Vergine Addolorata, Sassoferrato (Pinacoteca Comunale, Cesena)
2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battista Salvi). The Marian Antiphon changes to Ave Regina Caelorum and Septuagesima is at hand: Lent is near, and Passion, and Crucifixion, and Sepulcher; the pain of the Mater Dolorosa touches so deeply all of her sons and daughters in the Church!
This pain of the Sorrowful Mother was one of Sassoferrato's specialties: few like him knew how to blend the glorious beauty of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God, the Virgo Gloriosa of the Antiphon, and the deep and incalculable suffering of her sword-crossed Immaculate Heart.
Virgo Dolorosa, ora pro nobis!
_________________________See also: Progetto Sassoferrato 2009
