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Marian Devotion Among
the Roma in Slovakia
A Post-Modern Religious
Response to Marginality

Tatiana Zachar Podolinská

Marian Devotion Among the Roma in Slovakia
 Tatiana Zachar Podolinská

Marian Devotion
Among the Roma in
Slovakia
A Post-Modern Religious Response to Marginality
Tatiana Zachar Podolinská
Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Bratislava, Slovakia

ISBN 978-3-030-56363-9    ISBN 978-3-030-56364-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56364-6

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 Preface

Post-modern societies are still working with the concept of ascribed collec-
tive identities, classifying people into groups that are supposed to share
certain common characteristics and even predispositions.
The spontaneous classification, based on folk taxonomies and intuitive
folk sociology, serves as a basic roadmap in our daily lives. For us, it is
important to know where we fit the most in order to develop our second-
ary networks in the ‘bubbles’ of safety for sharing joy, fears, and sorrows.
Both individually and collectively constructed ‘bubbles’ serve as reservoirs
of our social and symbolic capital, which we mobilise when seeking sup-
port, active interventions, or protection.
However, during the process of our socialisation, we become familiar
with learned classification that serves as an instrumental tool for both priv-
ileging and peripheralising groups and communities based on race, ethnic-
ity, religion, gender, age, and so forth, the members of which may face
multiple prejudices and stereotypes. Therefore, on the one hand, learned
classification gives us an approach to collective memory and inherited tra-
dition and the culture of both ancestors and living group members. At the
same time, however, it may serve for the shaping of exclusivist political and
discursive ism-ideologies—for example, racism, nationalism, ethnocen-
trism, sexism, and ageism.
This book exemplifies such group peripheralisation through specific
examples of Roma communities in Slovakia, which are marginalised based
on ethnic, social, and religious principles. More precisely, this book
explores how they cope with marginalisation, creating their islands of

v
vi PREFACE

marginal centrality, and the role of the post-modern Virgin Mary in this
internal process of self-centralisation.
The Virgin Mary herself has successfully managed her way ‘from the
periphery to the centre’, becoming a pivotal figure of Catholic and
Orthodox Christianity in the twentieth century. She could even be denoted
as one of the most crucial influencers of the Christian world of the twen-
tieth century, shaping the special branch of theology—Mariology—as well
as ruling papal acts. She has successfully survived mandatory atheism in
communist countries as well as liberalism, de-traditionalisation, and secu-
larisation of Western societies by enchanting the world with her appari-
tions, miracles, and wonders.
The book explores how Marian devotion represents both the continu-
ation of tradition and the restoration of interrupted tradition, fluidly mix-
ing pre-modern and ultra-modern elements of beliefs and practices with
the grassroots stream of post-modern Christianity.
At the same time, the book illuminates how Mary became the voice of
those on the periphery, being the pillar of nation-building processes, fight-
ing for the cultural and ethnic rights of peripheral ethnic groups and
nations. In order to better approach the people She speaks to and for,
Mary became ethnicised (ethnically transcribed) and enculturated (cultur-
ally translated). The book particularly exemplifies the devotion of post-­
modern Mary among the Roma in Slovakia, approaching her ethnicised
and enculturated forms (Chocolate Marys), and explores her potential for
helping the Slovak Roma on their own path ‘from the periphery to the
centre’.
The idea to write the book on the post-modern Virgin Mary with a
focus on her potential of becoming a herald of endogenous Romani eman-
cipation in Slovakia was conceived at the end of 2019, on the shore of the
charming fishing village of Crail on the East Neuk coast of Scotland,
washed by the massive, cold waves of the North Sea. I remember the
enthusiastic and enriching discussions with my friend, tutor, and personal
couch, Prof Elena Marushiakova from University of St Andrews, during
our evening walks among the raindrops, inseparably mixed with the salty
ocean aerosol, the soft fragrance of the sand, and the odours of decaying
algae, crabs, and other marine animals. In the course of these discussions,
I had the opportunity to crystallise my deep and fascinating, long-term yet
still dispersed, unencapsulated field experiences. When I later, seemingly
by accident, discovered—hidden around the corner in a nearby wall-­
garden of Kellie Castle—an impressive and timeless statue of the Virgin
 PREFACE vii

Mary Stella Maris [Lat., ‘Star of the Sea’], the patroness of seamen and
fishermen, for me, it was as if I had suddenly received a compass and final
order to undertake the mission of writing this book.
This book uses multifocal lenses, combining both the macro- and
micro-perspective. For me, as the author, the fluent changing of focus was
both exciting and challenging. And so, in this book, I am offering an
eagle’s-eye view, focused on distant, theoretical horizons, while maintain-
ing the main line of my argument. My approach combines a detailed,
earthly perspective of ethnographic research and pinpoints the intimate
details and private experiences of the lives of particular individuals. In this
regard, I invite the reader to collaborate in the creative reading of this
book in order to (re)interpret and (re)evaluate the offered thoughts and
data, as well as to potentially give them new horizons and perspectives.
I would like to thank the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) for grant-
ing the SAS-ERC Scholar Visiting Fellowship (September–November
2019) and University of St Andrews for receiving me as a hosting scholar.
I would also like to acknowledge my home institution, the Institute of
Ethnology and Social Anthropology of SAS in Bratislava, for its continu-
ous support and working opportunity. A special thank-you goes to the
VEGA grant agency for funding the ‘Ethnographic Research of Non-­
religion and Secularism in Modern Slovak Society–Life Trajectories and
Stories’ (VEGA grant No. 2/0060/19) and the Slovak Literary Fund for
granting the Creative Writing Scholarship that enabled me to finish the
manuscript. I especially thank Prof Tomasz Kamusella from University of
St Andrews for reading and commenting on my proposal, an anonymous
reviewer for a positive recommendation, and, last but not least, the
Editorial Board of Palgrave Macmillan for accepting my proposal. My
thanks also go to the translator and proofreader of the manuscript, Judita
Takáčová, as well as to the native speaker of English, Michael Sabo. For
scientific insight, meticulous reading, and commenting on several versions
of the manuscript, I am particularly thankful to Prof Elena Marushiakova.
I would like to acknowledge my parents Mária and Ladislav, my hus-
band Martin, and my sons Sebastián and Damián, for their love and sup-
port. My greatest thank-you is reserved for Mary and all the people She
accommodates in the centre of her loving heart.

