The Purgatorial Society of St. Lawrence @purgatorialsociety - Tumblr Blog

But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.

- Lk. 21:28

#passion of christ #crucifixion #chasuble #requiem #requiem mass #good friday #lent

Rare Image of Death Personified as a Skeleton in Prayer: Miniature on a Leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin from Burgundy, France, C.1480-90

Single leaf, 117x76mm, vellum, with a miniature for the Office of the Dead, 19 lines, 74x44mm, upper and outer borders slightly cropped, coffin in lower margin rubbed, overall in good condition.

This miniature shows a unique depiction of Death, a worm-eaten cadaver dressed in a luxurious fur-trimmed brocade mantle, kneeling in prayer before an open book in a palace. The image opens the Office of the Dead, a series of prayers to be said in anticipation of death or in remembrance of the dead. The iconography for the Office of the Dead is rich and varied. Common illustrations include the Last Judgement, Raising of Lazarus, Parable of Dives and Lazarus, Three Living and Three Dead, Job on the Dung Heap, and various types of Death Personified, often portrayed attacking unsuspecting people. The idea of picturing Death as a noble figure in prayer (imitating the portraits that were often included in tailor-made commissions) serves as a horrifying reminder of the universality of death and is directly aimed at the viewer. No other example is known to exist but a comparable thought motivated the shocking image of a dead woman gazing at her reflection in a hand mirror in Matteo da Milano’s superlative Hours of Dionora of Urbino.

Dómine, abstraxísti ab ínferis ánimam meam. Exaltábo te, Dómine, quóniam suscepísti me: nec delectásti inimícos meos super me.

O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.

#harrowing of hell #limbo #limbo of the fathers #holy saturday

ducissatenebrarum

Death at the foot of the cross, 1649

In this particular brazen portrayal of the Totentanz, the dance of death, Christ himself is mocked by #Death. Even as a divine figure, Christ first had to succumb to Death in order to prove he is God. Thus, it is only through Death that Christ was able to prove his omnipotence. Even though this time round Death did not get the last laugh, he still got a laugh. As a result the fresco depicts the seemingly cheeky Death in a light of great respect; through Death all men are to be judged by Christ, and that judgement is only possible because Death triumphed over Christ, even if for a brief while. #favourite ©TheMacabreNBold

Totentantz is the common title of a fresco by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch made in the Berner Dominikanerkloster, which the artist began in 1516/17. The sequence of images (80 meters and 24 scenes) was destroyed in 1660. What remains is a copy (1649) by Albrecht Kauw (1621-1681).