The Miracles Of The Virgin Mary
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''The Miracles of Our Lady'' (Spanish: ''Milagros de Nuestra Señora'') is the main work of
Gonzalo de Berceo Gonzalo de Berceo (ca. 1197 – before 1264) was a Castilian Spanish poet born in the Riojan village of Berceo, close to the major Benedictine monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. He is celebrated for his poems on religious subjects, written ...
. The work is a collection of
exempla An exemplum (Latin for "example", pl. exempla, ''exempli gratia'' = "for example", abbr.: ''e.g.'') is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point. The word is also used to express an action performed by an ...
about twenty-five reported
miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...
s of
Mary, mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
, written around 1260 in a sort of
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
dialect called Riojan.


Context and influence

The sources used by Gonzalo de Berceo were various collections of tales about the miracles written in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. He made use of the characteristic resources of the
minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...
s (see
Mester de Juglaría Mester de juglaría ("Ministry of jongleury") is a Spanish literature genre from the 12th and 13th centuries, transmitted orally by "juglares" who made their living by telling and singing these stories in public places and palaces while performin ...
). It is important to note that Gonzalo de Berceo belonged to the
Mester de Clerecía Mester de Clerecía ("Ministry of Clergy") is a Spanish literature genre that can be understood as an opposition and surpassing of Mester de Juglaría. It was cultivated in the 13th century by Spanish learned poets, usually clerics (hence the n ...
. The book helped to promote
Marian devotions Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Orien ...
among the people by making the subject easier to understand for the people of his time, but it contains many unorthodox elements that give Mary powers of resurrection or the ability to save sinners from Divine Judgement.Saugnieux, Joël. Berceo Y Las Culturas Del Siglo XIII. Logroño: Servicio de Cultura de la Excma. Diputación Provincial, 1982.


Structure

The work's introduction, which features the author himself, is allegorical. It is set in an idealized natural scene, which symbolizes the virtues and perfections of the Virgin. The introduction is followed by twenty-five miracles performed by the Virgin for her devotees. At the end of each story there is a ''moraleja'' (
moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...
) or teaching to make the advantages of devotion to Mary apparent to the listener or reader. These miracles can be categorised into three different types: * Miracles in which Mary rewards or punishes men, e.g. ''La casulla de San Idelfonso''. * Miracles in which the Mary forgives and assures the salvation of her devotees, e.g. ''El sacristán impúdico'', ''El Judezno'', ''Milagro de Teófilo''. * Miracles in which the characters suffer a spiritual crisis which Mary helps them to solve, e.g. ''La abadesa encinta''.


See also

*
William the Trouvère William (; ), later called William the Trouvère, was an English poet. He translated tales from the Latin ''Miracles of the Virgin'' into Anglo-Norman verse.Hunt 2004. Works William was first called Adgar but became more commonly known as Wi ...


References


Bibliography

* ''Miracles of Our Lady'' by Gonzalo de Berceo, edited by Richard Terry Mount 1998


External links


Milagros de Nuestra Señora and Lais by Mary de France. Similarities and differences
Written by Pamela Bastante. Biblioteca Gonzalo de Berceo. {{Authority control
Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...
13th-century books Old Spanish literature Marian devotions Riojan culture