Life & Death on December 8: The Madonna of the Sun, John Lennon & the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Venice

Harley, Like a Person

(Venice, Italy) When I created the teenage protagonist, Harley Columba, I wanted her to have a deep connection to John Lennon, so in my first novel,  Harley, Like a Person, I made her birthday on December 8th, the same day that John Lennon was assassinated. Even though Harley was raised Catholic -- drawing from my own background -- at the time I wrote the novel back in the 1990s, I had no idea what the significance of that day was in terms of Christian history, nor in the history of many other religions.

I've never felt particularly close to the concept of the Virgin Mary, which was far away from the reality of my experience of what being female entailed. To me, it was a product of the patriarchy, designed to suppress the sacred feminine energy. I did a lot of research, including journeying to Turkey to study the concept of the female throughout the millennium, arriving all the way back to the 8th millennium BC. 

I wrote a long post about my wanderings way back on March 19, 2008:

Oh, Madonna!

Harley's Ninth - illustrated by Philippe Lardy

So, in my second novel, Harley's Ninth, Harley, who is an artist, has an idea for a goddess of her own creation, and decides to capture her idea in a sketch for an oil painting. She calls her goddess, The Madonna of the Sun -- "...a sexy Madonna, a modern Isis, a new Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess..." 

Meeting at the Golden Gate by Giotto (section) - 1305

Only after moving to Venice did I learn that December 8th is a national holiday here in Italy: the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holiday that seems to have been utterly forgotten in the United States. It is one of the most important Marian feast days in the Roman Catholic Church, and is celebrated world-wide. It honors the day that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was immaculately conceived. 

This was a revelation to me, as I had confused the Immaculate Conception with the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.  

But it was not until I saw the MAGISTER GIOTTO exhibition at the Scuola Grande della Misercordia in 2017 that the idea of the Immaculate Conception hit me on an emotional level. Some scholars think that the great artist Giotto di Bondone captured the moment of the Immaculate Conception in his Meeting at the Golden Gate, when Mary's parents; Joachim and Anne, who were long-married but childless, first met each other after receiving the news -- separately -- from an angel that they would have a child who would grow up to be the mother of God. You can read more about the moment in a post I wrote about Giotto: 

The Most Powerful Kiss in Art: Do you know what MAGISTER GIOTTO in Venice is?

The Beauty of Venice, December 2019 - Photo: Cat Bauer

Venice itself is a female city, which is another thing that makes it distinct. The Venetians who constructed this city created churches and images, institutions and organizations to honor the Madonna, and appreciated the sacred female energy in their own quirky patriarchal way. As Venice once again lifts up her skirts and gets back to business after the destructive November 12 flood, it would be greatly appreciated if her honor and strong resilience was respected by all. 

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog