Catholic Virtues

The Virgin of the Bird & the
Mother-Son Relationship

Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Vierge à l’oiseau, Our Lady of Marthuret, Riom, France

The first impression this photograph of the Vierge à L’oiseau (Virgin of the Bird in Our Lady of Marthurel Church in Riom, France) makes on me is the extraordinary soul-to-soul relationship between the Child Jesus and Our Lady, in such a way that more than “photographing” just one soul, it “photographs” both. It is this soul-to-soul relationship is extremely well captured in this sculpture.

This soul-to-soul relationship has something extraordinary in that it captures one of those moments of familiarity between the Mother and the Son, when the Mother is playing a bit with the Son, who responds in the same spirit. It is something that cannot be understood except in the mother-son relationship. If that relationship never ended in a smile and gentle playfulness, there would be no mother-son relationship.

Why? Because there is something fragile in the Child that makes His Mother smile. Further, it is that weakness that requests that His Mother, to be in proportion to Him, should smile from time to time. Otherwise, a barrier is established between Him and His Mother.

Therefore, one of the most delicate forms of communication between souls is a certain playfulness between both parties, where the two touch on this point. Thus His soul thus feels mercifully and benignly attended to in its weakest state and her mercy appears more delicate, affable and flexible; it is one of the most beautiful aspects of the state of spirit of a mother.

Vierge à L’Oiseau,
photo from Les Boneurs de Sophie blog

When one considers that Our Lady is playing with the God of the Credo, and that she knows that this Child with whom she is playing is the human nature of that Person who is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, then this says everything!… Do you understand the world of veneration that is in this smile? But it is an authentic smile, not a fake smile.

Seeing the Child also – God, who made all things wanting to play with Our Lady, reveals part of the infinite greatness of God... such grandeur in His smile and such grandeur in His affability! It is such an immense affability and goodness that we feel a bit disconcerted, we do not really know what to do...

What is more interesting is that this smile in mother-son relationships often presents itself in a prosaic way. Here, it appears in a most noble way! The Child loses none of His dignity, nor does she lose any of hers, and it makes us understand the following: We as counter-revolutionaries must be very careful with our smiles, because we can easily fall into the revolutionary smile – artificial, banal, sensual commercial, deceptive.

A tender smile with veneration,
photo, Les Boneurs de Sophie blog

But if we re-acquire our primeval innocence, then we will know how to smile with that dignity. For Our Lady is a Queen of Innocence – literally. In fact, she wears a crown, and He is a Prince resting in her arm. Anyone seeing them would kneel before this scene without losing any respect for them.

It is a masterpiece of chastity, because only chaste souls are capable of these relationships. If a soul is not extremely chaste, it is not capable of this kind of smile. The smile falls into vulgarity, it begins in the sunshine and ends in the mud... even from mother to son. It is not that there is anything sensual between the two, not at all. Rather it is because the unchaste soul is not capable of smiling with the detachment that you see here. So, it is only the Virgin Mother who smiles at the Virgin Son like this. I believe it is a true masterpiece!

I value this sculpture more than those Greek sculptures and other such things.

The most curious thing here is that the Child Jesus is playing and looking out as if imagining something. But Our Lady, who has her gaze on Him, has the look of someone meditating on Him: She is smiling, but meditative, which is more her responsibility than His, because it is more her responsibility to admire Him than His to admire her.

He is the perfect “Golden Boy” (a young boy who has his full innocence) and one could call her – even at her age – the “Golden Girl.” Absolutely. The title of the photograph could be “Golden Family.” This photograph is charming! If I were in France, I would go to Riom just to see this image up close!

Explanatory note for this image

This 14^th century image (Vierge a l’oiseau) can be seen in the Church of Our Lady of Marthuret in Riom, France. During the French Revolution, the local people preserved it from the vandals who were destroying everything holy in the Reign of Terror, it was the Butchers' Guild that placed it in a safe place.

Our Lady of Marthuret in Riom, France

A charming legend tells that a prisoner sculpted it to pass time during his long detention while awaiting execution. When that fateful day arrived, the image was still unfinished, but it was already so beautiful that he was granted a reprieve from his sentence to finish it. It so happened that during this period the true culprit was discovered, and thus the artist escaped death.

The theme of the Vierge à l'Oiseau (The Virgin of the Bird) is taken from a medieval legend. The Child Jesus was playing at modeling birds out of clay, and when He breathed on them, they flew away. There have been various Madonna & Childs sculpted with this theme, and this is among the most charming.

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Posted August 1 2025

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The Virgin of the Bird & the Mother-Son Relationship

The Virgin of the Bird & the
Mother-Son Relationship