Nossa Senhora da Nazaré
Nossa Senhora da Nazaré (Our Lady of Nazareth) is a form of devotion to Mary that has been widespread on the Iberian Peninsula since the 13th century , and in Portugal it was the most important form of devotion to Our Lady of Mary until the beginning of the 20th century . She still has this position today in parts of Brazil, where Maria as Nossa Senhora da Nazaré is dedicated to numerous churches and honored with large processions . The object of worship is an approximately 30 cm high wooden image of a Madonna breastfeeding Jesus, which, according to religious tradition, was made in Nazareth after Jesus was born. There is some evidence that it is one of the oldest sculptures of the Virgin Mary in history. The small statue is kept in the church of the Nossa Senhora da Nazaré in the Portuguese city of Nazaré . According to legend, the miraculous representation of the Madonna, which was now in Spain, was presented by the last Christian king of Hispania , the Visigoth Roderich , after the victory of the Moors in the Battle of Guadalete in 711, which sealed the fate of Christian Hispania saved the dissenting Arabs and Berbers. Hidden in a rocky cliff in Sitío de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré (Place of Our Lady of Nazareth), near Nazarés, it is said to have survived the 450-year rule of the Islamic Moors and in 1179 during the Reconquista of Portugal by a companion of the first Portuguese king Afonso Henriques have been found. It is said to have saved the life of its discoverer, Dom Fuas Roupinho , on September 8, 1182, a miracle that provided the reason for the veneration of Nossa Senhora da Nazeré that then began.
The legend up to Roderich's death
According to legend, the statue was carved by Saint Joseph in the face of the nursing Mary and painted by Saint Luke . In the 4th century the Greek monk Círíaco discovered it and gave it to Saint Jerónimo , who is said to have passed it on to the Bishop of Hippo, Saint Augustine (354-430) in Africa . Augustine brought the image to the Cauliniana monastery in Spain , 12 km from Mérida . The statue of the Virgin of Nazaré stayed there until the 8th century and was famous for its miracles. In 711 the Moors invaded Hispania. In the battle of the Río Guadalete on July 26th 711 the last Christian Visigoth king of Hispania Roderich (Don Rodrigo) was defeated by the Moors and finds there the historical reports after the death. According to legend, however, he escaped the Moors alive and fled to the Cauliniana monastery. When Mérida was also occupied by the Moors, Roderich and the monk Romano decided to flee further. Monks of the monastery give them the shrine with the holy image of the Virgin of Nazaré ( A Sagrada Imagem de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré ) to save them from the Moors. They make their way to the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula and arrive in 714 in the area of today's Nazaré. Roderich decides to lead his life as a hermit to the end and retires to the 156-meter-high mountain S. Bartolomeu or São Brás , near the present-day municipality of Valado dos Frades . Roman moves into a neighboring mountain, the hill of Sítio, four kilometers away, a rocky plateau with steep slopes falling vertically into the Atlantic, which rises 110 meters above Nazaré's beach. The two only give each other signs through clouds of smoke. When Roman sees his end coming, he hides the shrine with the image of Mary in a crevice on the cliff sloping towards the sea. Roderich revisits the picture of Mary after missing the smoke signals from Romans, and dies on his mountain. According to another account, Roderich dies first and Roman leaves Sítio after hiding the shrine there to go to the north, which is not ruled by the Moors.
The legend of the rediscovery of the Madonna
It was not until 1179, when Portugal had just emerged from the liberation struggle against the Moors, that a close follower of King Afonso Henriques, Dom Fuas Roupinho , knight and captain of Porto de Mós , found the figure during a hunt, which he left in hiding. Three years later, on September 8, 1182, D. Fuas, hunting again, followed a deer on horseback in the deep fog on the hill of Sítio, which leaps with a wide leap from the rock terrace and into the depths of the Bay of Nazaré falls. D. Fuas is just about to chase after the deer in the fog, not realizing the danger, his horse is already jumping when the image of Mary, hidden just a few meters away, appears to him and causes him to fall from the horse, which kills him saves. The horse follows the stag's leap. This miracle caused D. Fuas to have a small chapel built over the hiding place of the image, where the Ermida da Memória (memorial chapel ) now stands, and he donated the site of Sítio to the Virgin Mary. The chapel becomes the starting point for the veneration of the Holy Image of Our Lady of Nazareth. Many miracles have since been attributed to her. As early as 1628 a book by Father Manuel de Brito Alão appeared , in which these miracles were described in detail.
