# Virgin of Mercy

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{{Short description|Depiction of the Virgin Mary sheltering a group using her outspread cloak}}
{{Redirect|Mother of Mercy|the former high school in Cincinnati, Ohio|Mother of Mercy High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)| the song by American Death Rock band Samhain| Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix  = [Our Lady](/source/Titles_of_Mary%2C_mother_of_Jesus)
| name = Virgin of Mercy 
| image = Sano di Pietro. Madonna of Mercy.1440s Private coll..jpg
| imagesize = 290px
| alt = 
| caption = [Sano di Pietro](/source/Sano_di_Pietro), 15th century; the Virgin shelters a group of nuns, including two novices with uncovered heads
| titles = Mother of Mercy <br> Madonna of Mercy, Our Lady of Mercy 
| feast_day = 24 September
| venerated_in = [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church)
| major_shrine = 
| attributes = [Virgin Mary](/source/Blessed_Virgin_Mary), sheltering mantle
| patronage = [Barcelona](/source/Barcelona%2C_Spain), [Dominican Republic](/source/Dominican_Republic), [Cuba](/source/Cuba), [Paita](/source/Paita)
}}

The '''Virgin of Mercy''' is a subject in [Christian art](/source/Christian_art), showing a group of people sheltering for protection under the outspread cloak, or [pallium](/source/pallium), of the [Virgin Mary](/source/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus)). It was especially popular in Italy from the 13th to 16th centuries, often as a specialised form of [votive portrait](/source/votive_portrait); it is also found in other countries and later art, especially [Spain](/source/Spain) and Latin America.

Usually the Virgin is standing alone, though if angels hold up the cloak, she is free to hold the infant Christ. She is typically about twice the size of the other figures.  The people sheltered normally kneel, and are of necessity shown usually at a much smaller scale. These may represent all members of Christian society, with royal crowns, [mitre](/source/mitre)s and a [papal tiara](/source/papal_tiara) in the front rows, or represent the local population. The subject was often commissioned by specific groups such as families, confraternities, guilds or convents or abbeys, and then the figures represent these specific groups, as shown by their dress, or by the 15th century individual portraits. Sometimes arrows rain down from above, which the cloak prevents from reaching the people.<ref>Hall, 222.</ref>

==Other languages==
In Italian it is known as the '''Madonna della Misericordia''' ([Madonna](/source/Mary%2C_mother_of_Jesus) of [Mercy](/source/Mercy)), in German as the '''Schutzmantelmadonna''' (Sheltering-cloak Madonna), in Spanish as the '''Virgen de la Merced''' or '''Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia''' ([Virgin](/source/Virgin) of Mercy), in French as the '''Notre-Dame de la Merci''' ([Our Lady](/source/Veneration_of_Mary_in_the_Catholic_Church) of Mercy), in Polish as the '''Matka Boża Miłosierdzia''' ([Mother of God](/source/Mother_of_God) of Mercy), in Portuguese as the '''Nossa Senhora das Mercês''', in Catalan as the '''Mare de Déu de la Mercè''' and in Greek as the '''Παναγιά του ἐλέους'''.

== Pictorial tradition in Christian art ==
[[File:Ravensburger Schutzmantelmadonna.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''Ravensburger Schutzmantelmadonna'', c. 1480, attributed to [Michel Erhart](/source/Michel_Erhart), painted limewood, [Bode Museum](/source/Bode_Museum), Berlin.]]
Probably the oldest version known is a small panel by [Duccio](/source/Duccio) of c. 1280, with three [Franciscan](/source/Franciscan) friars under the cloak, in the Pinacoteca in [Siena](/source/Siena). Here the Virgin sits, only one side of the cloak is extended, and the Virgin holds her child on her knee with her other hand.

