Opera magazine

On December 8th the Catholic Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Opera del Duomo of Florence, dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, could not but speak today of this feast. The Immaculate is one of the most important Marian feasts, together with the Annunciation (March 25th) and the Assumption (August 15th). Not everyone knows, however, that it is a relatively recently established feast. Only on December 8th 1854 Pope Pius IX with the bull "Ineffabilis Deus" proclaimed the Immaculate Conception dogma of Faith! But what exactly does "Immaculate Conception" mean? And why was it proclaimed so "late"? This dogma states that Mary, Mother of God, was the only human being to be born spared from the stain by original sin; God preserved her from the first moment of her conception. From eternity God conceived Mary so that she might be the Mother of his Son and to accomplish this mission He conceived her immaculate, for a singular grace and privilege. This is a truth of faith which is not made explicit in the Sacred Scriptures and which has matured over the centuries both through theology and the devotion of the Church. The devotion for the Immaculate was born in the Church as early around the 6th century and was then a topic debated by theologians in the Western Europe between the 13th and 15th centuries (especially by the Franciscan Duns Scotus). In 1483 Pope Sixtus IV approved the "Office and the Mass in honor of the Immaculate Conception"... but it was not yet recognized as a dogma and had to pass four centuries of theological discussions and maturation of the "sensum fidei". There are many altarpieces in Florence that, especially in the 16th century, depict "disputes" over this Marian dogma. The masterpiece by Piero di Cosimo at the Uffizi (1485-1505, from the basilica of the Santissima Annunziata) depicts this subject and the same painter "meditated" on this in an altarpiece of the church of San Francesco in Fiesole. Is famous the allegorical representation of the Immaculate Conception painted by Giorgio Vasari for the Altoviti altar in the church of SS. Apostoli and Biagio (1540) and a Dispute over the Immaculate Conception was also painted by Pierfrancesco di Jacopo Foschi in 1544-45 for the Torrigiani altar in the Basilica of Santo Spirito. In the Cathedral of Florence, dedicated to Mary, where almost every piece of art speaks of the Mother of God, could not miss a space of devotion dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The South Tribune is dedicated to the “Holy Conception” and in one of its chapels there is a 19th-century tabernacle containing a venerated image of the Immaculate Virgin, considered miraculous. This small painting, depicting Mary trampling on the Serpent of the original sin, was in a tabernacle in Via del Ciliegio (today Via degli Alfani) and the Archbishop Martini, in 1796, wanted to transfer it to the Cathedral, where - as historians remember - on September 8th used to take place a "solemn feast". On the occasion of the proclamation of the dogma, in 1854, was made by Ugolino Francioni the precious tabernacle in silver and gold that contains it, whose neo-Gothic forms are clearly inspired by the Orsanmichele’s tabernacle by Orcagna. On the tabernacle is inscribed Psalm 9: QUAERETUR PECCATUM ILLIUS/ ET NON INVENIETUR " his sin shall be sought, and shall not be found". It is well understood how this Psalm was chosen thinking to Mary! In 1854, to complete the decoration of the Immaculate Conception altar, two wealthy devotees commissioned to the silversmiths Salvatore and Raffaello Morelli and to the chiseller Giovanni Stanghi an elegant frontal in silk, bronze and silver with Mary's Monogram (now preserved in the sacristy of the canons). In these days, in front of the facade of the Cathedral has been set up a beautiful crib with the Holy Family waiting for the Child. On the 8th, if you can, stop and look at the beautiful Madonna and meditate with us on the mystery of her purity...

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