The Cosmic Womb: Labyrinths and Rebirth in Christian Symbolism

Sarah Jane Boss

Originally published in The Way 41/4, 2001. Republished here by kind permission.

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“In the Virgin Mary, these qualities of earthly fruitfulness and heavenliness are simultaneously present in her motherhood and her virginity. In her palace of Chartres Cathedral, the labyrinth is the pathway of this world in which the Christian soul is nourished and grows within the womb of the Church…”

Labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral
Chartres labyrinth

Sarah Jane Boss is Director of the Centre for Marian Studies at the University of Roehampton.