Bratislava, Slovakia Tatiana Zachar Podolinská

June 25, 2020
 Contents

1 Traces of the Virgin Mary in the Modern World  1

2 Romani Christianity in Slovakia: Religiosity of Those on

the Periphery 41

3 Marian Devotion Among the Roma in Slovakia:

Ethnicised and Enculturated Mary 75

4 Marian Apparitions Among the Roma: From the

Periphery to the Centre121

Index 153

ix
 List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Fresco of the Holy Family above the stove in the kitchen.
Rokycany. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 81
Fig. 3.2 Domestic altar in the living room decorated with plastic flowers.
Svinia (Household 1). (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 82
Fig. 3.3 Holy corner in the living room. Žehňa (Household 2). (Photo:
© T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 83
Fig. 3.4 Holy corner in the living room. Abranovce. (Photo: ©
T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 84
Fig. 3.5 Holy corner in the kitchen with a new-born sleeping under the
protection of the Virgin Mary. Žehňa (Household 2). (Photo:
© T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 85
Fig. 3.6 Various statuettes of Jesus and the Virgin Mary as part of the
living room secretary. Abranovce. (Photo: © T. Zachar
Podolinská, 2006) 86
Fig. 3.7 Holy corner/altar arranged on top of the TV in the kitchen.
Žehňa (Household 2). (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 87
Fig. 3.8 Corner with a TV in the living room, decorated with plastic
flowers in a manner of a holy corner. Rokycany. (Photo: ©
T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 88
Fig. 3.9 Wall fresco with the Virgin Mary and child in the bedroom.
The adjacent corner contains family photos, a TV, and a
tape-recorder with radio. Žehňa (Household 3). (Photo: ©
T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 89
Fig. 3.10 ‘Holy corner’ arranged like an altar, richly decorated with
plastic flowers. The statues of Mary and Jesus were moved out
of composition after the householders’ conversion to the local

xi
xii LIST OF FIGURES

Apostolic Church. Rokycany (Household 1). (Photo: ©

T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 90
Fig. 3.11 ‘Holy corner’ in the living room. Statues of the Virgin Mary
and Jesus were moved out after the conversion to the local
Apostolic Church. The wall-­poster [Slov., nástenka] with the
photos of family members is still attached to the ‘holy place’.
Rokycany (Household 2). (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 91
Fig. 3.12 Wall-poster [Slov., nástenka] composed of family photos mixed
with prayer cards and other religious pictures stuck on carton.
Uzovské Peklany ̌ (Household 1). (Photo: © T. Zachar
Podolinská, 2006) 92
Fig. 3.13 Wall fresco of the Holy Family in the kitchen, painted by
Author 1. Rokycany. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 93
Fig. 3.14 Wall fresco of Madonna with a child in the living room, painted
by Author 1. Svinia (Household 2). (Photo: © T. Zachar
Podolinská, 2006) 94
Fig. 3.15 Wall fresco of the Virgin Mary, painted by an Author 1.
Prešov-­Tehelňa (Household 1, living room). (Photo: ©
T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 95
Fig. 3.16 Wall fresco of the Holy Family in the kitchen, painted by
Author 2. Terňa. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 96
Fig. 3.17 Painting of Madonna and child on a piece of carton. Author 3.
Uzovské Peklany ̌ (Household 1). (Photo: © T. Zachar
Podolinská, 2006) 97
Fig. 3.18 Pencil drawing of the Saint Therese of Lisieux devoted as the
Virgin Mary on the wall in the kitchen. Malý Slivník-­
Furmanec. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 98
Fig. 3.19 Wax and pencil drawing of Jesus on the wall in the kitchen.
Malý Slivník–Furmanec. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 99
Fig. 3.20 Façade covered with holy pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
Raslavice. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 105
Fig. 3.21 Roma domestic chapel of the ‘Holy Trinity’. Žehňa
(Household 1). (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 108
Fig. 3.22 ‘Triple Mary’. Three identical statues of the Virgin Mary, which
should multiply her power in a hostile (Pentecostal)
environment. Žehra–Dobrá Vôla. ̌ (Photo: © T. Zachar
Podolinská, 2007) 109
Fig. 3.23 Iconography of the Virgin Mary and female Saints in Romani
households. (Podolinská research 2006–2007) 110
Fig. 3.24 Woodcut by Author 4 from Jarovnice. In addition to the dark
skin colour, Mary and Jesus also have Romani facial features.
Jarovnice. (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 111
 LIST OF FIGURES xiii

Fig. 3.25 Detail of a wall fresco in the kitchen (See Fig. 3.16). The Virgin
Mary is depicted with dark skin and with the face of a Roma-like
woman. Terňa (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 112
Fig. 3.26 Dark-­skinned Madonna coloured at home. Svinia (Household
3). (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 113
Fig. 3.27 Dark-­skinned Madonna and child. Jarovnice. (Photo: ©
T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 114
Fig. 3.28 Tapestry of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the kitchen. Žehňa
(Household 2). (Photo: © T. Zachar Podolinská, 2006) 115
 CHAPTER 1

Traces of the Virgin Mary

in the Modern World

Abstract In this chapter, we will trace how the Virgin Mary herself has
successfully managed her way ‘from the periphery to the centre’, becom-
ing a pivotal figure of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity in the twentieth
century. We will approach the Marian devotion as representing both the
continuation of tradition, as well as the restoration of interrupted tradi-
tion, fluidly mixing pre-modern and ultra-modern elements of beliefs and
practices with the grassroots stream of post-modern Christianity. We will
seek testimonies of those who believe in her direct interventions in the
world, causing, for example, miraculous healings and other miracles. We
will explore how her messages impact the Church, including the popes
and the highest clergy elite. We will examine the ways people believe in her
potential to share her sacrum with shrines, statues, images, and other
devotional objects. We will discover how Mary became the voice of those
on the periphery, being the pillar of nation-building processes, fighting for
the cultural and ethnic rights of peripheral ethnic groups and nations. We
will illuminate, how She has successfully survived mandatory atheism in
communist countries as well as liberalism, de-traditionalisation and secu-
larisation of Western societies, keeping enchanting the world with her
apparitions, miracles, and wonders.

