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Our Lady of the Chickens
By Vincent LoBiondo
The Marian Library has a collection of holy cards dating back to the late 19th century. The most commonly downloaded holy card that has been scanned into eCommons is “Our Lady of Chickens” with over 1,400 downloads from across the world. Drawn by Ade Bethune (1914-2002) in 1942, the holy card features Mary feeding four chickens. There are two copies in the Holy Card Collection — one in color, one in black and white.
Bethune, a liturgical artist who depicted the sacred connected to ordinary life, was a contemporary and good friend of the Catholic social activist Dorothy Day. She wished to make images of Christ and Mary that could be more relatable in contemporary culture. Much of her art has appeared in magazines and newspapers.
At first, Bethune was hesitant to draw pictures of Mary but was convinced to do so after a conversation with a friend who did not understand devotion to Mary. Bethune realized that it was not the lack of devotion to Mary that she experienced, but the lack of images that she felt were compelling enough to support her personal devotion to Mary. From then on, she started painting pictures of Mary that were relatable to modern people.
Bethune may have been also inspired by an annual procession in Pagani, Italy, honoring the Madonna delle Galline, or “Our Lady of the Hens.” The legend for the devotion goes that an icon of Mary and the infant Jesus had been lost for several centuries but was miraculously found in the 16th century after several chickens plucked away a layer of hay that had concealed it. The icon depicts Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Every year since, the people have placed chickens on the processional float next to a statue of Mary and the infant Jesus that mirrors the icon. The icon has deteriorated, but a reproduction is held in the aptly named Shrine of Our Lady of the Hens.
The association of Mary with chickens may have come from the Bible verse of Matthew 23:37, which says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings.” It possibly came to be associated with Mary in the popular imagery of Mary gathering the people of the Church under her arms, or “wings,” for protection.
The Marian Library and the U.S. Catholic Special Collection have many more holy cards to browse in their collections. Many are available to view and download in eCommons, the University of Dayton’s digital repository.
Further Reading
De Béthune, Adé. “On the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Orate Frates 16, no. 7 (1942): 294-298).
Harmon, Katherine E. “Drawing the Holy in the Ordinary: Ade Bethune, the Catholic Worker, and the Liturgical Movement.” American Catholic Studies 123, no. 1 (2012): 1-23.
Longobardi, P. Lazzaro. Storia Del Santuario della Madonna delle galline venerata nella città di Pagani. Pia Unione Ammalati Cristo Salvezza, 1986.
Martone, M. and A. M. Giugliano. “Architecture, Territory, Traditions. The Cult of the Madonna del Carmine called ‘delle Galline’ in Pagani.” Advances in Utopian Studies and Sacred Architecture (2021): 145-156.
—Vincent LoBiondo, a graduate assistant in the religious studies department and the Marian Library, has earned his master's in theological studies and is now earning a doctorate in theology with a focus on the Blessed Virgin Mary.