Gravely Speaking

Many of the small mausoleums in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery have a window in the rear part of the tomb—often made of stained glass. Many of these windows are hand painted works of art, most often depicting religious figures. Two such windows depict the Virgin Mary but they are very different in nature. These two windows shown in this blogpost illustrate the evolution of Mary as Queen of Heaven to Mary as Mother.

Recently an art exhibition of paintings of the Virgin Mary displayed over 60 works Italian art, depicting Mary that explained the transformation of Mary in the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. An article in the December 11^th issue of the Economist reviewed an art exhibition titled, “Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea”, that opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. All of the paintings were of the Mary, Mother of Jesus, who until the 18^th Century was the most painted woman in the art world.

Part of the article focused on the evolution of Mary as Queen of Heaven to the approachable Mary as Mother, the same difference found in the two stained glass windows.

According to the article, the “Pre-Renaissance Mary is represented as queenly: ennobled, enthroned, surrounded by angels and engulfed in celestial light.” The stained glass window from the Riviere Family tomb shows Mary as the Queen of Heaven, with a bright halo surrounding her head. She stiffly holds haloed baby Jesus, who is standing on a starred representation of the world—Kind of Kings, Lord of Heaven and Earth. This is a majestic, unapproachable depiction of Mary.

The second window from the Demonneanx Family tomb depicts a very different Virgin Mary. Here she is wearing the ordinary clothing leaning back and holding Jesus on her lap in what is almost a foretelling of the pieta.

According to the art historian writing for the Economist, it was “in the late Middle Ages she becomes more approachable, appearing more often in the garb of an unassuming peasant. The humanist conception of Mary gained further traction in the Renaissance: she is less empress of heaven, more mother—sewing, nursing and playing with the infant Jesus. It is a representation that is crucial to the doctrine of Jesus’s “authentic humanity”: Mary is his link to human nature and earthly experience. Engaged in these quintessentially female activities, she also provides the archetype of Christian womanhood”.

There is another difference in these two depictions. In the first Mary looks down, a show of her humility. In the second, Mary looks directly at the viewer. In the exhibit, there are few examples of Mary gazing directly at the viewer. “Her eyes are invariably downcast, suggesting solemnity, a soul turned inward, and the tragic foreknowledge of her son’s fate”. There was also a notion that a woman’s direct gaze was impure.

JOHN EMMERT

FEBRUARY 8, 1831

NOVEMBER 22, 1882

CATHERINE S. WIFE

APRIL 18, 1835

OCTOBER 20, 1903

LEONARD J. EMMERT

MAY 11, 1871

OCTOBER 22, 1938

GEORGE EMMERT

APRIL 4, 1858

APRIL 25, 1859

CHRISTOPHER EMMERT

DECEMBER 25, 1863

SEPTEMBER 26, 1864

JOHN H. EMMERT

DECEMBER 11, 1865

SEPTEMBER 22, 1927

In the cemetery, much of the iconography represents a life ended—the winged death’s head, the hanging bud, the broken wheel. This gravestone in South Park Cemetery at Greensburg, Franklin County, Indiana, combines two such symbols—the broken column and the broken chain. The white marble monument has a broken chain that twines around the broken column.

The broken column symbolizes a life cut short. Some sites say that it represents the loss of the head of the family—others that it represents the life cut down in its prime.

This broken chain symbolism dates back to Medieval times when people believed that the soul could be held to the body by a golden chain. Once the chain was broken, the soul took flight and rose from the body leaving Earth and ascended to Heaven.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles metal grave markers come in many shapes and forms, including the various iterations found in the South Park Cemetery at Greensburg, Decatur County, Indiana.  Each marker version contains the letters F O E representing the words Fraternal Order of Eagles and some contain the letters L T J and E that relates to liberty, truth, justice, and equality found in the organization’s mission statement:

The Fraternal Order of Eagles, an international non-profit organization, unites fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills, and by promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.

Founded February 6, 1898, by six Seattle, Washington, theater owners John Cort, John W. and Tim J. Considine, Arthur Williams, Mose Goldsmith, and Harry Leavitt organized as “The Order of Good Things”.  Within two months, in April of the same year, the fraternal order changed its name to The Fraternal Order of Eagles and adopted the American bald eagle as their emblem.

The Eagles organize local chapters into aeries, (the chapter number is on the center of the marker–859) so named for the nests of eagles which are usually high and difficult to access.  Nearly since their inception, the Eagles have lobbied for causes important to the organization, such as the creation of Mother’s Day in 1904, later in the 30s for Social Security, and in 2006 to keep the two words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.  The Eagles also contribute to many charities, such as, St. Jude’s Hospital, a Disaster Relief Fund, Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, Art Ehrmann Cancer Fund, D. D. Dunlap Kidney Fund, among others.

St. Michael’s Cemetery in Brookville, Indiana, features two sculptures of St. Michael. The deep bas-relief statue at the entrance of the cemetery is made of a polished and unpolished red granite giving the statue a duo-tone effect.  Here St. Michael stands on the back of the devil himself who is holding his head in agony.  This statue represents the triumph of good over evil.

The statue at the rear entrance is painted stone.

Both statues depict St. Michael ready with sword. This sculpture shows Him wearing a plumed helmet, and an armor breastplate, his sword blade broken off. Here he is standing on a dragon representing Satan. Again, this statue symbolizes good over evil. St. Michael points to the Heavens to show the source of victory.

St. Michael is a favorite found in many Catholic cemeteries. Only the Archangel Michael, one of three angels mentioned by name in the Bible, is clothed in armor.  The sword he carries represents a cross but also a weapon in his war against the devil’s warriors.

ANGELINE

CLARK

DIED

AUG 28, 1854

AGED 3 Y’S,

5 M’S, 16 D’S.

The lamb is the symbol of the Lord, the Good Shepherd, which comes from the Bible passage, Psalm 23:1-6.

The lamb also represents innocence, likely the reason why this motif usually adorns the tombstones of infants and young children such as this one for Angeline Clark buried in the Melott Cemetery in rural Brown County, Indiana.  Most often the lamb is lying down, often asleep and sometimes with a cross behind the lamb. Here the lamb in accompanied by a little girl, presumably the visage of little Angeline.

~Psalms 23:1-6~

The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Amen.