MARYS for May #17-- Restoration

Madonna della Strada

Unknown Artist, Fresco, late 13th century, 

Church of the Gesu, Rome

“Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:5

The last of our Roman Madonnas appears quite contemporary in its color scheme and in the direct way in which Jesus and Mary regard the viewer, but it is nearly a thousand years old. For many centuries it has been watched over by the Jesuits in their mother church in Rome called the “Gesu.”

In 1541, Pope Paul III entrusted a small church to Ignatius and his small company of priests. The church was named for the ancient icon venerated within it called the Madonna della Strada – “Our Lady of the Way.” Ignatius developed a great devotion to the image, and encouraged his brothers to seek Mary’s intercession as they discerned the “way” in which to serve her son. Before his death in 1556, Ignatius instructed that the icon be preserved in the new church being built on the site of that original chapel. When the Gesu was dedicated in 1584, Our Lady of the Way was enshrined between the altar of St. Ignatius and the main altar, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. The placement emphasizes Mary’s role as intermediary and intercessor, and for over 400 years pilgrims found their own way to the icon.

Over the centuries dirt and grime obscured the image. Faces became frozen behind the residue of discolored varnish. Layers of paint were added and then “retouched.” Mary’s hands disappeared beneath the flat folds of a heavy cloak.  Pious devotees “enriched” the icon by the application of gold crowns, sparkling jewels, and diamond earrings. It was as if the icon that had inspired St. Ignatius was lost behind the loving attention shown by the faithful.

Before restoration in 2006

Early in the new millennium, the Jesuits began a restoration of the image. Additions were stripped away. Dirt and resins were painstakingly removed, and the result was a revelation. New colors emerged from the beneath the murky over-painting. The figures emerged fresh and lively, with healthy complexions and more substantial, three-dimensional bodies.  Now a rosy-cheeked Jesus raises his hand in blessing while his mother holds him with one arm and reaches out towards her supplicants with the other.  Removing the accretions of the centuries renewed the vitality of the ancient image, giving it a power that engages the contemporary eye.

St. Ignatius encouraged what he called the “contemplative imagination,” in the spiritual life, and we can learn a lesson from the restoration of Our Lady of the Way.  Is it time for a restoration of our spiritual life? What needs to be cleansed or stripped away? What additions and enrichments have actually diminished our spiritual power? The peeling away may be painful, but we can be assured that Jesus and Mary are waiting to be revealed, waiting to show us the way to renewal.