De verdwenen macht van Maria's moedermelk

Abstract

In this short analysis of Catholic representations of St. Mary throughout the centuries as a breastfeeding mother, we see that this very popular image in early Christianity and the Middle Ages is banned after 1593 and replaced by a childlike virgin. Thereby the power attributed to Mary’s milk, as the embodied transmission of the Holy Word in early Christianity, slowly dissipates. What once was holy is now abject, and this is linked to the more general sexualisation of the female body, and the ambivalence about feeding breasts in wider society.