Antique silver medallion pendant with the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Antique silver medallion pendant with the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Hand painted in Ceramic

Spain 1800 century

Size 5 x 3.5 cm

Already in the 7th century, the Venerable Saint Bede (673-735) compared the Blessed Virgin Mary to the white lily, the petals symbolizing the virginal purity of her body, and her golden anthers, the radiance of her soul.

We again find reference to Mary's purity when the great Saint Bernard (1090-1154) described Our Lady as "Violet of humility, lily of chastity, rose of purity."

The Church taught that the Annunciation took place during spring, "the season of flowers." Furthermore, according to scholars contemporary to Saint Bernard, the word Nazareth in Hebrew means "flower", which is why he would write: "The Flower wanted to be born from a flower, in a flower, in a time of flowers" ("Flos nasci voluit de flore, in flore et flore tempore«)