Wątek Mater Dolorosa w Rozmyślaniach dominikańskich. Maryja w scenach pożegnania z Jezusem w Betanii

The topic of the Mater Dolorosa in Dominican Meditations, an extensive old-Polish apocryphal work
dealing with The Passion, written around the year 1532 at the Dominican Monastery of the Holy Trinity
in Kraków, is discussed. The article examines the amplifications by the anonymous author of that work
in relation to the extremely brief reference in the Gospels to the Holy Mother’s participation in Jesus’
Passion: the only part of the New Testament to make any mention of the Holy Virgin Mary’s presence
at Christ’s death is the Gospel according to St. John 19: 25–27. A further objective of the article was to
identify the main rhetorical strategies applied in the adaptations of the Biblical text: the apotheosis of
Mary’s motherhood and the glorification of the spiritual links joining Mary and Jesus.