The institutional value of the virgin Mary in the cistercian miracle collections (1170s-1220s)

In Cistercian miracle collections, the Virgin Mary is depicted as the guardian of Cistercian supremacy. She guides the monks, feeds them with her milk, takes their side in disputes with the Pope, and escorts their souls to heaven, where they rest under her mantle. The special patronage depicted by the sources bears witness to a Marian worship which was already rooted in the Cistercian Order decades before it was “officialised” by the General Chapter. In the stories, one can find the earliest examples of elements of Cistercian Marian devotion, such as the title “patrona”, and the expression “domina nostra” – later used also in documentary sources – and topoi such as the mantle, and the lactatio, which later became widely used in visual rep- resentations. Marian miracles offer a close connection with Cistercian litur- gy and other aspects of religious life, and show how the white monks sought to support, legitimise and consolidate their way of life and their institution.