Jul 07 2008
Statue of the Madonna attending to St. Bernard
Statue of the Madonna and St. Bernard on Charles Bridge was sculpted in 1709 by Matěj Václav Jäckl and donated by Benedikt Littwerig, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Osek. This statue represents Madonna flanked by cherubs is attending to a kneeling St. Bernard. This statue is not original; it’s copy, as its original was destroyed during flood like most of the statues on the Charles Bridge. Madonna has long been used commonly in reference to images of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus and “Madonna”, translates as “My Lady”. Mary is depicted expressing compassion, grief and love, and the tenderness an ordinary mother might feel towards her beloved child is captured, evoking the moment when she first held her infant son Christ and despair of the mother who holds the body of her crucified son. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, whom Madonna is attending, was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian monastic order. Bernhard’s theology and Mariology is considered to be of major importance, particularly within the Cistercian and Trappist orders. St. Bernard led to the foundation of 163 monasteries in different parts of Europe and influenced on Pope Alexander III to launch reforms that would lead to the establishment of canon law. In 1174 he was canonized and got the title of Doctor of the Church.
