The Origins of Devotion to the Virgin Mary
Q. Where have I heard this before? "It is not my intention to enter here on that disputed point, the origin of the worship of the Madonna . Our present theme lies within prescribed limits, --wide enough, however, to embrace an immense field of thought: it seeks to trace the progressive influence of that worship on the fine arts for a thousand years or more, and to interpret the forms in which it has been clothed. That the veneration paid to Mary in the early Church was a very natural feeling in those who advocated the divinity of her Son, would be granted, I suppose, by all but the most bigoted reformers [i.e. Protestants]; that it led to unwise and wild extremes , confounding the creature with the Creator, would be admitted, I supposed by all but the most bigoted Roman Catholics. How it extended from the East over the nations of the West, how it grew and spread, may be read in ecclesiastical histories. Every where it seems to have found in the human hea...