Keywords Marian devotion • Modern Mary • Post-modern religiosity

• Post-communist Mary • Traditional Mary

© The Author(s) 2021 1

T. Zachar Podolinská, Marian Devotion Among the Roma in Slovakia,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56364-6_1
2 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

Although Jesus had only one Mother, and there is only one Virgin Mary,
tracing her mundane faces and varieties of her devotion across the centu-
ries and continents has led us to the conclusion that there are as many
Marys as there are people and nations who are devoted to her. Along with
the spread of Christianity, her role through the ages has become more
central, her presence more visible, and her voice more audible.
With the help of mass-media communication, new forms of transport,
and the ever-growing ease of mobility in the twentieth century, She, as the
Mother of Jesus, has become the leading figure of global missionary activi-
ties, captivating the world with her public and globally addressed messages
(Chapman 2000). Her popularity at the beginning of the twenty-first cen-
tury is sometimes compared to those of pop-culture ‘megastars’ (Hermkens
et al. 2009, p. 1).
From a strictly scientific point of view, the Virgin Mary, being herself a
transcendent entity, cannot be traced. Anyhow, we can trace her based on
her mundane ‘imprints’ in the ‘real world’ and human lives. Thus, we can
talk to people and seek testimonies of those who believe in her direct
interventions in the world, causing, for example, miraculous healings and
other miracles. We can follow statistics of how many people in the world
are on the move because of Mary. We can explore how her messages
impact the Church, including the popes and the highest clergy elite. We
can examine the ways people believe in her potential to share her sacrum
with shrines, statues, images, and other devotional objects. We can explore
how her devotion has changed the symbolic map of the world, giving
importance to the places which were formerly considered nowhere. We
can trace the ways of her enculturation by local people, being venerated as
a European, Indian, African, Asian, or Roma woman, or the intriguing
ability of people to accommodate her in nearly every place, time, condi-
tion, or circumstance. Therefore, tracing the implicit faces of Mary mir-
rored in the mundane world, we also trace the faces of the people who
believe in her as the Divine Mother of Christ and ultimate Love.

‘The Virgin Mother’: The Conceptual Roots

of Tradition

Her person is veiled with the mystery of being both the Immaculate (ever)
Virgin and the human Mother of Jesus, who is also the Son of the Celestial
Father (God). The enigma of her being both a Virgin and a Mother has
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 3

compelled scholars of religious studies to make multiple phenomenologi-

cal comparisons with other pre-Christian and non-Christian female deities
of the Great Mother Goddess type.
In this context, it is also interesting that the Third Ecumenical Council
(431 A.D.) was held at the Church of Mary in Ephesus, Anatolia, the for-
mer important centre of the cult of Artemis. The council condemned the
teachings of Nestorius on the Virgin Mary for being only the Christotokos
[Gr., ‘The Christ-bearer’] and proclaimed her to be the Theotokos [Gr.,
‘The God-bearer’]. Some scholars believe that Mary was declared the
Mother of God and was allowed to be venerated as such because of the
urgent need of the post-Hellenistic world for a heavenly feminine principle
as a compromise with pagans so that Christianity could become acceptable.
In her study, M. Rigoglioso (2010, pp. 51–65) noted that various
female deities of Graeco-Roman antiquity were conceived as Virgin
Mothers in the earliest layers of their cults. The Christian idea of Mary as
the Virgin Mother of God has many similarities to the Graeco-Roman con-
cept of the Great Goddess as the simultaneous embodiment of three
female aspects—the Ever-Virgin, Holy Bride/Wife of the Father (God),
and the Great Mother of the Son of God—unified in one divine person.
The figure of the Virgin Mary has also been explored in the post-­
conquest Maya context as a hybridised form of the pagan concept of ritual
sexuality, as well as the Christian formulation of virginity prescribed by
colonial Spanish Catholicism. In this context, P. Sigal (2000) explored
how the Moon Goddess of Yucatec Maya was culturally conflated with the
Virgin Mary, thus becoming a hybrid Christian symbol. Sigal speaks about
conceptual translation and describes how the Maya Moon Goddess lost
her original meaning and how the Spanish Virgin Mary was reformulated
into the final hybrid Goddess figure—The Unvirgin Virgin.
On the European continent, the Virgin Mary has flexibly absorbed the
elements and ritual functions of many local female pre-Christian god-
desses; just to mention the cult of Baba [Srb., ‘the Great Mother’] in
Serbia (Petrović 2001), or the connection of Mary with the so-called
Boldogasszony [Hung., ‘Blessed Woman’] in Hungary, which is a special
Hungarian denomination of the Virgin Mary and also the alleged Mother
Goddess of the ancient Hungarians (Kis-Halas 2019).
4 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

The Traditional Virgin Mary

Traditionally, Mary was perceived to be a powerful Protector and Healer,
mediating celestial protection and miraculous healings. In this respect, She
is connected in traditional European popular religious cultures with
diverse healing herbs and aromatic flowers used for healing or to symbolise
some aspect of her personality. She also has a strong connection with heal-
ing springs and wells, absorbing the pre-Christian cults of healing waters
connected with local water spirits. In her cult and imagery, the astral sym-
bolism is deeply inherited. Finally, She is also believed to be the reason
behind specific miracles—sun-miracles, as well as miracle-performing
icons, paintings, and statues.

Marian Flowers
Originally, flowers and plants were named after ancient pagan deities
(Schroedel and Schroedel 2006). During the fourth century, Saint
Ambrose referred to the Virgin Mary as ‘the rose of modesty’. The
Venerable Bede (673–735 A.D.) wrote of the white lily as the emblem of
the Virgin Mary, symbolising the purity of Mary’s body and the glory of
her soul, as She was assumed into heaven. Later, Saint Bernard
(1090–1154 A.D.) praised the Virgin Mary as ‘delightfully blooming with
the beautiful flowers of every virtue, among which three are exquisite:
primarily, the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, and the rose of charity’
(Mellon 2008).
In the Medieval era, hundreds of flowers were named after the Virgin
Mary. Among these, some of the most important were the rose [Lat., Rosa
canina] as the emblem of Mary’s love of God; the white lily [Lat., Lilium
candidum; ‘Madonna lily’], symbolising her purity; the myrtle [Lat.,
Myrtus communis], her virginity; and the marigold [Lat., Calendula offici-
nalis], her heavenly glory (Herbs and Flowers…, n.d.).
Roses and lilies both played a prominent part in apocryphal medieval
literature about the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. ‘The Assumption
lily’, also called the ‘August lily’, blooms during August and is therefore
associated with Assumption Day on August 15, the most prominent feast
of the Blessed Mary celebrated today.
In the Medieval era, little gardens devoted solely to the cultivation of
the plants associated with Mary were created, which are called Saint Mary’s
Gardens, or Mary Gardens. Even today, there are blogs and websites for
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 5

