Mother of Us All – A Brief Pondering of the Question, “What does Mary look like?” (Catholic Caucus)

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | December 7, 2011 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[NYer]

It is a notable fact that our Lord and his Mother lived in a time long before photographs, even at a time, and among a people, where drawings and portraits of people were almost unknown. Also notably absent in the Sacred Scriptures are any details regarding the physical appearances of most Biblical figures, unless a detail is necessary for the story (e.g. Zacchaeus being short, Goliath tall, Leah being less attractive due to her misshapen eyes). But generally there seems to be an almost complete lack of preoccupation with such things in the Biblical narrative. And even when we are told that David was handsome or Bathsheba was beautiful, we are not really told how.

We live in a polar opposite world when it comes to images. Everything is visual, and we are quite obsessed with appearance and looking acceptable and good, and how other people look.

We attach great meaning (for better, but usually for worse) on our physical appearance. We divide out over race, skin tone, hair etc. We also prize thinness and ridicule fatness, we worry if we are tall enough, pretty enough, if our hair is too straight or not straight enough, if we are tan enough or too dark skinned, and when age sets in many head for the cosmetic surgeon.

Instructive! Thus when we wonder as to what Jesus or Mary “looked like,” it may be instructive for us to reflect on why the Lord would have them live in a time and place, where this data would NOT be supplied us. For, in the end, they look like us. And some historical sketch or painting, had one ever been made, would only tend to limit our vision, rather than allow us to identify with them.

To the question what did Mary look like we may garner five possible answers:

1. None of your business.
2. Why do you care?
3. She looks just like you think she looks.
4. She looks like you, because she is your mother.
5. She is far more beautiful than you ever imagined (My favorite answer).

But answer four is probably the most helpful when it comes to accepting the diverse ways she is depicted.

Most of us American Catholics see her in very European terms. Historically this may be dubious, by why shouldn’t we see here as looking like us. She is after all our mother.

As I walk though the dozens of chapels in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington, I see her as Chinese, American, Lithuanian, Mexican, Filipino, Korean, African, Lebanese, Irish, Ethiopian, and so on. And why shouldn’t these various Ethnicities see her as looking like them, she is, after all their mother.

In her various apparitions her look varies too. La Virgen de Guadalupe “La Morena” (= dark skinned) is surely different than the descriptions we have from other sights such as Fatima or Lourdes. But here too, why can’t the heavenly beauty of Immaculate Mary, so brightly reflective of God’s glory, not refract through the prism of human experience in different colors and ways?

What does Mary look like? She is our Mother, she looks like us. Jesus is our brother (and Lord), he looks like us.

[ArrogantBustard]

Jesus is our brother (and Lord), he looks like us.

I beg to differ. We look like Him ... however imperfectly. We were created in the image and likeness of God. Our sins may warp, distort, and obscure that image but it is there in spite of all that.

[Biggirl]

We have the National Shrine in D.C. which honors Mary under so many titles.

[Biggirl]

Over at the National Shrine, Mary under the different titles have so many different looks.

[Tax-chick]

I have that print on the wall. The skin tones are a bit darker. But even in this view, the Virgin isn’t blonde.

[SumProVita]

This is a wonderful testimony. I’ve sent it to all in my family. Thanks...

;-)

[NYer]

And she looked exactly like a feminine version of her Son, since He got all His human DNA from her.

You both make valid points which naturally raises the question ... who did Adam resemble ;-)

[aruanan]

And she looked exactly like a feminine version of her Son, since He got all His human DNA from her.

Unwarranted assumption.

[annalex]

St. Luke painted her portrait, so we know. Look at any canonical icon of Our Lady.

Orthodox icons are portraits, and the facial features on them do not change. A Catholic should now that.

Odigitria (Leader) of Smolensk
Dionisy (1440—1502), Iconographer

[SuziQ]

I’d like to start a collection of prints, paintings, etc of Mary and Jesus in all different ethnicities. The cover of the Music Issue in our Parish a couple of years ago had a lovely print of a Korean Madonna and Baby Jesus. That’s what got me looking for other nationalities, and I’ve seen some beautiful ones.

[SuziQ]

I thought the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe looked like a Mexican princess, the better to evangelize the Mestizos.