As parishes around New Jersey and the United States celebrate Marian devotions this month, including innumerable May Crowning ceremonies, many of us hear hymns devoted to the Virgin that bring us back to our childhood.
It’s important to note that while the universal Church celebrates Christ’s mother in a special way all around the globe this month, many of the particularities of what that veneration looks like differ in terms of context and setting: ceremonially, artistically, culturally and musically.
For instance, one of my favorite songs dedicated to Mary, Santa Maria del Cammino, is rarely heard in English, though apparently a little-used translation does exist. But it is quite popular in Italy, where I first learned it – and so I use the Italian spelling here – but also is common in Spanish-speaking communities in both hemispheres.
The song has its roots in the hymns and chants used by pilgrims traveling by foot across Spain to the shrine at Santiago de Compostela. The most familiar version was set to music by Juan Antonio Espinosa. It manifests a devotion to the Madonna della Strada (or del Cammino), usually translated as “Our Lady of the Way,” or “…of the Wayside,” or “…of the Streets,” or “…of the Good Road.” This feast of Mary is celebrated May 24, and interestingly has connections with the renewed interest in synodal ecclesiology, as the word synod can be translated from the Greek as “traveling together on the way.”
The original image of the Madonna della Strada is today in Rome at the Church of the Gesú, the mother church of the Society of Jesus. Scientists and art historians have studied the painting of the mother and child and believe it to be a 13th or 14th century fresco that was once part of a large wall of artwork now lost or destroyed. Some legends suggest that this detail from the more expansive masterpiece was once miraculously saved from destruction by floating atop currents in the city streets after a flood. It hangs today steps away from the tomb of Saint Ignatius Loyola, who had a strong devotion to it. As it has for centuries, Mary’s hand in the lower right corner still extends to countless Christians who have knelt before her seeking her powerful intercession.
The hymn in Italian and Spanish reminds pilgrims traveling the ebbs and flows of life’s journey that they have a constant companion in Mary of the Way. The lyrics remind us that we are never alone, but neither are we to be satisfied with the world as we find it. In Spanish: “Aunque te digan algunos que nada puedes cambiar, lucha por un mundo nuevo, lucha por la verdad.” That can be translated into English: “Even if some others tell you that you cannot change anything, struggle for a new world, struggle for the truth.”
It invokes the Blessed Mother to walk with us as a companion and model of discipleship, calling her to be present with us in our joys and difficulties, our longings and disappointments. Come, Mary, “in mezzo a noi” and be with us “quaggiù,” Italian for “in the midst of us, down here.”
In this month, when we remember all mothers living and deceased, we continue to entreat fervently that Mary accompany us in life and ultimately beyond that, praying for our soul’s health, security and well-being “now and at the hour of our death.” Ven con nosotros a caminar! Santa Maria, ven!
Originally from Collingswood, Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.
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