The Virgin Mary may have looked something like this

  • Thread starter Thread starter YHWH_Christ
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
brown_bear said:
What I learned today

In practice, an Italian in an English-speaking environment must measure words very much, and not rely on a simple naive translation from a dictionary.

Words, expressions, images, comparisons: everything must be continually reviewed, polished.

Also because they have no mercy on you, with the excuse of re-educating you they break you: not with a single intervention, but with the sum of countless interventions.
Click to expand...
Try being Australian and having to ease up on Australianisms and avoiding responding to certain posts with choice quotes like " too many roos loose in the top paddock" if you truly want to be understood in an international community. But never mistake a sea otter for a beaver!

The Virgin Mary , as Tis bear has said, always appears in a relatable way in her apparitions, and is always described as very beautiful, whether black, white or indigenous.
 
Last edited:
If I had to guess, these images are probably pretty accurate.

The image in the OP is very nice, and she may well have looked like that too. Many ethnicities have prominent, bushy eyebrows. Did not Our Lord make these eyebrows for a reason?
 
brown_bear said:
I know life is difficult all over the world, but I have to speak for my people.

Sometimes I would like to say: “In this thing we look a bit like the Spaniards, in this other thing like the French”, but then surely a French and a Spaniard would say: “Speak for yourself” 😃

The bludgeoning of the English speakers is enough for me and, as you can see, while you send me a nice message, they continue undeterred.
Click to expand...
Mate I am a heinz 49 variety human. Little bits of different culture from different places. Most Aussies are. To God we are all beautiful, whether we are Fabio or the homeless meth head down the road.
 
Isaiah 53:2-3
“There was no comliness that we should desire Him or appearance that would attract us to Him.”
 
If someone wants to answer, please, because for today I no longer have the time nor the serenity to do so.

Thank you so much
 
If you look at historical descriptions of Jesus, one from Pontius Pilate himself, Jesus was quite comely, with reddish brown hair, blue eyes and ruddy skin. I have read King David described the same way.

He was said to resemble his mother. Her face was supposedly a bit rounder than her son’s.

I think the lack of comeliness would have been in conjunction with the suffering servant, at the time of his Passion where he was tortured, bloody and broken.
 
Last edited:
Sarcelle said:
If you look at historical descriptions of Jesus, one from Pontus Pilate himself, Jesus was quite comely, with reddish brown hair, blue eyes and ruddy skin.
Click to expand...
Those “historical descriptions” have been proven as forgeries.
Sarcelle said:
I think the lack of comeliness would have been in conjunction with the suffering servant, at the time of his Passion where he was tortured, bloody and broken.
Click to expand...
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:2‭-‬3 RSV-CI

So it’s not just referring to the Passion but the person of Jesus. He was of ignoble appearance, poor, humble, and indistinguishable.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
It’s not crazy to wonder if there’s a racial undertone.
Click to expand...
I mean, I’d try to be charitable and presume there isn’t though, unless clear evidence suggests there is.

E.g. I would’ve assumed the commenter was getting ‘unintelligent’ and ‘not nice’ vibes from the facial expression, nothing to do with skin tone.

Because yeah the facial expression looks slack jawed. Like, she’s not using facial muscles. Not smiling or even holding her face as of prepared to speak (appears more like a sullen teenager than a teenager who knows the joy of God). As Tis pointed out, whites showing under eyes. Frankly the image reminds me of me as a teenager when I really didn’t want to be somewhere. 😂

Personally I reckon changing the facial expression on this artificially constructed face (remember, this isn’t an actual human who’s had her photo taken; an artist constructed this) would make a big difference to the impression it gives off.
 
Last edited:
Back in those day, did they even have eyebrow waxing or plucking? Did anyone even care?

The reason our Blessed Mother is always assumed to have been beautiful is that she was pure, conceived without original sin, and sinless throughout her life. Personally selected by God the Father to bear His incarnate Son.

That’s why she’s nearly always depicted as beautiful. Body and soul.
 
Last edited:
I’ve read from private revelation that Eve was beautiful, and that the Virgin Mary looked like Eve, and also Jesus looked like Adam .
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I have only seen one or two posts like that, and I don’t consider myself to “know” people who post here unless they are regular posters over time. If there’s a “Blonde Mary” advocate on the forum, I must have missed it.
Click to expand...
I don’t want to belabor the point, but it’s usually less about blonde hair than it is people pushing the idea that Mary was very fair skinned, usually accompanied by an illustration showing very European features. There’s also often an implicit association between fair skin and appearing pure and beautiful. And yes, this is more of a CAF thing than a real world thing.

As you said, it really makes no difference what they looked like in their earthly lives, which is why when people really push back on the idea that in all likelihood Mary and Jesus had olive skin it makes me wonder if there’s some unconscious bias going on, because really, why else would you care?
 
I wonder how Our Lady of La Vang or Our Lady of Akita looked like?

I saw statues and she looked Vietnamese and Japanese respectively.
 
Last edited:
This is a computer/A.I. generated image… it’s not perfect. Geez I was expecting everyone here to be excited to see this instead everyone is arguing over her eyebrows which, by the way, I think are quite nice. But it’s not like this IS her. This is just based off of a random person who was the same ethnicity as Mary and lived at the same place in the same time. It’s also just a reconstruction, not an end all be all type of deal. Nobody is saying she absolutely looked like this. Seriously though some of these posts are quite racist.
 
Last edited:
I agree. It’s an image that roughly approximates what someone in her time and place may have looked like. That’s all.
 
I think most people would say, if they think the apparition is genuine, that it may not reflect how she actually looked in her mortal life.
 
You know, quite a few Church Fathers thought that Jesus was ugly, or even that he had a physical deformity (I think this one rests on the fact that he said of himself “physician, heal yourself”). I could dig up references if you want.

It’s not irreverence, it’s a way to underline the extraordinary power and charism he had, and how it takes the eyes of faith to perceive him as he really is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top