Marian Devotion on the Camino de Santiago during the Middle Ages
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The articles shows the presence of the Mother of God in Santiago's Camino, and takes also into account the theology which is a basis for her worship.
Although the article highly depends on other precedent studies, it is a worth piece of scholarship, that embraces an important number of actualized publications.
I have only some little suggestions:
In 3.1 section there are not enough references to the texts of Aquinas which the author is explaining. There are only references to the secondary fonts and in the lines 221-275 one wonders which texts the author are referring to (for instance, in line 253, the reference to Cana belongs to Aquinas' Commentary to St. John or to his systematic texts?). A brief explanation of the most important texts where Aquinas deals with Mariology is necessary.
It seems that something is missing in lines 309-310, with this abrupt end and this bizarre beginning: "... in this way and chooses to [..?] Mary’s path of faith to incarnate."
line 346: there are two end points
bibliography: the font used is not the same which the author uses for the rest of the article (and it is not the same that Religions allows).
Author Response
Dear Reviewer: thank you for your helpful comments. I added references from the Summa Theologiae and Compendium Theologiae. What seems to me to be more interesting (in relation to former publication on Aquinas' mariology) is to focus on 'sermons', where is a kind of summary of his thought.
I corrected the smal errors in the texts: two points, the missing words and the font of bibliography. Thank you for this suggestions.
Reviewer 2 Report
The subject of the article is of interest for the monograph in question and for the current scientific literature. However, it presents some improvable aspects that the author(s) should take into account in a thorough revision of the text, so that it is in line with the quality of the journal:
An allusion to the Virgin of Pilar and her link with Santiago de Compostela is missing. Many are the sources that link the codification of this Marian invocation with the presence of Santiago in Hispania.
It would also be important to address, because of its presence in popular culture, the appearance of references to the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrims and various places along the way in the Cantigas de Santa María de Alfonso X el Sabio, beyond the brief reference made. Especially in cantigas 26, 49, 157, 184, 253, 268, 278 or 313, in which there are references to pilgrims or to the influence of the Virgin of some place on the Camino to save someone in need. The Cantigas are a reflection of the oral tradition of the people, so they are of great interest as a source of miracles and legends of the Camino.
In the allusion to the Hispanic liturgy, the confusing denomination "Spanish Liturgy" should be avoided, since the Roman rite implanted since the 11th century in its application to the Hispanic churches would also be a Spanish liturgy. The correct way to refer to this rite is "Hispanic Liturgy" or "Mozarabic Rite", only for the Mozarabic period and not Visigothic (which is earlier).
It is very important to be careful with the sources of the Hispanic rite. A study by Aldazabal is cited that deals with the renewed Hispanic rite after Vatican Council II, assuming that it is the same ritual form in force in the early Hispanic Middle Ages. Likewise, Garrido's work refers only to the biblical pericopes and not to a profound exegesis of the Hispanic liturgical euchology. This epigraph of the work is the least solid academically speaking and should be completely rethought, especially in the relationship it may have with the Camino de Santiago.
The conclusions are valid and present clear ideas, but it is necessary to clarify in what way the mariological concepts exposed in the third section influence the Way of St. James, specifically, especially from sources of the time.
It would have been very interesting in a monograph on the Virgin Mary and her iconography in the Middle Ages, such as the one presented in this text, if the author had analyzed the iconographic themes of the Virgin Mary on the Camino, which are outlined at the beginning in a very summarized form, analyzing the typologies of these images.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, thank you for your helpful comments! As you suggested, I change all "Spanish" to "Hispanic" where the subject is the rite: of course, you are very right in using this name. My preference for "Spanish" was due to the proof-reading of English and it was changed in that moment.
You are completely right in underlying the sources of Hispanic Rite: I tried to base on original (medieval) text tradition but of course one noted that there are continuation between the old and renewed Hispanic rite, at least on the level of ideas. But in order to be more clear I added two articles of J.M. Ferrer about Hispanic mariology.
I am sure that iconographic themes of the Virgin Mary on the Camino should be studied, but unfortunately it is impossible within this article. But thank you for the idea: we should work more on it.
Finally, I have added two sentences more in the conclusion about hispanic marpological ideas and camino. It is worth to be studied separately, as independent topic. My humble purpose was just to call attention to this...
Thank you once again for all your comments.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The author(s) have only undertaken two of the requested amendments.
