Flânerie

"You might imagine, for example, that engineers, mathematicians and scientists dominate the..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:30:15 +0800

“You might imagine, for example, that engineers, mathematicians and scientists dominate the...

"Alcohol use is a cause of cancer. Any level of alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00:16 +0800

“Alcohol use is a cause of cancer. Any level of alcohol consumption increases the risk of...

eclettichevisioni: Stelios Niakaris | ph.: Hudson Wright

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:10:40 +0800

eclettichevisioni:

Stelios Niakaris | ph.: Hudson Wright

[Random Salt] Within the reach of our arms

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:30:11 +0800

[Random Salt] Within the reach of our arms: “…the inability to imagine alternative...

TED Talk by Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness—from the inside

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:49:00 +0800

TED Talk by Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness—from the inside

TED Talk by Ruby Wax: What’s so funny about mental...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:46:00 +0800

TED Talk by Ruby Wax: What’s so funny about mental illness?

On Living - Nazim Hikmet

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:05:01 +0800

ILiving is no laughing matter: you must live with great...

A Luna moment?

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:56:54 +0800

A Luna moment?

what is the point of Louise Gluck in his poem Martins

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:32 +0800

As it seems you are not even aware that Louise Glück is a female poet, I see little point in...

Awards and Abuses

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:47:07 +0800

Awards and Abuses: On the 2012 Thirteen Artists Awards (TAA) by the Cultural Center of the...

11. What would you name your daughter if you had one? 12. What would you name your son if you had one?13. What's the worst grade you got on a test?

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:59:03 +0800

11. Dea Alegria 12. Amadeo Luis 13. Zero

50 Questions You've Never Been Asked

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 21:47:58 +0800

1. What's your favorite candle scent? 2. What female celebrity do you wish was your sister? 3....

lopeziana: A Blessed All Saints Day to All! Iconography: The...

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:57:53 +0800

lopeziana:

A Blessed All Saints Day to All! Iconography: The Secret Language of Saints and Their Symbols

Works of art are neither illustrations nor evidence that validate a particular interpretation of a theological or cultural argument. Rather, works of art are in their own right a mode of human expression that generates theological interpretation and reflection, and that reveals its cultural and theological milieu. In order for an interpreter of works of art to be able to understand and to operate in this way, he or she must carefully trained in the discipline of seeing. Learning to see is a difficult task involving its own hermeneutic. In 1 Corinthians, Paul describes the process of the discipline of seeing when he tells us:

For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known (13:12)

To be trained in the discipline of seeing involves the total engagement of the viewer, and the viewer in turn is transformed. This is a central part of the hermeneutic of the discipline of seeing. If one were to compare different works of art through the lens of religious studies, the distinctions and similarities between the religious worldviews and the cultural milieus would become apparent.

A symbol may be defined as an element, animate or inanimate, that stands for something else. The meaning of certain symbols, however, differs according to context in which they appear. Moreover, it cannot be assumed that the elements of a painting always carry symbolic significance – they may be included for aesthetic or naturalistic reasons.

Attributes are emblems that help the viewer to identify characters within a painting, such as the wheel of Saint Catherine or the shaggy tunic of Saint John the Baptist. They usually derive from an episode in the life of the figure concerned and often have no symbolic meaning. People, as well as objects can serve this purpose. There are also collective attributes, which identify a type: the crown of regents, the palm of martyrs or the cockleshell of pilgrims.

———

Catherine of Alexandria

Feast day: November 25

Identifying situation: martyr with a spiked wheel

Appearance: wears regal robes, in particular a crown on her head

Attributes: palm leaf, sword, wheel, ring of mystical matrimony

Biographical notes: A martyr of the fourth century, probably of noble lineage, she was tortured with a spiked wheel and then beheaded under Emperor Maxentius

Patronage: Invoked by nursing women, shipwreck victims, and against migraines; protector of orators, philosophers, notaries, tailors, stylists, spinners, carters, nursing mothers, and wet nurses

The spiked wheel, often broken is the unmistakable element that identifies the martyr saint Catherine of Alexandria. The only certain information about her person celebrates her wisdom and her veneration in the monastery of Mount Sinai. Her special martyrdom, as collected and handed down in The Golden Legend, is derived from a reworking of the symbols that were originally attributed to her. A wise woman who had turned to Christ, she was able to confound and reduce to silence the most important philosophers summoned by the emperor Maxentius to confute her faith. This wisdom was originally represented as a circle, the ancient symbol of inspired wisdom. This was later confused with a wheel, and in the Middle Ages the legend of her torture by means of a wheel was invented, the torture being interrupted by the intervention of an angel (which is how the wheel got broken). In some images the wheel was a very small symbol, so small that it was later read as a ring, thus becoming the perfect emblem for depiction of the mystical marriage, an iconographic theme already present in the Middle Ages but very widespread in the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries.