passionate devotees with instructions on how to create one’s own Mary

Garden by cultivating flowers that are symbolically connected with Our
Lady (Get Inspired…, 2017).
The deeply rooted medieval flower symbolism has also been transmit-
ted to the New World. The Christian colonisation of the New Continent
resulted in the association of native wild plants with symbolic Marian
names (Herbs and Flowers…, n.d.).
After the Reformation, many traditionally Marian flowers were renamed
in Protestant countries, or in some cases, their connection with Mary
became less obvious; for example, the ‘Milk Thistle’ was known as ‘Our
Lady’s Milk Drops’, and the ‘forget-me-not’ as ‘Our Lady’s Eyes’
(Schroedel and Schroedel 2006).
The medicinal aspect of Marian plants and flowers is also strongly pres-
ent. In some apparitions, the Virgin Mary herself pointed to several plants
and flowers and explained how they could be used for healing (e.g. during
an apparition in Vietnamese La Vang in 1798; Schroedel and Schroedel
2006). In many other cases, her name—following the traditional belief in
her spiritual and physical healing powers—is nowadays also associated with
local plants and herbs used for traditional healing (lily, rose, marigold,
rosemary, alchemilla, chamomile, lavender, mint, etc.).
In Slavic regions, there is a particular abundance of flowers and herba-
ceous plants connected with the Virgin Mary. The names of flowers from
Slavic ethno-botanic taxonomies of which a few are worth mentioning are:
Bogorodka and Bogorodnaya trava in Russia, Bogorodičina trava [Lat.,
Hypericum perforatum] in Serbia, and Bogorodichno cvete [Lat., Lonicera
Caprifolium] or Bogorodichka in Bulgaria (Kolosova 2011), in folk imag-
ery connected with the stars [Lat., Callistephus genus belongs to the
Asteraceae family; asters being traditionally associated with stars]. Likewise,
many other flowers associated with fragments of folk Marian legends com-
bined with some kind of visual similarity can be listed—for example, ‘com-
mon chicory’ being interpreted as a skirt of the Mother of God [Lat.,
Cichorium intybus]; ‘dead-nettles’ [Lat., genus Lamium] or ‘touch-me-­
not balsam’ [Lat., Impatiens noli-tangere] as her slippers; ‘great mullein’
[Lat., Verbascum Thapsus] as her pigtails; ‘common vervain’ [Lat., Verbena
officinalis] as her cupcakes; ‘Saint John’s wort’ [Lat., Hypericum
Perforatum]; ‘Carthusian pink’ [Lat., Dianthus carthusianorum] as her
tears; ‘chickpea milkvetch’ [Lat., Astragalus Cicer] as her hair; ‘bogbean’
[Lat., Menyanthes trifoliata] as Mary’s spoon; and ‘Lady’s bedstraw’ [Lat.,
Galium verum] as her straw.
6 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

With regard to herbaceous plants, which are specifically associated with

the Virgin Mary in Slavic regions, we should also mention ‘Mary’s flower’
[Lat., Anastatica hierochuntica]—known as Ruchka Bozhskoy Materi
(Ukraine) [Ukr., ‘The Little Hand of the Mother of God’] or Bogorodicha
rachichka (Bulgaria) [Bg., ‘The Little Hand of the Mother of God’], con-
nected with a folk Marian legend mentioning flowers which emerged from
the spots where Mary touched the ground with her hands when delivering
the Jesus child. The plant is thus used in traditional Balkan folk medicine
to relieve the pain of childbirth or severe menstruation pain (Kolosova
2011). From a myriad of other Marian flowers with an important, offi-
cially recognised medicinal effect, the ‘Mary’s Thistle’ [Lat., Silybum
Marianum], which is used for the healing and recovery from liver diseases
is worth mentioning.

Marian Springs and Wells

In her cult, the aquatic element is deeply rooted. In numerous cases, She
is connected with healing waters, springs, and baths. There are several that
can be mentioned, for example, Lourdes, where pilgrims can drink from
the spring that the Virgin directed Bernadette to locate at the base of the
grotto, as well as wash in the baths where miraculous cures have taken
place; the miraculous fountain of La Salette in France, the springs of
Fatima in Portugal, and so on.
It is remarkable to consider the number of healing springs associated
with the Virgin Mary all over the world: for example, in places such as
Vailankanni (sixteenth century, India), Banneux (1933, Belgium), a heal-
ing water fountain near the House of Mary in Ephesus (Turkey), or San
Nicolás de los Arroyos (1983, Argentina), near the Parana river. Another
apparition of the Virgin Mary in Betania in 1976 (Venezuela) occurred
near a healing waterfall. Mary appeared in Yankalilla in 1994 (Australia)
and acted as a guide to a local healing stream. The healing spring discov-
ered in the nineteenth century in El Santuario de Chimayo—nestled in the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico—is often called the ‘Lourdes
of America’ (examples extrapolated from Varner 2009, pp. 165–171).
In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Mother of God [Gr.,
Theotokos=‘God-Bearer’] is frequently compared with a ‘Holy Fountain’.
In old Russia, a custom existed based on the Greek traditions of sanctify-
ing springs that were located near churches. These springs were dedicated
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 7

then to the Holy Mother, and icons of her were painted under the title
‘The Life-Giving Spring’.
This epithet originated with her revelation of a sacred spring [Gr., hagi-
asma; Tr., ayazma] in Valoukli, Constantinople (present-day Istanbul in
Turkey). The Byzantine Emperor Leo I (457–474 A.D.) built a church
over this site, which witnessed numerous miraculous healings over the
centuries, becoming one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Greek
Orthodoxy. The fountain of holy water is now situated in the complex of
the Church of Saint Mary of the Spring (Albera and Couroucli 2012,
pp. 97–99).
In Istanbul, there is also the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae. In
450 A.D., Empress Aelia Pulcheria began to build a church near a foun-
tain of holy water. Emperor Leo I erected a holy reliquary near the church,
since it hosted the holy mantle and robe of the Virgin, as well as a sacred
bath edifice, which enclosed the fountain (Albera and Couroucli 2012,
pp. 97–99).
The belief in healing springs connected with the power of the Virgin
Mary is deeply rooted in the Eastern Orthodox religious culture. For
example, many places with mineral baths are connected with the Bogoroditsa
[Bg., ‘The Bearer of God’] and called Bogorodichna stapka [Bg., ‘Virgin
Mary’s step’] (e.g. Stara Zagora, Haskovo, and others). In Stara Zagora,
the place consists of a rock formation resembling a female footprint that,
according to legend, belongs to the Virgin Mary herself (The mineral
baths…, n.d.). Another famous healing spring connected with the Virgin
Mary in Bulgaria is near the Church of the Annunciation of Mary in the
Asenovgrad region. Next to the church with the popular name Ribnata
[Bg., ‘The Fish Church’], there is a chapel reputed for its holy spring [Bg.,
ayazmo]. It is believed that seeing fish in the spring is a sign that the prayer
will be heard (Baeva and Georgieva 2019, pp. 263–264).
Near Asenovgrad, in the realm of Bachkovo Monastery, there is another,
which is perhaps the most famous spring near the Chapel of the Protecting
Veil of Mary. Devotees drink from the spring, wash their faces, hands, or
ailing parts of the body. It is believed that taking a bath in the basin at
midnight for three nights running is to have an even stronger healing
impact. For this reason, there is a small building near the chapel, where
pilgrims can stay for the night (Baeva and Georgieva 2019, p. 259); how-
ever, in order to receive a healing effect, it is enough to sleep anywhere
near ayazmo.
8 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

