In sixteenth-century England, veneration of Mary was a central issue in public controversy about the sense of Scriptural text, religious images, and religious practices in Christian life. Some leading figures in sixteenth-century England considered pilgrimages to Marian shrines and praying the rosary to be un-Scriptural, "superstitious", and/or idolatrous. From 1535 to 1538, under orders from Henry VIII, all Christian shrines in England were destroyed.
Most of these shrines were Marian shrines, and they included the highly-popular shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, as well as other popular shrines at Ipswich, Worcester, Doncaster, and Penrise.At the same time, "Mary" rose dramatically in popularity, as a given name for baby girls in sixteenth-century England. About 1500, in Warwick County, England, perhaps only 1% of baby girls were named Mary. By 1600, the share of baby girls named Mary had risen to about 10%.
This change is remarkable, in light of extensive government efforts during that same time-period to extirpate veneration of Marian images, and to direct Christian worship to the written word.
William Shakespeare had keen appreciation for the controversy over the "sense of Mary" in Christian life. Concern about the relationship between words and images, and players, shadows, and real persons, pervades Shakespeare's work. His play, Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5, includes a dialogue, formally organized as a sonnet, that uses Marian pilgrimage to figure Romeo's wooing of Juliet.
The last scene in 'The Winter's Tale' includes instructions from Paulina, that place Perdita in the position of asking the statue of Hermione for intercessory prayer, much as a pilgrim to a Marian shrine might have prayed before an image of Mary. Turmoil about the sense of Mary in sixteenth-century English history is closely-related to the development of Shakespeare's theatre, according to some critics.
BETHLEHEM
STAR OF BETHLEHEM
CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTMAS
EASTER
HOLY GRAIL
JESUS OF NAZARETH
MARION APPARITIONS
MARY MAGDALENE
MIRACLES - BLEEDING, WEEPING ICONS
PRIEURE DE SION
RENNES LE CHATEAU - THE MEROVIAN KINGS
REVELATIONS
RELIGIOUS ART - JESUS - UFOS
ROMAN RELIGION
SPIRIT PHOTOS
SANANDA - ASCENDED MASTERS
CRYSTALINKS MAILING LIST, NEWSLETTER, UPDATES