Madonnas and Miracles
Madonnas and Miracles

Author: Maya Corry

Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers, Limited

Published: 2017-04-30

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9781781300534

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Madonnas and Miracles' exposes a hidden world of religious devotion in the Italian Renaissance home. Challenging the idea of the Renaissance as an age of increasing worldliness, it shows how religion remained a powerful force that coloured every aspect of daily life. Across the length and breadth of Italy, houses were filled with decorative objects and works of art with spiritual significance, designed to aid members of the family in their devotional lives. A wide range of religious activities, from routine prayers to extraordinary experiences such as miracles and exorcisms, took place within the home, where they were adapted to key moments in the life-cycle, including birth, marriage, sickness and death. 0This illustrated publication explores a variety of devotional objects and images, from luxury items to everyday household goods. Bringing together jewellery and ceramics, manuscripts and printed books, sculpture and paintings, the book offers a vivid encounter with Renaissance spirituality and domesticity. The result is a new vision of a period in which the material world was charged with sacred power. 0Exhibition: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK (Spring 2017).

Magistrates, Madonnas and Miracles
Magistrates, Madonnas and Miracles

Author: Trevor Johnson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 1351920987

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In 1621, in one of the earliest campaigns of the Thirty Years' War, the South German principality of the Upper Palatinate was invaded and annexed by Maximilian of Bavaria, director of the Catholic League. In the subsequent years the eyes of Europe looked to the fate of this erstwhile hub of the 'Calvinist international', as Maximilian steadily moved to convert its population to Catholicism. This study is the first account in English to focus on this important instance of forced conversion and the first account in any language to place the political impact of the Thirty Years' War into the broader context of the Upper-Palatinate's religious culture examined over the longue durée, from the later sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries. The book analyses the rich unpublished sources of church and state from Bavarian and Roman archives, as well as printed texts in varied genres to reconstruct the region's sacred system and to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign of conversion. This allows the study to address questions of how the re-catholicisation was achieved, how a religious culture infused with the spirit of the Counter Reformation developed and how this change shaped the identity of its people. More than this, however, the book also uses the Upper Palatinate case-study to draw broader conclusions about the strengths and limitations of the Confessional model, and suggests other ways of looking at religious change and identity formation in early modern Europe which embraces popular religious culture and voluntary religion, as well coercion. As such the book offers much, not only to scholars of early modern Germany, but to all with an interest in the formation, adoption and imposition of religious identity during this period.

Treasured Possessions
Treasured Possessions

Author: Dr Melissa Calaresu

Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers

Published: 2015-05-30

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9781781300336

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This book explores the significance of beautiful and engaging objects - chosen, acquired, personalised and treasured - to the people who once owned them. With over 300 works discussed, it takes us on a dazzling visual adventure through the decorative arts, from Renaissance luxuries wrought in glass, bronze and maiolica to the elaborate tablewares and personal adornments available to shoppers in the Age of Enlightenment. En route the authors consider the impact of global trade on European habits and expectations: the glamour of the Eastern exotic, the ubiquity of New World products like chocolate and sugar, and the obsession with Chinoiserie decoration. They ask what decorative objects meant to their owners before the age of industrial mass production, and explore how technological innovation and the proliferation of goods from the sixteenth century onwards transformed the attitude of Europeans to their personal possessions. Illustrated throughout with superb colour photographs, many unfamiliar and hitherto unseen gems of the Fitzwilliam Museum's Applied Arts collection are here published for the first time.

The Miraculous Image in Renaissance Florence
The Miraculous Image in Renaissance Florence

Author: Megan Holmes

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780300176605

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In Renaissance Florence, certain paintings and sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Christ were believed to have extraordinary efficacy in activating potent sacred intercession. Cults sprung up around these "miraculous images" in the city and surrounding countryside beginning in the late 13th century. In The Miraculous Image in Renaissance Florence, Megan Holmes questions what distinguished these paintings and sculptures from other similar sacred images, looking closely at their material and formal properties, the process of enshrinement, and the foundation legends and miracles associated with specific images. Whereas some of the images presented in this fascinating book are well known, such as Bernardo Daddi's Madonna of Orsanmichele, many others have been little studied until now. Holmes's efforts center on the recovery and contextualization of these revered images, reintegrating them and their related cults into an art-historical account of the period. By challenging prevailing views and offering a reassessment of the Renaissance, this generously illustrated and comprehensive survey makes a significant contribution to the field.