In this respect, it should be mentioned that the tradition of healing spas

was typical for the ancient Greek and Roman world, either in the form of
temple areas or sanctuaries for the worshipping of water deities. Healing
sleeps [Lat., Incubation] were practised by many ancient cultures. It was
believed that sleeping could create a divinely inspired dream or cure
(Renberg 2017).
In countries with Protestant forms of Christianity, in the era of the
Reformation, many sacred wells—as they were closely linked with the cults
of the saints—fell into disuse and were lost. It was also the fate of the most
famous pilgrimage to Our Lady of Walsingham (Norfolk, England).
According to the tradition, in 1061, a noble widow had a vision of the
Mother of God and, as a commemoration of the apparition, a shrine near
the local spring in Walsingham was erected (Haffner 2010, pp. 438–439).
The spring was reputed for its miraculous healing properties, thus making
Walsingham a popular pilgrimage site. In 1513, Erasmus of Rotterdam
visited the shrine and noted that the water from the spring was ‘efficacious
in curing pains of the head and stomach’. In 1538, during the reign of
Henry VIII, the shrine in Walsingham was desecrated and its sacred image
of the Virgin Mary carried to Chelsea and burned (Haffner 2010,
pp. 440–441). However, in the nineteenth century, the shrine was restored
near the original site. In 1934, English Roman Catholic bishops named
Walsingham the National Shrine of Our Lady. The belief in the miraculous
power of local springs is inherited as part of the veneration of the entire
site. Nowadays, water from the well is often taken home by the faithful
and distributed among their family, friends, and parishioners (Barnes
2017, pp. 14–17).
There are numerous springs connected with the Virgin Mary all over
Europe. Some of the most famous include the Shrine of Our Lady of
Mariazell in Austria, which is the most-visited Marian shrine in Central
Europe that receives about a million pilgrims each year (Wright 1999).
There is also the splendid system of natural mineral springs and wells in
Mariánske Lázně [Cz., ‘Mary’s Baths’] in the Czech Republic. In Slovakia,
there is also a plenitude of mineral water springs, which are said to heal, as
well as ‘miraculous wells’ associated with the Virgin Mary in local shrines,
many of them connected also with local Marian apparitions, such as
Turzovka–Živčáková, Litmanová, Dechtice (near Trnava), Marianka, Staré
Hory, Vysoká (near Sabinov), Lehota (near Nitra), and Marian Hill (near
Levoča), to name a few.
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 9

Astral Symbolism
The Virgin Mary has been traditionally connected with objects in the sky,
such as the Sun, the Moon, stars, planets, and constellations, which are all
expressed in traditional Marian vocabulary and iconography.
There are no doubts that early Christianity was nurtured by the
Hellenistic world. Thus, the early Virgin Mary absorbed the attributes and
functions of prominent Hellenistic sky goddesses. Lunar symbolism often
accompanies Hellenistic Mother Goddesses, such as Isis, Artemis, and
Selene. Another classical sky goddess implemented into the imagery of the
Virgin Mary was Diana, who was responsible for women’s fertility and
eased their pain during childbirth.
In Chapter 12 of the Biblical Book of Revelation, Saint John describes
in his famous apocalyptic prophecy a mysterious woman: ‘a woman clothed
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head, a crown
of twelve stars (12:1)’. The woman from his prophecy is called the Woman
of Revelation or the Woman of the Apocalypse.
First, the feminine person described in John’s Revelation was identified
with the Church. Only afterwards, the woman was interpreted as the
Virgin Mary, and the sun was identified as Christ. The Virgin thereby
acquired the lunar imagery previously applied to the Church (Warner
1983, pp. 257–258).
As a lunar deity, Mary was also closely associated with water, particu-
larly the sea. The moon moves the waters of the world—the sea—in its
rhythm (Warner 1983, p. 262). The same is true for the liquids of the
human body, particularly the blood. Thus, with regard to the menstrua-
tion cycle, women are directly connected with the cycle of the moon.
Ave Maris Stella [Lat., ‘Hail, Star of the Sea’] is a Marian hymn that has
been used at Vespers since approximately the eight century. The title, Stella
Maris, is one of the oldest and most widespread titles applied to Mary. She
thus appears to be identified with the prominent ocean’s guide—the Pole
Star (Warner 1983, p. 262). In iconography, Mary, as Stella Maris, was
depicted as standing on a boat with a rising star over her head. Stella Maris
was first prayed to by travellers and sailors for a safe return home. It has,
however, deeper symbolism, since Mary makes our entire life’s journey
safe and guides us towards our final destination—salvation.
Mary has also been identified as the Stella Matutina—the last star in
the morning and the first star in the evening—the planet Venus,
10 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

connected with the ancient goddess of love (Lat., Venus; Gr., Aphrodite).
Finally, Mary has also been associated with the Virgo constellation (Warner,
1983, pp. 263–264).
The vision of the Virgin by Saint Catherine Labouré in Paris 1830
strengthened the identification of Mary with the moon. The Virgin
appeared to her in a white silken rustling dress, swathed in a white veil
with dazzling rays flashing from her extended hands. Her feet were crush-
ing the head of a serpent as it rested on a blue globe (Warner 1983,
p. 259).
When exploring the recent Marian apparitions worldwide, a number of
them are connected with the sky symbolism or so-called sun-miracles.
A. Meessen explored several of them and compiled a list of the most popu-
lar: the apparition in Tilly-sur-Seulles (France, 1901), Fatima (Portugal,
1917), Onkerzeele (Belgium, 1933), Bonate (Italy, 1944), Espis (France,
1946), Acquaviva Platani (Italy, 1950), Heroldsbach (Germany, 1949),
Fehrbach (Germany, 1950), Kerezinen (France, 1953), San Damiano
(Italy, 1965), Tre Fontane (Italy, 1982), and Kibeho (Rwanda, 1983)
(from Meessen 2005, p. 200). Sun-miracles have been reported at other
Marian sites, too—in Betania (Venezuela, 1976–1990), Lubbock (Texas,
1989), at the Mother Cabrini Shrine near Denver (Colorado, 1992),
Conyers (Georgia, early 1990s), in Medjugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina,
1980s), Seuca (Romania, 2008; Peti 2019), in Litmanová (Slovakia,
1990–1995), and so forth.
Probably the most famous is the sun-miracle of Fatima (October 13,
1917). An estimated 70,000 people attended the site, anticipating the
Virgin’s final visit. As previously described, the figure appeared and identi-
fied herself as the Lady of the Rosary, but only to children. Nevertheless,
the gatherings witnessed unusual celestial signs, such as a silver disc that
emerged from behind the clouds, the sun began to spin and revolve ‘ver-
tiginously on its axis’, and then zig-zag towards the earth as if it had
become unfixed from the heavens. The entire event took about ten min-
utes, and this ‘Miracle of the Sun’, as it later became known, is one of the
best-known events at Fatima. The event was officially accepted by the
Roman Catholic Church as a miracle on October 13, 1930 (The
Anniversary…, 2018).
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 11

