The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College will present “Secular/Sacred: Eleventh-Sixteenth Century Works from the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.” The exclusive exhibition – on view from February 19 through June 4 – is the first to explore multiple ways in which medieval and early modern objects communicated both “sacred” and “secular” messages to viewers.

By rethinking scholars’ traditional division of medieval and early modern objects into “secular” and “sacred” categories and by examining the history of this categorization, the exhibition shows visitors how to decode these images and reveals how lines between the two categories blur for each object.

Conceived in 2002 as a collaboration among thee local institutions – Boston College (BC), the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) and the Boston Public Library (BPL) – the exhibition displays works from the Boston-area’s most significant medieval and early modern collections.

It was planned to coincide with the 2006 annual meetings in Boston of the Medieval Academy of America (March 29-April 1) and the College Art Association (February 23-26).

One of the showpieces of the exhibition, never before exhibited, is a fully illustrated 331/2 -foot-long, Fifteenth Century French manuscript scroll from the collection of the BPL that records the history of the world from Creation through the year 1380, with detailed miniatures illuminating the text.

Samson and Lion Aquamanile,” Northern Germany (Hildesheim?), (shown left) mid-Thirteenth to early Fourteenth Century, leaded latten, 13 3/8 by 14 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Book of Hours, (shown right) use of Rome, France, circa 1425, manuscript illumination on vellum, Sixteenth Century leather binding over wooden boards, 9 1/2 by 13 1/2 inches. Boston Public Library.

On Monday, February 20, an opening celebration – which isopen to the public, free of charge – will be conducted at themuseum from 7 to 9 pm.

Comprising nearly 100 objects – including illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, silks, stone sculpture, metalwork, paintings and some ceramics and early printed books – “Secular/Sacred” takes an inventive and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the style, subject matter, functions and reception of works of art from the Eleventh through the Sixteenth Century, with emphasis on works from the Fifteenth Century. The exhibition is organized thematically in six sections.

The “Samson and Lion Aquamanile” and “Fox Spoon” serve as centerpieces for the first section, which also comprises 11 illuminated manuscripts with representations of various beasts. The section analyzes the interplay between text and image in the multiple representations of beasts.

In “Ministers and Magistrates,” an array of paintings, official documents, manuscripts, seals and commemorative medals both illustrate and complicate the prevailing medieval and Renaissance political philosophy of the “Two Swords” – a theory that defined and sought to differentiate and isolate the respective jurisdictions of sacred ministers of the Roman Catholic Church and “secular” magistrates, princes and kings.

This section debuts the Fifteenth Century French manuscript scroll. “Worshipping a Worldly Virgin” features Italian paintings, sculptures and manuscript illuminations of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries revealing how Mary is portrayed in the late Middle Ages as a real woman, both in her traditional roles of mother of the infant Jesus and queen, and as depicted in western Christianity for the first time.

“A Demoniac Delivered and A Pagan Converted,” France, first quarter of the Sixteenth Century, tapestry, wefts: dyed wool, touches of dyed silk; warp: undyed wool 68 7/8 by 87 inches. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“The Sacraments: Sacred and Profane” examines depictions oflives of children, adolescents and young adults in manuscripts,wedding chests and tapestries.

The fifth section focuses on a group of devotional and liturgical books from the western and eastern Christian worlds.

The concluding section, “Sacred/Worldly Goods,” examines functional objects, as well as depictions of secular scenes dealing with commerce and luxury goods.

Public events – including a lecture series featuring exhibition co-curators, and concerts of medieval and Renaissance secular/sacred music – will be offered in connection with the exhibition. Museum docents will offer group tours.

The McMullen Museum is in Devlin Hall on BC’s Chestnut Hill campus, at 140 Commonwealth Avenue. For information, 617-552-8100 or www.bc.edu/artmuseum.