I have to admit I am a typical Americn male on the subject of breasts. I hear or I read all the time that Europeans think we guys are obessed or something like that. However, I also hold a sort of cringe factor when I see Breast feeding in public. The first inclination I get is "Can't these people do this elsewhere this is not frakin Europe!!"
Yes I know that is perhaps a unhealthy viewpoint. When I read about things such as WET NURSES I just cannot imagine. It all has a certain ick factor to me. Is it my Protestant baggage coming into play? Or is it because I am not one of those guys that like discussing Body Fluid topics? Perhaps all the above
However again this is all very unhealthy for me no doubt. The fact that Breasts and Breast Feeding has been linked with Christin Spirituality and indeed with Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist really shows me I need to fight though this.
The Way of the Fathers has an Excellent post at Back to the Breast . I really urge looking at his links he has done on the topic of breastfeeding imagery in the Church Fathers. It si truly fascinating.
However he also links this news from the Vatican:
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The loving, tender images of Mary breast-feeding the baby Jesus need an artistic and spiritual rehabilitation, said the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
A vast iconography of traditional Christian art has been “censored by the modern age” because images depicting Our Lady’s naked breast for her child were deemed too “unseemly,” the paper said June 19.
Artists began depicting a fully clothed nursing Mary in sacred art in an attempt to make her seem less “carnal,” but the depictions unfortunately also diminished her human, loving and tender side “that touches the hearts and faith of the devout,” the newspaper said.
The article, titled “Those Marys, Too Human, Censored by the Modern Age,” was written by Christian historian Lucetta Scaraffia. It was one of two articles commenting on the release of a two-volume work documenting the variety in iconography and history of Mary. The work, “The Sword and Milk,” by Tommaso Claudio Mineo, was published recently only in Italian by Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University and presented to the public at a Vatican-sponsored event June 17.
The Vatican paper published the two commentaries in its June 19 edition along with a Renaissance portrait of Mary baring her breast, nursing a swaddled baby Jesus........
A vast iconography of traditional Christian art has been “censored by the modern age” because images depicting Our Lady’s naked breast for her child were deemed too “unseemly,” the paper said June 19.
Artists began depicting a fully clothed nursing Mary in sacred art in an attempt to make her seem less “carnal,” but the depictions unfortunately also diminished her human, loving and tender side “that touches the hearts and faith of the devout,” the newspaper said.
The article, titled “Those Marys, Too Human, Censored by the Modern Age,” was written by Christian historian Lucetta Scaraffia. It was one of two articles commenting on the release of a two-volume work documenting the variety in iconography and history of Mary. The work, “The Sword and Milk,” by Tommaso Claudio Mineo, was published recently only in Italian by Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University and presented to the public at a Vatican-sponsored event June 17.
The Vatican paper published the two commentaries in its June 19 edition along with a Renaissance portrait of Mary baring her breast, nursing a swaddled baby Jesus........
More at the link.
Update- A Concord Pastor Comments has much more at his post Ave Maria Lactans
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