Academic

Santa Maria delle Grazie--Skeel

By David Skeel and Bill Stuntz

As she described Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Milan church that houses da Vinci's 'Last Supper,' our tour guide said she so much preferred the name in Italian to its English translation—Saint Mary of Thanks—that she would stick with the Italian henceforth. 'Grazie' does seem a prettier word than 'thanks,' but I also wondered later if the connection in Italian between thanks (grazie) and grace (grazia; and graces is grazie) also figured in the preference. Grace and thanks are not the same thing, of course, but they are inextricably connected: our thanks are a response to God's grace. Although I would locate the grace in the work of Christ, rather than Mary, I love the idea that a church 'delle Grazie' might refer (if I'm not confused about the Italian) both to God's manifold grace (or graces) in Christ, and to the thanks of his people, the body of Christ—as expressed generation after generation in the joyous worship in the church.

Full post as published by Less than the Least on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).