Initial I(n medio ecclesie) from the beginning of the Introit of the Mass for the feast of Bernard from a Missal according to the Cistercian Rite belonging to the abbey of Alcobaca and dated the beginning of the fourteenth century. The crowned and nimbed Virgin holds the cross-nimbed Child with His right hand raised in blessing with her right hand. With her left hand she squeezes her breast to feed the kneeling figure of Bernard. This is the oldest known representation of the Lactation from Portugal, and the oldest known in a manuscript.
|