Iconography of Mary: Priscilla’s Catacombs, the Annunciation
The Annunciation in the Catacomb of Priscilla (3rd Century): The Virgin-Matron, the Angel, and the Origins of Marian Iconography
In the Catacomb of Priscilla, the Anunciation (3rd century) is depicted in the center of a cubicle’s ceiling, alongside the Jonas cycle. Mary, portrayed as a Roman matron veiled, is on the left, while an angel without wings, a primitive iconographic type, delivers the announcement on the right.This ancient image is the earliest known representation of Mary in Christian art. Its central placement in the catacomb, shared with scenes of Jonas and the Good Shepherd, underscores its theological significance as a key image of salvation.The iconographic style, with the angel’s lack of wings, predates Byzantine influence, indicating its primitive origins in early Christian art. This depiction precedes the formal definition of Mary as Theotokos (God-bearer) at the Council of Ephesus (431).Key Points:* The Catacomb of Priscilla (Via Salaria, Rome) houses the first documented Marian iconographic representation (3rd century). * The Annunciation scene is centered on the cubicle’s ceiling, with Mary as a veiled Roman matron on the left. * The angel is depicted without wings, representing the earliest known iconographic type. * The image predates the Council of Ephesus (431) by over a century. * Its central location, shared with scenes of Jonas and the Good Shepherd, highlights its theological importance.
the resurrection of Lazarus
And the Good Shepherd.
Similar to certain examples of the Adoration of the Magi, the privileged location in the center of the vault confers to this scene, which marks the beginning of the Historical Epiphany, the value of a key image in the history of salvation.
In the scene, the Virgin is depicted as a Roman matron: seated in three-quarters profile on a chair, wearing a long, beltless tunic with rich folds and a veiled head. The angel, standing without wings according to the oldest iconographic type, dressed in a tunic and pallium, extends his right arm to the Virgin in the act of speaking. The fact that Mary receives the announcement while seated symbolically indicates her supremacy over the angel. Doctrinal Images: The Virgin and Child with the Palm (Nm 24,17) and the Prophetic Prefiguration of Virgin Maternity
The Virgin and Child with a Prophet from the Catacombs of Priscilla, attributed to the late 2nd or early 3rd century, does not belong to the historical cycle of the Infancy, but it is a symbolic image of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies in the mystery of the Incarnation and Mary’s virgin motherhood. The grand representation of the Good Shepherd in the garden of Paradise, located nearby, not only confirms the identification of the mother-and-child group with the Virgin Mary and Christ, but also confirms the reference to the outcome of the Incarnation, which is precisely access to the Kingdom.
Mary, dressed in a long tunic and with her head covered by a short veil, sits as if lost in meditation on a seat without a backrest, with her head slightly inclined forward, while with her left hand she holds the naked Child, who is sitting on her lap and keeps his head turned backward as if just detached from his Mother’s breast. A star of eight rays shines vertically above the mother-and-child. To the left stands a man dressed in a tunic and pallium, with a scroll in his left hand and his right raised in the act of pointing to the star. This star, indicated by the prophet in reference to the mother-and-child group, also serves as an element for identifying the two figures with the Virgin Mary and Jesus.
Most scholars recognize the male figure as Balaam, the one who had prophesied:
“A star shall rise out of Jacob” (Num 24:17). Others see him as Isaiah, but he could also be understood as a generic figure of prophecy, that is, the prophecy about the divine virgin motherhood of Mary.
It should be noted that Balaam was particularly beloved in Christian communities from the gentile world, as the only prophet of non-Jewish descent. It is also worth remembering that, listing the messianic witnesses, Justin (d. 165) compares the citation from Numbers 24:17 to Isaiah’s and then attributes to the Prophet the synthetic prophecy:
“A star shall rise out of Jacob and a flower shall spring up from the stem of Jesse”. From Justin, this testimony will pass to Irenaeus of Lyon (d. 202), Origen (d. 264), and Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258).
The Mater Lactans: The Controversial Identification of the Virgin Feeding and the Historical Debate
The answer to this question has not been constant throughout history. Nevertheless, the event and the theme of nursing are cited and commented on without interruption by the Fathers from the 3rd century, with the earliest references coming from Clement of Alexandria (d. 215) and Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235) among the Greeks, Tertullian (d. 220) among the Latins. Regarding the message conveyed by the image of the *Virgo lactans*, one of the deepest explanations is that this iconography did not intend to evoke a familiar scene and thus *reconcile* Christ with his faithful or to show, in itself, the fullness of the Incarnation, but rather to make understood, through a human gesture, that if there never was a motherly relationship, the perfect humanity of his Son is that of the Logos incarnate, and consequently, that the reality of his theophany is complete. In other words, the Virgin nursing did not reveal the *«Mother of Christ»*, but rather the Mother of God.The Virgin Praying in the Catacombs: The Iconographic Type of Orans and Its Ecclesiastical Meaning
From the mid-4th century, the figure of the Orant, once used indiscriminately for all the dead, became increasingly reserved for portraits of martyrs, characterized by their dual role as witnesses and intercessors. An unmistakable figure of acceptance of the gift from on high, the posture of the Orant was, however, particularly suited to Mary, the exemplary witness of the historical Theophany and whose power of intercession is invoked by Christians since apostolic times.Precisely because it indicates that fertility comes from above, the figure of the Orant is more than others suited to highlight Mary’s exemplarity in relation to the Church: Mother and Virgin.
The oldest surviving images of the Virgin Mary praying that we have are those found on the bases of patens: here, the figure of Mary praying is never depicted with the Child, but alone or flanked by the apostles Peter and Paul.
In a single case dating back to the second half of the 4th century, most scholars agree to recognize in the image of a woman praying with her son before her a representation of the Virgin Mother. What can be seen on the back wall of an arcosolium in the Catacomb of the Maggiore Cemetery in Rome is a half-length portrait (the lower part of the fresco has been destroyed) of a woman in a prayerful posture with her son before her, axially. The son is depicted immobile and not praying. The woman is dressed in a wide-sleeved dalmatic; she has elaborate hair covered with a light white veil. Around her neck she wears a necklace of pearls and precious stones, and two large pearls as earrings. On both sides, at the level of her hands, appears the Christ monogram, the chrism, with the right one inverted to be a mirrored image of the left.
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