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St. Florentina

Feastday: June 20

Died: 612

Spanish abbess. She was born in Cartagena, Spain, and was the sister of Sts. Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius. Leander raised Florentina and founded a convent for her, where she became abbess.

Virgin; born towards the middle of the sixth century; died about 612. The family of St. Florentina furnishes us with a rare example of lives genuinely religious, and actively engaged in furthering the best interests of Christianity. Sister of three Spanish bishops in the time of theVisigothic dominion (Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius), she consecrated her virginity to God, and all four have been canonized by the Church. Florentina was born about the middle of the sixth century, being younger than her brother Leander, later Archbishop of Seville, but older thanIsidore, who succeeded Leander as archbishop of the same see. Before his elevation to the episcopal dignity, Leander had been a monk, and it was through his influence that Florentina embraced the ascetic life. She associated with herself a number of virgins, who also desired to forsake the world, and formed them into a religious community. Later sources declare their residence to have been the convent of S. Maria deValle near Ecija (Astigis), of which city her brother Fulgentius was bishop. In any case, it is certain that she had consecrated herself to Godbefore the year 600, as her brother Leander, who died either in the year 600 or 601, wrote for her guidance an extant work dealing with anun’s rule of life and with contempt for the world (“Regula sive Libellus de institutione virginum et de contemptu mundi ad Florentinamsororem”, P.L. LXXII, 873 sqq.). In it the author lays down the rules according to which cloistered virgins consecrated to God should regulate their lives. He strongly advises them to avoid intercourse with women living in the world, and with men, especially youths; recommends stricttemperance in eating and drinking, gives advice concerning the reading of and meditation on Holy Scripture, enjoins equal love and friendship for all those living together in community, and exhorts his sister earnestly to remain true to her holy state. Florentina regulated her life according to the advice of her brother, entered with fervour into the spirit of the religious life, and was honoured as a saint after her death. Her younger brother Isidore also dedicated to her his work “De fide catholica contra Judæos”, which he wrote at her request. Florentina died early in the seventh century and is venerated as the patroness of the diocese of Plasencia. Her feast falls on 20 June. The name is writtenFlorentia in the Roman martyrology, but Florentina is without doubt the correct form.

—————————-

Sources:

Art as Religious Studies

Edited by Doug Adams & Diane Apostolos-Cappadonia

The Secret Language of Art by Sarah Carr-Gomm

Saints And Their Symbols by Rosa Giorgi

Wikipedia and Catholic Encyclopedia

tiggahtigz: high pitched aw :3

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:07:39 +0800

tiggahtigz:

*high pitched aw* :3

[Random Salt] Explanation required, Mr. President

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:58:05 +0800

[Random Salt] Explanation required, Mr. President: My position regarding what has become Republic...

"The Collectivists believe in a true government of democracy, not only in form, but also in fact, not..."

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:48:00 +0800

“The Collectivists believe in a true government of democracy, not only in form, but also in...

The Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle sponsors a screening...

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 22:50:00 +0800

The Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle sponsors a screening of its Best Film of 2011, Haruo. A sensitive melding of film genres and Japanese art forms, Haruo weaves the paths of two cities through the life of a man in hiding. It portrays his search for elusive redemption in a world precipitously made small by a dark past. Haruo traces this man’s precarious life as he navigates the ordeals in the city of his present and that of his not-so-distant past. Director Adolf Alix, Jr. grafts inner turmoil to geographies of parallel chaos and momentary reprieve in sombre yet delicate feeling, a perceptive portrayal of redemption and remorse.

A forum with Alix and producer-actor Jackie Woo follows the 6PM screening at the UP Film Institute on the ~~8th of August (Wednesday)~~ 25th of September (Tuesday). Tickets are at 100 pesos each and may be bought at the UPFI on the day of the screening itself.

Reservations can be made through this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/157322194406245/
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/34012091
YCC Review: http://yccfilmdesk.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/no-springtime-in-manila/

clairefoley: “THE INTERNET,” as depicted by 1990s stock...

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:35:17 +0800

clairefoley:

“THE INTERNET,” as depicted by 1990s stock photos.

pinoytumblr: The State of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines According...

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:31:50 +0800

pinoytumblr:

The State of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines

According to data from the Department of Health, the number of new cases of HIV being reported in the Philippines is steadily on the rise. While the absolute number of cases in the Philippines is relatively small, HIV is rising at an alarming rate in the country.

Persons who are infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) may eventually develop AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a life threatening disease characterized by a weakened immune system.

They agreed that the HIV has spread in the Philippines largely because of the lack of public education about the virus. Because sex is a taboo topic in Filipino culture, experts speculate that the actual number of HIV cases in the Philippines may actually be higher than reported because people are too ashamed or afraid to come forward about having the infection.

[via GMA News]

“On Youth and Social Media: A Deck of Practical...

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:59:44 +0800

“On Youth and Social Media: A Deck of Practical LOLcats”