The Immaculate, Conception.

227

2. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

A "

table of the
Conception
"

stood on the high altar of the

Church of Margaret, Westminster. 25
St.
The Conception of our Ladye has been treated in two ways :

historical and symbolical.

The historical supposes the
I.
representation of events and
circumstances under which the
mystery was operated, and these
visible circumstances denote the
hidden mystery. Of these
historical representations there are four
types :

r. The first is
designed from the account of the Conception
of our Ladye which is
supplied by the apocryphal gospel of her
nativity, and the proto-gospcl of Jacob. 20 It
represents St. Anne,
in her garden at
prayer, receiving by the mouth of an angel
the promise of the birth of the Blessed
Virgin Maryc, her
daughter, and St. Joachim receiving the same
promise in the
mountains whither he had retired. The "Guide of
Painting"
of Mount Athos follows this ancient
narration almost word for
27
word; and it appears also in the
poem of Hrotsuitha, the
learned nun of Gandersheim, who died A.D. 2S
The 999. German
translator of theGuide remarks that, in Northern
art, St. Anne
is
represented in her house, and not in her garden, in conse
quence of the difference between the customs of the North and
those of the East, where
people live more in the open air than
29
in their houses.

This representation is the most ancient.

2. The Greek and Sclavonic
diptychs give another repre
sentation, which is less happy. St. Joachim and St. Anne
meet,
after having received the
blessings and promise of the angel, and
tenderly embrace each other. This, according to the Bollandist,
25
S. p. 228.
26
Evangdia apocrypha. Edit. C. Tischendorf. Lipsia, 1853, 106.
pp. r,
Quoted in the Iconographie dc I Immaadee Conception de la Trcs-Sainte
Par Mgr. J. B. Malou, Vierge Marie.
eveque de Bruges. Bruxelles, 1856, p. 16.
27
Didron, Manuel d Iconographie Chretienne, p. 279. Cf. St. John Damascene,
Clamaverunt just,, Ubinam ? In
proprio horto consentaneus justorum preca-
. . .

ttoms locus. In horto preca fundcntes, hortum

priore huge fdiciorem eenuerunt
(Ot 11. DC Nativ. B.M. V. Opp. t. ii. n. 5, p. 852).
28
Schafer, Das Handbuch der Malcrei votn
Berge Athos. Trier i8<i<
p 276
Quoted by Malou, ubi sup.
29
Historia Nativitatis
laudabilisque conversations Intacta: Da Genitricis. Edit
Migne, Patrol. Lai. t. cxxxviii. coll. 1067, 1068.
228 Iconog raphy.
30
Father Papebrooch, was the Greek type of a chaste marriage.
Malou justly remarks that this was of all the most difficult
feature, and the least necessary to portray. Consequently,
from an iconographic point of view, this type is not deserving
than the
of praise. Although these diptychs are not earlier

seventeenth century, 31 this representation appears to be the

the conversion of the
reproduction of a type earlier than
Slavonic nation, and consequently anterior to the ninth century.
Malou says that it might go back even to the early ages of the
Church.
The meetingof St. Joachim and St. Anne is given in one of
the windows of Fairford Church. 32
3. The third type
Malou describes as simply hideous. It

under the form of a little nude, and

represents our Ladye child,

placed in the calix of a flower, to

denote the instant of her
creation. He attributes this composition of design to Father
Peter de Alva et Astorga, who gives this representation at the
33
head of his Momimenta Antiqua printed in i664, and of his
Radii Soils, in i666. 34
But Bourassee says that this type has
35
often been reproduced, and is of a much earlier date. Under
this heading may be classed the stained glass window in
36
Waddington Church.
4. fourth historical representation of the Immaculate
The
37
is modern.
Conception, that of the miraculous medal,
II. Symbolical.
Froma doctrinal point of view, the Immaculate Conception
is the mystery of the original holiness of the Blessed Virgin
Marye Mother of God. In a word, what has to be represented
is the immaculateness of our Ladye s conception.
Now wish emphatically to point out that the mere repre
I

sentation of our Ladye, standing, and alone, without any symbol

30
Ada SS. t. i. Mail, plate Iviii.
31
Notice sier V Iconographie sacrce en Russie. Saint Petersbourg, 1849, P- 45-

Quoted by Malou, ubi sup.

