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Entry: Love Among the Bones Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/love_among_the_bones#24055 Post contents: As usual an excellent piece. “How odd to see a skull surrounded by two shoulder bones that look like wings, to make a grinning Angel of Death.” This stylized arrangement is a “memento mori” which echoes the theme of the whole Chapel. It is an interesting touchstone to a symbol you would once commonly find in most Churches and Chapels and was used to remind passing sinners of the finality of the Four Last Things. While modern “Goths” of the Dethklok variety have co-opted it, the symbol pre-dates the rise of Gothic art and architecture. On a recent trip to Malta, I was pleased to see the “memento mori” repeated without exception on the decorative slabs covering the tombs of our brethren the sleeping Knights at the Conventual Church of St. John in Valetta. I was told that the Capuchins began the practice because they had soil from the Holy Land in the basement in which to bury their brothers, but it eventual maxed out on its capacity and hence the Chapel’s furnishings. Given the splendid and special witness the Chapel and their order now gives to the world, Our Lord has wisely not extended the grace of incorruption to any of the Brothers, although I’m fairly certain more than a few have merited it. Sent at: 2008 07 24