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The Madonna del Rosario is an icon of Mary commonly dated to the sixth century.[1] It is an early version of a type of icon known as the Agiosoritissa or Maria Advocata, which depicts Mary without child, with both hands raised. The work, which has been kept in the Church of the Madonna del Rosario since 1931,[2] is thought to be the oldest image of Mary in Rome.[3] Medieval tradition held that the icon was composed by Luke the Evangelist himself.[4]

The painting is known by various names. It is often simply called Maria Advocata, since it was long the only example of the type in Rome.[1] It is also referred to according to the various churches where it has resided, as Madonna in Tempulo, Madonna di San Sisto, Madonna di Santi Domenico e Sisto, or, as it is called here, Madonna del Rosario.

Relation to Luke the Evangelist

Because the Gospel of Luke contains material about Mary not found in any of the other gospels, the tradition arose early in Christian history that Mary had been among the eyewitnesses that Luke claimed in his prologue to have consulted in composing his narrative.[5] The close connection between Luke and Mary was reinforced by the tradition that Luke was an artist, perhaps the first to compose an icon of Mary.[6][7]

By 1100, the Madonna del Rosario was being referred to as Luke's handiwork.[1] By 1200, it was one of only two icons with claims to Lukan authorship, along with Salus Populi Romani, another early icon housed in Santa Maria Maggiore.[8]

Iconography

The icon was painted using the ancient encaustic technique and had a gold background from the start. During the restoration in 1960, the result of the expert examination was recorded: "Location: Rome. Painter: unknown. Dimensions: 70.2 x 40.5 cm. Panel thickness: 0.5 cm. Type of wood: maybe linden, in any case so worn that it is difficult to determine its age. A copper plate holds the image together from behind, so X-rays are impossible."[9]

The wood on the painting ground is badly eaten away, but the portrait as a whole, especially the face, the gold nimbus and one hand, are still clearly visible.[9] In later times, the interceding hands were covered with gold sheets to protect them from kisses, and a gold cross was added to the shoulder. These gold sheets were removed again during the restoration in 1960; they can still be seen today as an application in front of the icon.

The icon of Mary belongs to the iconographic type of Hagiosoritissa (Greek: Ἁγιοσορίτισσα, from hagios = "holy" and soros = "shrine"), i.e. the "Icon at the Holy Shrine" in the former Chalkoprateia church in Constantinople. The more common name is Maria Advocata (= "Mary as intercessor", from Greek Paraklesis). In the choice of motif for Marian icons, the representations of Mary without child (Advocata) preceded the images of Mary with child (e.g. Hodegetria).[10]

Here Mary is depicted as the Blessed Mother (without child) in a sideways half-length figure, eyes directed at the viewer, both hands raised in supplication. The head is covered by the shawl (maphorion) with the star on her brow; this spica ("ear of corn") was considered a sign of virginity, derived from the brightest star of the same name in the constellation Virgo. The old jewellery on the dress and wrists can still be seen. The golden nimbus is set off from the rest of the gold background by slight hallmarking. How Maria intercedes is made clear by the artist painting the right hand raised to the shoulder beyond the edge of the picture to the border of the icon. With her hands raised and with a slight turn of her body, Mary turns to Jesus Christ, so to speak, out of the picture in order to pass on to him the entrusted requests.[11]

In this context it is significant that the icon of the Madonna di San Sisto (= Maria Advocata) was carried along in the annual procession on the night before the Assumption (15 August); the icon of Mary and the icon of Christ from the Lateran, which was also carried along, are said to have bowed to each other.[12] The icon of Christ is said to have been one of the oldest images of Christ, and an image not created by human hands (Greek: ἀχειροποίητον, acheiropoieton), which is in the Sancta Sanctorum chapel of the Lateran Palace. The route of this procession initially led from the Lateran via the Via Sacra and Sant'Adriano at the Roman Forum to Santa Maria Maggiore, later also stopping in front of Santa Francesca Romana and San Sisto Vecchio. The model for this Roman procession were the pictorial processions with icons of Christ and the Mother of God that had been taking place in Constantinople since the 6th century, in which the icons assumed a quasi-personal life and acted as individuals.[13]