A miniature of c. 1274 from the [Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia](/source/Armenian_Kingdom_of_Cilicia) also shows a variant of the motif, as do 13th century paintings in [Cyprus](/source/Cyprus), such as an icon in the Byzantine Museum in the [Archbishop's Palace, Nicosia](/source/Archbishop's_Palace%2C_Nicosia).<ref>Evans, pp. 60–61 (with illustration), 461; ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=q4hb_948o1AC&dq=%22Virgin+of+Mercy%22&pg=PT180 Miniature Painting in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century]'', Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Sylvia Agémian, Annemarie Weyl Carr, Dumbarton Oaks, p. 159, 1993, {{ISBN|0-88402-202-1}}. A South German chalice may also be older, see Vasilake, 307, note 17.</ref>

The common factor between all these is the influence and presence of Western [mendicant](/source/mendicant) orders, especially the Franciscans, who appear to have been important in spreading this form of [iconography](/source/iconography).<ref>Evans, p. 460.</ref>

The immediate inspiration of the iconography comes from a vision reported in the ''Dialogus Miraculorum'' of the [Cistercian](/source/Cistercian) [Caesarius of Heisterbach](/source/Caesarius_of_Heisterbach) which circulated widely from about 1230.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TI8O9C60s-EC&dq=%22Madonna+della+Misericordia%22++painting&pg=PA237 ''Imagining Childhood: Themes in the Imagery of Childhood''], Erika Langmuir, p.237, note 56, Yale University Press, 2006, {{ISBN|0-300-10131-7}}</ref> Beyond that, the origins of the image may relate to rituals and a vision or miracle connected with a famous icon in the [Blachernae Church](/source/Church_of_St._Mary_of_Blachernae_(Istanbul)) in [Constantinople](/source/Constantinople).<ref>Vasilake, 308.</ref>

This gave rise in the [Byzantine Rite](/source/Byzantine_Rite) ([Eastern Orthodox](/source/Eastern_Orthodox) and [Eastern Catholic Churches](/source/Eastern_Catholic_Churches)) to the [Pokrov](/source/The_Protection_of_the_Mother_of_God) icons, although the image is not found in [Byzantine art](/source/Byzantine_art). In the Pokrov icons the thought is similar, but the image is usually less literal – the veil with which the Virgin protects mankind is small and held either in her hands or by two angels,<ref>Neil K. Moran; [https://books.google.com/books?id=3dcUAAAAIAAJ&dq=pokrov+icon&pg=PA126 ''Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting''], p.126ff, BRILL, 1986, {{ISBN|90-04-07809-6}}</ref> though the Western version with a larger cloak is found in some Eastern Orthodox icons, one of a number of Western iconographic features that influenced Orthodox art, whether in [Cyprus](/source/Cyprus) under the [Crusade](/source/Crusade)rs<ref>Vasilake, 307ff; [17th century Ukrainian example](/source/%3AFile%3AIcon_03050_Pokrova_Bogorodicy._Seredina_XVII_v._Ukraina.jpg)</ref> or 16th-century Eastern Europe.
thumb|left|Misericorde altarpiece

The image also fits well with the words of the ancient hymn ''[Sub tuum praesidium](/source/Sub_tuum_praesidium)'', probably composed in the 3rd century, and used in most pre-Reformation churches of both the Western and Eastern churches.

Usually the image, whether in sculpture or painting, stands by itself. Nevertheless, in the most famous example, the [Madonna della Misericordia altarpiece](/source/Madonna_della_Misericordia_(Piero_della_Francesca)) (1445–1462) in [Sansepolcro](/source/Sansepolcro) by [Piero della Francesca](/source/Piero_della_Francesca), the subject is the central panel of a large [altarpiece](/source/altarpiece), with a smaller Crucifixion above it, and many other panels.

The image came in for special derision from [Martin Luther](/source/Martin_Luther), who compared it to "a hen with her chicks".<ref>Hall, 305.</ref>

In the Spanish ''[The Virgin of the Navigators](/source/The_Virgin_of_the_Navigators)'' of the 1530s, where those sheltered are a group connected with the Spanish voyages to the [New World](/source/New_World), including American indigenous peoples, the group is shown over a panorama of ships at rest in a harbour.

