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Glossary The Virgin Mary Because our predecessors and
fathers originally came from the church of Molesme, dedicated
in honour of blessed Mary, to the place Citeaux, whence we ourselves
originated, we therefore decree that all our churches and those
of our successors be founded and dedicated in memory of the same
Queen of heaven and earth, Mary.(1) All Cistercian houses were dedicated
to the Virgin, under the title of the Assumption, ‘Queen of
Heaven and Earth’, and throughout its history the Order was
closely identified with its devotion to her cult. This special
relationship with Mary was visually represented in sculptures,
paintings and stained glass, and from 1335 the General
Chapter prescribed that the official seal of every monastery
should bear her image.(2) Mary
was sometimes depicted protecting members of the Order beneath
her mantle. This was based on the vision of one Cistercian monk
who viewed ‘fell into an ecstasy’ and viewed ‘the
glories of heaven’. There he saw the angels, patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, martyrs and confessors, all arranged according to whether
they had been canons, Premonstratensians, Cluniacs or
whatever order. No Cistercians were represented, and the monk was
quite troubled; he voiced his concern to the Virgin, whereupon
she replied that those of the Cistercian Order were so dear and
beloved to her that she cherished them in her own bosom. "And
opening her cloak, with which she seemed to be clothed, and which
was of marvellous amplitude, she showed him an innumerable multitude
of monks, lay-brothers and nuns."(3)
Mary was first celebrated in the
Cistercian liturgy in 1152, when she was commemorated in the Daily
Office, but her feasts and commemorations increased over the
centuries, in accordance with the general amplification of the
liturgical calendar. The Little Office of Our Lady was sanctioned
as a community prayer in 1185, her votive Mass celebrated
on Saturdays from 1220, and by the thirteenth century the Salve
Regina, in many ways a defining feature of the Order, was sung
at the end of Compline to
conclude the liturgical day. By 1540 she was celebrated on seven
feast days. Bernard of Clairvaux was
particularly noted for his devotion to the Virgin and was buried
before the her altar at Clairvaux. He did much to propagate the
cult, yet vehemently opposed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Bernard’s devotion to Mary is celebrated by the Italian poet,
Dante Alghieri, (1265-1321), in his monumental work, The Divine
Comedy:
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