Until the 10th century, the primacy of the five oldest and most important Marian icons in Rome was disputed, although they sometimes belonged to different iconographic categories: Maria Advocata from San Sisto Vecchio (6th century), Regina Coeli (since the 19th century Salus Populi Romani) from Santa Maria Maggiore (6th/7th century), Madonna del Conforto from Santa Maria Antiqua and then Santa Francesca Romana (6th/7th century), the temple image of Mary from Santa Maria ad Martyres (6th/7th century), Maria Regina from Santa Maria in Trastevere (7th century). According to Hans Belting's research, it is likely that the Maria Advocata of San Sisto has played the leading role during the August procession of the Assumption since the 10th century; she was also the first icon of Mary in Rome, which was expressly declared to be an image of Luke around 1100.[14]

Among these early Roman Marian images, Maria Advocata was the oldest and most famous icon: she was the only one painted on a gold background, occupied a privileged position in the August processions and more early copies were made of her than of any other Marian icon in Rome. These copies of the Advocata were particularly sought after because they also took part in the special veneration of the oldest icon of Mary and were also carried in processions in Rome and Latium. However, only the icons of the iconographic type of Mary as intercessor and not those of the Hodegetria and other types count as such copies. The copies of the Advocata that have survived to this day include, above all, the icons in Santa Maria in Aracoeli (8th/9th and 12th centuries),[10] Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica (formerly San Gregorio Nazianzeno, 12th century), Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio (12th/13th centuries), Santa Maria in Via Lata (12th/13th centuries), Santi Bonifacio e Alessio (12th/13th centuries), San Lorenzo in Damaso (12th/13th century), Santa Maria Maggiore, Tivoli/Latium (13th century), Cappella Paolina in the Apostolic Palace (16th century).

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  The Madonna Aracoeli, S. Maria in Ara Coeli, 11th/12th c.
• 
  Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, 12th c.
• 
  S. Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio, 12th/13th c.
• 
  S. Maria in Via Lata, 12th/13th c.
• 
  SS. Bonifacio ed Alessio, 12th/13th c.
• 
  S. Lorenzo in Damaso, 12th/13th c.
• 
  S. Maria Maggiore, Tivoli, 13th c.

History

According to ancient tradition, the Madonna of San Sisto (Maria Advocata) was brought to Rome by a pilgrim from Jerusalem or Constantinople before the first iconoclastic period.[9] It was taken by a certain Tempulo, one of three brothers who came from Constantinople and lived in exile in Rome, and placed in the neighbouring small oratory of Sant'Agata in Turri on the old Via Appia. This small church was built by the Greek community living there at the end of the 6th century and dedicated to Saint Agatha of Catania c. 800.[15] After Tempulo's death, a monastic community must have formed there; because in 806 it is reported that the Saracens had destroyed the Monasterium Tempuli. After reconstruction with the support of Pope Sergius III (904–911) the monastery and church were consecrated to the Virgin Mary; the detailed designation was Monasterium Sanctae Mariae qui vocatur Tempuli. Since 1155 the church in which the Maria Advocata was still kept was called Santa Maria in Tempulo (Today, this old building at Via di Valle delle Camene is used by the Roman city administration to carry out civil weddings).

On 28 February 1221, the icon of Mary was personally transferred by Domingo de Guzmán, called Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order, to the convent of San Sisto Vecchio, newly founded in the neighbourhood, on the ancient Via Appia (opposite the Baths of Caracalla).[8] The icon was probably set up in the apse. Around 1570, Cardinal Filippo Buoncompagni, the titular cardinal of San Sisto, planned to have the icon's history depicted in twelve frescoes in the nave. Although the project was not carried out, the design drawings have been preserved. In one of these drawings, the icon is shown in a canopied wall aedicule over an altar.

