Article (Mirabilia Ars)
-
From Santiago Matamoros to Sen jak in the Haitian voodoo
Patricia GRAU-DIECKMANN
Original title: De Santiago Matamoros al Sen Jak del vudú haitiano
Published in
Few Christian characters have shown the ubiquity and the capacity to become syncretised into other religions such as St. James the Apostle. He became known by different names and nicknames and is revered as far afield as Spain, Ghana, Peru and Haiti. This article will review some of the many facets that portray the first Christian Martyr.
-
The person of Holy Virgin Mary in Christianity and in Qu’ran (Koran)
Eirini ARTEMI
Published in
The Holy Virgin Mary or Theotokos is a very significant person for Christians. She is the mother of the enfleshed (sesarkomenos) Son of God. Theotokos thus refers to the Incarnation, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human nature in addition to his pre-existing divine nature, this being made possible by the cooperation of Virgin Mary. Theotokos is not only the mother of God, but the mother of every Christian. The Christians and mainly Orthodoxs and Roman Catholics think that the Virgin is a very significant part of their religion, of their life. Christians do not “worship” the Virgin Mary. They “venerate” her and show her great honor. She has the all-merciful power of driving away from us, at her sign, the sub-celestial spirits of evil–those ever-vigilant and ardent sowers of enmity and malice among men. She is the highest of all creatures, the Mediatrix for the whole race of mankind. Strive to train everyone in the spirit of humility, for she was humbler that any mortal, and only looks lovingly upon the humble. The Quran, the holy book for Muslims honor holy Virgin Mary too. Muslims think that Virgin Mary is the mother of Prophet Christ. For them, Christ is not God. The Archbishop of Albania Anastasios who was teaching about the religion of Muslims supports that Muslims honour Holy Virgin more than some Christian Confessions of Protestants and some “christian” heresies as Jehovah witness. Also, it is indicative of this honorary position, which in the Quran the name of Mary is found in 33 out of 114 chapters (sura). The 33 chapter is devoted to Mary. Of course in this paper, we will examine the texts of the Holy Scriptures for the Theotokos, and the texts of Quran for Her.
-
The Five Buddhas of Meditation from Yungang
André BUENO
Original title: Os Cinco Budas da Meditação de Yungang
Published in
In a previous article, we examined the relationship between the Buddha Akshobhya 阿閦如来 of cave 16 from the Yungang complex 雲崗石窟 in China, and the construction of a Buddhist iconography with Indo, Greek and Roman origin’s. Our proposal was that the Buddha of cave 16 is designed to spiritually receive the peoples from the Mediterranean. Now we want to analyze the elements by which we can say that the Buddha of cave 16 is Akshobhya, and as the original set of five caves of Yungang was organized according to the theory of “Five Buddhas of Meditation”.
-
Saint James in the conquest of New Spain
Carlos MORAL GARCÍA
Original title: Santiago en la conquista de Nueva España
Published in
This paper tries to analyze the symbol of Saint James the Great in the conquest of New Spain, studing the chronicles and the different apparition of this apostle in them. Therefore, it is convenient to make an identification of the symbolic evolution of this character, from Saint James Moor-Slayer to Indian-Slayer. In addition it is paying attention to the change of this symbol and its acceptance by some American native populations, resulting in the feast of Saint James Indian-Slayer and the subsequent taking as latinamerican patron saint.
-
Introduction: The Image of Power. Epiphanies of Potestas
José María SALVADOR GONZÁLEZ
Original title: Presentación: La Imagen del Poder. Epifanías de la Potestas
Published in
-
The witness Queen. Jeanne d’Evreux in her Book of Hours
Ofelia MANZI, Patricia GRAU-DIECKMANN
Original title: La reina testigo. Jeanne d’Evreux en su Libro de Horas
Published in
The Books of Hours produced in the late Middle Ages are a key plastic document for studying the iconography of the period. The multiplication of copies from the thirteenth century has given to the art of the Middle Ages some of the most interesting products in both formal and iconographic aspects. An additional element of interest of these works is the illustration developed in the margins, where figures and scenes are a sort of “parallel universe” in relation to the central theme of the respective folio. One of the most interesting works, not only for its extraordinary artistic level but also for its condition and original workmanship, is the tiny Book of Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, third wife of Charles IV, who took on herself the responsibility and the final possibility of continuity of Capetian dynasty. In this manuscript some historical characters embodying an interpretative key are present. Two folios belonging respectively to the Hours of the Virgin and the Hours of St. Louis, have miniatures that testify a game between past and present, in which the contemporary history integrates with the biblical one, and demonstrate the value given to the image by its multiple possibilities of meaning.
