The Risen Christ Greets His Mother (Detail; MH01) Card

Neither Scripture nor Tradition attests to the Risen Christ appearing to his mother Mary, the Blessed Virgin, on Easter Sunday. Thus, scholars have argued the case pro and con. Twelfth-century artists, however, committed to the appearance and created the first artworks to portray the event starting a trend. + This lovely detail of the extra-Biblical reunion of mother and Son comes from an early 20th-century devotional print. The full scene unfolds in a homey space and Mary may have been sewing before rising from her seat, a crumpled piece of fabric lying at her feet (not visible here). Jesus, carrying a Resurrection banner, approaches her with a vigourous stride. She reaches out with her right hand and touches his upper left arm; he encircles her with his right. They stare into each other’s eyes. The look is filled with tenderness, but also with recognition, recognition of the completion of God’s plan for the salvation and redemption of humankind. + Image Credit (MH 01): The Risen Christ and His Mother, detail of an antique image from a devotional print in chromolithography originally published by Max Hirmer, Munich, Germany, early 20th century, c. 1915, No. 2063, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.