Seeing Mary and Becoming Marija
Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase’s Bridging Religious and Cultural Boundaries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2024.481Keywords:
religious conversion, Mary's apparitions, cross-cultural identity, Tsuneko Kondō- Kawase/Marija Skušek, interwar YugoslaviaAbstract
This article examines the extraordinary conversion story of Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase, a Japanese woman who became Marija Skušek upon her baptism and marriage in Ljubljana in 1927. Within a single hour at the Ljubljana Bishop’s Palace, Kawase was baptised, confirmed, married, and her two children were baptised and confirmed. Her swift conversion and claims of Mary's apparitions captured public attention. This study situates her testimony within the broader context of religious conversion, the rise of pluralistic beliefs in a predominantly Catholic society, and the socio-political climate of the era. Central to her narrative are visions of Mary’s crowned image, shaped by Chinese Catholic traditions and Slovenian Marian devotion. Tsuneko’s experience underscores the complexity of non-European conversions and the adaptability required by clergy to address diverse cultural identities. Tsuneko’s case highlights personal agency in navigating religious transformation, blending her Japanese and Chinese heritage with Slovenian Catholic influences. Her reinterpretation of Marian imagery illustrates how converts with their understanding of religious symbols actively engage to forge new identities. As a transitional figure, Tsuneko’s story sheds light on the interplay between personal experiences and broader cultural adaptations in conversion processes. This analysis enriches the understanding of religious transformation, emphasizing the significance of individual narratives in exploring themes of faith, identity, and integration across cultural and historical boundaries.
References
Bahčič, Robert, ed. Po Mariji podarjene milosti. Brezje: Romar, 2014.
Bitter, Franz. Konvertiten-Unterricht. Praktische Anleitung zur Unterweisung oder zum Selbstunterricht im Glauben der heiligen katholischen Kirche für solche, die zu ihr übertreten wollen. Dülmen: Laumann Verlag, 1921.
Coomans, Thomas. Missionary Spaces: Imagining, Building, Contesting Christianities in Africa and China, 1830s–1960s. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2024.
Cunneen, Sally. In Search of Mary: The Woman and the Symbol. Toronto: Random House, 1996.
Cvelfar, Bojan. Srbska pravoslavna cerkev na Slovenskem med svetovnima vojnama. Ljubljana: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino; Arhiv Republike Slovenije, 2017.
Cvirn, Janez. Boj za sveti zakon: prizadevanja za reformo poročnega prava od 18. stoletja do druge svetovne vojne. Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, 2005.
De la Cruz, Deirdre. Mother Figured: Marian Apparitions and the Making of a Filipino Universal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.
»Domače vesti.« Jutro, July 1, 1933.
»Domače vesti.« Mariborski večernik »Jutra«, March 6, 1935: 4.
Falcão Dodd, Gloria. The Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces: History and Theology of the Movement for a Dogmatic Definition from 1896–1964. New Bedford: Academy of the Immaculate, 2012.
»Izredna slovesnost v Ljubljani.« Slovenec, May 1, 1927: 5.
»K slavnosti kronanja Marijine podobe na Brezjah.« Bogoljub 5, no. 9 (1907): 266–271.
Kovačič, Franc. Zgodovina Lavantinske škofije: (1228–1928). Maribor: Lavantinski kn. šk. ordinariat, 1928.
Kuburić, Zorica, and Srđan Sremac, eds. Konverzija i kontekst. Teorijski, metodološki i praktični pristupi religijskoj konverziji. Novi Sad: CEIR, 2009.
Langlois, Claude. »Liturgical Creativity and Marian Solemnity: The Coronation of Pilgrimage Virgin Maries in France (1853–1964).« In Marian Devotions, Political Mobilization, and Nationalism in Europe and America, edited by Roberto Di Stefano and Francisco Javier Ramón Solans, 29–56. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Levec, Fran. »Lurška Mati Božja.« Ljubljanski zvon 1, no. 9 (1881): 576.
»Marija jo je poklicala [Mary Called Her].« Bogoljub 26, no. 1 (1928): 6–8.
Maunder, Chris. The Oxford Handbook of Mary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Mithans, Gašper. »Religious communities and the change of worldviews in Slovenia (1918–1991): historical and political perspectives.« Annales: anali za istrske in mediteranske študije. Series historia et sociologia 30, no. 3 (2020): 415–434. https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2020.27.
Nock, Arthur Darby. Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933.
Novice v slikah, May 1927: 1.
Otrin, Blaž, and Marija Čipić Rehar, eds. Jegličev dnevnik: znanstvenokritična izdaja. Celje: Celjska Mohorjeva družba, Društvo Mohorjeva družba, 2015.
»Pet zakramentov v eni uri.« Jutro, April 20, 1927: 3.
Pirjevec, Jože. Jugoslavija 1918–1992. Nastanek, razvoj ter razpad Karadjordjevićeve in Titove Jugoslavije. Koper: Lipa, 1995.
Rambo, Lewis R., and Charles E. Farhadian, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Statistički godišnjak: 1929. Beograd: Državna štamparija Kraljevine Jugoslavije, 1930.
Statistički godišnjak: 1933. Beograd: Štamp državne štamparije, 1935.
Statistički godišnjak: 1937. Beograd: Državna štamparija, 1938.
Šircelj, Milivoja. Verska, jezikovna in narodna sestava prebivalstva Slovenije: popisi 1921–2002. Ljubljana: Statistični urad Republike Slovenije, 2003.
The Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Sian, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines. Hongkong Daily Press Office 1910, 1911, and 1912.
Ušeničnik, Franc. Pastoralno bogoslovje. Ljubljana: Jugoslovanska knjigarna, 1919–1920.
Vermander, Benoît, Liz Hingley, and Liang Zhang. Shanghai Sacred: The Religious Landscape of a Global City. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018.
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1902.
Zbirka svetih obredov za lavantinsko in ljubljansko škofijo. Ljubljana: Lavantinski in ljubljanski ordinariat, 1933.
Zimdars-Swartz, Sandra L. Encountering Mary: From La Salette to Medjugorje. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.
Archival material:
Archdiocesan Archives of Ljubljana (NŠAL):
NŠAL, ŽA Ljubljana – sv. Nikolaj [St. Nicholas]. Poročna knjiga [Marriage registry] 1921–1940,
NŠAL, ŽA Ljubljana – sv. Nikolaj [St. Nicholas]. Krstna knjiga [Baptism registry] 1896–1930,
NŠAL, sp. V, 100 Konvertiti [Converts] 1874–1938,
NŠAL, sp. V, 101 Konvertiti [Converts] 1938–1963,
Archive of the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Ljubljana, Knjiga konvertitov [Converts registry].
Arhiv župnije Marijinega oznanjenja [The Archive of the Annunciation of Mary parish], Knjiga konvertitov [Converts registry].
The Historical Archives Ljubljana (ZAL):
ZAL, LJU 489.
The Regional Archives Maribor (PAM):
1821060 Evangeljska verska občina Maribor 1862–1945.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Helena Motoh, Gašper Mithans
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Open Access Policy and Copyright
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors grant the publisher commercial rights to produce hardcopy volumes of the journal for sale to libraries and individuals.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
