THE FACE OF DEATH

Ivory rosary bead with Morthead and the Holy Face. 16thC. Louvre, Paris

During this month of November, Holy Mother Church invites us to think of Death, to pray for the souls of those who have died, and to prepare for our own inevitable end.

Those with responsibility for the young should not shy away from teaching them these things, which are all too frequently hidden away in our humanist age.  One day we shall be dead in our turn, you too, and yearning in Purgatory for younger souls on earth to pray for us, for you.

Blessed Robert Southwell, a Jesuit, was martyred on 21st February 1595. He penned these lines, upon dwelling on the Image of Death.  We do not have his advantages in the visual arts of our day, so must try harder!

BEFORE my face the picture hangs
That daily should put me in mind
Of these cold names and bitter pangs
That shortly I am like to find;
But yet, alas! full little I
Do think hereon that I must die. 

I often look upon a face,
Most ugly, grisly, bare and thin;
I often view the hollow place
Where eyes and nose had sometime been;
I see the bones across that lie,
Yet little think that I must die. 

My ancestors are turned to clay,
And many of my mates are gone;
My youngers daily drop away,
And can I think to 'scape alone?
No, no, I know that I must die,
And yet my life amend not I. 

If none can 'scape Death's dreadful dart,
If rich and poor his beck obey;
If strong, if wise, if all do smart,
Then I to 'scape shall have no way.
Oh! grant me grace, O God, that I
My life may mend, sith I must die.

Saint Robert Southwell, pray for us at our last hour.

Do NOT forget the indulgence, four days left!