This book by Eileen Reeves, (which I hope I'll have the time to read entirely some day...), asserts that the doctrine of immaculacy of Mary's conception was accompanied by representations known as Tota Pulchra type (some appropriate prayer posted on Laodicea by Boeciana), in which the Mother of God was surrounded by icons attesting her immaculacy.
The icons were actually Bible references (ibidem): "closed garden, a sealed fountain" (Song of Songs 4:12), "Tower of David" (Song of Songs 4,4); "radiant as the sun, beautiful as the moon" (Song of Songs 4,10); "a spring of running water" (Songs of songs 4,15); "a lily of the valley" (Song of Songs 2,1); "a flower among thorns" (Songs of Songs 2,2); "a dove" (Song of Songs 6,9); "Jacob's ladder" (Genesis 28,12); "a spotless mirror" (Ecclesiastes 7,26); "a cedar of Lebanon, a mountain cypress" (Ecclesiasticus 24,13); "a majestic palm, a beautiful olive tree" (Ecclesiasticus 24,14) and, finally the Domus Domini, the temple of Solomon (3 Kings 6).
Thursday, December 08, 2005
21:20 - Potuit, Decuit, Fecit.
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