The veneration of the Nossa Senhora da Nazaré on the Iberian Peninsula
Early time
The veneration is likely to have started as early as the 12th century and contributed to the establishment of the myth of the Christian liberation of Hispania from the Moors, which is also related to the crusade idea for the liberation of the Holy Land : The before the Moors by the last Christian king of Hispania in Made safe, Madonna of Nazareth rose again when she was expelled. A small, dilapidated chapel at the site where the figure was stored is historically secured for the 14th century. King Fernando I (1345-1383) had this chapel replaced by a larger church in 1377 in order to accommodate the miraculous image and also to give the pilgrims a suitable place. From this it is deduced that this veneration has been historically documented at least since the 13th century. Vasco da Gama made a pilgrimage in 1497 before and 1499 after the successful completion of his journey to discover the real sea route to India there. King Sebastião I (1554–1578) had the Fort San Miguel Arconjo , now also known as Farol da Nazaré (Lighthouse of Nazaré), built near the church, to protect Sítio from frequent attacks by pirates. It is not clear whether the partially preserved city walls, which protect Sítio towards the land, date from this time.
From the 17th century
In the editions of the Monarquia Lusitána published in 1597 and 1609 , a continuous work on Portuguese history, the monk and historian Frei Bernardo de Brito, who was appointed royal chronicler, describes in detail the history of the veneration of the Senhora da Nazaré and referred to it on documents allegedly located in the abbey. The documents could never be verified. Because of the great authority that the authors of the history collection on the Portuguese Kingdom had as Chronistas de Alcobaças , a veritable wave of veneration for Nossa Senhora da Nazeré has now broken out. The monks of the Alcobaça Abbey, about 12 km away, used to carry out large processions to Sítio. The church was enlarged at the beginning of the 17th century and completely rebuilt between 1680 and 1691. In 1709 it was equipped with elaborate ceramic work. The shrine with the statue of the Virgin Mary was built into the crown of the high altar in such a way that pilgrims can reach it via a platform accessible from behind. The result was the Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré (Shrine of Our Lady of Nazareth), which consisted, among other things, of a smaller palace for the royal family added to the south in 1718 and the palace of the rector of the Confraria de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré . The Brotherhood (Confraria) was formed from respected members of the nearby town of Pederneira (predecessor of Nazaré), which had administered the sanctuary from its inception. The popularity of the pilgrimage site caused the brotherhood's fortunes to increase tremendously as a result of the pilgrims' donations, as evidenced by an inventory of gold, silver and other valuables from 1608. This wealth allowed the crown to take over the administration of the sanctuary through A Real Casa Nossa Senhora da Nazaré (Royal House of Our Lady of Nazareth). Also, based on a document reproduced by Frei Bernardo de Brito, the crown placed Sítio, which itself belonged to the territory of the Abbey of Alcobaça, under the direct rule of the king. The Sanctuary in Sitío was the largest and most important pilgrimage site in Portugal up to the beginning of the 20th century, which only lost this rank to Fátima , 30 km inland, where from 1917 one of the largest Catholic Marian pilgrimage sites developed today.
Secular development of the pilgrimage site
From the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Sítio and Nazaré took a development that anticipated that of modern tourist locations. The first bullring was built by the Real Casa as early as 1712, and was last renovated in 1896 with 5,000 seats. In 1889 the engineers Alexandre Gustave Eiffels built their own mountain railway , which overcame the 110-meter-high steep face that separated Sítio from Nazaré. Nazeré itself became one of the most important Portuguese tourist resorts in the middle of the 19th century, with its own rail connection in Valado dos Frades . In 1897 a bandstand was built in the center of the sanctuary square. In 1926, the brotherhood, the Confraria de Nossa Senhora da Nazeré , newly founded after the abolition of the monarchy in 1910 , to which the republic had again transferred the administration of the pilgrimage sites in Sítio, opened a new theater for 400 people on the north side of the sanctuary.
