South Portal 2

Tympanum and Lintels: Subject Matter

Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin

Golden Legend (c 1260 Jacobus de Voragine, following Honorius of Autun, Speculum Ecclesie and Dionysius the Pseudo Areopogite)

Dionysius, the disciple of Saint Paul, gives a like account in his Book of the Names of God.  He says that the apostles came together at the death of the Virgin, and that he himself was there, and that each discoursed in praise of Christ and the Virgin.  When the Blessed Mary saw all the apostles gathered together, she blessed the Lord and sat down among them, in the midst of lighted lamps and candles.  At about the third hour of the night Jesus came with the ranks of the angels, the troop of the patriarchs, the host of the martyrs, the army of the confessors, and the choir of the virgins and they all took their places before the throne of the Virgin, and their voices mounted in sweet and solemn song. ... Jesus himself began and said, "Come my chosen one, and I will place thee upon my throne, for I have desired thy beauty1"   And she answered: "My heart is ready, O Lord, my heart is ready!" Then all who had come with Jesus sweetly intoned: "This is she whose bed was free from sin, and who shall have fruit in the refection of holy souls!" And she herself sang: "All generations shall call me blessed, because he who is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his name!"  Then Christ, singing more fairly than all, intoned: "Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned!"  ...  And in this manner Mary's soul went forth out of her body and flew upward in the arms of her son; and she was spared all pain of the body, as she had been free from corruption without.

Coronation of the Virgin

Revelation 21: 1-3

[1] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more. [2] And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people; and God himself with them shall be their God.

Santa Maria in Trastavere

On the Virgin's scroll: Canticles 2: 6: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

In Christ's book: Golden Legend Come my chosen one, and I will place thee upon my throne

Source: Douay-Rheims Bible

Amiens Cathedral West Façade South Portal c.1220-1225

Amiens Cathedral West Façade South Portal c.1220-1225

Senlis Cathedral West Façade Center Portal c.1160

Senlis Cathedral West Façade Center Portal c.1160

Chartres Cathedral North Transept Center Portal c.1205

Chartres Cathedral North Transept Center Portal c.1205

Notre-Dame of Paris West Façade North Portal c.1220

Notre-Dame of Paris West Façade North Portal c.1220

Santa Maria in Trastevere Apse Mosaic c.1144

Santa Maria in Trastevere Apse Mosaic c.1144