La festa della mamma

Today is la festa della mamma (Mother's Day) in Italy and other parts of the world. In honor of Dorothy, my mother, and Joany, the mother of Emily and Peter, I share this image of Santa Maria Mother of Mercy in the Roman church of Dio Padre Misericordioso, the Jubilee Church.

The stone sculpture of the Madonna and Child dates from 1310-1330 and was carved in Como, in the Po Valley. The standing virgin, with her veiled and crowned head, holds an older Christ child in her left arm and a rose in her right hand.

The Jubilee Church was designed by Richard Meier and dedicated in 2003. It is located in a neighborhood of low/middle income apartment buildings built in the 1970's. It is in an area called Tor Tre Teste (named for a relief of three heads carved into a medieval guard tower dating from the 4th century) about 6 miles east of the center of Rome.