#nutrix omnium

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‘give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher’

The painted panel illustrates the miraculous lactation of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. A century after his death in 1153, legends arose in which the Virgin Mary appears to him as he prays, revealing secrets of the faith — and spouting milk from her breast into his mouth.

“She bared the breast of mercy to all men so that they might all receive of its abundance, and so that the captive might be granted Redemption; the ailing, health; the afflicted, comfort; the sinner, forgiveness,” Bernard wrote in one sermon. “Feed your poor today, our Lady; and give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher.”

The painting, made in around 1480 by an unknown artist, belongs to the Grand Curtius Museum in Belgium.

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‘She bared the breast of mercy to all men’

In a legend that arose long after the death of Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153, the Virgin Mary appears to the saint and shares with him drops of her holy breast milk.

“She bared the breast of mercy to all men so that they might all receive of its abundance, and so that the captive might be granted Redemption; the ailing, health; the afflicted, comfort; the sinner, forgiveness,” Bernard wrote in one sermon. “Feed your poor today, our Lady; and give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher.”

The image here is a detail from a painting at the Monastery of Santa Maria do Lorvão in Portugal.

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Seeing, feeling, and tasting the holy

“In past centuries, when Catholics appreciated the shocking fleshiness of our faith, artists delighted in depicting Maria Gravida (Mary pregnant) and Maria Lactans (Mary nursing). The absence of these motifs today is regrettable because it impoverishes our sense of religious ‘body language,’” writer Sandra Miesel asserts. “Though modern sensibilities may wince, the more explicit the image, the better it satisfied the cravings of medieval Christians to see, feel, and taste the holy.” 

The image is a detail from a 15th century painting in the Staedel Museum. The full panel is impressively tall, over five feet. It’s part of a winged altarpiece attributed to the workshop of Robert Campin in Tournai. (This attribution remains disputed.)

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Saint Bernard’s miraculous ‘lactatio’

In a legend that arose long after the death of Bernard of Clairvaux, the Virgin Mary appears to the saint and shares with him drops of her holy breast milk. Gaspar de Crayer made the massive (13 x 8 feet) painting between 1649 and 1669. It’s now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. (Public domain image accessed from Wikimedia Commons)

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‘She bared the breast of mercy to all men’

A century after the death of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153, legends emerged in which Mary appears to him as he prays. She reveals to him secrets of the faith, and she grants him a taste of her sacred milk. 

Bernard was a French abbot, a founder of the Cistercian order, and influential writer who shaped Catholic ideas about the virgin mother of Jesus.

“She bared the breast of mercy to all men so that they might all receive of its abundance, and so that the captive might be granted Redemption; the ailing, health; the afflicted, comfort; the sinner, forgiveness,” Bernard wrote in one sermon. “Feed your poor today, our Lady; and give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher.”

The tempera on parchment painting, made by Flemish artist Simon Marmion around 1475, is a miniature originally in a prayer book. It now belongs to the Getty Museum.

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‘Show thyself to be a mother’

The image is from a 16th century manuscript in the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.

The scroll reads: ‘Monstra te esse matrem’ (‘Show thyself to be a mother’), a line from a hymn popular in the Middle Ages with lyrics possibly composed by the man pictured, Bernard of Clairvaux. He was a French abbot, a founder of the Cistercian order, and influential writer who shaped Catholic ideas about Mary the virgin mother of Jesus.

A century after his death in 1153, legends emerged in which Mary appears to Bernard after he prays to her statue. The Virgin reveals to him secrets of the faith, and she allows him a taste of her sacred milk.

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The nutrix omnium 

There was a time when Christians “appreciated the shocking fleshiness of our faith,” in the words of Sandra Miesel, a medievalist and a Catholic journalist. Artists routinely portrayed Mary nursing the son of God, breasts fully bared. “The absence of these motifs today is regrettable because it impoverishes our sense of religious ‘body language,’” Miesel writes.

In the Medieval Christian imagination, the milk of the Virgin Mary attained an equivalence to the blood of Christ. In one 15th century painting, the Virgin sends streams of her milk to souls awaiting judgment in pergatory. She is the nutrix omnium, the nurse of us all. Likewise, Medieval images often depict Christ’s spear wound filling cups or showering his followers with blood to sustain them.

What if today’s Christians were to rediscover such sacred, fleshly imagery? “If young children saw images of Mary obviously pregnant or nursing the infant Jesus, would they see her in their own mothers, and vice versa?” Miesel asks. “Would it foster a healthy respect for the body, counteracting both sensualism and prudery?”

The Spanish artist Maestro Bartolomé painted his La Virgen de la Leche in 1490. It’s now in the Museo del Prado.

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The wet-nurse of salvation

In the Medieval Christian imagination, the milk of the Virgin Mary attained an equivalence to the blood of Christ, her son. 

…the Madonna’s breastfeeding displays the power of her motherly role, her capacity for protection, her willingness to intercede. Because she nursed Christ, she became the nutrix omnium (the nurse of us all). And Christian art has made these themes gloriously visible. [Mothering God by Sandra Miesel]

In this 15th century painting from the Costantino Barbella Art Museum in Chiete, Italy, the Virgin sends streams of her milk to souls awaiting judgment in pergatory. Likewise, Medieval images often depict Christ’s spear wound filling cups or showering his followers with blood to sustain them.