The Cult of the Virgin: Offerings, Ornaments and Festivals

by Marie-France Boyer

The Virgin Mary is a dazzling icon, frequently escaping from the Church's strict constraints. She is a symbol of faith and hope, as well as one of beauty and celebration. This book explores the many... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0500019886
• ISBN13: 9780500019887
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Beatissima!

Yes, the text is forgettable, but that isn't why you'd want this book anyway. Forget the Publishers' Weekly review, too; its pseudo-intellectualism merely reveals the critic's ignorance. Black Virgins antedate the 16th century slave trade by centuries, e. g., Notre Dame de Rocamadour. (Not that black Africans weren't enslaved before the 16th century, but the attempt to draw a connection is anachronistic.) The important thing is: the pictures are fabulous! For more enthralling Spanish Madonnas, see Art and Ritual in Golden-Age Spain.I'm wondering if readers from the Netherlands or Beligium can recommend any publications on their fabric-robed Madonnas (Antwerp, Maastricht, etc.)?

Awesome

Normally I am not really much into reviewing, but seeing this absolutely gorgeous and hearthwarming work being used as cheap tourist promotion to lure people into a bed and breakfast establishment hurts me enough as to make an exception. This is the ultimate work for people who are devote to the virgin. Maria devotion is a spiritual matter, speaking right to the heart in stead of the mind. That is exactly what this book targets: the heart. Although the actual level of information on the Maria cult is general and concise, the frequent and beautiful illustrations speak right to the senses, generating a 'feeling' of the Maria cult instead of an intellectual 'understanding' of it. It is sensational in the truest sense of the word. Therefore I would recommend this book to anyone unfamiliar with the subject but wanting to experience some of its awe, or 'experienced' Maria devoters who can rejoice in the beauty of devotional expression to Maria elsewhere in the world. As a book of reference this work is less suitable in my opinion as the factual data is limited (a bibliography or suggestions for further reading is even missing for instance).

There is no other book like this

Marie-France Boyer is a very eclectic writer. She can tell you much about Marie-Antoinette exquisite taste in Versailles. She knows better than anybody else the cafés of Paris and "really rural" farm-houses in hidden villages. She writes these books in a cabin she decorated in her Ménilmontant garden (a "village" inside Paris). Her book about virgin cult is not the one I prefer. However you will always be pleased to find there the same attention to esthaetics and practical advice. Wether you think of going to Europe for a pilgrimage or just like the naive imagery around Mary you will want to buy this book. It is also a perfect gift for a catholic mother. If you come and visit us in Nantes, we will bring you to some pilgrimages sanctuaries such as Sainte-Anne d'Auray, Mont-Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame de Callot (a chapel on a tiny island in front of Carantec - Britanny). You will discover there (if they were not yet stolen this winter) ex-voto (gifts made by sailors and sailors wives to Mary after tempests).