Sacralité et pouvoir thaumaturgique des statues mariales (xe siècle-première moitié du xiiie siècle)

Abstract

In a fine book based on local collections of miracles of the Virgin in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Gabriela Signori observes that pilgrimage to the Marian sanctuaries was late in giving a truly autonomous place to statues of Mary. After having brought together scattered references for the tenth and eleventh centuries, the article returns to the documentation for the places studied by G. Signori. If the pilgrimage cult appears indeed to be centred on the building itself and, in some cases, on a Marian relic, passages in miracle collections (for Coutances and Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives) and other facts (for Chartres and Lausanne) tend to temper the picture. The accounts of miracles tell of beliefs and attitudes that the hagiographs did not want to encourage, but which nonetheless existed ; the other facts require that caution be observed about the silence concerning Marian effigies in miracle stories involving those two cathedrals. The article then shows that in other sources there exist accounts of the healing virtues of certain statues of the Virgin in the twelfth and first half of the thirteenth century. In the end it is impossible to give a clear answer to a question that is particularly complex. The sacredness of the statues depends not always nor entirely on that of the churches and the presence of famous Marian relics. Moreover, they were not necessarily attributed healing power, even when they were considered sacred. But this did happen in certain cases, and earlier than was previously thought.