The Lady Chapel in Winchester Cathedral has some wonderful wall paintings, which represent miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary. I believe that most of them are drawn from the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso the Wise. Cantiga 42 is clearly illustrated by a frame from the lower section of the North Wall, just behind the altar rail.
Cantiga 42
A Virgen mui groriosa
The most glorious Virgin
Esta é de como o crerizon meteu o anel eno dedo da omagen de Santa Maria,
e a omagen encolleu o dedo con el.
How the petitioner places his ring on the finger of the statue of Saint Mary
and the statue curved its finger around it.
A Virgen mui groriosa, |
The most glorious Virgin, |
Previously in Cantiga 42: In a town in Germany, the people were renovating their church and moved the statue of the Virgin Mary from the altar to the town square, where they placed it under the portico. There was a green field in the square where the young men came to play ball. A large group of men came to play ball, amongst them a youth who was in love. He wore a ring that his beloved had given him.
For fear of damaging the ring whilst he played, he looked for somewhere to place it. He saw the beautiful statue and went to place the ring on its finger, saying "from now on the woman I loved means nothing to me, for I swear to God that I have never seen anything as beautiful as this. Henceforth I shall be one of your servants, and I give you this ring as my pledge." He knelt before the statue, saying "Ave Maria" and promised her that from that moment he would never love another and would remain faithful to Her. As he made his promise, the statue curved its finger around the ring. The young man became very frightened and cried out "Holy Mary protect me" When the people heard him, they came running. He told them what had happened and they advised him to enter Clairvaux monastery immediately. |
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the image from Cantiga 42 |
In a future episode: Everyone thought the young man had gone to the monastery, but the devil tempted him and the memory of his promise vanished like salt in water. Forgetting his promise to Mary, he fell in love again with his lady, and married her, surrendering himself to earthly pleasures. On the wedding night, he fell asleep and the Virgin appeared to him in a dream, calling him a "my faithless liar" "Why did you forsake me" she asked "and take a wife?" You forgot the ring. You will suffer terrible mental anguish if you do not leave your wife and do as I say."
He woke but decided not to leave, so Mary made him fall asleep again. "Wicked, unfaithful one, do you understand? Get up and hurry to leave the house" Now he was frightened enough to leave, and wandered in the wilderness for a month before becoming a hermit.