- Feb 5, 2002
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In the 1300s, the Holy Face of Jesus inspired those who endured the Plague to look for hope in the light of Resurrection faith.
In her book on Entombment sculptures, Stone, Flesh, Spirit, art professor Donna Sadler pointed out, “Preoccupation with the moment of Christ’s death and with his sufferings dominated late medieval theology and the devotion it fostered.”
This is particularly evident in Holy Week commemorations of Christ’s passion and death, reflecting a broader cultural identification with the Five Wounds of Christ, a devotion honed by monastic orders not least in writings such as Meditations on the Life of Christ, the Franciscans, German mystics, and a fringe group called the Flagellants — Flemish itinerants who sought to spiritually repel the Black Death in 1349 by scourging themselves and who were condemned by Pope Clement VI. An eyewitness noted:
“Each had in his right hand a scourge with three tails. Each tail had a knot and through the middle of it there were sometimes sharp nails fixed. They marched naked in a file one behind the other and whipped themselves with these scourges on their naked and bleeding bodies.”
The Plague first reached Europe by way of Italy, creeping into Burgundy in July 1348 before decimating Paris at the end of the summer. Once contracting the disease, victims met a swift but painful death. Between 30% to 60% of Europe’s population was killed by it — certainly a third of western Europe’s population died. In Avignon in 1348, 11,000 people were buried in a single graveyard in a six-week period.
Continued below.
The Shroud of Turin and the Black Death
In her book on Entombment sculptures, Stone, Flesh, Spirit, art professor Donna Sadler pointed out, “Preoccupation with the moment of Christ’s death and with his sufferings dominated late medieval theology and the devotion it fostered.”
This is particularly evident in Holy Week commemorations of Christ’s passion and death, reflecting a broader cultural identification with the Five Wounds of Christ, a devotion honed by monastic orders not least in writings such as Meditations on the Life of Christ, the Franciscans, German mystics, and a fringe group called the Flagellants — Flemish itinerants who sought to spiritually repel the Black Death in 1349 by scourging themselves and who were condemned by Pope Clement VI. An eyewitness noted:
“Each had in his right hand a scourge with three tails. Each tail had a knot and through the middle of it there were sometimes sharp nails fixed. They marched naked in a file one behind the other and whipped themselves with these scourges on their naked and bleeding bodies.”
The Plague first reached Europe by way of Italy, creeping into Burgundy in July 1348 before decimating Paris at the end of the summer. Once contracting the disease, victims met a swift but painful death. Between 30% to 60% of Europe’s population was killed by it — certainly a third of western Europe’s population died. In Avignon in 1348, 11,000 people were buried in a single graveyard in a six-week period.
Continued below.
The Shroud of Turin and the Black Death