Healing Miracles, Wonder-Working Icons, Paintings, and Statues

The most common miracles connected with the Virgin Mary are miracu-
lous healings. There are thousands of miraculous healings reported yearly,
which take place at the most visited places of Marian devotion in the
world—Lourdes (France), Fatima (Portugal), Basilica of Our Lady of
Guadalupe (Mexico), and many others.
In addition to miraculous healings, the Virgin Mary is also believed in
many parts of the world to act directly through material objects—her stat-
ues, images and pictures, medals, devotionals, and so on. Images of the
Virgin Mary are not only thought to be a direct embodiment of Mary
herself, but—according to devotees—the images themselves dispense graces
and favour (Morgan 2009, pp. 49–65). Each image possesses its own mir-
acle stories that uniquely exhibit Mary’s strength (Dubisch 1995). These
phenomena are known worldwide as ‘miracle-performing’ or ‘wonder-­
working’ icons or ‘miraculous’ statues.
Many miracle stories begin with the miraculous apparition of the
image—icon, painting, or statue—itself. In many instances, the miracu-
lous image or statue was made following the direct command of the Virgin
Mary during a private apparition. The miraculous image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe in Mexico, the icon of Our Lady of Tinos in Greece, the
wonder-­working icon of Our Lady of Kazan in Russia, or the miraculous
wooden statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary that were found in the woods
near Dunajská Lužná and Marianka (Slovakia), or the miraculous image of
the Madonna and Child discovered in a field by a peasant in Slovenský
Grob (Slovakia), and so on are good examples of such miraculous events.
In general, the number of miracles connected with images, paintings,
icons, and statues of the Virgin Mary all over the world is enormous. The
most reported are cases when religious statuettes suddenly began to bleed,
sweat or weep blood, salt-water or oil, or produce a scent. In some cases,
whole statues were reported to move, or they moved their hands, head, or
changed their gaze.
The phenomenon of weeping icons of Mary is a relatively commonly
reported issue among the Orthodox. Weeping and moving statues are
more evident among Roman Catholics. Church approval of these events
among Catholics is very uncommon. The weeping bust of Our Lady of
Syracuse in Italy (1953), which was approved by Pope Pius XII, is among
these few (The Weeping Madonna of Syracuse, n.d.).
12 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

Examples of weeping images of the Virgin Mary among Roman

Catholics include the blood-weeping paintings of the Virgin Mary in
Trnava (1663, 1708) and Báč (1715) in Slovakia.
Among other illustrative examples of weeping sculptures on a global
scale in the modern era, the weeping statue in Pavia (1980) or the statu-
ettes that wept tears of blood in Sardinia (1995) can be listed, or the case
of a statue of the Virgin in Quebec (1985) and the oil-dripping figurines
and images in a Catholic family’s home in Massachusetts in the 1990s.
The statue of the Virgin Mary in Akita in Northern Japan reportedly bled
and wept from 1973 to 1981. A moving statue of the Virgin Mary was
reported in Ballinspittle (Ireland, 1985) (Nickell 2013, pp. 224–227).
Recent alleged cases of blood-weeping statues of the Virgin Mary
include the Little Madonna of Civitavecchia (1995, Italy); a marble statue
of the Madonna in Mura (1998, Spain); and two statues of Our Lady in
Phoenix (the late 1990s, Arizona), related to the apparition of the Virgin
Mary; and so on.
In Greek Catholic and Russian/Greek Orthodox traditions, the icons
tend to bleed or exude myrrh or myrrh-scented oil. This tradition dates
back to the Middle Ages. A famous miracle-performing icon of the Greek
Catholic tradition is the weeping icon of Theotokos from Máriapócs in
Hungary. The icon began to bleed in 1696. The miraculous bleeding
repeated in 1715 and 1905. Máriapócs is now designated a ‘National
Place of Worship’, and the church housing the miraculous icon is visited
by approximately 600,000–800,000 pilgrims and tourists each year
(History, n.d.).
In Slovakia, the salt-tear weeping icon of the Mother of God in
Klokočovo (1670) and Litmanová (1991) are reported, both of Greek
Catholic tradition. From recent cases, a copy of a wonder-working icon
that streams myrrh [myro] in the Ukrainian Lviv Diocese can be listed, as
well as a Kazan icon of the Mother of God in the Church of the Beheading
of Saint John the Baptist in central Moscow, which has been streaming
myrrh since 2016.
In 1996, an icon of Our Lady of Kazan at a Greek Orthodox church
wept oil in the East York district of Toronto (Nickell 2004, p. 325). In
1985, an icon in Blanco, Texas, wept myrrh. Tears from this icon of the
Blessed Virgin Mary were reported to cause miracle healings, including a
cure for cancer, leukaemia, blindness, and mental illness (Nickell 2013,
p. 227). In 2010, in the Chapel of Saint Nicholas and Ambrose of our
Cathedral See in Milan, an Icon of the Theotokos of Bulgarian provenance
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 13

