Cult of the Virgin

As early as the second century, apocrypha (written accounts not included in the New Testament) on the life of Mary and the art of the catacombs attest to the early veneration, or cult, of the Virgin. After the divine motherhood of Mary was declared dogma in 431 at Ephesus, numerous churches were dedicated to "Our Lady" in her honor. Between the first and the eighth centuries liturgy developed for the celebration of Mary and her feasts were established with major holidays occurring on March 25, which celebrates the Annunciation, and August 15, which celebrates her Assumption into heaven. Other feast days include the Nativity of Mary (Sept. 8), the Presentation of Mary (Feb. 2), and the day of the Immaculate Conception, the "Conception of Saint Anne." While early Christian veneration emphasized Mary's role as mother of Christ and Christocentrism, after the Carolingian period devotion increasingly turned towards Mary's role as the Queen of Heaven, Spiritual Mother, and Intercessor. Although the Bible does not provide extensive information about Mary or her life, after the mid-eleventh century a rich literature developed consisting of sermons, prayers, Offices, Masses, and popular hagiographies. St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote numerous homilies, small sermons and prayers dedicated to the Virgin, which attest to the special devotion to Mary practiced by the Cistercian order. Later medieval books, such as the Golden Legend of Voragine, from the second quarter of the thirteenth century, provided embellished accounts of Mary's hagiography that later served as the basis for liturgical plays and artistic cycles of the various events in her life. In the later Middle Ages, prayers and accounts of Mary's life comprised the Hours of the Virgin, which were placed in books of hours made for private devotional practice. MC