Fiore, Santa Maria Maggiore, Santa Maria Novella,
She is on small niches on street corners....
On plates....
-
and everywhere in art... everywhere...
And, so, yes...Maria is the inheritress of Isis and Aphrodite and Athena...the pre-Christian goddesses honored and worshipped throughout the Near Eastern Empires and the Roman world...but Mary is also an approachable virgin goddess. So much more sympathetic than God the Father and Son who, after all, are going to send a large number of us to Hell.
I can see how lighting a candle, asking for a favor or thanking her for a good outcome, can be a moment of respite in an uncertain world. I understand now a bit better....just by seeing the constant repetition of her image (both with and without the bambino) and her presence...how she is both the Queen of Heaven and someone whom one knows.
She plays that role that in many evangelical traditions is played by Jesus...being "a friend," someone whom one can know...yet, I must admit that if I had to choose (which, of course, I don't), I would go with Mary. In all this art, in all these churches, she is, well, simply beautiful.
Location:Florence