The Madonnas of Leningrad
The Madonnas of Leningrad

Author: Debra Dean

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0061747181

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“An unforgettable story of love, survival and the power of imagination in the most tragic circumstances. Elegant and poetic.” —Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of Zorro The ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—yet her distant past is miraculously preserved in her mind's eye. Vivid images of her youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall of 1941, when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum and the German army's approach signaled the beginning of what would be a long, torturous siege on the city. As the people braved starvation, bitter cold, and a relentless German onslaught, Marina joined other staff members in removing the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping. As the Luftwaffe's bombs pounded the proud, stricken city, Marina built a personal Hermitage in her mind—a refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . . “Extraordinary. . . . Dean’s exquisite prose shimmers . . . illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment.” —Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker “A poignant tale.” —Booklist, starred review “Dean writes with passion and compelling drama.” —People “Rare is the novel that creates that blissful forgot-you-were-reading experience . . . but that is precisely what Debra Dean has achieved with her image-rich book.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer “Poetic.” —San Francisco Chronicle Book Review “[A] heartfelt debut.” —New York Times Book Review “Remarkable”— NPR, Nancy Pearl Book Review

Apparitions, Healings, and Weeping Madonnas
Apparitions, Healings, and Weeping Madonnas

Author: Lisa J. Schwebel

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 2014-05-14

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1616436956

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Mysticism and parapsychology -- Ghosts and apparitions -- Weeping icons and other unusual phenomena -- Prophecy and precognition -- Criteria for genuine visions -- Healings and miracles -- Conclusion: Some theological observations.

Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna
Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna

Author: Alessandra Belloni

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2019-04-02

Total Pages: 574

ISBN-13: 1591433436

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An experiential guide to the ancient healing rituals of the Black Madonna • Reveals the practices and rites of the still-living cult of the Black Madonna in the remote villages of Southern Italy, including the healing rites of the tarantella dance • Details shamanic chants, rhythms, and songs and how to use them for self-healing, transformation, and recovery from abuse, trauma, depression, and addiction • Explores the many sacred sites of the Madonnas and connects them to other Great Goddesses, such as Isis, Aphrodite, Cybeles, and the Orisha Yemanja and Ochun • Includes access to 12 audio tracks The mysteries of the Black Madonna can be traced to pre-Christian times, to the ancient devotion to Isis, the Earth Goddess, and the African Mother, to the era when God was not only female but also black. Sacred sites of the Black Madonna are still revered in Italy, and, as Alessandra Belloni reveals, the shamanic healing traditions of the Black Madonna are still alive today and just as powerful as they were millennia ago. Sharing her more than 35 years of research and fieldwork at sacred sites around the world, Belloni takes you on a mystical pilgrimage of empowerment, initiation, and transformation with the Black Madonna. She explains how her love for Italian folk music led her to learn the ancient tammorriata musical tradition of the Earth Goddess Cybele and the Moon Goddess Diana and discover the still-living cult of the Black Madonna in the remote villages of Southern Italy. She vividly describes the sensual shamanic drumming and ecstatic trance dance rituals she experienced there, including the rites of the tammorriata, the transgender rite of Femminielli, and the erotic “spider dance” of the tarantella, which has been used for centuries in the Mediterranean for healing. Sharing chants, rhythms, and sacred songs, she details how she uses these therapeutic musical and trance practices to heal women and men from abuse, trauma, depression, and addiction and shows how these practices can be used for self-healing and transformation, including her personal story of using the tarantella to overcome cervical cancer. Revealing the profound transformative power of the Black Madonna, Belloni shows how She is the womb of the earth, the dark side of the moon, and the Universal Mother to all. Truly alive for all to call upon, She embraces and gives everyone access to Her divine strength and unconditional love.