in the Church began to weep for the second time in two years, in the pres-
ence of numerous witnesses. Another weeping Icon of The Virgin Mary
and the Child Christ is located in Ramallah, West Bank. The shedding of
tears of oil began in 1998, and the oil was collected over the years to heal
many people.
In the United States, thanks to the spread of Orthodoxy, the phenom-
ena of weeping icons became more and more common—the tear-weeping
and myrrh-flowing icon The Guiding Mother of God (1986) in Chicago;
the myrrh-weeping icon of Our Lady of New Sarov (1985) in Texas; six
weeping icons in Tampa Bay (1989); the weeping icon of the Miraculous
Lady of Cicero (1994), a weeping icon of Our Lady in Conyers (1990–1998)
in Georgia, and an oil-seeping icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Troy
(1997) can be listed. There is also a weeping painting of Our Lady of
Kenner (1995). The print copy of the wonder-working Hawaiian Iveron
Icon of the Mother of God began to stream myrrh in Tullytown (2011,
Pennsylvania). Recently, in 2019, a tear-weeping icon of the Virgin Mary
appeared in the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago.
Miraculous phenomena of weeping icons are reported worldwide, just
to mention the oil weeping icon of Our Lady of Soufanieh (Damascus,
Syria, 1982) or the oil weeping icon of Panagia-Theotokos-Paranythia
(Monastery of Eliakon, near Kykkos, Cyprus, 1997).
To add to the context, holy images of the Mother of God—besides
healing miracles and miraculous weeping, tearing, and bleeding—also
cause other kinds of miracles. They are considered protection for cities
besieged by enemies—examples include the Blessed Mother Tirnaviensis,
whose merciful painting that wept blood in 1663 protected the City of
Trnava in Slovakia against Turkish plundering (Radváni and Kubinec
2012); or the Image of Madonna displayed in the Austrian village of
Mariazell to commemorate the miraculous war-victory of Luis I over the
Turks in 1365 (Letz 2014, p. 22). Out of numerous wonder-working
icons from the Orthodox world, the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which
was revealed in 1579, should be mentioned. The holy icon achieved rec-
ognition as the Holy Protectress of Russia, credited for protecting Russia
against the Polish (1612), the Swedish (1709), and against Napoleon’s
(1812) invasions. The Russian military commanders D. Pozharsky (seven-
teenth century), Peter I (eighteenth century), M. Kutuzov (nineteenth
century), and marshal G. K. Zhukov (twentieth century) are said to have
credited the invocation of the Virgin Mary through the Kazan icon, which
14 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

was also prayed to by hopeless and starving people in besieged Leningrad

during World War II (WW II) (Kazanskaya ikona…, 2019).

Mary as a Nation-Building Pillar

Throughout history, Mary and her images served as important national
symbols, centred around her people, supporting and charging them with
her holy power and energy. Mary thus played an important role in the
nation-state building process in many countries, raising her voice in the
name of oppressed nations and ethnic groups, fighting for their rights and
recognition—the image of the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe, the miracu-
lous icon of the Greek Mary in the Island of Tinos, the miraculous icon of
the Polish Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Ventura 2011), Our Lady of
Medjugorje (e.g. Skrbis 2005), or the image of the Vietnamese Lady of La
Vang (Ninh 2017) are just a few to mention.
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa has become a national symbol and
the Polish Patroness who defended the country against heathens and ene-
mies. The Black Madonna stood against the Swedish conquest’s attempts
during the seventeenth century and also became the national symbol of
the Polish independence movement in the 1980s in the struggle against
atheist and Communist doctrines (Niedźwiedź 2008).
The apparitions of the Virgin Mary of Medjugorje were used in con-
vergence with Croatian nationalism (Skrbis 2005), but also in connec-
tion with the reconciliation and calming of the conflict (Jurkovich and
Gesler 1997). The same was true for the holy icons of Bogorodica [Srb.,
‘The Mother of God’], which intervened through her holy images at
the end of the second millennium as the protector, advocate, and
‘Pointer of the Way’ [Srb., Putevoditeljica] of the Serbian nation
(Pavićević 2019).

The Voice from the Periphery: Ethnicised and Enculturated Mary

The fascinating, centuries-lasting process of cultural appropriation of the
Virgin Mary is documented in connection with her first officially approved
apparition, in the form of La Virgen de Guadalupe [Sp., ‘Our Lady of
Guadalupe’] in Mexico. She appeared in what is now Mexico City, on the
holy hill of Tepeyac, dedicated to Tonantzin, the Mother Earth Goddess of
the Aztecs in 1531. According to earlier accounts, the young woman in
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 15

the apparition, who spoke to the peasant Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl
language, identified herself as: ‘I am the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of the
True God’. At that time, the seer, Juan Diego, was having a tough time
negotiating and accommodating the vision into both the Colonial Hispanic
Christian and native Aztec contexts (Mong 2018). As a consequence, in
1531, nine million indigenous Aztecs converted to Christianity and
embraced Catholicism, invoking Mary as the Tonantzin Virgin of
Guadalupe (Horsfall 2000).
By appearing to an indigenous countryman as one of his own people,
Mary clearly asserted that She stands with those who are on the margins
of society. This vision took on a prophetic quality for those who had been
marginalised and oppressed under the Spanish occupation in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. To this day, Mexicans devote Our Lady of
Guadalupe as a mysterious communion of both Spaniards and indigenous
populations. La Morenita [Sp., ‘Dark-Skinned Woman’] thus represents
all shades of brown, visually promoting the very essence of the Mexican
nation, consisting of many ethnic groups and communities. Being a multi-­
cultural symbol and the ‘Mother of All Nations’, the Virgin of Guadalupe
is considered at the same time to be the one who ‘comforts those on the
margins of society even as she equips them for action’ (Our lady, drowned
in the river…, 2019).
The millennial Pope, John Paul II, declared Our Lady of Guadalupe as
the ‘Patroness of the Americas’ in 2012. She is believed by many to be the
ideal intercessor for an increasingly ‘global community of believers who
heed the call to create more just systems and societies that include the
voices of all’ (The Virgin for our times…, 2012).
However, even though there are many ethnicised and enculturated ver-
sions of the Virgin Mary that have been appropriated by marginalised
people and communities in order to achieve visibility and gain voice, there
is also a strong tendency among mainstream societies to treat those Marys
similarly to the people they represent—that is, to expropriate and silence
them. The case of Our Lady of the Amazon can be mentioned as one very
recent example. At the beginning of October 2019, on the occasion of the
Synod of Bishops for the Amazon in Rome, a wooden statue of a kneeling
pregnant indigenous woman who was said to represent Our Lady of the
Amazon, was presented to Pope Francis during a tree-planting ceremony
in the Vatican Gardens. Almost immediately, outrage and consternation
over the possibility of identifying this statue as Mary erupted in Catholic
circles (Our lady, drowned in the river…, 2019), insisting that the statue is
16 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

