Images: Springernature
Clavis number: ECMA 102
Other descriptors: none
Location: Basilica of Sainte-Madeleine, Saint Maximin la Sainte Baume, St Maximin, Provence
Category: tomb decorations
Related literature: Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, Protevangelium of James
Featured characters and locations: Mary (Virgin), temple (Jerusalem).
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: stone
Size: not provided
Images: Virgin Mary, veiled, with arms raised.
Inscription: MARIA VIRGO MINESTER DE TEMPULO GEROSALE (Virgin Mary Minister of the Temple of Jerusalem).
Date: ca. 375 CE
Provenance: This depiction of Mary is thought to be the oldest in the Gaul region and may have its origin in Rome. It was found in a crypt under the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine Basilica in the comune Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume which is found in Provence, France and where it currently resides.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
Though the inscription calls Mary “Minister of the Temple” and appears to depict her as an adult, the clearest connection between Mary and the Jerusalem temple appears in the Protevangelium of James, where she is dedicated to the temple as a young girl:
When the child turned three, Joachim said, “Let us call the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews and let them each take a torch and kindle it so that (the child) will not turn back and have her heart captivated away from the temple of the Lord.” And they did this until they ascended to the temple of the Lord. And the priest accepted her, and kissed her, and blessed her and said, “The Lord God exalted your name among all the generations. In you the Lord will reveal his redemption to the children of Israel at the end of days.” And he set her down on the third step of the altar and the Lord God cast grace upon her. And she danced on her feet, and the whole house of Israel loved her. And her parents went away marveling and praising and glorifying God the Master because their child did not look back at them. Mary was in the temple of the Lord, nurtured like a dove, receiving her food from the hand of an angel. (7:4–8:2; trans. Lily Vuong, The Protevangelium of James [Early Christian Apocrypha 7; Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2019]; see also Ps.-Mt. 4–5).
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cartlidge, David R. and J. Keith Elliott. Art and the Christian Apocrypha. London and New York: Routledge, 2001 (p. 38).
Fixot, Michael. La Crypte de Saint-Maximin La-Saint-Baume: Basilique Sainte-Marie Madeleine. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 2001 (pp. 32–33).
Grabar, André. Christian Iconography: A Study of Its Origins. Bollingen Series XXXV.10. New Haven: Princeton University Press, 1968 (pp. 74–79).
Hubert, Jean, Jean Porche, and Wolfgang F. Volbach. Europe of the Invasions. The Arts of Mankind. New York: George Braziller, 1969 (fig. 19).
Humphry, W. G. “Christian Inscriptions in Gaul.” The Contemporary Review 3 (1866): 410–34 (p. 420).
Kateusz, Ally. Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019 (pp. 78–80, fig. 4.7).
Lafontaine-Dosogne, Jacqueline. Iconographie de l’enfance de la Vierge dans l’Empire byzantin et en Occident. 2 vols. Bruxelles, 1964–1965 (vol. 1, p. 22 fig. 48)
Le Blant, Edmond. Les sarcophages chrétiens de la Gaule. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1886 (pl. 57.1).
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Our Lady of the Sign.” Wikipedia.
“Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.” Wikipedia.
Entry created by Stefano Terrana, under the supervision of Tony Burke, York University, 3 April 2021.