New Art Exhibit

The Marian Library (University of Dayton) owns more than 900 nativity sets (crèches) illustrating art and culture from around the world.  In the fourth annual international crèche exhibition, numerous sets will be on display for the first time in this year's exhibit.

The origin of the nativity goes back to St. Francis of Assisi in the 13^th century.  To illustrate the Christmas narrative of God's love for all people, he used living persons to represent the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the Infant Jesus, angels and shepherds, along with live animals.  This realistic portrayal worked so well that its popularity spread throughout Italy and Europe.  Missionaries took the idea, together with handcrafted representations of it, to other countries and cultures.  Over time, local features were incorporated in the statuary, landscape, and animals.

Nativity scenes exist in countries all over the world and all have their own particular traditions for telling the Christmas story.  The Marian Library collection includes many outstanding examples.

Who:      The Marian Library/University of Dayton

What:      International Crèche Exhibition

When:     November 20^th, 2001 - January 6, 2002

                 Dayton Art Institute
                 456 Belmonte Park N.
                 Dayton, OH 45405
                 Phone (937) 223-5277

                 Gallery St. John/Bergamo Court Campus
                 440 Shakertown Road
                 Dayton, OH 45430
                 Phone (937) 320-5404

Hours:    To be determined

Cost:       Free of charge

Further
Information:    Kathy Kavanaugh
                           Phone (937) 434-6841

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We've added a section to our Research and Publications section showing selected personal comments from our readers about the Virgin Mary.  Click here to see comments received within the past month.  From this page, feel free to submit your own personal thoughts on Mary.  

We also encourage our readers to submit their opinions on various styles of Marian Art through an on-line art survey.

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Custody of Holy Land Warns Israelis of a "State of Permanent Siege"

JERUSALEM, NOV. 14, 2001 (Zenit.org).

Excavation began this week for the foundation of what will be a mosque in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, triggering a protest from the Catholic Church.

In an official statement, the Custody of the Holy Land deplored the authorization given by the government to this project and called for the immediate withdrawal of the building permit.

The statement, signed by Franciscan Father David-Maria A. Jaeger and distributed by the Vatican agency Fides, reads: "This activity is taking place in total disregard of the oft-expressed feelings and pleas of the worldwide    Christian community."

The text emphasizes that not only Christian leaders worldwide have repeatedly requested the Israeli government to prohibit the construction of the mosque. This position has also been adopted by Muslim representatives such as Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Imam Hussein Tantawi, the Egyptian sheik of al-Azhar.

In fact, the mosque is not a necessity for the Muslim community of Nazareth, which already has places of worship, but rather the project of a local fundamentalist group. 

The Custody of the Holy Land states that the "Israeli courts have already decided that the land is state land and that the extremists´ demands are groundless. Nonetheless, the government itself has decided to give it to them."

"Building the mosque here will in effect put this holy place in a state of permanent siege and make its gate a gathering place for the most hostile elements," the statement warns.

"Problems underlined often by the Custody, but with no response," Father Jaeger added.

"It is difficult to escape the suspicion that what we are now seeing is a cynical attempt to exploit the present international situation, as well as the dramatic conditions elsewhere in the Holy Land, in order to carry out, almost by stealth, this harmful plan," the Franciscan concluded.

Nazareth, a city inhabited by Muslims and Christians, is located in Israeli territory.

MEXICO CITY, NOV. 13, 2001 (Zenit.org) 

John Paul II might canonize Juan Diego in Mexico on his return from Toronto´s World Youth Day next July, the Argentine news agency AICA reported Monday.

Juan Diego is the Indian who witnessed the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531.

During his Oct. 18 visit to the Vatican, Mexican President Vicente Fox invited the Holy Father to visit his country after World Youth Day in Canada.

According to the Mexican press, Javier Moctezuma Barragán, the undersecretary for Population, Migration and Religious Affairs, said a papal visit to Mexico was possible.

Moctezuma revealed that President Fox himself extended an official invitation to the Pope, and that the decision now depends on the Holy Father. The undersecretary also said Mexico has the necessary infrastructure and security, "as it did in the past," to organize another papal visit.

John Paul II last visited Mexico in January 1999, when he gave the postsynodal exhortation "Ecclesia in America" in the Basilica of Guadalupe.

From L’Osservatore Romano

Not posted this week.  Expect an update to this section next week.

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This section lists all of the current Marian Events by geographical position.

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We've added answers to new questions submitted by readers.

• Is there an "Our Lady of America" in Ohio?

A section on international stamps with images of Mary has been added to our Resources section.  The latest added wasDominican Republic.  Expect more countries to follow.

We've posted memorials to three long-time faculty members who died recently:

Fr. Frederick M. Jelly, O.P.

Fr. Walter M. Brennan, O.S.M.

Fr. Théodore Koehler, S.M.

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The director and editors of Mary Page under the auspices of the International Marian Research Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature. Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing the secular press.

Commentary on Mary in various news articles from October 27- November 12.

• There’s nothing that quite captures the heart of the country’s artistic sensibilities as the bathtub Virgin Mary. At least that’s what Utah State University folklorist Jeannie Thomas says in her soon-to-be-published book, "Cemetery Angels, Garden Gnomes and Barbies." The cement Virgin Marys serenely resting in upended bathtubs can be found propped up in yards most everywhere. "There’s a dominant cultural attitude that these (who display them) are the people who see Elvis at the 7-Eleven," Thomas said. But she believes there’s a strong connection between lawn decorations and fine art traditions, in particular borrowing from themes found in Renaissance gardens and 19^th century images. "I think people who don’t get it are understandable. But it fills a real human need to be creative and to creatively express yourself," she said. Reported by the Associated Press, dateline Salt Lake City, November 8.