On 8 February 1575, the Dominican Sisters moved from San Sisto to their new convent, Santi Domenico e Sisto, in the Piazza Magnanapoli (now the Angelicum).[16] The precious icon was carried along and displayed on the new altar for veneration. This altar was located in the dividing wall between the outer, publicly accessible part of the church and the choir room of the sisters; it was therefore visible from both sides, but protected by a latticework towards the outer part of the church. The image of the Virgin Mary could be rotated so that it could be shown in every part of the church. In 1640 an inscription with the history of the icon of Mary was placed in the church (today to the right of the entrance).

In 1931 the Dominicans moved again, to the Monastero di Santa Maria del Rosario,[4] with the icon of Mary, which is now kept and venerated in the part of the monastery church belonging to the cloistered church. From the part of the church open to the general public, through an iron grating, one can initially only see a copy of the icon of Mary decorated with votive offerings (on the back of the original). After registration, there is the possibility to see the original before or after the weekday Mass[4] at 7.30 a.m. or on Sundays at 11 a.m.; the front of the icon is then turned towards the viewer.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the monastery on 24 June 2010 and prayed before the Advocata, as did his predecessor John Paul II on 16 November 1986.[17][4]

From 13 November to 15 December 2012, the Advocata was shown for the first time outside the monastery, in the exhibition "Tavole miracolose – Le Icone medioevali di Roma e del Lazio del Fondo Edifici di Culto" in the Palazzo Venezia.[3]

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  Santa Maria in Tempulo
• 
  San Sisto Vecchio
• 
  Santi Domenico e Sisto
• 
  Madonna del Rosario

References

Sources

• Badde, Paul (20 May 2010). "Roms geheimer Schatz - Die Urikone des Rosenkranzes". All About Mary. University of Dayton. Retrieved 14 October 2022. Translated in "Seeking Mary, Our Mother's Face". Illumina, Domini (28 November 2018). Retrieved 21 October 2022.
• Badde, Paul (25 November 2012). "Die Maria Advocata erobert Rom". Kath.net (Die Welt). Retrieved 14 October 2022.
• Badde, Paul (7 June 2020). "Die Advocata. Paul Badde". Katholische Mission. Video on YouTube (in German). Retrieved 14 October 2022.
• Bacci, Michele (1998). Il pennello dell'Evangelista. Storia delle immagini sacre attribuite a san Luca. Pisa: Gisem-Ets.
• Belting, Hans (1991). Bild und Kult – Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst. Munich: C. H. Beck. pp. 47, 51, 76, 78, 83, 131, 348, 350, 353, 366, 558. Translated by Edmund Jephcott (1994) as Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image Before the Era of Art. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 72, 502.
• Kraut, Gisela (1986). Lukas malt die Madonna: Zeugnisse zum künstlerischen Selbstverständnis in der Malerei. Worms: Werner. p. 10.
• Mares, Courtney (27 February 2021). "St. Dominic entrusted this Marian icon to nuns in Rome 800 years ago". Catholic News Agency (CNA). Retrieved 19 October 2022.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav (1996). Mary through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 18.
• Spiazzi, Raimondo (1992). La chiesa e il monastero di San Sisto all'Appia: raccolta di studi storici. Bologna: Edizioni Studio Domenicano. pp. 139, 174, 292. ISBN 88-7094-124-8.
• Wehrens, Hans Georg (2016). Rom – Die christlichen Sakralbauten vom 4. bis zum 9. Jahrhundert – Ein Vademecum. Freiburg: Herder. p. 185.
• "Benedikt XVI. betet mit Dominikanerinnen auf dem Monte Mario". 24 June 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
• "La Madonna delle Grazie". Tibursuperbum. Retrieved 14 October 2022.

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