In 1711, the German priest Anton Ginther issued in Augsburg the book entitled Mater amoris et doloris, consecrated to the Virgin of Sorrows. Making use of the very same procedure that five years before he had employed in the work dedicated to the Holy Heart of Jesus , Ginther divided the text into a series of Considerationes or meditations which, so as to mingle the useful with the sweet (as the author himself confessed in the foreword), revolve around an emblem.
Thus following the characteristic structure of the literature of emblems, each Consideratio consists of a motto, an image and a quotation which, acting as an epigram, usually comes from the Holy Scriptures. Furthermore, each meditation adds a little abstract and a large commentary: while the first one summarises in two or three lines the underlying subject, the second one explains the reason for the pictura and the motto and digs into the lessons that the emblem holds by resorting to other biblical examples (normally typologically interpreted) and to quotes taken from other authors. Moreover, the headers of the texts are meaningful since those on the odd pages outline in just one sentence the matter that is being analysed, as a kind of a chapter title.
Example of Consideratio: abstract, emblem, quote and beginning of the commentary [left];commentary and header on even page [center]; commentary and header on odd page [right]
Consequently, suffice it to read these headers to understand that the seventy emblems that form this work encompass the whole life of the Virgin, from her Immaculate Conception to her Assumption and Coronation in Heaven, since its aim is to present Mary as the loving mother (Mater amoris) that remains loyal to her Son and therefore to men. In that regard, it is this loyalty which leads Mary to suffer constant sorrows (Mater doloris); sorrows that according to many authors already begin in the Incarnation and reach its height during the Passion and Death of the Lord, continuously referred as the sacrifice that the Virgin and Jesus willingly accept in favour of the humankind.
When dealing with these episodes, that constitute a little less than half of the Considerationes, Ginther interspersed scabrous details of Christ´s and Mary´s suffering with continuous calls to the readers so, keeping in mind these images, they can meditate on those events (which they have caused because of their sins), repent and redirect their lives towards the path of virtue. In this sense, if throughout the book it is made clear the role of Mary as Mediator between God and Men, the six last meditations manifestly proclaim the necessity to worship her, encouraging believers to imitate her and look for her patronage if they want to overcome the dangers of the world and reach the eternal life.
This work got four editions in the space of forty years: after the first one in 1711, there were other two in Augsburg (1726 and 1741) and one in Antwerp (1752). However, despite its evident dissemination, we only have proof of its impact on three ensembles: the Church of the Holy Spirit in Neuburg on the Danube , the crypt of the parish church of Galera (Granada) and the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows in the former church of the Jesuit Order in Oviedo, nowadays parish of San Isidoro el Real.