Tuesday, June 25, 2013

St. Teresa's Place in Hell...


Somewhere...

I thought that would be a great title for a painting:  St. Teresa's Place in Hell.

Then I recalled the image shown above, thinking it may fit that description already.

Teresa's place in hell:
Some considerable time after our Lord had bestowed upon me the graces I have been describing, and others also of a higher nature, I was one day in prayer when I found myself in a moment, without knowing how, plunged apparently into hell. I understood that it was our Lord's will I should see the place which the devils kept in readiness for me, and which I had deserved by my sins (1). It was but a moment, but it seems to me impossible I should ever forget it, even if I were to live many years.

The entrance seemed to be by a long narrow pass, like a furnace, very low, dark, and close. The ground seemed to be saturated with water, mere mud, exceedingly foul, sending forth pestilential odors, and covered with loathsome vermin. At the end was a hollow place in the wall, like a closet, and in that I saw myself confined. All this was even pleasant to behold in comparison with what I felt there. There is no exaggeration in what I am saying. - Autobiography

Image shown above: 
"The sculpture allegedly representing Sr. Restituta Kafka unveiled in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. Sr. Restituta was arrested and murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War. In June 1998 she was declared a blessed by Pope John Paul II. Her new sculpture shows a female face without veil and with big breasts. It will be placed in a side-chapel of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The bust was created by Alfred Hrdlicka, the same artist who caused a worldwide scandal with a painting representing Christ’s Last Supper as a homosexual orgy. The controversial painting was exposed in the diocesan museum of Vienna. Hrdlicka calls himself an atheist and Stalinist." - Source

2 comments:

  1. Oh ish. re: that "bust".
    re: hell....wow. would that we were ever taught such awful scenes. what happened ?

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  2. Wow, is that ever hideous! My husband and I were in Vienna for several days last fall. There were actually many beautiful churches which appeared to be trying to maintain reverence and beauty within. St. Stephen's was not one of them! The massive cathedral was probably my least favorite of the churches we visited. My favorite was the beautiful little church right across the street from our hotel. Dedicated to St. Anne, there was Eucharistic Adoration each morning and evening, while the priest waited in the confessional...usually in vain. There were morning and evening Masses, and the church was exquisite in Rococo splendor. God bless that priest who was there for so few.

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