Nursing Jesus art

[Guest guest]

Maybe it's time for a break? For the record, my mom could not breastfeed--she literally had no breasts, to speak of. She tried--I'm sure I was very frustrated--good prep for much of my life. As a distraction from the marathon breastfeeding discussion, I offer my meager efforts to promote Nursing Madonna art--renewal of an art form very common until the 14th Century, and rich in theological and pastoral

meaning. Not sure whether the attached pamphlet will get to you. Here is most of it--pictures apparently didn't copy.It is available at an embryonic web site: www.Lactans.org.Blessings to all.sSteve Koob

Lactans

— Nursing

By Steve Koob[1]

Lactans—

Nursing—was an image that inspired artists, artisans and viewers with thoughts

of beauty, pleasure, comfort and nourishment for the first 14 Centuries of

Christianity. Lactans paintings

were especially profuse in the 12th through the 14th

Centuries, becoming increasingly realistic and anatomically correct. This development was due to three

factors: 1) the medical community’s hunger

for more accurate renderings of human anatomy, 2) the invention of the printing

press, and 3) a turn toward realism in artistic expression.

These factors also

fostered irreverence for the female breast and all depictions of genitalia,

prompting the Council of Trent to discourage religious art that did not properly

cover certain body parts. The female

breast continues as the point of entry image to pornography and obscenity, with

the internet overtaking the printing press as pornography’s most prolific

distributor.

Exposure of the female breast (except for nipple and areola) is now

common fashion, not only for performers and starlets of all genres, but for

post-pubescent females throughout our modern culture. Such exposure is so common that many men have

been desensitized to the breast’s erotic appeal.

Virgin and Child by Joovs van Cleve

This over-exposure of the

breast mocks the virtues of modesty, chastity, and purity, and creates an

unhealthy disrespect for the human body—arguably God’s premier creation, and

the object of Blessed II’s “theology of the body”. Several questions come to mind.

Is it possible that a

renewed interest in, and development of, Lactans art can renew reverence

for the female breast? Is it possible

that the religious symbolism, once accorded breastfeeding the baby Jesus,

can be reincarnated in the 21st Century? Dare we ask to take on yet another role

in the quest for human salvation—the role of restoring appreciation for the

female breast as a religious symbol (with human qualities), and a real source

of awe, beauty, comfort, delight and nutrition?

BREAST AS RELIGIOUS SYMBOL

“In 1350, the breast was a

religious symbol; by 1750, the breast was eroticized and medicalized, no longer

usable, or used, as a religious symbol.”[2] The virgin mother’s bare breast symbolized

the nourishment, beauty and loving care that were God’s constant provision—the

fruit of His creation.

BREAST AS HUMAN REALITY

Today, as throughout human

history, the breast is the first source of nourishment for the newborn

babe. That was true for Cain and Able,

Jesus, and most new-born infants all over the world. For most mothers, breastfeeding is a common

bond and a source of solidarity.

Madonna Litta - Leonardo da

Vinci

Breastfeeding can also be a

source of contention as nursing moms have sometimes had to fight for the

“right” to nurse their children in a public location. Discretion (amount of exposed breast) is

often the issue, which seems a dichotomy given the common public over-exposure

of the non-nursing breast. The superior

health benefits of breastfeeding for both child and mother are now well documented

and accepted in our society, though the prevalence and length of breastfeeding

are still below desired levels.

NURSING MADONNA PROJECT GOALS

The first and most

important goal is to honor as the nursing mother of Jesus. The second goal is to have be recognized

and honored as the primary nurturer of the Church. These may be seen as related to the First

Great Commandment—to love God. Two

additional goals relate closely to the Second Great Commandment—to love one’s

neighbor: 1) to encourage mothers to

breastfeed their children in the image of and Jesus, and 2) to encourage a

cultural view of the female breast as source of nourishment, nurturing, comfort,

beauty, and joy, rather than as an erotic and lust inducing image.

The hypothesis being tested

by this Nursing Madonna Project is that widespread interest in the art of

Lactans— Nursing—will accomplish the goals just stated and thereby renew

the religious symbology of breastfeeding Jesus— Lactans.

In L’Osservatore Romano, two

noted Italian art critics have called for the “artistic and spiritual

rehabilitation” of breastfeeding Jesus. Publication in the Vatican’s official newspaper

suggests Papal endorsement of this idea. [3]

Lactans

— Nursing

Nursing

Madonna Project

67 Ave

Dayton OH

45405

[1] Director, Nursing Madonna Project

koob_8@...,

[2] Miles, Margaret R. A

Complex Delight: The Secularization of the Breast, 1350-1750. U of

California Press, Berkeley,

2008, preface.

[3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1028888/Vatican-plea-uncover-Virgin--breast-feeding-baby-Jesus.html.