merely Pachamama, the Peruvian Mother Goddess of life and fertility

(The dishonest cruelty…, 2019). Some weeks later, two Catholic men broke
into the Church of Saint Mary in Traspontina in Rome—where the statue
of Our Lady of the Amazon was displayed as part of an exhibition of the
Amazon region—stole the exhibited statues, and threw them into the
Tiber River, ‘filming their crime as if it was a heroic act of piety’ (Our lady,
drowned in the river…, 2019).
Another recent case of a wave of majoritarian resistance to the encultur-
ated Mary refers to the ‘tribal Mary’ from the Indian state of Jharkhand.
In 2013, a new statue showing the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus as tribals
was installed in the local church in Singhpur village, a few kilometres away
from the state capital, Ranchi. The tribal Mary wears a red-bordered white
sari, a red blouse, a necklace and bangles, and holds baby Jesus in a cloth
sling. However, since its installation, the statue has caused tensions, and
some non-Christian tribal groups organised a protest march demanding
its immediate removal. The head priest of Sarna Society, B. Tigga, who
represents the tribal society of non-Christian, proclaimed the ethnicised
Mary to be a serious threat to mainstream society, pointing out that the
depiction of the Mother Mary as ‘tribal’ may confuse and lead the tribal
population to believe that Mary was from their community: ‘A 100 years
from now, people here would start believing that Mother Mary was actu-
ally our tribal goddess’ (India protests over ‘tribal’ Virgin Mary…, 2013).
Though both reported cases represent different forms of majoritarian
resistance to the enculturated images of Mary and Mary with Jesus, they
can be interpreted in terms of underlying racism and ethnocentrism. This
kind of resistance can also be understood as a proxy for resistance to
encountering other nations and ethnic groups, ignoring the right to
approach Mary, Jesus, and God with the eyes, tongues, and hearts of dif-
ferent cultures. Although Pope Francis reminds all Christians that ‘beauty
unites us… and invites us to live in human brotherhood, countering the
culture of resentment, racism and nationalism which is always lurking’
(Our lady, drowned in the river…, 2019), it seems, at the same time, that
there is an urgent need for ethnicised and enculturated Marys. Marginalised
communities tend to invite the transcendent and transethnic Queen of
Heaven to become culturally and visually ‘one of them’. By showing her
attention and respect to particular ethnic groups and peripheral communi-
ties, She is believed to help them on their way ‘from the periphery to the
centre’.
 1 TRACES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE MODERN WORLD 17

Modern Mary
The Virgin Mary is perfectly accommodated in the modern era. The mod-
ern Virgin Mary—enjoying a glossing glance of modernity—continues to
be traditional, preserving and further evolving her pre-modern associa-
tions with celestial objects, healing flowers, and miraculous springs. Her
statutes and images continue weeping and bleeding. She continues to
appear to local people, causing miraculous healings and sun-miracles. As
such, She is perceived to be a vivid ‘fountain’ of miracles in modern and
secular societies as well, offering her help and solution in cases where
modern medicine and science have failed.
Since the latter half of the nineteenth century, apparitions of the Virgin
Mary have proliferated at an unprecedented rate, as if the world urgently
needed Mary’s voice and assistance. In the first half of the twentieth cen-
tury, the world was devastated by two world wars and the world economic
crisis, and disbalanced by the mass spread of Communist ideas. In the lat-
ter half of the century, the world was deeply impacted by the Cold War
and the crash of old colonial empires, both connected with the change in
the global distribution of symbolic power, reconfiguration of the eco-
nomic market, and a national fight for human rights and democracy. The
fight for symbolic and economic dominance between Communism and
capitalism caused the ‘East’–‘West’ division of the world and the subse-
quent race in nuclear armament.
The beginning of the twenty-first century was affected by globalisation
and the influx of new technologies that enormously speeded up the previ-
ous forms of mobility and communication. With the new, post-modern
era, new global challenges appeared—ethnic and religious conflicts, ter-
rorism, world climate catastrophes, and the refugees-crisis—resulting in
the new ‘South’–‘North’ symbolic world divide. The ultra-modern societ-
ies we live in are characterised by growing inequalities and a global share
of fear—as such, they are sometimes called risk societies (Beck 1992).
The modern Virgin Mary flexibly responds to these new challenges. In
the modern era, She adopted the active role of a global Peace-Maker. As
such, She appears directly in the middle of turbulent times, in the era of
war and conflict (Blackbourn 1994), coming with an unbeatable offer of
divine protection and the ultimate calming hug of the All-Mother.
She speaks in the tongues of people She addresses and appears to be
perfectly informed and familiar with the current geopolitical situation.
Her modern era predictions aim to prevent global and local catastrophes
18 T. ZACHAR PODOLINSKÁ

(e.g. Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). At the beginning of the twenty-first

century, She is still perceived to be the one who predicts and names global
threats and catastrophes and helps to defeat the ‘Evil’. At present, with the
global pandemics of the novel coronavirus disease, the Virgin Mary was
called to service and asked for help and protection of her children all over
the world.
The Virgin Mary became not just a herald of the modern history of the
Catholic Church, but also of Europe and the Catholic world in terms of
being a messenger of God’s will and words on a global scale and speaking
for all nations (e.g. The Lady of all Nations, Amsterdam, 1945–1959).
She speaks in the name of those who are weak and live on the periphery
(Turner 1975), those who are overlooked, discriminated, and margin-
alised (e.g. Our Lady of the Poor, Banneux, 1933).
The modern Virgin Mary has also contributed to the strengthening of
the feminine aspect of normative Catholic discourse, which corresponds
both to the popular religion with a traditionally strong feminine accent, as
well as to the evolution of the general discourse, reflecting the emancipa-
tion and feminisation of modern societies.
From a certain point of view, She is also a Trouble-Maker and a Rebel,
because She is the vehicle for the rise of spontaneous grassroots and fresh
bottom-up streams and varieties of popular Christianity, as opposed to
‘normative religion’ represented and controlled by the official Church.
Her approach is addressed, sensitive, and intimate, touching the private
lives of real people. For individual believers, the Virgin Mary represents
the prototype of the Ideal Mother, offering them private and uncondi-
tional love, understanding and perpetual help, thus substituting non-­
functional social networks within the family or a broader community. In
this way, She is the 24-hours available Mentor and Tutor, ready to listen
and give advice. And She is constantly online, instantly and easily reachable
via prayer or simple thought. Every connection with her is unique, per-
sonal, and non-repeatable, yet transferrable, comparable and reaffirmed by
collective consensus of people and nations adoring her all over the world.

Marian Century
The twentieth century is also called the ‘Marian century’. Out of approxi-
mately 918 apparitions documented since 41 A.D. (Hierzenberger and
Nedomansky 1993, p. 553), as many as 210 apparitions were reported
between 1928 and 1971 (Scheer 2006). According to O’Sullivan, Western
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