“Planctus Mariae”: Women, Tears, And Cultural Agency

Abstract

During the Middle Ages, Mary`s passionary dimension went through a significant development. The Planctus Mariae for the death of her son located a suffering mother at the center of devotional phenomena. Her mourning embodied the morphology of mortuory rites deeply-rooted in Western culture. Since they clashed with the mourning models that the Church was trying to impose, royal, local and ecclesiastical authorities prohibited these rites, that were efficiently lead by women. From this framework, this article intends to analyze the place accorded to the Planctus Mariae in the religious culture of 15th and early 16th centuries. It argues that some of the elements found in Mary’s passion at that time derive from traditional mourning rituals, particularly those related to the ability for co-suffering through the figure of compassion –a figure warmly received in women’s religious circles. It also contends that some elements of Mary’s mourning –and by extension women’s–, are a form of ritual agency whose efficacy lies on anthropological patterns of emotional nature. Consequently, this the Planctus Mariae may be considered a ritual oriented to mediate in irreversible processes and situations.