Monday, June 16, 2008


desert mother

We went to a museum of medieval art, the Convent of St. Agnes, and I was particularly happy to see a painting of one of the desert mothers, the early hermits before the monastic movement started. I don't have time to look up her name, but she is characterized by long hair which covered her when her clothing fell apart and three loaves of bread that miraculously sustained her for many years. There wasn't enough light for me to take a decent picture but they didn't have a postcard of her.

2 comments:

AKMA said...

I'm betting it's Mary of Egypt, but it's hard to tell from the picture.

Pem said...

I'm quite sure you are right, as she is characterized by three loaves of bread and being naked(http://everything2.com/node/1288281) even though her classic story tells of her asking for a cloak to cover her nakedness rather than being covered by her hair as in the painting.