SACRED ART IN 100 WORDS

Holy Trinity
Masaccio
C 1426 – 1428
Santa Maria Novella, Florence

The painter invites us to dwell upon the ‘Throne of Grace’. The Merciful Father presents to us the ‘Body of Christ’ (the Holy Eucharist). The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a Dove. The Sorrowful Virgin leads us to her Son, while St. John the Evangelist is seen receiving this great mystery of love. At the bottom notice the sarcophagus with a skeleton. Above this Memento Mori is the words – ‘I once was what you are and what I am you also will be.’ Amidst the inevitability of death, the artist reminds us that eternal life and salvation rest in the saving love of the Holy Trinity.