Praying the Regina Coeli with Art: This Week's Image

Since last week featured a Coronation from a Franciscan shrine with Franciscan saints and martyrs, this week's is taken from a Carmelite monastery. It is (as you can tell) also by Marko Rupnik and his Centro Aletti. This beautiful coronation forms the entire back wall of the Monastery of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in SNAGOV, Romania. Be sure to visit the Centro Aletti site to see it full-size!

The theme is that of the "garden" because in Hebrew, "Carmel" means "Garden." You don't have to know much about the Bible to realize that gardens figure importantly in the beginning of the story, but also in the prophets, and in the Gospel, too, the Garden is a very important place! For the Carmelites, Mary is herself a garden, and according to the Romanian Carmelites' website, an old name for the country itself was "the Garden of the Mother of God."

Apse Mosaic, Monastery of Our Lady of Mt Carmel (Snagov, Romania)
© Centro Aletti

This Coronation has a unique feature: Mary is pointing to Jesus, and opposite her, a roughly clad man is doing the same. Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics would recognize this immediately: it is a "Deesis," in which Mary and John the Baptist testify to the divinity of Christ and intercede for the faithful! As typical in Rupnik's Marian art, Our Lady is holding a ball (or two?) of red thread against her womb, where the flesh of Christ was "knitted" together for us.

The scene is of the Heavenly Jerusalem, with a representative sampling of saints chosen to represent Carmelite and Romanian traditions: On Mary's side: St John Cassian (an early monastic and writer about monastic life), St Therese, St John Paul II, St Helena the Empress, and St Edith Stein. Near John the Baptist are St John of the Cross with St Teresa of Avila and Bl. Vladimir Ghika (a priest who died in 1954 while imprisoned by the communists).

The book in Jesus' hand is open to Rev. 19: "Behold the marriage of the Lamb." 

From Easter to Pentecost, pray the Regina Coeli (in place of the Angelus) three times a day: morning, noon and evening.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
R. For he whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as he said, Alleluia!
R. Pray for us to God, Alleluia! 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joys of everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pray it in Latin!

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

Praying the Regina Coeli with Art: This Week's Image

An outdoor shrine in Hungary hosts this 2014 Rupnik Coronation, surrounded by witnesses of faith, those of Hungary's origins, and those of her recent past. The Bible is open to 1 Cor 13:8, which reads, in Latin, Caritas numquam excidit: Love never fails.

On the right, in the foreground,  St. Stephen presents his easily identifiable crown (symbolizing the whole country) to the Mother of God  (his wife Bl Gisella of Bavaria and son St Emeric have their own symbols); the other sainted king is St Ladislaus. 

On the left it is easy to recognize St Francis (this is a Franciscan shrine!), representing the presence of the friars on the site. Next to him, in vestments, the bishop and martyr Bl. Zoltán Meszlényi, martyred by the Communists, and (not in this image) Bl. Sister Sára Salkaházi, martyred by Hungarian Nazis for saving Jews. 

Also in the mosaic (see it on the Centro Aletti website) are Franciscans whose causes for beatification have been introduced by reason of martyrdom. Since they are not yet beatified, they do not have haloes. On the right: Fr. Krizosztom Körösztös (+1944) with thorns, and Fr. Kristóf Kovács (+1944) holding a scourge, both killed by Tito's partisans. On the left, Fr. Szaléz Kiss (d. 1946), killed by the Russians for guarding the sacramental seal of confession, Fr. Bernát Károlyi (d. 1954) killed by the Communists in prison, Fr. Zénó Hajnal (d. 1945) killed by a Bulgarian soldier, Fr. Rafael Kriszten (d. 1952) with a cloak, killed by the Communists, Fr. Pelbárt Lukács (d. 1948), killed by the Russians.

Detail of the Apse mosaic from the National Shrine of MÁTRAVEREBÉLY-SZENTKÚT, Hungary.
© Centro Aletti

From Easter to Pentecost, pray the Regina Coeli (in place of the Angelus) three times a day: morning, noon and evening.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
R. For he whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as he said, Alleluia!
R. Pray for us to God, Alleluia! 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joys of everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pray it in Latin!