32
Joyce, Fairford Windows, p. 67. Arundel Society.
33 Monumenta Antiqua Imm. Conceptions SS, Virg. Maria:, ex novem auctoribus
collecta. Lovanii, 1664.
34Radii solis zeli seraphici caii veritatis pro Immaculate Conceptions mysterio
Virginis Maria, discurrentes per duodecim
classes auctorum. Lovanii, 1666.
35 Summa A
urea de Laudibus B.M. V. t. ii, col. 950, note. Edit. Migne.
36
S. p. 282.
37
Malou, ubi sup. pp. 20, 21.
 The Immaculate Conception. 229

or attribute of the mystery, does not, and cannot express her

Immaculate Conception. Thus Murillo s so-called Immaculate
Conception is nothing else than a fanciful representation of our
Ladye, but not one of our Ladye immaculately conceived.
Add the serpent under her feet, and the mystery of the Imma
culate Conception becomes at once symbolized. Indeed I do
not hesitate to express my conviction that, wherever the dragon
is represented at the feet of our
Ladye, no matter under what
"type"
she is figured, it has a direct allusion to her Immaculate
Conception. The Annunciation is given in the old gate at
Lincoln called the Stonebow. Our Ladye and the Archangel
occupy tabernacles on either side of the gate. Our Ladye is
standing, her hands are folded across her breast, and under her
feet is the dragon. I have carefully examined this statue.

This is abundantly manifest. Our mother Eve sinned by

eating of the apple, and so brought death on her posterity.
The Fathers constantly call our Ladye the second Eve, who
was to undo the work of the first Eve, and bring life to man.
The second Eve was to be in the state of the first Eve before
the Fall, that is, without sin. It is in this sense that Cornelius
a Lapide explains those words of the Canticles, Nigra sum sed
8 Our Ladye was dark, as a daughter of Eve, yet
*
formosa?
formosa, or beautiful, because she was free from original sin ;

singiilari Omnipotentis Dei gratia, ct privilcgio, intnitn mcritorum

CJiristi Jcsu Salvatoris hinnani generis, as it is defined in the
Bull Ineffabilis.
Now this is most beautifully expressed in the celebrated
window of the time of Edward the First in the Church of
St.Margaret, Oxford, but curiously enough the iconographic
importance of this representation seems, hitherto, to have
escaped notice. It is of the utmost value. The Maiden
Mother of God, the second Eve, is seated, looking with an
ineffably sweet expression towards her Divine Son, Who, with
His right hand raised, blesses His Mother, and with His left
places an apple no longer the pomum noxialc into her right
hand, as Hail My sweetest Mother,
"

if saying : ! full of grace,

38
Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram. Edit. Crampon. Paris, 1860, t. vii.

PP- 495. 496.

1)9
Qiiando pomi noxialis, In necem morsn rnit, &c. From the Hymn Pange
lingua gloriosi lanream certaminis, in the Missal, for Good Friday.
230 Iconography.

thou art the second Eve, I am the Blessed Fruit of thy womb
of which thou
frnetus I ciitris gcncrosi^l give thce the apple,

From the -window of St. Margaret s Church, Oxford, temp. Ed-ward /.

mayest eat, since by My merits and blessing I have preserved

thee from original sin. In thee I have made to live again that

40
From the Hymn Pange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterinm, in the Missal, for
Maundy Thursday.
 The Immaculate Conception. 231

which Eve killed. I, the Son of God and thy Son am the cause
of thy Immaculate Conception."
What is this but a literal, early English, pre-realization of the
words of the Definition in the Bull Incffabilis ? In this com
position the serpent was unnecessary. I do not, however,

wish to be understood as maintaining that the apple alone,

which our Ladye sometimes holds in her hand, as in the tale
of St. Mary s Abbey, York, ought to be thus interpreted but ;

that it bears this construction, when our Lord is represented

in the act of blessing His Maiden Mother and giving her
an apple.
Another symbolical representation of the Immaculate Con
ception occurs in two, at least, of the Prymers of Sarum Use,
41

and although it was adopted in England, there is, unfortunately,

no evidence that it was designed by an English artist. Malou
attributes Henry Stephanus, or Stephens, the celebrated
it to
Parisian printer, who gives it as a frontispiece to the work of

Josse Clichtoue, De
Puritate Conceptionis beate Marie Virginisf2 -

published Paris in 1513; but it occurs in the Hore dive

in

virginis marie sccundinu vcruvi nsum romamtm, printed at

Paris in 1508 by Thielmann Kerver, now in the Museum at
43
Maidstone, and consequently five years previously to the
celebrated picture of the Immaculate Conception by Gerolamo
da Cottignola, 44 dated 1513, to which Malou attaches such
45
importance. In this composition our Ladye is standing,
arrayed in an ample robe, her hair flowing over her shoulders,
with no veil, and her hands joined, but not clasped before her.
Above her God
the Father, of
is Whom
only the bust appears,
crowned, holding a globe surmounted by a cross in His left, and
blessing her with His right hand. Beneath Him is a scroll
containing the words, TOTA PULCHRA ES, AMIGA MEA, ET
MACULA NON EST IN TE. Our Ladye is surrounded by
numerous symbols, each named the sun, : electa ut sol ; the