In Germany during the Middle Ages, an almost identical image was used featuring [Saint Ursula](/source/Saint_Ursula), usually holding her [attribute](/source/Emblem) of an arrow to avoid confusion.<ref>See the Commons category note for three examples</ref>

In this pictorial tradition, also the iconography of the [Works of mercy](/source/Works_of_mercy) alludes sometimes to the Virgin of Mercy, such as [Caravaggio](/source/Caravaggio) in his huge [painting in Naples](/source/The_Seven_Works_of_Mercy_(Caravaggio)), because in 1606/07 it was commissioned for the church of the Confraternita del Pio Monte della Misericordia.<ref>Bühren 2017, pp. 67 and 75.</ref>

== Veneration ==
[[Image:Bellas Artes Sevilla.jpg|thumb|[Zurbarán](/source/Francisco_Zurbar%C3%A1n), 17th century Spanish, with a group of monks]]

The [liturgical feast day](/source/liturgical_feast_day) of '''[Our Lady](/source/Veneration_of_Mary_in_the_Catholic_Church) of [Mercy](/source/Mercy)''' is celebrated annually in the [General Roman Calendar](/source/General_Roman_Calendar) on [September 24](/source/September_24).

Our Lady of Mercy is the co-patroness, along with [St. Mark](/source/Mark_the_Evangelist), of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Venice in Florida.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dioceseofvenice.org/about/our-diocesan-crest/|title=Our Diocesan Crest|website=Diocese of Venice|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-17}}</ref>

Churches dedicated to her include the cathedral of [Guasdualito](/source/Guasdualito) in [Venezuela](/source/Venezuela) and the National Shrine of La Virgen de las Mercedes, also known as "El Santo Cerro" in [La Vega, Dominican Republic](/source/La_Vega%2C_Dominican_Republic).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.conectate.com.do/articulo/santo-cerro-la-vega-republica-dominicana/|title=Santo Cerro {{!}} La Vega, República Dominicana|website=www.conectate.com.do|language=es-ES|access-date=2017-10-30}}</ref>

== Other contexts ==
The term "Virgin of Mercy" is found in a number of other contexts not directly related to the image. It is a common translation of the [Eleusa](/source/Eleusa) type of icon of the Virgin and Child.

The Virgin of Mercy is patron saint of Barcelona, celebrated in the week-long [La Mercè](/source/La_Merc%C3%A8) festival each year, but in this role is not especially associated with this type of image. The [Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy](/source/Order_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary_of_Mercy), founded, also in Barcelona, in 1218 by Saint [Peter Nolasco](/source/Peter_Nolasco), has used the image but is not particularly associated with it.

In [Santería](/source/Santer%C3%ADa), the Virgin of Mercy is [syncretized](/source/syncretism) with [Obatala](/source/Obatala).

== See also ==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy](/source/Congregation_of_the_Sisters_of_Our_Lady_of_Mercy)
* [Consecration and entrustment to Mary](/source/Consecration_and_entrustment_to_Mary)
* [Madonna (art)](/source/Madonna_(art))
* [Mary Untier of Knots](/source/Mary_Untier_of_Knots)
* [Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy](/source/Order_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary_of_Mercy) (Our Lady of Ransom)
* [Our Lady](/source/Blessed_Virgin_Mary_(Roman_Catholic))
* [Eastern ''Theotokos Pokrova'' depictions](/source/Intercession_of_the_Theotokos)
* [Mother of the Church](/source/Mother_of_the_Church)
* [Cincture of the Theotokos](/source/Cincture_of_the_Theotokos)
}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* Evans, Helen C. (ed.), 2004. [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/58371/rec/3 ''Byzantium, Faith and Power (1261–1557)''], Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, {{ISBN|1588391140}}.
* Hall, James, 1983. ''A History of Ideas and Images in Italian Art'', John Murray, London, {{ISBN|0-7195-3971-4}}.
* [Ralf van Bühren](/source/Ralf_van_B%C3%BChren), "[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23753234.2017.1287283 Caravaggio's 'Seven Works of Mercy' in Naples: The relevance of art history to cultural journalism]", in ''Church, Communication and Culture'' 2 (2017), pp.&nbsp;63–87.
* Vasilakē, Maria. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qw9zUeRLJ1QC&dq=Sub+matris+tutela&pg=RA1-PA308 ''Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium''], Ashgate Publishing, 2005, {{ISBN|0-7546-3603-8}}.

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline}}

{{Madonna styles}}
{{Authority control}}

Category:Divine Mercy (Catholic devotion)
Category:Titles of Mary, mother of Jesus
Category:Virgin Mary in art

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Virgin of Mercy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_Mercy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_Mercy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.