatha of Catania was consecrated. After Tempulo's death a monastic community must have formed there; because in 806 it is reported that the Saracens destroyed the monastery Tempuli . After the reconstruction with the support of Pope Sergius III. (904–911) monastery and church were consecrated to Mary, the Mother of God; the full name was Monasterium Sanctae Mariae qui vocatur Tempuli . Since 1155 the church in which the Maria Advocata was kept was called Santa Maria in Tempulo . (This old building in Via di Valle delle Camene 2 is now used by the Roman city council of Rome to hold civil weddings.)

On February 28, 1221, Domingo de Guzmán, known as Dominic , the founder of the Dominican Order , personally transferred the icon of Mary to the newly founded convent of San Sisto Vecchio on the old Via Appia (across from the Baths of Caracalla ), where the icon was was probably placed in the apse . Around 1570, Cardinal Filippo Buoncompagni, the title cardinal of San Sisto , planned to have the history of the icon depicted in 12 frescoes in the nave. The project was not carried out, but the design drawings have been preserved. On one of these drawings the icon is shown in a wall aedicula with a canopy over an altar.

On February 8, 1575, the Dominican Sisters moved from San Sisto to their new convent of Santi Domenico e Sisto in Piazza Magnanapoli (now the Angelicum ). The precious icon was carried along and displayed on the new altar for veneration. This altar was located in the partition between the outer, publicly accessible part of the church and the sisters' choir; So it was visible from both sides, but protected by a grille on the outer part of the church. The image of the Virgin was rotatable so that it could be shown in every part of the church. In 1640 an inscription with the story of the icon of Mary was placed in the church (today to the right of the entrance).

In 1931 the Dominican Sisters moved again to the Monastero di Santa Maria del Rosario , Via Alberto Cardolo 51 / Via Trionfale 177, (00136 Roma, Tel. 0039 - 06/35 42 09 40) with the icon of Mary, which is today in the for exam stored belonging part of the Abbey and is revered. From the generally accessible part of the church one can initially only see a copy of the icon of Mary (on the back of the original) adorned with votive offerings through an iron grille. After registration there is the possibility to see the original before or after the weekday mass at 7.30 am or on Sundays at 11 am; the front of the icon is then turned towards the viewer.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the monastery on June 24, 2010 and prayed in front of the Advocata , as did his predecessor John Paul II on November 16, 1986.

From November 13th to December 15th, 2012, the “Advocata” was shown outside the monastery for the first time, in the exhibition “Tavole miracolose - Le Icone medioevali di Roma e del Lazio del Fondo Edifici di Culto” in the Palazzo Venezia .

See also

literature

  • Hans Belting : Image and Cult - A History of the Image before the Age of Art ; Munich 1991, p. 47ff. 51ff. 76ff. 83ff. 131ff. 348ff. 353ff.
  • Claudio Rendina: Le Chiese di Roma , Newton & Compton Editori, Milano 2000, pp. 193–194

Web links

Commons : Agiosoritissa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Paul Badde: Rome's secret treasure , in: Inside the Vatican, Issue 5, December 2006, p. 6ff.
  2. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian Sacred Buildings from the 4th to the 9th Century - Ein Vademecum , Freiburg 2016, p. 185.
  3. ^ Hans Belting: Image and Cult - A History of the Image before the Age of Art ; Munich 1991, pp. 78f., 83ff., 350, 366.
  4. ^ Raimondo Spiazzi: La chiesa e il monastero di San Sisto all'Appia: raccolta di studi storici . Edizioni Studio Domenicano, Bologna 1992, ISBN 88-7094-124-8 , p. 139 (Italian, online version (preview) in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ La Madonna delle Grazie. In: Tibursuperbum.it. Retrieved June 12, 2017 (Italian).
  6. ↑ Benedict XVI. prays with Dominican Sisters on Monte Mario , broadcast on Vatican Radio on June 24, 2010
  7. ↑ Benedict XVI .: Contemplative Dominican Sisters live in the middle of the heart of the mystical body: When visiting the monastery “Santa Maria del Rosario” , message at Zenit.org from June 24th 2010
  8. ↑ The Maria Advocata conquers Rome , article by Paul Badde from November 25, 2012 on the exhibition on Kath.net