Old World Swine

Finished Mary Painting

(Copyright Timothy Jones 2009)

This finished piece can be compared to the in-progress grisaille underpainting in this post.

I had almost settled on the title Mary, Queen of Heaven (because of the use of celestial symbols and her wearing the stars like a garment), but it would probably be a pretty counter-traditional image in that case. I expect most paintings of Mary that depict her role as Queen of the Saints would show her surrounded by angels and saints, and with a crown on her head (or being placed on her head).

If this image is of the Queen of Heaven, then Heaven looks kinda empty, so another title might work better.

Incidentally, Mary enjoys the title Queen of Heaven by virtue of the fact that her Son is the King. She is the Queen Mum, so to speak. This was a common arrangement in the Old Testament, and around the world. And, if she has indeed been honored by her Son in this way, then you can see why Catholics hold her to be such a powerful intercessor, and why she is so often asked to pray for us.

Lepanto!

The Four Mass'keteers remind us that today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, established in 1573 to commemorate the miraculous victory at the Battle of Lepanto.

They provide a helpful link to Chesterton's poetic retelling of the event here.

Incidentally, The Everlasting Man is also available completely online and absolutely free, though I prefer the hard copy experience. Awfully handy for reference, though.

Theotokos

Tomorrow - January 1st - is more than just the beginning of a new calendar year in the West. It is, much more significantly, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God for all Christians, north, south, east and west.

The USCCB site gives the SCRIPTURE READINGS for the day.

From the Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D. -

"We confess, then, our lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God perfect God and perfect man of a rational soul and a body, begotten before all ages from the Father in his godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born of Mary the virgin, according to his humanity,  one and the same consubstantial with the Father in godhead and consubstantial with us in humanity, for a union of two natures took place.  Therefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of the unconfused union, we confess the holy virgin to be the Mother of God because God the Word took flesh and became man and from his very conception united to himself the temple he took from her"