![]() Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. Luke tells the story (notice his chronicle is written in the first-person plural, “we”) as follows, in Acts 28: During his stay, he converted the island’s governor, Publius (Malta’s first bishop and first saint), thus establishing the very roots of Maltese Christianity. On his way to trial in Rome in the year 60, Paul was shipwrecked off the northwestern coast of Malta and had to spend the harsh winter months there. Luke was also Paul’s companion and scribe during his trips around the Mediterranean. Maltese traditions held that the famous Hodegetria icon, preserved at the Mellieha National Marian Shrine, had been painted by Luke himself directly on the rock in the year 60. Recent assessment by art historians show that the present version of the icon dates to the 13th century – Recently restoration and conservation works on this painting were carried by Atelier del Restauro | Courtesy of Atelier del Restauro But Eastern churches also consider him the original “iconographer,” responsible for “writing” the first icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Luke’s talents as a chronicler are beyond dispute (one needs only to read the Acts of the Apostles), and his Gospel is renowned as the most literary of the four. Tradition holds that one of those artists is also the author of one of the Gospels.Ĭhristian tradition has attributed to Luke many different talents, one of them that of being the author of the very first “portrait” of Mary. Christianity has always recognized in the image not only a liturgical element but also an effective evangelization tool in a world where reading and writing were (and still are) not widespread skills. Malta, one of the earliest cradles of Christianity, is home to some very special miraculous images.Įarly Christian artists relied on the artistic canon of their day and age rather than on the actual written and oral testimonies of the early Christian communities when they had to portray their Messiah, his mother, or his earlier disciples in icons or frescoes. Some of the images these artists have made are considered miraculous by thousands (if not millions) of Christians around the world. ![]() However, the Christian tradition has nevertheless represented him using different iconographic models, and Marian icons are as old as Christianity itself. ![]() None of the four Gospels physically describes Jesus, his followers, or his mother. It does not say anything about the looks of the apostles either, or Mary’s. The New Testament says very little, almost nothing, about how Jesus looked. Revered by thousands of devotees, these images are known because through them, God generously grants graces. ![]()
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