Adoration of the Nossa Senhora da Nazaré in Brazil
The Portuguese colonial rulers brought the particularly intense veneration of the Senhora da Nazaré in Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries with them to Brazil, where the Jesuits introduced it to the state of Pará in the 17th century . The anniversary, September 8th itself, but September 14th is usually chosen in Brazil, is one of the most important Christian events in Brazil and has been celebrated in Belém , the former Brazilian capital, since 1793 . For this purpose, a separate Brazilian variant of the story of the holy image of the Virgin Mary was formed. In 1700, a mixed race named Plácido found a small 28 cm high carved statue of the Madonna in a river arm in Belém, which is said to have been a perfect representation of the Nossa Senhora da Nazaré in Portugal. Plácido took them home and placed them on a house altar. There it disappeared, however, and Plácido found it at its first place of discovery. This was repeated a few times until Plácido decided to build a simple chapel at the site with his limited means and to leave the figure there. The miraculous statue caused a sensation and was placed by the authorities in the chapel of the palace in Belém. But even from there she disappeared again, although well guarded, and returned to Plácido's simple chapel, where she was finally left. The Basílica de Nossa Senhora da Nazeré of Belém was later built around it. In 1774 the statue was brought to Portugal, where it was restored. However, the Brazilian statue no longer depicts the nursing Mary. Today, many Catholic churches in Brazil are consecrated to the Nossa Senhora da Nazeré, there is even a small town with this name in the state of Piauí . On the anniversary of the miraculous salvation of Dom Furas by the Senhora da Nazaré (September 8th and 14th respectively), large processions take place everywhere. In Belém, for example, more than 2 million believers have participated since 2005 (2007: 2.7 million).
Features of the statue
As a nursing black Madonna, the Madonna of Sítio has two characteristics that differ from the usual statues of the Virgin Mary.
Breastfeeding Madonna
Breastfeeding Madonnas, also called Maria lactans or Galactotrophousa , are rare, but they have an old Christian tradition. The earliest representations can be found on early Christian grave decorations (between 166 and 250) and in the Priscilla catacombs in Rome (250). From the 5th century to the 9th century one encounters representations in the oriental Christian church, as in the Egyptian and Coptic art. At the Council of Ephesus in 431, Mary was awarded the rank of Mother of God, which led to a strong increase in devotion to Mary, especially in the Eastern and Oriental Churches. In Europe, however, there were no more examples of a breastfeeding Madonna until the late Middle Ages . With the exception of a representation in the 13th century Armesbury Psalter , pictures of a breastfeeding Madonna can only be found in Europe from the 14th century, such as that by Ambrogio Lorenzetti from around 1330, and as a sculpture of French provenance that of an anonymous artist from around 1335, i.e. from periods in which the Madonna of Sítio was also historically proven. In the period that followed, the topic became more popular with artists, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the Middle Ages, the breastfeeding Madonna was given the theological meaning that the flow of milk symbolized the connection between God and man. Accordingly, the breastfeeding Madonnas were depicted in the late Middle Ages. This also applies to the replica made by the Barristas de Alcobaça in the 18th century in the memorial chapel (Ermida da Memória) in Sítio in the niche in which the Madonna of Sítio was found . In the older depictions of breastfeeding Madonnas, however, the idea of a holy motherhood is in the foreground, which is particularly evident in the original of the Madonna of Sítio.
Black Madonnas
Black Madonnas appeared more frequently in the Romanesque period , the 11th to 13th centuries. It is a type that is widespread in Europe and has the same characteristics everywhere: a Madonna with a height of approx. 70 cm, sitting, staring into the distance, holding a child looking forward on her knee. This type of Madonna was depicted with a deliberately black face; it was not an age-related coloring or coloration caused by sooting. The type does not include the famous Black Madonna of Czestochowa in Poland , which is dated between the 6th and 9th centuries. A breastfeeding Black Madonna has not been identified during this period.
