Abstract / DOI
«She is so dear to me, the noble Virgin»: The Praise of Mary in the Context of the Reformation. The Renaissance gives a double view on Mary: a theological one, of course, and a «humanistic» one, concerning literature and art. The first surprise is that in the theological respect the catholic tradition and the reformation are quite close; the reformators acknowledged completely the first four ecumenical councils, including the dogmas about Mary. The gap opened only in literature and art, including the different ways and degrees of her veneration. But also in that second respect Luther was more traditional than suspected. The testimonies of other Italian and French writers show a broad field of veneration, while Erasmus already gives a warning not to «dispose» the virgin because she would take with her also the son.