Now home, I have a chance to assemble photos of jewelled Madonnas ( and a sacred infant). No doubt all are thought to work miracles. The jewels and embellishment don't only add monetary value. Somehow too they embellish the meaning.
And much more gloriously in situ. I love the Santo Bambino: so very grim and determined.
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- the Madonna in the Russian mission in Jerusalem - here...
- The jewelled bambino at S. Maria in Aracoeli in Rome - here on my keyring.
And much more gloriously in situ. I love the Santo Bambino: so very grim and determined.
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A real miracle-worker - carved, some say, out of wood from the Garden of Gethsemane. Famously described by Charles Dickens in Pictures from Italy, 1846:
"I met this same Bambino in the street a short time afterwards going , in great state, to the house of some sick person. It is taken to all parts of Rome for this purpose, constantly; but, I understand that it is not always as successful as could be wished; for, making its appearance at the bedside of weak and nervous people in extremity, accompanied by a numerous escort, it not unfrequently frightens them to death. It is most popular in cases of childbirth, where it has done such wonders, that if a lady be longer than usual in getting through her difficulties, a messenger is dispatched, with all speed, to solicit the immediate attendance of the Bambino. It is a very valuable property, and much confided in - especially by the religious body to whom it belongs. "
- 3. The Madonna in I Gesuati Church in Venice.
