<i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary
This article attempts to document why the Virgin Mary is symbolically designated by the biblical figure “Ark of the Covenant” (<i>Foederis Arca</i>), as reflected in one of the invocations of the Litany of Loreto (<i>Litaniae Lauretanae</i>). To justify such a designation, th...
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2024-12-01
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| author | José María Salvador-González |
| author_facet | José María Salvador-González |
| author_sort | José María Salvador-González |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article attempts to document why the Virgin Mary is symbolically designated by the biblical figure “Ark of the Covenant” (<i>Foederis Arca</i>), as reflected in one of the invocations of the Litany of Loreto (<i>Litaniae Lauretanae</i>). To justify such a designation, the author refers to the systematic analysis of the patristic, theological, and hymnic sources of the Eastern and Western Churches, in which the Virgin Mary is labeled as the “Ark of the Covenant” for her virginal divine motherhood, her supreme holiness, and her supernatural privileges. The perfect coincidence, with which for more than a millennium the Fathers, theologians, and liturgical hymnographers of the Greek-Eastern and Latin Churches alluded to the Virgin Mary through this biblical symbol, demonstrates the strong coherence of the Mariological theses of the Christian doctrinal tradition on the person and spiritual attributes of the Virgin Mary. These coincident interpretations of the Fathers, theologians, and hymnographers of the Eastern and Western Churches will allow us to justify our iconographic interpretations of 10 European pictorial annunciations of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in whose scenes a container appears, almost always with books inside: such circumstance allows us to conjecture that the intellectual authors of these paintings of the Annunciation included in them this container to illustrate, as a <i>visual metaphor</i>, the <i>textual metaphor</i> with which the Fathers, theologians, and hymnographers symbolized the Virgin Mary as the Ark of the Covenant containing the Legislator of the new covenant. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-373e530cefdb421082bfd87c67061c0b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-373e530cefdb421082bfd87c67061c0b2025-01-24T13:47:16ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442024-12-011611710.3390/rel16010017<i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin MaryJosé María Salvador-González0Art History Department, Faculty of Geography and History, Complutense University of Madrid, Campus Moncloa, 20040 Madrid, SpainThis article attempts to document why the Virgin Mary is symbolically designated by the biblical figure “Ark of the Covenant” (<i>Foederis Arca</i>), as reflected in one of the invocations of the Litany of Loreto (<i>Litaniae Lauretanae</i>). To justify such a designation, the author refers to the systematic analysis of the patristic, theological, and hymnic sources of the Eastern and Western Churches, in which the Virgin Mary is labeled as the “Ark of the Covenant” for her virginal divine motherhood, her supreme holiness, and her supernatural privileges. The perfect coincidence, with which for more than a millennium the Fathers, theologians, and liturgical hymnographers of the Greek-Eastern and Latin Churches alluded to the Virgin Mary through this biblical symbol, demonstrates the strong coherence of the Mariological theses of the Christian doctrinal tradition on the person and spiritual attributes of the Virgin Mary. These coincident interpretations of the Fathers, theologians, and hymnographers of the Eastern and Western Churches will allow us to justify our iconographic interpretations of 10 European pictorial annunciations of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in whose scenes a container appears, almost always with books inside: such circumstance allows us to conjecture that the intellectual authors of these paintings of the Annunciation included in them this container to illustrate, as a <i>visual metaphor</i>, the <i>textual metaphor</i> with which the Fathers, theologians, and hymnographers symbolized the Virgin Mary as the Ark of the Covenant containing the Legislator of the new covenant.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/17Mariologydivine motherhoodarkurnnew covenantbiblical prefiguration |
| spellingShingle | José María Salvador-González <i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary Religions Mariology divine motherhood ark urn new covenant biblical prefiguration |
| title | <i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary |
| title_full | <i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary |
| title_fullStr | <i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary |
| title_full_unstemmed | <i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary |
| title_short | <i>Foederis Arca</i>—The Ark of the Covenant, a Biblical Symbol of the Virgin Mary |
| title_sort | i foederis arca i the ark of the covenant a biblical symbol of the virgin mary |
| topic | Mariology divine motherhood ark urn new covenant biblical prefiguration |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/17 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT josemariasalvadorgonzalez ifoederisarcaithearkofthecovenantabiblicalsymbolofthevirginmary |