Finding the Virgin Mary
Her Evolving Stories from Early Christianity to Today
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About the Book
Stories about the Virgin Mary began to appear in the second century, a spring of tradition that branched off from the mainstream teaching of the canonical gospels. This developed into a torrent of texts about Mary, her relationship with God and her motherhood. This book translates and interprets such stories about Mary from the beginnings of Christianity to modern times. The narrative or story theology of these works shows her to be a partner with her son Jesus in the work of salvation.
Early stories depict Mary as chosen from childhood, and she is shown at the Last Supper with other women. Medieval tales recount the miracles she works to cure both physical and moral failings. Stories of her appearances—Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico), Our Lady of Lourdes (France) and Our Lady of Fatima (Portugal)—have been told and retold across the centuries. Today, Mary is still seen as an icon of women’s agency, celebrated in song, film and art of every kind. This book uncovers her history and reveals her power through the life and message of this woman of faith.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Judith M. Davis
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 253
Bibliographic Info: 11 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9373-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5489-8
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. Gospels Real and Imagined: First to Seventh Centuries 9
The “Real” Gospels 9
Biblical Backstories: The Extracanonical Gospels 12
Mary in the Protogospel of James 13 • The Earliest Devotion to Mary? 15 • Mary as Minister in the Temple of Jerusalem: The Earliest Image? 16 • Mary in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew 16 • Mary in the Qur’an 18
Mary’s Early Reputation as a Miracle Worker 20
The Narrative Theology of Gospels Real and Imagined 20
2. Mary’s “Life Stories”: Fourth to Twelfth Centuries 22
Mary’s Voice Heard Loud and Clear: Romanos the Melodist 23
Epiphanios the Monk and the First Life of Mary 25
Later Marian Biographers and the Development of Mary’s Story 26
John Geometres: Mary’s Life as Sermon 27 • Euthymios the Athonite: Mary’s Life as Biography with Embellishments 28 • The “Holy Theft” of Mary’s Clothing 32 • Mary’s Life Foreshortened: Symeon Metaphrastes 33
Mary as Protector of the Faithful 34
Mary’s Death and Entry into Heaven 34
Mary in the Afterlife: Queen of Heaven and Hell 38
What Does the Narrative Theology of the Lives of Mary Say to Us? 38
3. Mary in the Early Middle Ages: Devotions, Churches, Shrines, and Books of Praise (Sixth to Twelfth Centuries) 40
Sixth-Century Marian Miracle Stories: Gregory of Tours 41
Mary, Master Builder 41 • Mary, Provider 41
The Most Famous Marian Hymn 42
Paul the Deacon’s Classic Marian Tale 42
Two Early Shrine Collections 43
Saragossa, Spain 43 • Chartres 43
Mary in the “Dark Ages” 44
Later Shrine Collections 45
Early English Selections from the Mariales 47
Little Left Unsaid: Early Books of Praise for Mary 49
What Is the Narrative Theology of These Writings? 50
4. The Long Twelfth Century I: Miracles in the Age of Faith and Feudalism 52
The Age of Faith 52
Genesis 3 Fulfilled: Mary and the Devil 53
The Feudal World 54
Mary’s Competition: The Noble Lady of “Courtly Love” 55
The Noblest Lady of Them All: Medieval Marian Lyrics 56
The Mary of the Medieval Miracle Stories 57
Vincent of Beauvais, an Author in the Latin Tradition 58
Seafarers Menaced by a Storm Saved by Mary, Star of the Sea 59
Adgar and the First Vernacular French Marian Miracle Collection 60
A Cleric Cured by Mary in a Field of Flowers 61 • Enlarging a Country Church 62
Wace and an Early Vernacular “Life of Mary” 63
Best-Selling Author Gautier de Coinci (1177–1236) 65
Mary as Chess Queen 65 • The Miracle of the Abbess Whom Our Lady Delivered from Great Distress 66 • The Miracle of the Young Nun 70 • The Miracle of the Hanged Thief 75 • The Knight of 150 Hail Marys 77 • The Miracle of the Misplaced Engagement Ring 80 • The Miracle of Théophile, or the Devil’s Charter 81 • The Miracle of the Rich Man and the Widow 86 • The Miracle of the Priest Who Knew Only One Mass 88 • The Miracle of the Peasant Who Could Learn Only Half of the Hail Mary 89 • The Miracle of the Candle That Came Down to the Jongleur 90
