Icons of Virgin Mary and the Shaping of Identity in Central Europe

  • Abstract:

    Virgin Mary adoration spread to an unimaginable extent in Catholic countries in the Counter-Reformation period, as Catholics, unlike Protestants, defended Mary’s divine nature. Thus, new sacred images of the Virgin Mary appeared in the 17th century (such as Mariahilf (Mary Help of Christians), Mary with tilted head, Mother of Good Counsel, etc.) and were widely copied. Such copies spread via monastic and dynastic connections, and copies of images that played an important role in battles with the Ottomans were especially popular. In this paper, the role and the spread of the devotional image of Mariahilf are demonstrated by an example. An icon of Mariahilf was worshipped in Passau and had an important role already in the Thirty Years’ War; it was believed that it ensured the victory over the Ottomans in 1683 in the Battle of Vienna. The pious Emperor Leopold I was its loyal worshipper. He married his third wife under the icon and prayed to it every day during the siege of Vienna. After that battle, Mariahilf images spread throughout Central Europe and can thus be found in parish churches, monastic, succursal and pilgrimage churches as well as private aristocratic chapels and painting collections. Furthermore, Mariahilf was often depicted on the facades of private houses. When certain aristocrats (e.g. Georg Gotfried Count Lamberg, the Provincial Commander of Teutonic Knights) identified themselves with the icon of Mariahilf, this contributed to their career success in the service of the Emperor. Therefore, the spread of certain icons in the Central Europe should not only be understood as a means (or the binary code) of demonstrating Catholic identity as opposed to Protestant identity, but also as a means of demonstrating Christian identity as opposed to Muslim identity.