2025_Madonna With Strawberries-Memorare Prayer in Latin

MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi.

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Last year a friend of mine visited Lourdes in France. Lourdes is a small town in southwestern France. It is a major Catholic pilgrimage site hosting millions of visitors each year. They come to visit the Grotto of Massabielle (Grotto of the Apparitions) where, in 1858, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a14-year-old peasant named Bernadette Soubirous. My friend had many fascinating stories about their visit to Lourdes. Out of our conversations I was introduced to the Memorare prayer. It is a 15th-century prayer seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for miracles. It is taken from a longer 15th-century prayer "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria". In the 15th-century 18-year-old Francis de Sales credited the Blessed Virgin with "saving him from falling into despair" after he recited Memorare day after day. The prayer was popularized by Fr. Claude Bernard in the 17th-century. He believed that the recitation of the prayer was the cause of miraculous healing. The exact wording of the prayer was stabilized during the 19th century by Pope Pius IX … St. Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa, would pray it whenever she was faced with a disasters situation and needed a miracle.

A brief explanation of the symbolism in this painting:

 As in all my recent paintings, at the top center of the icon, you see a very faint ancient star map that extends down below the icon and is visible underneath the type. Also at the very top left is a reference to sky and clouds as if the statement is coming down from above. In the cap latter “O” and in the border of this image are highly stylized acanthus vines.  These highly stylized vines are found in manuscripts from the workshop of Valentine Noh active in Prague, Czech Republic in and around the 1470. Interwoven in the acanthus vines are strawberries. The strawberry symbolizes love, fertility, goodness, enlightenment and purity. It has also been used a symbol of the Virgin Mary's herself. In the center of the cap “O” we see the Virgin Mary flanked by two angels. The wing of the angel on the right is touched by the wing of pure white butterfly. I use butterflies are symbols for angels. The butterfly is also  a symbol for the cycles of life; caterpillar, chrysalis and finally, the butterfly.  Ants and bees that are scattered throughout the composition, are used because of their industrious habits, as symbols of activity, diligence, work and good order. The spots of the seven-spot ladybug symbolize Mary’s Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows.

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