A Narrative Theology of Subversion: Mercy, Not Judgment, Prevails 92
Another Thirteenth-Century Miracle? The Holy House of Loreto 94
5. The Long Twelfth Century II: Marian Tales from the Continent and England 95
About Gondrée and How Our Lady Came to Be Called Notre Dame de Chartres 95
The Miracle of the Knight Saved from Death by the Undergarments He Wore That Had Touched the Chemise of Chartres 97
Mary’s Royal Troubadour, King Alfonso X of Spain 98
Gonazalo de Berceo, a People’s Poet 100
The Pregnant Woman Saved by the Virgin 101
The Miracle of the Artisan Monk and the Ugly Devil 102
The Miracle of Our Lady’s Tumbler 105
The Miracle of Our Lady at the Tournament 109
The German Novice Master’s Masterwork 111
Sir Walter of Birbeck, the Tardy Knight and Saintly Monk 111
Jacobus of Voragine: Mary’s Life, Mary’s Stories in the Calendar of the Church 113
The Feast of Mary’s Nativity and Marian Genealogies 114 • A Son Restored to His Mother 114 • The Monk Who Could Learn Only Two Words of the “Ave Maria” 115 • Mary’s Hand on the Scale 116 • The Knight Who Sold His Wife to the Devil 117
Mary at the Apex of Paradise in Dante’s Divine Comedy 118
Mary Tales and Poems in Middle English 119
The Widow’s Candle for the Feast 120
Geoffrey Chaucer: Mixed Messages About Mary 121
The Monk and Our Lady’s Sleeves 122
Anonymous Marian Lyrics in Middle English 123
What is the Narrative/Poetic Theology of These Works? 125
François Villon’s Ballade of Prayer to Notre Dame 126
6. From Story to Drama to Anecdote: The Miracle Tales Evolve 128
The Holy Kinship as Romance 128
The Romance of Saint Fanuel and Saint Anne 128
The Shrine-Madonnas 130
Affective Piety Dramatized: The Miracles of Our Lady Performed 134
A Baby Restored to Life 134 • The Miracle of the Child Promised to the Devil 135 • The Devil in Disguise: The Miracle of Saint John the Hermit 139
A Prescient Trend 140
Our Lady’s Day in Court, or Why She Is Called Our Advocate 141 • A Dramatic “Life of Mary” in the Middle English N-Town Plays 143
A Marian Lament/Lament for Mary 146
Mary in the Passion Plays of France 147
Our Lady of the Sermon: Marian Devotion as a Guarantee of Heaven 149
What Is the Narrative Theology of the Waning Middle Ages? 150
7. What Happened to the Stories? That’s Another Story 152
Between Devotion and Reform: Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469–1517) 152
Renaissance and Reform 154
Apparitions I: Our Lady of Guadalupe 156
The Counter-Reformation: Mary and the Church Militant 158
A Cover-Up and a Revelation: Mary as Bishop—or Pope 159
The Cover-Up 159 • The Revelation 159
Defenders of Mary I 161
Defenders of Mary II: The “French School” 162
A Response to the Enlightenment: The Glories of Mary 164
Apparitions II: Mary and the Miraculous Medal 165
The Pope and the Dogma: Pius IX and the Immaculate Conception 166
Apparitions III: Mary and Lourdes 167
Other Nineteenth-Century Visions of Mary: Priest and Goddess 168
Feminists, Philologists, and Mary 169
Mary Stories and the Medievalism Phenomenon 171
What Are the Narrative Theologies of the Post–Reform Era? 172
8. A Tale of Four Stories from Then to Now 174
A Life of Mary from the Byzantine Tradition, Medieval Version 174
A Life of Mary from the Byzantine Tradition, Modern Version 175
Theophilus: From the Seventh Century to the Twenty-First 178
Sister Beatrice, Perennial Penitent 178
The Grain Miracle Legend 180
From Story to Ballad 181 • From Ballad to Folk Tale 182 • A Nineteenth-Century Grain Miracle in the Upper Midwest 184
From Tumbler to Juggler, Converso to Child: Our Lady’s Minstrel 185
Pseudo-Matthew at Christmastide: The Cherry Tree Carol 187
Narratives and Theologies Across the Centuries 188
9. End of Stories, End of Story? Where Is Mary in Modernity? 190
Mary as Messenger I 190
Midcentury Mary: A New Dogma 191
Mary the Subject of Debate in Vatican II 192
Mary at Mid–Century: Another Denial 194
Mary as Countersign: Her Presence in the Twenty-First Century 194
Mary as Messenger II 195
Gladys and the Glowing Rosary 196
Finding Mary Past and Present, There and Here 200
Chapter Notes 203
Bibliography 221
Index 233
Book Reviews & Awards
“Many readers may know the stories of Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Guadalupe, but many of the numerous tales about Mary that Davis has found and retells here will be new. … Davis chose tales for their appeal to a modern audience, she writes, intending them to be both scholarly and accessible. …the stories are indeed appealing and well told”—Booklist
