Les Annees Folles: Growing up catholic
Growing up catholic I didn’t have fears of ghoulies under the bed and I didn't think that an innocent splutter in the dark was Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th coughing up blood and water outside my window (although admittedly I tried not to be the perpetrator of too
many practical jokes because we all know that it’s the fun-loving joker who gets killed first).
No, my big fear was Virgin Mary. I think I’d read too many christian comic books about saints where they didn’t even try to be funny “what did one saint say to the other?”
“Virgin Mary appeared to me the other day!”
So I was fixated upon the idea that Virgin Mary was going to appear to me and I was
mind-blisteringly terrified. I used to pray every night “oh please God don’t let Mary
appear to me. I’m sure she’s a nice girl and everything and she looks very becoming in blue but no no no I really don’t need to see her”.
Exiting the shower I’d expect the steam on the mirror to vanish and Mary would be serenely smiling back at me and then she'd say "boo!" Maybe if she didn’t have such a good reputation she would have been less scary. But all that bit about not having sex or going through the motions of child birth gave me the heebie jeebies.
I steered clear of grottos, but in the end my perversity reared its head
when the time came to choose a confirmation name (the tradition was to choose the name of a saint) and I chose none other than Saint Bernadette of Lourdes - the young lassie who Mary made a guest appearance to in the grotto.
[Incidentally, I was also too scared to be good because I didn’t want to die and only the good die young (although I think Billy Joel was largely to blame for this fear), but at the same time I tried to be meek in the hope of inheriting the earth (which I think used to be worth a fair bit before we started plundering it)].
Anyway, speaking of Virgin Mary, I went to the
Museum of the 1930s to see an exhibition of Tamara De Lempicka who is one of my favourite artists and I saw for the first time her portrait of the Virgin Mary. In evidence that my fears have long subsided I'm actually considering buying a print of it - in typical Lempicka style she depicts a "jet set" kind of Mary.
If you are as interested as me in the way that Mary has been depicted in art throughout the ages, I suggest you get your hands on this book: Alone of all her Sex; the Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary by Marina Warner.
many practical jokes because we all know that it’s the fun-loving joker who gets killed first).
No, my big fear was Virgin Mary. I think I’d read too many christian comic books about saints where they didn’t even try to be funny “what did one saint say to the other?”
“Virgin Mary appeared to me the other day!”
So I was fixated upon the idea that Virgin Mary was going to appear to me and I was
mind-blisteringly terrified. I used to pray every night “oh please God don’t let Mary
appear to me. I’m sure she’s a nice girl and everything and she looks very becoming in blue but no no no I really don’t need to see her”.
Exiting the shower I’d expect the steam on the mirror to vanish and Mary would be serenely smiling back at me and then she'd say "boo!" Maybe if she didn’t have such a good reputation she would have been less scary. But all that bit about not having sex or going through the motions of child birth gave me the heebie jeebies.
I steered clear of grottos, but in the end my perversity reared its head
when the time came to choose a confirmation name (the tradition was to choose the name of a saint) and I chose none other than Saint Bernadette of Lourdes - the young lassie who Mary made a guest appearance to in the grotto.
[Incidentally, I was also too scared to be good because I didn’t want to die and only the good die young (although I think Billy Joel was largely to blame for this fear), but at the same time I tried to be meek in the hope of inheriting the earth (which I think used to be worth a fair bit before we started plundering it)].
Anyway, speaking of Virgin Mary, I went to the
Museum of the 1930s to see an exhibition of Tamara De Lempicka who is one of my favourite artists and I saw for the first time her portrait of the Virgin Mary. In evidence that my fears have long subsided I'm actually considering buying a print of it - in typical Lempicka style she depicts a "jet set" kind of Mary.
If you are as interested as me in the way that Mary has been depicted in art throughout the ages, I suggest you get your hands on this book: Alone of all her Sex; the Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary by Marina Warner.
posted by pinochiette at 1:18 PM
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