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Our Lady of Luxembourg | |
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Approval | Pope Pius IX (canonical coronation) |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Luxembourg |
Patronage | Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |
Attributes | Blessed Virgin Mary, crowned and draped with a gilded cope, while carrying the Infant Jesus holding a scepter |
Feast day | 15 September Friday before Good Friday |
Our Lady of Luxembourg is a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Luxembourg, called under the Marian title of "Comforter of the Afflicted".
The devotion to Our Lady Consolatrix Afflictorum was initiated in Luxembourg by the Jesuits in 1624 and led to the election of Our Lady as the protectress of the City in 1666 and of the Duchy in 1678. After the destruction of the old pilgrimage chapel at the time of the French Revolution, the statue of Our Lady of Luxembourg was moved to the former Saint Peter church, today renamed as Notre-Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg City.
From there the devotion was adopted by the English Benedictine nuns of Cambrai as well as in Kevelaer in Germany since 1 June 1642. [1] Following an apparition in that place, an image of Our Lady of Luxembourg was placed there. [2] The devotion spreads not only to the historical provinces of Luxembourg in Lorraine or Belgium but also beyond the oceans as in the United States [3] and even India, helped by the work of Jesuit missionaries. [4]
From the 19th century, as Luxembourg emerged as nation-state, the Consolatrix Afflictorum was more often referred to as Our Lady of Luxembourg, signing an strong association between the Luxembourgish identity and the devotion to Our Lady.
On 2 July 1866, the image was canonically crowned with the permission of Pope Pius IX. Cardinal Charles-Auguste, Count of Reinach, presided the rites as papal legate. [5] [6]
The statue of Our Lady of Luxembourg is currently enshrined in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Luxembourg city.
Statues depicting Our Lady Consolatrix Afflictorum can be found in niches in buildings throughout the city of Luxembourg.
Luxembourgish painter Michel Engels depicted a romantic version of the Consolatrix Afflictorum as the Allegorie de la Patria above the city of Luxembourg, showing that "it is under her watchful and protective eye that the nation achieved its political liberation". [7]
As a form of devotion to our Lady of Luxembourg, Takenplatte or firebacks were moulded with her image. They usually depict the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, holding a scepter, keys and high crown. Her veil falls down to the ground as a bridal symbol. Above Mary, putti hold a crown of clasps over her crowned head.
It was a very popular plate motif of which several casts have survived. The model has been in use for over 300 years, as dateable casts from 1708 to 1803 have been preserved. Our record is more spartan in nature.
Comparable plates with the identical main motif often have dates, banners and ornamental decorative elements. At first glance, the picture on the Takenplatte bears very little resemblance to the Madonna standing in the Luxembourg Cathedral. This can be explained by the fact that this Madonna was always wrapped in precious clothes for centuries and is also shown on the Takenplatte, among other things. It was only during the last renovation in 2008 that the Madonna's robes were removed.
Various hymns have been composed in honour of Our Lady of Luxembourg, the two most popular being O Mamm, léif Mamm do uewen and Léif Mamm, ech weess et net ze son. These two hymns were written in Luxembourgish language. During World War II, they took an even greater significance as their singing was outlawed by the Third Reich which considered them to be too "patriotic". [8] Well into the 21st century, they remain chosen hymns of the Archdiocese of Luxembourg. [9]
Original lyrics | English translation |
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O Mamm, léif Mamm do uewen Ech hunn dech eenzeg gier Däin Numm ass mir gegruewen An d'Hierz bis an de Kier Däin Numm ass mir gegruewen An d'Hierz bis an de Kier | O Mother, dear Mother in Heaven I love you more than all Your name is deeply graven Into my heart and soul Your name is deeply graven Into my heart and soul |
Originating from Mullendorff, “O Mamm, leif Mamm do uewen” won citizenship at the Cathedral of Luxembourg and was set to music by P. A. Barthel. [10]
Original lyrics | English translation |
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Léif Mamm, ech weess et net ze son Wéi gär ech bei dir sinn Léif Mamm, ech kann net vun dir gon Bis ech erhéiert ginn Léif Mamm, du hëlleg Kinnegin Looss all deng Kanner bei dir sinn Géi du mat hinnen Hand an Hand A seen, a seen onst Lëtzebuerger Land! |
How much I love to be with you Dear mother, with you I want to stay Until I get response Dear mother, you holy holy Queen Let all your children with you be Oh, walk with them all, hand in hand And bless, and bless our Luxembourger Land! |
Léif Mamm, ech weess et net ze son was composed by Luxembourgish priest Josef Biwer in the first half of the twentieth century. [11] It is considered as one of the "Nationallieder" or national hymns of Luxembourg. [12]
The devotion to Our Lady of Luxembourg is celebrated with great solemnity during the Oktav, which is a two-week celebration which ends with a pontifical mass celebrated by the archbishop in presence of the Grand Duke, who also takes part in the eucharistic procession and the renewal of the consecration to our Lady. [13]
In art, a Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna 'my lady' (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in Christian iconography, divided into many traditional subtypes especially in Eastern Orthodox iconography, often known after the location of a notable icon of the type, such as the Theotokos of Vladimir, Agiosoritissa, Blachernitissa, etc., or descriptive of the depicted posture, as in Hodegetria, Eleusa, etc.
The term Black Madonna or Black Virgin tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. Examples of the Black Madonna can be found both in Catholic and Orthodox countries.
Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Virgin Mary, by Christians mainly of the Catholic Church and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. The title has long been a tradition, included in prayers and devotional literature and seen in Western art in the subject of the Coronation of the Virgin from the High Middle Ages, long before it was given a formal definition status by the Church.
Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which Mary, mother of Jesus, is referred to in relation to sorrows in life. As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.
Our Lady of the Pillar is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 40 while he was preaching in what is now Spain. Those who adhere to this belief consider this appearance to be the only recorded instance of Mary exhibiting the mystical phenomenon of bilocation. Among Catholics, it is also considered the first Marian apparition, and unique because it happened while Mary was still living on Earth.
Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, but generally rejected in other Christian denominations.
Notre-Dame Cathedral is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It was originally a Jesuit church, and its cornerstone was laid in 1613. It is the only cathedral in Luxembourg.
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
A canonical coronation is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a formal decree of a papal bull, in which the pope bestows the pontifical right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or Joseph that is widely venerated in a particular diocese or locality. The act was later regulated to Marian images only, through the De coronatione imaginum B.V. Mariae that was issued on 25 March 1973.
Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after a painting said to be miraculous, now found in the thirteenth century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring 40 to 45 centimetres the image is a fresco executed on a thin layer of plaster no thicker than an egg shell. Over the centuries, devotions to Our Lady of the Good Counsel grew among saints and Popes, to the extent that a reference to it was added to the Litany of Loreto and the devotion spread throughout the world. Her feast day is 26 April.
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Mary has been one of the major subjects of Western art for centuries. There is an enormous quantity of Marian art in the Catholic Church, covering both devotional subjects such as the Virgin and Child and a range of narrative subjects from the Life of the Virgin, often arranged in cycles. Most medieval painters, and from the Reformation to about 1800 most from Catholic countries, have produced works, including old masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli.
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The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe is a Roman Catholic parish church and national shrine of Gibraltar located at Europa Point. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Europe, the Catholic patroness of Gibraltar.
Our Lady of Europe is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as patroness of Gibraltar and protectress of Europe. The entire European continent was consecrated under the protection of Our Lady of Europe in the early 14th century from the Shrine in Gibraltar where devotion continues to this day, over 700 years on.
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