THE SACRED FEMININE

THAT INSPIRED

THE RENAISSANCE IN FLORENCE

by Idanna Pucci and Terence Ward

“Going back at least nine thousand years to the early agriculture of the Near East and Old Europe, we have a tradition of the power of the Goddess and of her child who dies and is resurrected—namely, it is we who come from her, go back to her, and rest well in her. This tradition was carried through the cults of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and down into the Classical world, before finally delivering the message into Christian teaching.”

- Joseph Campbell, The Goddess: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine

The Goddess that Joseph Campbell mentions can be found in the Basilica

della Santissima Annunziata (of the holy Annunciation) in the heart of

Florence. Originally a simple farmhouse surrounded by woods, it once lay two

hundred yards outside the medieval city’s northern wall. During the terrible

siege by the German Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, in 1081, his mercenaries

launched daily barrages of arrows. The city wall suffered tremendously yet did

not fall. In memory of that resilience, the farmhouse was transformed into a

sacred place of prayer.

It is here that the “Servants of Maria” —bound by a vow of poverty and a

burning desire to help the afflicted and sick—founded their order. The legend

goes that these seven Florentines had been overcome by a vision of the Virgin

in the forest, and slowly they built a small church devoted to the Holy Mary,

and a convent.

In 1252, they asked Fra’ Bartholomew, the artist among them, to paint the

scene of the Annunciation for their new church. But the friar was tormented by

the fear that he would not do justice to the young Virgin’s beauty. Exhausted

after so many attempts, he fell asleep in deep despair.

When he woke up, he could not believe his eyes when he saw that Mary’s

face had been painted. Clearly, no human hand had done this. Only an angel

could have created such beauty. And from that day, the fresco has been

known as the “Miraculous Annunciation.”

Word of the miracle spread far and wide. Even the great Michelangelo

confirmed, “it was not through the art of painting that the face of the young

Virgin was created. It is truly divine.” He was right because until then, the

Madonna had always been depicted in a stylized Byzantine manner, without

overt emotion. But here was a simple teenage girl filled with serene wonder and

awe.

The Miraculous Annunciation The Virgin Mary

Soon, houses surrounded the church as people wanted to live near the

place where the miracle had happened. A new outer circle of walls was then

built, placing the church inside the city.

Over time, the little church grew into the revered Basilica della Santissima

Annunziata, where the Florentine cult of the Madonna flourished over the

centuries. By 1447, the Servants of Mary, under the patronage of Piero, the

son of Cosimo dei Medici, erected a magnificent shrine for the miraculous

painting.

Over generations, great artists such as Beato Angelico, Botticelli,

Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo and Leonardo would all paint their own version of

the Annunciation, a theme that was always the most challenging and closest to

their hearts.

Entering the Basilica today, you will find the divine fresco in its splendid

shrine on your immediate left. The Mother Goddess remains so adored and her

magnetic pull is so strong that you will see worshippers seated on pews that are

all turned to face her. In fact, this is the only church in Christendom where

parishioners deliberately turn their backs to the altar, so they may face the divine

feminine force. And today, her presence still exudes the promise of fertility.

Each and every Florentine bride comes here on her wedding day to place her

bouquet of flowers as an offering to the Madonna.

The shrine of The Miraculous Annunciation The altar with bridal flowers.

* * *

The resurgence of the Goddess as "Mother Earth" that rose like a

phoenix during the Renaissance began with this fresco, but also included

another fresco found inside a building not far away just across from the

Baptistry. Known as Loggia del Bigallo , it housed the famous Madonna of

Mercy (shown below) painted by Bernardo Daddi in 1342. At that time, the

when the Bigallo was the headquarters of the confraternity dedicated to

transporting the city’s sick to hospital.

Few know that the Madonna of Mercy later inspired Brunelleschi’s dome

of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower. For over a

century, the powerful, wealthy wool guild had waited for the right architect to

appear for the dramatic project of erecting the dome.

Comparing the fresco and the cupola, one can see how Florentines

viewed the terracotta dome as the all encompassing red cape of the Madonna

protecting the entire city below, offering her compassion to all.

The Madonna of Mercy of the Bigallo The Cupola of Brunelleschi in Florence

The symbolism behind the dome’s shape and the fresco is rich and deep:

the citizens of Florence, crowded around the Madonna, look up to her as their

“ultimate Mother”. Her cape encloses all the works of mercy in descending

spheres. These acts, cited in Matthew 25, were the cornerstone of the city’s

philosophy of behavior - feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the

homeless, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners, help the sick and bury the

dead.

This ethical fabric protected the city’s most vulnerable and was bound

by strict regulations in each of the numerous guilds that together controlled

the vibrant economy and social order of Florence. Works of compassion were

acted out daily in the “Mother’s spirit” under her watchful eye in the birthplace

of humanism.

The Madonna became the divine symbol of the Florentine Renaissance

and, through her beauty, transformed Western art. During that

groundbreaking epoch, young Mary was always portrayed in an earthly

paradise, a heavenly garden and then as a sublime mother with her newborn

child. Nature blossomed with Spring’s fertility.

With the flush of Neo-Platonic syncretism (that arrived from

Constantinople and Alexandria), the young mother would later be portrayed as

the Venus by Botticelli and even as Isis, the Egyptian Goddess of the Nile by

Pinturicchio.

Five centuries later in 2016, Pope Francis visited Florence during his

Jubilee devoted to the theme of “Mercy°. On that special day, after

celebrating Massa in the Duomo, the Holy Father walked through the large

chestnut doors of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata.. For the Jubilee,

these two sacred places of worship, dedicated to the Madonna. had opened

their holy doors or porte sante, offering every worshiper that also crossed that

threshold full blessings and redemption as if they had walked through the holy

door of St. Peter itself in the Vatican. No other Florentine churches held this

honor.

Pope Francis clearly appreciated the Florentine reverence to the

Madonna. After all, his revolutionary Encyclical, Laudato Si, enshrines our

“Mother Earth” on its very first page, and laments how she has been abused

and violated by her children. His plea calls for all of us to take care of our

sacred mother, our common home. And, when Pope Francis came to Florence,

he prayed to the “Holy Mother”.

Her figure of feminine compassion and mercy has served as a civilizing

force in the Western World. The veneration of the Madonna forged in that small

Florentine church one thousand years ago elevated art, culture, and humanity

far beyond the patriarchal views of medieval Rome, giving birth to the bold

Renaissance vision to protect, empower, and elevate Florence’s citizenry, while

beautifying their “city of the flower” for future generations to come.

Detail of the city of Florence under the cape of The Madonna of Mercy Words: 1302