Admission: $10, $5 for Green-Wood members

The ancient cult of the Great Mother is alive and well in Italy, where devotees honor the Virgin Mary (also know as the Madonna) at sites originally dedicated to pagan goddesses. This talk focuses on the presence of the Sorrowful Mother in art and popular culture, from the Italian Peninsula to immigrant communities in the US, and explores how she maintains both a privileged status in official Catholic teaching and peculiar power in folk practices.