BRONGE

PETER G. BONI

1914 – 2000

DANIEL BONI

1891 – 1955

BABY PHYLLIS

1952

PHYLLIS BONI

1898 – 1936

MARIA FRANCESCA BRONGE

1868 – 1925

CARL BRONGE

1863 – 1952

The Bronge Family monument in the Mount Carmel Cemetery at Hillsdale, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, is a gray granite block of polished granite sitting on a large horizontal base. The top of the block features a Latin cross on its side. Many works of art depict Christ carrying the cross, and this gravestone represents His suffering as He carried it. The cross on its side pays tribute to Christ carrying the cross without actually showing Christ in the depiction.

On one side of the block is a white marble planter. On the other side of the block is a white marble statue of the Virgin Mary imbued with symbolism. She points to her heart. This is a representation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 2, verse 19, it says, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” In devotion to the Heart of Mary, the faithful are to study and imitate the Heart of Mary as a place of love and devotion to Jesus and to God’s love.

In addition to the symbolism of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is the image and symbolism of Mary standing on a snake. In Genesis 3:15 God speaks to the serpent after the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He shall crush your head and you shall lie in wait for his heel.” In the Latin translation the passage read “she shall crush your head.”

The passage comes to be seen as a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Christ is the “seed of the woman.” Mother Mary is free from sin, both original and actual, and as such is viewed as the new Eve, the only woman who has a perfect enmity with the devil. It is the ultimate symbol of Mary’s victory over evil. In a larger sense it is viewed as the triumph of good over evil.