An altar with severed heads

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That altar is awesome. Makes me proud that someone is finally showing the Authority of the Church as the Conquerors of sin and evil.
 
This is what I thought as well. I guess it’s a somewhat literal representation of “your enemies will be your footstool”.

Still, I consider it in poor taste, and more than a bit grotesque by modern standards.
 
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BartholomewB said:
Idi Amin, the dictator who ruled Uganda in the seventies, was reported to have kept several of his enemies’ severed heads in a refrigerator. He would take them out from time to time and gloat over them. Even so, he didn’t go to the grotesque extreme of displaying them as part of an altar.
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Didn’t Stalin keep a piece of Hitler’s jaw?
 
There is a church made of real skulls and bones in Croatia I think. To commemorate the sufferings during the great plague. That should top this one.
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Mary 888- Sedlec Ossurary is in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

I think a lot of Americans don’t realize how much skeletons, bones, and other grotesque imagery exists within the European Churches from the plague era. It’s a bit of a sad thing that people don’t understand the history or culture of the Church.
 
SpearOfMichael said:
It’s a bit of a sad thing that people don’t understand the history or culture of the Church.
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Even people who understand full well the history of the church can object to modern ill-executed attempts at recreating it.
 
I hope your bishop installs one just like this in your parish. 😆
 
If we assume these are the heads of persecutors, I am still struggling to understand it as Christian art. The triumph of good over evil is tainted when we allow our thoughts to dwell on evildoers, their evil acts, and their destruction by acts of violence.
 
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I don’t know the specifics, but the only thing I can think of is that even through their evil deeds, the glory of God was revealed. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Even their evil acts of destruction and violence brought about the conversion of their people. To dwell upon the triumph of the martyrs is to dwell upon the very act and source which provided them the opportunity for witness.
 
If the heads are those of evil rulers, may this altar remind us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48).
 
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I could have looked at it for hours and not understood thayeaning. Ais that the artist’s intent or just your guess?

It is hideaous IMO.
 
This altar DOES NOT inspire me to raise my mind and heart to God.
 
I’m getting annoyed with these modern Catholic artists. They are butchering our houses of worship. I’m sure that altar became a nice check in the artist’s pocket too…
 
MiserereMei25 said:
I’m getting annoyed with these modern Catholic artists. They are butchering our houses of worship. I’m sure that altar became a nice check in the artist’s pocket too…
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I’m more annoyed with the clergy who hire them…they are the ones ultimately to blame.
 
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