The Sorrowful Mysteries

Lorenzo Lotto, Madonna of the Rosary
Italian, ca. 1539
Cigoli, Church of San Nicolo

This painting shows Mary giving the Rosary to Saint 

Dominic, who is accompanied by other saints.  Above the Virgin 

and Child are medallions depicting the traditional fifteen Mysteries 

of the Rosary. The Sorrowful Mysteries are the five scenes in the 

middle of the group.

Some years ago, when Mel Gibson's film “The Passion of the Christ” was first released, I noticed a striking difference between the reactions of Protestant and Catholic friends and co-workers.  Whereas the Catholics among them found the violence of the depiction of Christ’s Passion to be upsetting but basically what was expected, some Protestants found the same violence deeply shocking.  More than once I heard an acquaintance say in effect “I never realized what it meant”. 

I gave quite a lot of thought to the possible reasons behind this diversity in how the two Christian groups saw the brutality of the film.  I eventually came to the conclusion that it results from a difference between the ways Catholics and Protestants have looked at the events of His life between the entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. 

Catholics and some related Protestant groups, such as Anglicans/Episcopalians and Lutherans, call this period Holy Week and follow its multiple movements with similar intensity.  For Catholics at least, it involves not only two distinct readings of the Passion (on Palm Sunday from one of the three Synoptic Gospels in a yearly rotation, on Good Friday always from the Gospel of John), underscored by such liturgical actions as the stripping of the altars following the Holy Thursday Mass and the veneration of the Cross on Good Friday.  Those Protestant groups that are traditionally more radical in their rejection of “Popish” ways, Baptists for example, tend to skip over this week entirely and appear to arrive at Easter without ever having contemplated the means by which Jesus died in order to rise.

But, there is more to these distinctions than just the contemplation of the events the Passion during one week each year.  There is, for instance, the obvious difference in the form of the Cross displayed by Catholics and Protestants:  between the Catholic crucifix, the cross with the body of the Savior, and the Protestant plain cross.  Catholics also have a series of devotional practices that, when used, can bring these same events to mind over and over, all year long.  Among them are the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross.

The word “Rosary” refers both to the form of prayer and to the string of beads on which the prayers it consists of are counted.  Most people know that the Rosary  bead chain consists of groups of ten Hail Marys, punctuated by the Our Father and the Glory Be.  These groups of ten are called “decades”, from the Latin word for ten.  Each “decade” consists of one Our Father, the ten Hail Marys and one Glory Be.  The Rosary bead chain consists of five such "decades". 

There are twenty “Mysteries” (at least since the institution of the “Luminous Mysteries” by Pope Saint John Paul II, prior to that there were fifteen) in a full Rosary prayer.  Each group of “Mysteries” focuses on five New Testament events, offering five focal points for the minds of those who are praying. 

• The Joyful Mysteries focus on the events of the Birth and Childhood of Christ (the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, The Flight into Egypt and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple at Age 12). 
• The Luminous Mysteries focus on events from the adult life of Jesus prior to the Passion (the Baptism of Jesus, the Wedding at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration of Jesus, the Institution of the Eucharist). 
• The Sorrowful Mysteries, which we will begin examining today, focus on the events of the Passion of Jesus (the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion). 
• The Glorious Mysteries focus on the Resurrection and events following it (The Resurrection, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and her Coronation as Queen of Heaven). 

The Rosary is a form of prayer that is very flexible.  One can pray one decade at a time, or five decades at a time, or even all twenty decades at one session.  The recitation is traditionally spread over several days, with the Joyful Mysteries being recited on Mondays and Saturdays, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Luminous Mysteries on Thursdays and the Glorious Mysteries on Sundays and Wednesdays.

In 2011 I looked at the works of Giotto in the Arena Chapel as they reflected the events of Holy Week.  Last year I looked at several images of Jesus that can be seen as meditations on the Passion.  This year I will look at the events of the Passion as reflected by the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

Links to the individual Sorrowful Mysteries:

The First Sorrowful Mystery – The Agony in the Garden

The Second Sorrowful Mystery – The Scourging At The Pillar

The Third Sorrowful Mystery – The Crowning with Thorns

The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery – The Carrying of the Cross

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery – The Crucifixion

© M. Duffy, 2013

Meditation on the Passion – The Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico

Attributed to Jean le Noir, The Mocking of Christ

From the Petites heures of Jean de Berry

French (Paris), 1375

Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France

MS Latin 18014, fol. 82r

The accounts of the Passion all describe the mocking of Christ. He is blindfolded, struck repeatedly, spat upon. A crown of thorns is placed on His head and he is mocked as “King of the Jews”. Later Pilate orders him to be scourged. (Matthew 26:67-69; Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63-65; John 19:1-3).





















Most of the images of the Mocking of Christ are narrative in nature, reflecting the Gospel accounts. They portray the scene as they imagine it may have looked. Usually Christ appears, either standing or seated, amidst two or more of his tormentors.

The Mocking of Christ
From the Golden Munich Psalter
English (Oxford), c. 1200-1225
Munich, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek
MS Clm 835, fol. 25v

The painter of this miniature has included several episode from the Gospel accounts.  We see the maid servant challenging Saint Peter as the cock crows, Christ being slapped in the face, and the accusers pointing their fingers from behind the high priest.  

Christ Before Pilate and Christ Mocked
From a Psalter
German (Bavaria), c. 1236
Munich, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek
MS Clm 11308, fol. 9r

Master Henri, The Mocking of Christ
From the Livre d'images de Madame Marie
Flemish (Hainaut), c. 1285-1290
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition francaise 16251, fol. 35v

Jean Pucelle, The Mocking of Christ
From the Hours of Jeanne de Navarre
French (Paris), c. 1330-1340
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 3145, fol. 110r

Note the fat little demon who seems to be directing things.  He appears above the head of the seated figure.