• Among the things you might not have known about the Virgin Mary is that she didn’t wear blue for the first 12 centuries of her role as an object of religious veneration. That’s one of the tidbits found in Michel Pastoureau’s "Blue: The History of a Color," published by Princeton University Press, the Wisconsin State Journal said on November 4. Pastoureau, a French historian and academic, writes: "Images from before the 12^th century depict Mary dressed in a range of different colors, but they are almost always dark: black, gray, brown, violet, blue or dark green. These colors were generally meant to convey suffering and grief; the Virgin wears garments that express her mourning for her crucified son." In the 12^th century, a "cult of the Virgin" developed that led to her being portrayed often in luminous stained-glass, and that led to brighter shades of blue being associated with her image.

• When Bridgette Laubenthal went into labor, she didn’t want an epidural or any other anesthetic. She just wanted her rosary recording and a couple crucifixes, the Albany NY Times Union said on November 11. The rosary, she said, reminds her of the Virgin Mary’s labor. In particular, when she prays the "Hail Mary’ and remembers "the fruit of your womb, Jesus," she thinks of Mary’s delivery. So she played the recording when she was pregnant and during her labor of seven hours.

• For more than 60 years, people have visited Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Bronxdale to drink the water flowing from behind a statue of the Virgin Mary. Like Frank Emanuel, whose neck pain has been alleviated, they believe that "Our Lady does something." Father Robert Norris, pastor of St. Lucy’s Church which is next to the grotto, said 600 to 700 visitors came to the site in a typical week before September 11. In the weeks after, attendance surged by as much as 40 percent and although the numbers have stabilized a bit, the grotto is still attracting about 10 percent more visitors than usual. The grotto, created after the parish founder visited Lourdes in the 1930's, was finished in 1939. Reported by the New York Times October 28.

• "By the time we attended the English Mass at 10 a.m. (the day following our arrival), I was assured that the Blessed Virgin would be there for me at all times," Josephine Darang said, reporting on her pilgrimage to Medjugorje in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on November 5. She said she experienced "a miracle of the heart" when she was able to forgive some people who hurt her in the past, and another miracle when her faith in God’s providence became stronger. "I know now that if God gave me a problem, He would help me solve it through the intercession of the Blessed Mother," she wrote.

• A Muslim fundamentalist was arrested November 1 for allegedly vandalizing statues at Catholic churches in Los Angeles and Culver City. Emad Ibrahim Saad of Los Angeles is accused of decapitating the Virgin Mary statue at St. Augustine’s church and school in Culver City, cutting a hand off that church’s statue of Saint Rita and carting the church’s statue of Father Junipero Serra, cut off at the feet, a mile away to the King Fahd Mosque. Muslim magazines were found at various entrances to the church, along with fliers that said, "Allah is the only true God," after the vandalism that occurred during the Sunday evening Mass on October 28. Saad is also suspected of throwing stones at statues of the Virgin Mary at St. Anselm and St. Raphael churches in Los Angeles. Both the principal of St. Augustine’s school and the community liaison for the mosque depicted the events involving their places of worship as an unsuccessful attempt to cause a rift between the two houses of worship. Reported by the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Associated Press and City News Service of Los Angeles October 31 and November 5, 7 and 8.

• For years the Church of Our Lady of Graces has been Sardhana’s best-known landmark, attracting worshipers seeking blessings and townsfolk in search of quiet. But it is in November that this nondescript town, 20 km from Meerut, really comes alive, India Today said on November 12. That’s when the church holds a nine-day pilgrimage in honor of the Virgin Mary. The church was built by Begum Sumru, a Muslim woman who embraced Catholicism after the death of her first husband. A pilgrimage to the church is believed to bestow the gift of parenthood.

• Since September 11 attendance at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto (at the Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada) has surged by as much as 40 percent, states the caption under a photo in the Minneapolis, MN Star Tribune October 27. In the accompanying story, Tom Di Nanni describes his visit to the Shrine and the Basilica, dedicated to Anne, the Mother of the Virgin Mary. Among some 20 chapels in the church is the chapel of the Immaculate Conception, located on the lower level and running nearly the full length of the main church above.

• Il Palio, the most passionately contested horse race in the world, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, The Observer (Guardian Newspapers) wrote on November 4. Held twice a year on the Piazza del Campo in the medieval Tuscan town of Siena, the race last only 90 seconds. The colorful procession which precedes the race retells Siena’s centuries of struggle against neighboring Florence, from the glorious victory against a superior Florentine force in 1260 to the day when Siena fell to her rival in 1560.

• The Chantry Singers presented a wonderfully selected evening of music on October 27, all the pieces being in praise of the Virgin Mary and based on Gregorian themes, the Bath Chronicle reported on October 29. The concert began in the 16^th century with pieces by Palestrina and Victoria, with an organ interlude by Praetorius, moved through the centuries with works by van Kerle, Weckmann, Kodaly and Durufle to the 20^th and then back, ending with Palestrina.

• An art exhibit condemned by a Catholic archbishop and upheld by free speed defenders closed on October 28, the Albuquerque Journal said on that day. The Cyber Arte exhibit, which includes an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe sparsely dressed in flower garlands, may travel to venues in Texas and California. Deacon Anthony Trujillo of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, a plaintiff in the court action against the exhibit, planned to lead a "burial ceremony" to celebrate the closing of the exhibit "to bury any anger, any animosity, any bad feelings so that we can leave that behind."

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You are invited to help us pray for our Prayer Corner intentions.  Please take a look!  This site has been updated and enhanced and now allows users to directly submit prayer requests or to volunteer as a prayer partner for these intentions!

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Our Mary Page web site is updated frequently. Please stop in again and see what's new.

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