Continuing on with our ongoing exploration of Requiem Mass vestments, today we are looking at a set of vestments, likely made in Spain sometime in the early eighteenth century.
This particular set not only includes the (ever popular) use of memento mori symbols -- in this instance, skulls and teardrops -- it also includes various embroidered scenes of Christ, Christ as the Good Shepherd, Christ and the Harrowing of Hell, and Christ Resurrected defeating Satan and death. In that regard, this particular set sought to counter-balance the reality of death, which the memento mori remind us of, with the Christ, who defeated death and in whom we hope for the resurrection.
This is occasionally an objection one hears from some with regard the use of memento mori in vestment work, so a pairing like this, which counterbalances death and hope in the resurrection, seems particularly apropos to that conversation.
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| Detail from the back of the chasuble, depicting Christ resurrected, trampling on the devil (as symbolized by the serpent) and death (as symbolized by the skeleton). |
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| On the front of the chasuble, one will take note of the pierced heart of Christ, surrounded by the crown of thorns |
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| The antependium features skulls with teardrops and a central image depicting Christ and the Harrowing of Hell |
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| Detail. The Harrowing of Hell. |
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| Veil featuring the Madonna and Child |
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| Veil featuring Christ as the Good Shepherd |
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