"Remember, O man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return." –Ash Wednesday liturgy
A few weeks ago, Jimmy mentioned the unexpected death of a friend. This person was also a friend of mine and a colleague here at Catholic Answers. Let’s call him T. Although T. had been ill for quite a while, his death came as an unexpected shock. I had known him for over five years and had worked closely with him for several of them. His death was particularly difficult for me since he and I had had a couple of meetings earlier in the week before he died and it was stunning that it seemed that he was there one day and gone the next.
In the weeks following T.’s funeral, another colleague who was quite close to T. was allowed by T.’s survivors to go through T.’s apartment and collect any religious items that he thought might find a good home with Catholic Answers’ staff members. When the announcement was made that the items were available in the library for the taking, I hotfooted it over to see if I could find something by which to remember T.
What caught my eye immediately was a large handsomely-framed print of the painting you see on the left side of this post. (You can click on the image to enlarge it.) To me, it appeared to be a monk holding a jar. Since it was a rather large picture, I wasn’t sure if I wanted it but I took it back to my office to decide. I figured that I could always return it to the library if need be.
The back of the print said that it was a painting of St. Francis of Assisi by the seventeenth-century Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbaran, a master from Spain’s Golden Age. A colleague in the next office who came over to look at it pointed out that St. Francis wasn’t holding a jar; he was holding a skull! Right away then I knew that this was a painting from the memento mori genre, an artistic genre in which the subjects are intended to remind the viewer of death.
Some research on the painting revealed that De Zurbaran was very interested in the memento mori genre and did more than one painting of his namesake saint contemplating death.
It might seem strange to think of St. Francis of Assisi contemplating death. In the popular imagination, he is a happy-go-lucky friar who liked to preach to birds and commune with nature. In the minds of some, he might even be considered a prototype for the radical Sixties hippies. But St. Francis himself would not have considered it strange for an artist to portray him in such a seemingly "morbid" manner.
"May Thou be praised, my Lord, for our sister, bodily death,
whom no man living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin:
blessed those whom she will find in Thy most holy desires,
because the second death will do them no evil."
The quote above is taken from St. Francis’s Canticle of Brother Sun.
Once I realized what I had, my decision was made. There could be no more significant memento of T., one that would remind me of him and remind me of the ephemeral nature of this life and the need to be always prepared for the next.
Please take a few moments and pray for the repose of T.’s soul and for the final perseverance of all who will die today.
"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. … Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matt. 24:42, 44).
We are all just here on assignment. When the assignment is finished, we get to go home.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord.
I am actually considering a Memento Mori as a self portrait. That ought to help avoid any vanity issues, though most painters don’t paint themselves out of vanity, but because it is hard to find other models who will consent to sit still for that long.
My prayers are with T., his family and friends.
That is a beautiful print.
May he rest in peace.
“Let’s call him T.”
Why don’t you call him by his real name, particularly if you want your readers to pray for the repose of his soul?
“Why don’t you call him by his real name, particularly if you want your readers to pray for the repose of his soul?”
Out of respect for T.’s privacy and that of his survivors, I only identified him by an initial. I trust that if readers are kind enough to offer up a few prayers for “T.” God will know for whom those prayers are intended.
Out of respect for T.’s privacy and that of his survivors, I only identified him by an initial. I trust that if readers are kind enough to offer up a few prayers for “T.” God will know for whom those prayers are intended.”
God will certainly know for whom those prayers are being offered, but the parish secretary that has to type out the Mass card probably won’t.
Incidentally, T’s obituary is available online. It took me about 30 seconds to find it. That same obituary also mentions his survivor and where she resides. I don’t understand your need for secrecy, but I will respect it.
“God will certainly know for whom those prayers are being offered, but the parish secretary that has to type out the Mass card probably won’t.”
If someone is so kind as to want to have a Mass said for T., he or she can send me an email and I will give that person the information needed.