41
Those of 1531, Paris, Regnault, f. cxxvi.b, and of 1534, Stonyhurst Library.
42
A copy of this rare book is in the Library of the Fathers of the London
Oratory.
43
Archffologia Cantiana, vol. ix. p. 196.
44
Now in the collection of Mr. Bromley Davenport, M.P., Wootton Hall,
Staffordshire. It is
fully described by Mrs. Jameson, Legends of the Madonna.
Edit. 1872, p. 53. Cf. also Del Rio.
48
Ubi sup. pp. 131, 132.
232 Iconography.

moon, pitkhra nt a gateway with turrets, Porta cocli ;

litna ;
a cedar, ccdrns cxaltata ; a rose-tree, plantatio roses ; a well,
Pnteits aquantm vivcntium ; a branch bearing flower, Virga

Jesse floruit ; a square garden with a hedge, Jiortus conclnsus ;

the lily, sicut lilinm inter spinas; a star, Stella marts; the Tower
of David, turris Davidica cum propugnaculis ; a mirror, speculum
sine macula; an olive tree, oliva spcciosa ; a fountain, fons
Jiortorum ; a city with gates, towers, and buildings, civitas Dei.

Passaglia, who has fully explained many of these symbols,

4C
develops them as evidences of the Immaculate Conception ;

and says Malou, is sufficient to persuade us that artists of

this,
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries may have had recourse to
them. 47
Now from this evidence it appears most probable that repre
sentations of our Blessed Ladye with God the Father blessing
her, orwith her Divine Son blessing her and presenting her with
an apple, or with the serpent under her feet, all have direct
reference to her Immaculate Conception. The Mortuary Roll
of John de Wygenhale, Abbot of West Dereham, Norfolk,
represents at the head, God the Father on a throne, with His
right hand raised in the attitude of blessing ;
in another com
partment immediately below Him
our Ladye, arrayed in a
is

mantle, her hair flowing, and her hands joined before her and ;

lower again is depicted the burial of the Abbot. 48 But,

although the Abbot is represented as a diminutive figure
on his knees at the right of the Throne of God the Father, it
is evident that the blessing is given not to him, but to our

Ladye, and consequently, that her Immaculate Conception is

here signified.
Thus there is evidence that the Immaculate Conception of
our Blessed Ladye was represented at an early period in
England ;
and such are the types in which it was figured
prior to the year 1540.
About the year 470, St.Pulchronius, Bishop of Verdun, on his
return from Rome, built a new church in honour of our Ladye,
and caused to be sculptured an image representing her with

46
Cf. De hmnaculato Deipara: semper Virginis Conceptit, Commcntarins. Auct.
Carolus Passaglia, S.J. Sac. Romse, 1854.
47 Ubi sup. p. 136.
48
Norwich vol. of the Royal Arch. Institute, p. 99.
 The Annunciation. 233

the serpent under her feet. 49 The Earl of Warwick, when he

was Governor of Calais, presented to our Ladye of Boulogne
an image of her with the devil under her feet, of silver
50
gilt.
At
the portal of the Chapter House at York is an image
of our Blessed Ladye with her Divine Son in her arms. She
is standing on a lion and a dragon.
The
serpent is also represented under the feet of our Blessed
Ladye the Angels Choir at Lincoln ; which Professor
in

Cockerell so much admired.

Richard Fitz Alan, fourth Earl of Arundel, by his will, dated
March 4, 1392, leaves to his daughter Alice, the wife of John

Charleton, Lord Powis, a diptych of gold enamelled ove un

ymagc dc la incarnacioun de notrc dame dcdeins, i.e., of the
51
Nativity of our Ladye.

3. THE ANNUNCIATION.

Ingressns Angelus ad earn dixit: A-ve gratia plena ^ Dominus tecum;

Benedicta tu in mulieribus.
St. Luke.

In the Benedictionale of St. ^Ethelwald, our Ladye is seated

and wears the large mantle-veil the Archangel is barefoot. 52
;

In another Anglo-Saxon MS. she is standing up, holding in

her left hand a scroll with the words, ECCE ANCILLA DNI
FIET M SCDM VBU TUUM. 53 In the MS. Horcs of the York
Use in the public library at Boulogne-sur-mer, 54 the Annun
ciation represents the Archangel kneeling on one knee,
our Ladye rises from prayer as if disturbed by his words
in sermone ejus she has flowing hair, and no veil, before
her is a vase with a lily bearing three flowers. This appears

49 diem 17 Febr. pp. 12, 13.

Act. SS. ad
Haignere, Notre Dame de Boulogne, p. 118.
50

81
Nichols, Royal Wills, p. 133.
52
Archaologia, vol. xxiv. plate x. p. 50.
53
Cott. MS. Caligula, A. vii. Figured by Strutt, Manners and Customs of the
English. London, 1774, vol. i. plate xxvi. fig. 2.
"
Marked MS. 44.