Age of the statue
The age of the Madonna of Sítio has not yet been scientifically determined, but it seems with some certainty to be over 1000 years and can probably be up to 1,500 years. Their veneration is historically proven up to the 13th century, i.e. for about 800 years. From the first descriptions of their condition, reference was made to their great age, which should result from the fading of remains of color and the surface. Their veneration began at a time when substantial parts of the Iberian Peninsula were still under Moorish rule, from which Portugal was just liberating itself. The Moorish culture was familiar with filigree ornaments, but the strict Islamic ban on images left no room for the development of further visual arts. Even figurative or pictorial medieval representations from the time between the 11th and 13th centuries, as reproduced above, are now perceived by us as either simplifying or following static rules of representation. In contrast, the Madonna of Sítio has a very elaborate and refined representation, which the Iberian culture could not provide in the Middle Ages and the time of the Moorish rule. Her face appears individual and has a particularly strong expression, which is also shown in the fact that the two photos shown at the beginning reflect recordings of the same statue made in a direct temporal context. It differs fundamentally from the black Madonnas from the 11th and 12th centuries in the way in which the Madonna is depicted as a mother who gently and caringly embraces the child. The motif of a breastfeeding Madonna had completely disappeared or not yet reborn by this time. So there is some evidence that the Madonna of Sítio must have come to the Iberian Peninsula before the Moorish invasion in 711. Between 500 and 700 there was a strong devotion to Mary in Eastern Roman and Oriental Christianity (Patriarchates of Constantinople , Alexandria , Antioch and Jerusalem ), from which the Madonna of Sítio seems to come from. After that, their ages could be between 1250 and 1500 years. It seems questionable whether the Madonna of Sítio, as has been stated on various occasions, actually dates from the 4th century.
Neighborhood to early church church
The assumption that the Madonna of Sítio originated in the area of the Eastern and Eastern Christian faith is also supported by the church of São Gião in Famalicão, which was discovered in 1961, about 4.5 km away from Sítio on the formerly other side of the now largely silted up bay of Nazaré supported, which has elements that can be attributed to early church buildings. A connection to Eastern-Eastern Christianity at this time is considered conceivable. In addition, this neighboring early church offers an obvious possible explanation of the hiding place of the Madonna in Sítio.
literature
- Manuel de Brito Alão: Antiguidade da Sagrad Imagem de Nossa Snhora de Nazaré. Lisboa 1628, new edition: Edição de Pedro Penteado, Lisbon 2001, Edições Colibri, ISBN 972-772-206-7 .
- Pedro Penteado: Nossa Senhora da Nazaré. Contribuão para a história de um santuário português. Lisboa 1991.
- Pedro Penteado: Tesouros do Santuário da Nazaré: estudo de bens de 1608. Sep. de Museu, IV série, No. 5, 1996, pp. 43-72.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nossa Senhora is translated analogously with the name of Mary, which is still known especially in southern Germany, as Our Lady
- ↑ Antiguidade da Sagrada Imagem de Nossa Senhora de Nazaré, Lisboa 1628, new edition: Edição de Pedro Penteado, Lisbon 2001, Edições Colibri, ISBN 972-772-206-7
- ^ Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, incluindo os azulejos que a revestem. In: Pesquisa Geral - Pesquisa do Patrimonio. Direção Geral do Património Cultural , accessed March 23, 2018 (Portuguese).
- ↑ Pedro Penteado: A Lenda de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré (Uma versão crítica) (Portuguese)
- ↑ Pedro Penteado, Tesouros do Santuário da Nazaré: estudo de bens de 1608, 1996, September de Museu, IV série, No. 5, (1996), pp. 43-72
- ^ Iconographical sources of nursing and nursing gestures in Christian cultures ; Gallery of nursing Madonnas at www.fisheaters.com/marialactans.html