The Virgin Mary Swooning

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The Swoon of the Virgin was a notion born during the late Middle Ages, centered on Mary's fainting spell during the Passion of Christ. This phenomenon most frequently occurred while she observed the Crucifixion of Jesus. The idea was rooted in mentions within later texts of the apocryphal Gospel in the Acta Pilati, which vividly described Mary's swooning episode. It gained popularity in late medieval art and theological literature but ultimately became a subject of controversy due to its absence from the Canonical Gospels. As a result, many senior churchmen discouraged it from the 16th century onwards, effectively rendering it an obsolete notion.