Note 539 — Chapter III
Reading edition
In the church of S. Maria Maggiore at Rome may be seen a restored mosaic of the adoration of the Magi, in which Mary is represented, with a golden nimbus and tunic, as sitting on a chair of state higher than that of the Divine Child. But in copies of the original mosaic of the fifth century, made two centuries ago, (Ciampini, Vet. Mon., i, p. 200,) Mary is standing, without any nimbus or other sign of honour, by the side of Christ, who, attended by angels, occupies the throne. This was evidently a vindication of the divinity of the Son of Mary against the heresies of the Arians, which has been perverted by modern Romanists to an exaltation of the Virgin to co-equal honours with the Son of God.
The figure of Mary as the Queen of heaven in the church of St. Nicholas at Rome is said by Papebrocius, a Roman authority, to have been originally intended for Our Lord, but afterward altered to the Madonna, a significant illustration of the substitution of her worship for that of her Divine Son.