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

Praying the Regina Coeli with Art: This Week's Image

Why leave Chartres?  (Confession: I have actually been to Chartres, but I was barely 18, on a trip with a college group and knew nothing, nothing, nothing about this marvelous place. Youth is wasted on the young!)

Detail of the Glorification of the Virgin Window, Chartres
From the University of Pittsburgh Digital Library

This precious detail is from the Glorification of the Virgin Window, circa 1205 (also known as the Death and Assumption of the Virgin Window). The photo is by Jane Vandal, and it is from the University of Pittsburgh Digital Library. 

They don't make 'em like they used to.

From Easter to Pentecost, pray the Regina Coeli (in place of the Angelus) three times a day: morning, noon and evening.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
R. For he whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as he said, Alleluia!
R. Pray for us to God, Alleluia! 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joys of everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pray it in Latin!

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

Praying the Regina Coeli with Art: This Week's Image

 

Coronation from the 
Vendôme Chapel Window
University of Pittsburg Collection
(Philip Maye)

Close-up of the Vendôme Chapel Coronation

This week's Coronation is again from Chartres Cathedral. It is a tiny portion of a great window between two of the buttresses on the south side of the Cathedral. According to the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Library site: 

...construction was begun in 1417. Its donor was Louis de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme, who built it to fulfill a vow he made while imprisoned by his brother to build a chapel to the Virgin Mary if he were set free. The chapel and the window it contains were created in the Flamboyant style. The lower part of the window shows a Coronation of the Virgin being viewed by various saints and members of the donor's family. The upper part show a Crucifixion and a Last Judgment. It was partially restored in 1592 Many of the donor figures were damaged during the French Revolution. It was restored by Coffitier in 1873.

From Easter to Pentecost, pray the Regina Coeli (in place of the Angelus) three times a day: morning, noon and evening.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
R. For he whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as he said, Alleluia!
R. Pray for us to God, Alleluia! 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joys of everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pray it in Latin!

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

Praying the Regina Coeli with Art: This Week's Image

How fitting it is for the first day of the Month of May, a month characterized by devotion to Mary and to floral abundance, to feature this modern coronation (by Father Marko Rupnik, SJ) from the shrine of Our Lady of the Flowers in Bra, Italy. This Marian shrine is particularly dear to the Daughters of St Paul. (It is a place I have visited several times, but before Father Rupnik put his artistic hand to it.) It was at this shrine that Mama Alberione consecrated her frail baby James to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1884. His lifelong devotion to Mary and her rosary began in the humble original shrine, still covered in ex votos, including one from the Alberione family, commemorating the rescue of a child who was about to be trampled by an ox cart.

The new shrine of the
Madonna of the Flowers.
Image © Centro Aletti

The coronation is a detail from the great bronze doors added to the "new" shrine begun in 1933, interrupted by a World War, and finally consecrated in 1978. The Rupnik mosaics and bronze door were added to the new shrine in 2017, giving it a glorious presentation.  The older shrine (built in 1628) is still frequented by the locals, but its origins date to the Middle Ages. In the middle of December a pregnant woman named Egidia Mathis found herself trapped beneath a plum tree by two mercenary soldiers. She called to Mary for help. The plum tree burst into flower as the Virgin suddenly appeared, causing the men to run the other way. (The poor Egidia went into labor almost immediately!)

Since that time, the plum tree (or perhaps all the trees in the tiny orchard) flowers every December, even to this day (though now behind a tall fence, safe from relic hunters). There are some details about the plum tree that I only recall vaguely...it has been studied like crazy, but it is just a botanically normal plum tree in a very unusual situation. Cuttings from it act like regular plum trees and do not blossom twice a year. 

 

From Easter to Pentecost, pray the Regina Coeli (in place of the Angelus) three times a day: morning, noon and evening.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
R. For he whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as he said, Alleluia!
R. Pray for us to God, Alleluia! 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joys of everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pray it in Latin!

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.