God Is Present in Unity

Reference is made here to Pope Urban VI's coat of arms which shows a dove crowned with the papal tiara. The dove stands for the Spirit who penetrates and unifies the Church. Here, the dove is a symbol of Mary resplendent in virtues of purity, faithfulness, humility and simplicity. The symbol of the Spirit is applied to Mary to signify the great unity between her and the Spirit as announced in Luke 1:34, and sometimes expressed in the designation Bride of the Spirit. God is indeed present in this unity between Mary and the Spirit. The apocryphal gospels speak of Mary cared for like a dove, and Picinelli's Mondo simbolico refers to her as colomba immacolatissima, the most immaculate dove.

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Unadulterated Whiteness

Beams of the shining sun penetrate a crystal ball but do not destroy its immaculateness. A symbol of the Incarnation, this emblem exalts divinity made human (crystal sphere) without harming Mary's integrity and radiant beauty. The virgin remains pure and sinless.

Created by Dominico Buoninsegn for the Medici Pope Clemens VII (sphere = characteristic symbol of the Medicis), this emblem was to highlight the personal integrity of the pontiff. Picinelli generalizes the meaning of this symbol and applies it to Mary.

She Stands Upright and High

A high and rocky mountain serves as Mary's pedestal. She is the eminent one, elevated by God's special attention and grace, well beyond all other creatures, to be the worthy human mother of the divine son. However, this pro-eminent position does not separate Mary from us. Standing on top of the mountain in a flowing blue mantle she holds her arms and hands open and outstretched toward us. Her immaculateness is a source of special generosity. Her holiness is one of abundant charity whose source is in God.

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She Tempers Wrath

This emblem makes allusion to the passage of the sun from the heat of midsummer to the mild and tempered seasons of late summer and early fall. The sun leaves the the sign of the lion and enters that of the virgin. Picinelli uses this symbol to highlight the passage from the Old to the New Testament. The relationship between the sun and Mary is symbolized in the figure of the virgin clad in red and blue, and holding a bouquet of white flowers in her right hand. It is a sign of her sinlessness and virginity.

Mary stands on the threshold of old and new, of heat and tempered atmosphere Mary marks the passage from the reign of despair to that of hope. She bore in her womb the "Sun of Justice," and thus placates or tempers God's ire for having been rejected by the human race.