“Incidentally, T’s obituary is available online. It took me about 30 seconds to find it. That same obituary also mentions his survivor and where she resides. I don’t understand your need for secrecy, but I will respect it.”
Yes, I know the obituary is available online. The point isn’t secrecy but respect for the privacy of individuals who may not wish to have the details of their private lives blogged about. Blogging is a tricky medium; it’s not easy to know just how much information is Too Much Information, so I try to err on the side of caution, particularly when talking about private individuals who are not in the public eye.
Print’s of this painting should be made available at the Jimmy Akin store.
If we contemplate the concepts of Eternity , Salvation and Damnation, all the time, we would never sin. I pray to God that I never die in sin, not even venial, because temporal punishment is pretty harsh, and even saints have passed thru Purgatory. That is why I , well at least half-heartedly pray for maytrdom, because not only is it one of the most beutiful ways to go, but because we get to go and see the Creator, Judge, Savior and Lord, and His Mercy is shown.
I don’t know about you guys, but when I commit a sin, I feel pretty bad afterwords, and only want to run to Confession. But when I fall and repent, I also pray that it isn’t only of Fear of the Lord, but for true hurt that I offended God.
Many of our Pastors believe that reminding people of Death is not a good idea, saying fear does no good. Now an excess is bad, but I’ll tell you, when I see a corpse, especially when I saw the person die, it really reminds you that the pleasures of this world, even the licit ones, aren’t worth anything, and that if we must suffer and reject temptations for 10, 25, 75 or even thousands (St.Elias is believed by some to be in the Terrestial Paradise with St.Enoc, waiting till the end of the world, and acting in history every once in a while) years then it is worth it, because Time doesn’t compare to Eternity.
This post really did some good to me, and it reminded me once more that the only requirement to die is to live.
SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI
This was a particularly well timed post. I had a friend die yesterday, and am praying for the repose of his soul. I shall add T. to my prayers.
My computer is set at 1024 x 768 ( I think)
Anyone know where there is a picture of this around that size? 800 x 600?
Ah, yes, I’ve seen one of those paintings by de Zurburan at the National Gallery in London. It’s very good and I recommend anyone who’s in the area to pop in and have a look. It’s free, after all. There are also some nice Velasquez paintings in the same room.
One thing i’d noticed is why are monks and nun Saints are the most common subjects of Memento Mori paintings. Why is that?
patrick,
St. Francis of Assisi was a friar, not a monk, although he is painted here (inaccurately though I don’t have a problem with it) as a Capuchin, the kind of Franciscan friars who do sometimes call themselves monks.
In any case I have a few ideas why religious are usually the ones in such paintings. First, an artist will generally choose a saint particularly connected to the remembering or contemplation of death, and religious saints will probably more often fit this model.
Also, the contemplative nature of true monasticism and the otherworldly lifestyle of authentic Mendicants make them particularly separated from the world and connected to the life to come. Contemplatives in particular live the closest thing to the life of heaven possible on this earth. This I think makes them particularly logical subjects to depict contemplating death.
Connected to this, from a mere artistic standpoint probably the habit of a religious makes the viewer think of prayer and contemplation and this helps show why the person is looking at a scull, what they can be presumed to be doing mentally when looking at it.
Perhaps Tim J. could give a more authoritative answer though.
Because monks and nuns generally( these days this is subjective) more pius than the mundane people.
And they are the role models for society.
Not to lower the vocation of Marriage, but it is fairly common. Now the celebate are more, in a sense elite, therefore transmit the purpose of Memento Mori paintings with greater efficiency.
Suit and tie versus habit, habit wins in what has a more sense of prayer, comtemplatiom. the sense of supernatural.
This painting reminds me of another Zurburan I recently saw at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA. It is a vision of the dead St. Frances standing up in his tomb. I can’t remember who the placard next to the painting said had the vision, maybe the Pope at the time. Anyway, without reading it, one would think it was a living friar in the painting, not the body of a Saint.
You can see the painting I’m talking about here