-
El Maestro and El Cortesano. Intermidiality in the literary and musical work of Luis de Milán
Gustavo Rocha CHRITARO
Original title: El Maestro e El Cortesano. Intermidialidade na obra literária e musical de Luis de Milán
Published in
This paper focus its efforts on the analysis of the intermediality in the musical and literary poetics of Spanish vihuelista Luis de Milán (1500-1561). Parting from his two best-known publications, El Maestro (1535) and El Cortesano (1561), we carried out a comparative study of generative discursive strategies contained in each work. As support for approaching the musical primary sources, we used the work of Griffiths (1999 and 2005), as well as some commented transcriptions for guitar produced by Koonce (2008) and Chiesa (1974), while the approach to literary sources sought support Hart (1972).
-
The murals of Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico. Paintings for a city at war
Jesús CANTERA MONTENEGRO, Clara Mª CASTREJÓN VELLÉ
Original title: Los frescos del Palazzo Pubblico de Siena. Pinturas para una ciudad en guerra
Published in
Study of the Siena’s palace paintings as an example of a secular public interior in the Middle Ages and the social and political circumstances that influenced them in their iconography and symbolism, taking a special attention to Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Good and Bad Government and Simone Martini’s Maestà.
-
Marginals, schismatics, heretics: Their religious expression in fourth and fifth century patristics
Susana FIORETTI
Original title: Marginales, Cismáticos, herejes. Su expresión religiosa en la patrística de los siglos IV y V
Published in
During the fourth century, once Constantine’s politics placed Christian worship on equal footing to Paganism, a fruitful and swift effort to create a corpus of doctrine and thought was carried out. Fourth-century Christians became increasingly vigilant with respect to their own Christian identity when they faced the rapid and sometimes incomplete conversion of the heathen, but fundamentally when facing internal divergences that were becoming more visible and problematic in this new political process. The century witnessed the emergence of numerous marginalized Christian movements that resisted the creation of a Catholic orthodoxy supported by the Empire. Hence, heresy was the hub of the problem, configured as a negative limit for orthodoxy. The “Constantinian Revolution” marked the beginning of the end of the old system, eclectic and tolerant of doctrinal matters, yielding to a religious centralization that would not be limited only to ritualism, but would also extend into the realm of personal behavior and belief. By transforming a persecuted faith into a stable Church, not only was it sought that it be present in society, but that it would control it. Hence, the absolute and exclusive conception of dogma constructed by the Church shows its inability to conceive as possible the coexistence of its preaching with other forms of truth. The center of the philosophical and theological universe was solidly occupied by the truth of the Church, who ended up becoming the arbiter of all discourse. The topic has come a long way and evolved to an intolerance that, undoubtedly, entailed a modification of Roman policies. Many of the works that we have analyzed are a registry of the Church’s struggle against its persecutors and against heretics, who were becoming the biggest threat to its continuity, as understood by many of its contemporaries.
-
Interior decoration of lay public spaces in the Middle Ages
Jesús CANTERA MONTENEGRO, Ángela ORGANERO MANZANERO
Original title: Decoración de interiores públicos laicos en la Edad Media
Published in
The secular presence on art during XIV century, reflects how artistics genres started a process of indipenditation of eclesiastic world. In Europe, in this age a fiscal system was stablished that aloud a fluence transmission of money to coffers. This made Florence and Siena gain a strong economic stability. With the total control of middle class, took place the building of Public Palace of Siena and the decoration of the Sala dei Nove by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. This frescos constitutes a unicum european painting because his conception and convey feelings, like one of famous manifiestion of political propaganda of Middle Age. Ambrogio, under allegorical, political, theological and philosophical pressure, put together a whole political ideology result of agreement between citizens.