The Mocking of Christ
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French, c. 1396
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 312, fol. 308r

The Mocking of Christ

From the Salisbury Psalter

 English, c. 1450-1475

Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France

MS Latin 765, fol. 10r

The Mocking of Christ

From a Prayer Book

Dutch, c. 1515-1525

The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliothek

MS MMW 10 F 21, fol. 81v

One is, however,  different.

Fra Angelico at the Convent of San Marco

Among the most striking visual meditations on the Passion is a painting at the Convent of San Marco in Florence. It was painted by Fra Angelico in the period 1441-1445, when Angelico was engaged in decorating the cells of his fellow Dominican friars with some of the most remarkable religious images ever painted. 1 

In the period between 1438, when the Convent of San Marco in Florence was transferred to the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), and 1445, when the renovations which followed their acquisition of the property were completed, Fra Angelico (real name in religion Fra Giovanni da Fiesole) and his assistants painted a series of frescoes in the corridors and other common spaces and in each of the cells in which the friars lived. The paintings in the cells are perhaps the most individual works of Christian art that have ever been painted. They are, in general, not at all like the depictions of similar scenes by other Quattrocento artists. Rather, they are visions and meditations in paint. The painting located in Cell No. 7 is probably the most unusual of these very unusual images.

Fra Angelico and assistants, The Mocking of Christ

Italian, c. 1440-1445

Florence, Convent of San Marco, Cell #7

In the center of this painting we see the image of Christ, dressed in white, seated before a plain undecorated wall, on which hangs a green cloth of state. His eyes are blindfolded with some thin material that allows us to clearly see the outline of His closed eyes and nose. On His head is a crown of thorns and behind His head is a cruciform halo. In His right hand He holds a segmented staff and in His left hand what appears to be an orb. In other words, He is shown as a king, but a suffering king. The image of the king crowned with thorns is certainly in the tradition of prior images of the Mocking.

The Crowning with Thorns

From a Pelerinage du Jesus-Christ by Guillaume de Digulleville

France (Rennes), c. 1425-1450

Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France

MS Francais 376, fol. 216

However, around His head we can see what are without doubt the most intriguing elements of this picture. Instead of seeing His tormentors standing by, we see only the parts of them that are causing the torment. There are four disembodied hands; two on either side, and all of them are right hands. On the right of the picture, one hand is raised as if preparing to strike Him, while another right hand hits Him with a rod. On the left side one hand reaches up to pull His beard, while another, palm towards us, prepares to slap Him. And, perhaps most exceptional of all, a disembodied head (presumably the owner of the beard pulling hand) launches spittle at Him. Meanwhile, the head’s disembodied left hand mockingly raises his hat.

Fra Angelico, The Mocking of Christ (central image)
Italian, c. 1440-1445
Florence, Convent of San Marco

These elements of the picture are odd enough, but the curious quality of this painting is compounded by the figures in the foreground.

 

 On the left sits, Mary, Jesus’ mother. Her identity is certain because of her continuous presence in many of the San Marco frescoes. Surprisingly, her back is turned to the image of Jesus behind her. On the right, also with his back turned, sits St. Dominic, reading a book. Both of these figures are shown touching their chins with one hand. What can this mean?

First of all, note the separation in level between the central image of Christ and the figures in the foreground. They sit on a shallow step above the ground level. He is raised above them on a higher step, a kind of podium. He is removed from them by this difference of level. Further, the gesture that both are making, that of raising their hands to their chins, is a traditional gesture that indicates intense thought. We still use it today.

Therefore, what we have here is not a visual record of an event, not an illustration of a text, but a visual meditation on the Passion. We are invited by it to enter into the same thoughtful frame of mind as Mary and Dominic. The book in Dominic’s hand indicates that he is in the second level of Lectio Divina, that of meditation. He has read the text and is now pondering it.  What we are seeing is his thought.  The picture is, quite literally, reading St. Dominic's mind.  We are, as it were, "seeing" not with his eyes, but with his mind.

One writer has suggested that all of the frescoes in the cells at San Marco, including this one, were designed to reflect the types of silent prayer that are described in a Dominican prayer manual for the Order’s novices, called De modo orandi.2 The manual was intended as a help in preparing the future friars for their eventual role as preachers. This 13th century handbook was reputed to record the gestures which St. Dominic himself used during silent prayer. The specific gesture in this picture is identified as “recollection”.

The picture itself and the connection to the Dominican prayer manual suggest that this is the ideal work to begin a discussion of painted meditations on the Passion of Jesus Christ.

© M. Duffy, 2012, additional pictures added 2021. New references added 2023.
__________________________________________
1.  Scudieri, Magnolia, "The Frescoes by Fra Angelico at San Marco" in Fra Angelico, New York, New Haven and London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2005, pp. 177-189. This is the catalogue of an exhibition of the work of Fra Angelico held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, October 26, 2005 - January 29, 2006.

2.  Hood, William, "Saint Dominic's Manners of Praying:  Gestures in Fra Angelico's Cell Frescoes at S. Marco", Art Bulletin, Volume LXVIII, Number 2, June 1986, pp. 195-206.  See also the review of Hood's subsequent book on the paintings in San Marco by Anthony Fisher, OP; "A New Interpretation of Fra Angelico", New Blackfriars, Vol. 75, No. 882, The Friars and the Renaissance (May 1994), pp. 255-265.