In this volume, Rachel Fulton Brown provides much more than a history of the Book of Hours or Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She instead supplies a richly woven tapestry of the medieval love and devotion to the Mother of the Word Incarnate with the Book of Hours as the unifying guide. Her approach is not simply a narration of facts—though these are abundantly present—but an invitation to readers “to imagine themselves as medieval Christians saying this Office” (xviii).
The book consists of an invitatory followed by detailed chapters titled “The Hours of the Virgin” (chapter 1), “Ave Maria” (chapter 2), “Antiphon and Psalm” (chapter 3), “Lesson and Response” (chapter 4), and “Prayer (chapter 5). These five chapters are then followed by a section entitled “Compline,” which is an overview of the Marian reflections of the seventeenth century Franciscan abbess Sor María de Jesús de Ágreda, the author of the Mystical City of God. The volume is enriched by twenty-five plates that provide iconographical insights into how the Madonna was understood in medieval devotional life. There is also an appendix providing a handlist of manuscripts and printed editions of Richard of Saint-Laurent's De laudibus beatae Mariae virginis libri XII dating back to the thirteenth century. This appendix is followed by seventy-two pages of notes and sixty-six pages of bibliography and indices.
In chapter 1, the author explains the origins of the “Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (Horae beatae Mariae virginis), which is now better known as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Officium parvum beatae Mariae virginis). Although the Officium beatae Mariae Virginins was not promulgated by the church until 1571, there were many collections of “Hours of the Virgin Mary” going back to Carolingian times with Alcuin of York (d. 804). Fulton Brown provides many interesting details of the development of these “hours of Mary.” For example, she notes that Peter Damian (d. 1072/1073) promoted the seven hours of the day “as an antidote against ‘the seven principal vices from which all other infectious forms of vice derive’” (31).
In chapter 2, “Ave Maria,” Fulton Brown examines the significance of the angelic greeting of “Ave,” and she presents the different ways the Blessed Virgin is named (e.g. the “Container of the Uncontainable”). Drawing upon such works as the Speculum beatae Mariae virginis of Conrad of Saxony (d. 1279), the author shows that Mary is never presented as a goddess but as “the most perfect of all creatures” and “the most perfect mirror of God” (54). Her titles are related to her role as the Mother of the Incarnate Word, which is why she could be recognized by Anselm (d. 1109) as “the mother of all re-created things.”
Chapter 3, “Antiphon and Psalm,” provides many rich details and insights on the scriptural references found in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The author illustrates how medieval Christians saw Mary present in both the Old and the New Testaments—not only in Genesis and the Gospels but also in the books of prophecy and wisdom, especially the Psalms. Drawing upon medieval authors such as Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179), Richard of Saint-Laurent (d. ca. 1250), and the Pseudo-Albert, Fulton Brown shows how the Marian prayer life of this period was deeply scriptural, incarnational, and Trinitarian.
In chapter 4, “Lesson and Response,” the author examines the many titles and images of Mary that medieval authors saw in scripture. Among the most prominent of these titles and images are: Mother, Good Woman, Queen, Heaven, Sun, Dawn, Cloud, Earth, Mountain, Fountain, River, Ark, Throne, Tabernacle, Bedchamber, House, Temple, City of God, Tower, Ship, Garden, Flower, and Tree. In this chapter, Fulton Brown also provides a detailed reflection of each phrase of the Ave Maria, and she summarizes the theological reflections of the Pseudo-Albert on Mary's plenitude of power, her special priestly role, her knowledge, her faith, her plenitude of grace, and her relation to the angels.
Chapter 5, “Prayer,” examines the reasons why Mary should be served. Fulton Brown summarizes medieval insights on Mary as intercessor, bride, and temple, and she also presents some of the rich insights of Birgitta of Sweden (d. 1374)
In the section “Compline,” the author examines the scriptural and mystical insights about Mary found in the Mystical City of God of Sor María de Jesús de Ágreda. Those not familiar with this spiritual classic will find an extremely sympathetic presentation by the author that can serve as a counterpoint to the very negative view of Hilda Graef's Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion (Sheed and Ward, 1963). Recent interest in the life of Sor María—including her reported bi-locations to the American southwest, her incorrupt body, and her cause for beatification in the Catholic Church—make this “compline” a most welcome conclusion to Fulton Brown's book.
Mary and the Art of Prayer is an outstanding work that will be of interest to cultural historians, medievalists, and Mariologists. Its scriptural insights serve as a great complement to the fine work by Brant Pitre entitled Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah (Image, 2018). Some scripture scholars might not resonate with the typological Marian readings of various texts of the Bible found in medieval Marian piety. Rachel Fulton Brown's book, however, shows that these readings were not arbitrary or superficial. Instead, they were woven deeply into the prayer life and iconography of the medieval Christian world.
