Our Lady of the Way
The Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal Pell has given us permission to name our parish. Uptodate we have had three parish churches, St. Mary’s, St. Francis Xavier
and Our Lady, Star of the Sea. We will never lose sight of these three. But to show that we are one parish, the parishioners after conisiderable consultation have chosen the name of Our Lady of the Way to be the over-arching title of our parish. Why did we choose such a title? Perhaps the story is best told as laid out below.
Typically Italian, the Province of Italy embarked on a restoration of a much beloved image of the Virgin, an image before whom St. Ignatius prayed and entrusted the fledgling Society. This is the Madonna della Strada (Our Lady of the Way) kept in the Gesu. This followed the restoration of an antique crucifix also in the same church. The cleaned and restored della Strada was reinstalled in its chapel in a public liturgy in October, presided by Cardinal Ruini, vicar of Benedict XVI for Rome.
In Ignatius’ time, the image used to be in the funerary chapel of the Astalli family. Ignatius with characteristic Jesuit savvy was able to acquire the property and the land surrounding it for the church and the professed house of the Gesu. The building of the church was many years in future. Although Ignatius was present at the cornerstone laying ceremony in which is personal friend Michaelangelo (first tasked with designing the church) was present, the church was not completed until the term of the third general of the Society, St. Francis Borgia.
To build the church, the small chapel had to be demolished. The artists and architects gingerly removed the image of the Madonna, and kept if for a while at San Marco until a chapel built for it was completed.
This side chapel is located to the left of the Gesu’s main altar as one is facing it. Over the years the chapel was embellished with precious marbles and metal casting, and with paintings by the Jesuit Valeriano and a lay artist G. Pozzi.
The della Strada chapel is one of the serene spots in Rome. Even if it is beside a busy street and near a major thoroughfare, Corso Victor Emmanuel, the stillness inside is palpable. High above the chapel’s altar is the image, squarish, not large at all, a mere 68 x 75 cm.
Inspection of the della Strada as we have come to know it shows the reason why cleaning and restoration were urgent. The face of Mary and the Christ-Child had darkened with age, and the paint around it had become uneven, indicating that air pockets had developed under the paint and that it was pulling away from its support.
The restoration of the image was underway by 2006 and took a long time to complete. The restoration came up with a number of technical and iconographic surprises.
First, the original della Strada was not an oil painting as had been assumed but a fresco attached to two layers of canvas, painted slate gray. Fresco is a water-based technique involving painting on a fresh layer of lime plaster. In other words, in fresco painting the work is done directly on the wall. How the artists in the 16th century were able to get a thin layer of fresco and attach it to canvas with minimum damage attest to the Italian skill in art.
Second, over time at least two layers of painting retouches, using oil, were done on the image. These touches obscured important details. Besides, devotees imposed a chased silver crown and necklaces studded with jewelry on the image. And on the Madonna a pair of dangling earrings.
Third, when the later layers were removed, the iconographic surprise! Mary and Jesus were not enveloped in a deep blue veil, almost bordering in black nor was Jesus’ tunic red but greenish and his cape red. And Mary does not wear a blue veil but gold. The book that Jesus holds is sealed with a golden clasp (much deteriorated unfortunately).
Fourth, restoration uncovered the hands of Mary and a foot of the Christ-child. Jesus is seated in the manner of the Pantocrator. Mary’s left holds the Child, and the right points outward in a gesture of invitation. She and the Christ-child now look more intently at the devotee, now that the dark brown layer of oil varnish has been removed.