Viva Maria!

Last night I heard the music coming from down the street and thought there was a party going on until I remembered - there WAS a party going on - a BVM party. Those of us who attended Catholic schools throughout our childhood have always had the Blessed Virgin Mary in our lives. Some of us love her, some of us rejected all that, and a lot just take her for granted. But after living a half a block away from Gloucester’s Mother of Grace Club for ten years, I have to tell you, the BVM is on the A-list in this neighborhood.


When I moved here I was sort of fascinated by the Mother of Grace Club. It is a small white storefront building on Washington Street - usually quiet and unassuming. I’d see ladies, mostly older, mostly of Italian and Portuguese heritage, coming and going from the building carrying shopping bags. I had no idea what went on in there. I walked by one night and peeked inside. There was an altar with a beautiful statue of the BVM surrounded by riots of flowers, candles, smaller statues of other saints, and illuminated with a soft light.

Later I noticed the ladies sitting inside on warm summer days praying the rosary, reciting litanies and novenas, and then setting up card tables for lunch and a few hands of cards. That September I had my first experience with the Mother of Grace Fiesta - a four day event featuring music, dancing, a Mass, a bake sale, Italian sopranos (no, not that kind of Soprano), and lines of flags fluttering over the street which is blocked off so the ladies can dance in it. Partying with Mary is serious business. Orange saw horses are set up and are guarded by Gloucester police many being the sons and grandsons of the dancing ladies, traffic is totally tied up, and people crowd the sidewalk to watch. The ladies have a great time and Mary seems to as well.

In 1997 photographer Dana Salvo had an exhibit at the Cape Ann Historical Museum of his photos chronicling the Mother of Grace Fiesta. It was a wonderful tribute and I finally understood what the Mother of Grace Club was about. It is about the invincible faith of these women in Mary, the Mother of God - the Mother of Grace.


In a lot of New Age circles there is much talk about goddess worship. I have always found it fascinating. When I was in art school I became aware of how the female form absolutely dominated aesthetics. I took five terms of Life Drawing and in all that time I could count the male models we had on my fingers. Everyone wanted to draw females. For awhile I thought it was blatant sexism but, over time I realized that it is much more than that. There seems to be in human sensibility the inherent awareness of the beauty and the mystique of the feminine.

A few years back Bust Magazine did an issue on Goddesses. I am a big fan of Bust and love the energy and enthusiasm its editors have for “girlness”. In this issue there were articles about everyone from Jackie O to country-singer Wanda Jackson. And there was one about the BVM written by a former Baptist-turned-Catholic girl who loved Mary and considered her an icon of self-determination. When the archangel Gabriel asked if she would bear God’s child, Mary said “yes” and look what happened!

Faith is a beautiful thing. Only in the last few years have I understood what a gift it really is. It is a gift - you either have it or you don’t. People without Faith have told me I am brainwashed, deluded, stupid - the list is endless. But those of us with Faith know it is real and it is a gift. My admiration for the ladies who keep the tradition of the Mother of Grace Fiesta alive grows with each year. I watch them sitting before the statue of Mary saying their rosaries and, after each Mystery, they cry “Viva Maria” - Hooray for Mary. She is our goddess, she is the divine feminine, she is eternal and beautiful and loves us through all our faults and failings.

Maybe I need to get out my rosary and join them. Viva Maria.

Thanks for reading.