title: The Cult of the Virgin: Offerings, Ornaments, and Festivals
author:  Marie-France Boyer 
description: Gorgeous color photography and a well-conceived layout mark this art book about the veneration of Mary, but the text is less than inspired. Author Boyer has a keen eye for detail, noting the incongruity, for example, of contemporary Spanish women who don the respectable black mantilla for processionals, when the veil is almost as long as their miniskirts. But Boyer's sparse text is all description rather than analysis. The chapter on Black Virgins notes the stubborn presence of black statues, icons and paintings of Mary in Europe and elsewhere, but at no point does Boyer ask the obvious question: Why? For instance, why would 16th-century EuropeansAsome of whom were in the business of exploiting and enslaving darker racesAsimultaneously choose a Black Madonna to adore? A later chapter on syncretism observes the universal tendency to superimpose Mary worship on local goddess traditions, but the only explanation Boyer ventures for this phenomenon is to hint that the natives upon whom Catholicism had been foisted could discover "in the Virgin Mary an extension of their own beliefs." This book is best appreciated for its 173 vivid, full-color representations of worldwide Mary worship, from early icons and the jewel-encrusted robes that enveloped Mary statues to the contemporary practice of pinning baby booties to a shrine when the Blessed Mother is credited with a successful conception and delivery. (June) <br />Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # DISCOURSE V.—THALLOUSA.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### METHODIUS
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
    
  CHAP. I.—THE OFFERING OF CHASTITY A GREAT
  
  
  GIFT.(8)
  
  
    
  CHAP. III.—FAR BEST TO CULTIVATE VIRTUE FROM
  
  
  BOYHOOD.
  
  
    
  CHAP. IV.—PERFECT CONSECRATION AND DEVO- TION
  
  
  TO GOD: WHAT IT IS.
  
  
    
  CHAP. V.—THE VOW OF CHASTITY, AND ITS RITES IN
  
  
  THE LAW; VINES, CHRIST, AND THE DEVIL.
  
  
    
  CHAP. VI.—SIKERA, A MANUFACTURED AND SPURIOUS
  
  
  WINE, YET INTOXICATING; THINGS WHICH ARE AKIN TO SINS ARE TO BE
  
  
  AVOIDED BY A VIRGIN; THE ALTAR OF INCENSE (A SYMBOL OF) VIRGINS.
  
  
    
  CHAP. VII.—THE CHURCH INTERMEDIATE BETWEEN THE
  
  
  SHADOWS OF THE LAW AND THE REALITIES OF HEAVEN.
  
  
    
  CHAP. VIII.—THE DOUBLE ALTAR, WIDOWS AND
  
  
  VIRGINS; GOLD THE SYMBOL OF VIRGINITY.
  
  
  ## DISCOURSE V.—THALLOUSA.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### CHAP. I.—THE OFFERING OF CHASTITY
  
  
  A GREAT GIFT.(8)
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  I pray you, Arete, that you will give your assistance now too, th