The Madonnas of Echo Park
The Madonnas of Echo Park

Author: Brando Skyhorse

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-02-08

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1439170843

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We slipped into this country like thieves, onto the land that once was ours. With these words, spoken by an illegal Mexican day laborer, The Madonnas of Echo Park takes us into the unseen world of Los Angeles, following the men and women who cook the meals, clean the homes, and struggle to lose their ethnic identity in the pursuit of the American dream. When a dozen or so girls and mothers gather on an Echo Park street corner to act out a scene from a Madonna music video, they find themselves caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting. In the aftermath, Aurora Esperanza grows distant from her mother, Felicia, who as a housekeeper in the Hollywood Hills establishes a unique relationship with a detached housewife. The Esperanzas’ shifting lives connect with those of various members of their neighborhood. A day laborer trolls the streets for work with men half his age and witnesses a murder that pits his morality against his illegal status; a religious hypocrite gets her comeuppance when she meets the Virgin Mary at a bus stop on Sunset Boulevard; a typical bus route turns violent when cultures and egos collide in the night, with devastating results; and Aurora goes on a journey through her gentrified childhood neighborhood in a quest to discover her own history and her place in the land that all Mexican Americans dream of, "the land that belongs to us again." Like the Academy Award–winning film Crash, The Madonnas of Echo Park follows the intersections of its characters and cultures in Los Angeles. In the footsteps of Junot Díaz and Sherman Alexie, Brando Skyhorse in his debut novel gives voice to one neighborhood in Los Angeles with an astonishing— and unforgettable—lyrical power.

Who's That Girl?
Who's That Girl?

Author: Michael D Craig

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 0595210147

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Who’s That Girl? The Ultimate Madonna Trivia Book! Just how well do you know Madonna, the most famous woman in the world? Read this fun book and find out… What Madonna hit was featured in a television ad for The Gap? Which Madonna sibling danced along side his sister in her “Lucky Star” music video? What snack food is reportedly Madonna’s favorite? Which Madonna album is her biggest seller? From Material Girl to Mother of Two, Who’s That Girl? The Ultimate Madonna Trivia Book explores the fascinating life of the world’s most outspoken, controversial and celebrated superstar. Written with respect and admiration by best-selling author and pop culture expert Michael-Dante Craig, it is the ultimate trivia book for Madonna’s legion of fans around the globe. Who’s That Girl? The Ultimate Madonna Trivia Book is the perfect book for all True Blue Madonna fans

Madonnas That Maim
Madonnas That Maim

Author: Michael P. Carroll

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 1992-04

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9780801842993

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In 1560 a poor woman named Margherita left the Italian city of Piacenza to check on her crop. In the field she heard herself being called, and turned to see a woman dressed in white. It was "the blessed Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, the Virgin Mary". Mary was soon joined by a male figure, whom she identified as Christ. "The blasphemies of Piacenza angered Christ", said Mary, who had intervened before Christ devastated the city with a flood. She gave Margherita specific instructions for the people of Piacenza to save themselves from divine punishment. And to ensure that Margherita would be believed, Mary gave a sign: she paralyzed Margherita's legs. In Madonnas That Maim, Michael Carroll looks at the ways in which Italians have revered, invoked, feared, and placated their madonnas and saints. Carroll examines a range of devotional practices that have been legitimated by the local Catholic clergy in Italy for centuries--including the cult of the patron saint, relics, miracles, processions, sanctuaries, pilgrimage, and the mixing of Catholic ritual and magic. He explores the "dark side" of holiness--the willingness of the madonnas and saints of Italy to maim, occasionally even to kill, in order to maintain their own cults--and discusses the psychological origins of such a belief structure. He also considers differences between northern and southern Italy, both in popular Catholicism and in the social structures that have allowed differences to emerge. Including an English-language overview of literature on popular Catholicism in Italy and summaries of important studies by its authors, Madonnas That Maim offers a rich account of the development of beliefs and practices that havecharacterized popular piety in Italy for the past five hundred years.