This stained-glass painting from the Wienhausen monastery presents a very unusual crucifixion scene: Christ is not only accompanied by Mary and John, but five personified virtues are also present. Justice and Peace place the crown of thorns on his head, while Mercy and Truth have their hands devoutly raised at the foot of the cross. Caritas, however, Christian love (charity), embraces the crucified Christ tightly and at the same time plunges a dagger into his body.
Photographer: Rafael Toussaint
A Stab in the Heart
The crucifixion of virtue goes back to the Christian mysticism of the 13th and 14th centuries, where it was very popular in women’s monasteries such as Wienhausen. With the stab by Caritas, Christ’s body opens and sheds the innocent blood that washes humanity clean of its sins, while the embrace simultaneously becomes a symbol of the pursuit of Christ’s love. The arrangement of the virtues on the cross, as found in the stained glass, can be traced to Psalm 84 of the Vulgate, which pairs Misericordia (mercy) and Veritas (truth), as well as Iustitia (justice) and Pax (peace) together. Against this backdrop, the virtues in the stained glass remain something positive despite their cruel actions; the crowning with thorns and the stab in the back are to be understood allegorically: Christ possessed all the virtues gathered here and acted according to them, which ultimately led to his crucifixion. This is particularly clear in the motif of the crucifixion of virtues through the means of personification, because only with a body of its own can Caritas also injure the body of Christ.
“Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse.” This is how the narrator speaks to his bride in the biblical Song of Songs 4:9. And like Sponsa, the bride of Christ, Caritas, which is written with a K here, also wounds the body of Christ and thus enables the Christian redemption. The embrace between her and Christ testifies that the cruel act is based on love of neighbour.
Photographer: Rafael Toussaint
