I am sorry for your loss. Even though I "know" life is short and we may (hopefully will) wind up in a better place after death, that big gaping hole is PAINFUL. I pray you and your family will find comfort.
Those pictures are interesting. I had not seen (noticed?) St. Michael holding a feather before. Is it a quill or one of the fallen angel's feathers? Does your book say why the chains are often part of the depiction of victory? Is Satan being chained, or is St. Michael breaking the chains Satan has placed on us (his victims)? I will have to contemplate this.
I think it's Michael pulling out one of Satan's feathers - the chains are generally part of Michael being involved in chaining Satan in Hell.
In Dante's Inferno, Satan is in the middle of a frozen lake, chained at the center of the Earth, and he's got three mouths chewing on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius.
Dante & Virgil climb down Satan's hairy legs through the center of the Earth to the antipodes... pop onto the other side! There's the Seven Storey Mountain of Purgatory! Note: this is not dogma, but it sure is an interesting interpretation.
....then when they get to the top of Mt. Purgatory, they float away into Outer Space.... and they're now going to Paradiso! It's in the literal heavens!
For imagery, Dante gets more fantastical the farther you go. The imagery in Paradiso is mesmerizing, I find, and he runs out of words at the end.
I am sorry for your loss. Even though I "know" life is short and we may (hopefully will) wind up in a better place after death, that big gaping hole is PAINFUL. I pray you and your family will find comfort.
Those pictures are interesting. I had not seen (noticed?) St. Michael holding a feather before. Is it a quill or one of the fallen angel's feathers? Does your book say why the chains are often part of the depiction of victory? Is Satan being chained, or is St. Michael breaking the chains Satan has placed on us (his victims)? I will have to contemplate this.
I like geometric myself. Diarmid has good taste!
I think it's Michael pulling out one of Satan's feathers - the chains are generally part of Michael being involved in chaining Satan in Hell.
In Dante's Inferno, Satan is in the middle of a frozen lake, chained at the center of the Earth, and he's got three mouths chewing on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius.
Dante & Virgil climb down Satan's hairy legs through the center of the Earth to the antipodes... pop onto the other side! There's the Seven Storey Mountain of Purgatory! Note: this is not dogma, but it sure is an interesting interpretation.
....then when they get to the top of Mt. Purgatory, they float away into Outer Space.... and they're now going to Paradiso! It's in the literal heavens!
For imagery, Dante gets more fantastical the farther you go. The imagery in Paradiso is mesmerizing, I find, and he runs out of words at the end.
I forwarded the article to several of my friends.