"La Nona Ora": A sculpture of John Paul II

Jul

"La Nona Ora": A sculpture of John Paul II

Posted by Ginkgo100 Labels: art, christian life, culture

In 1999, Italian sculptor Maurizio Cattelan created this sculpture above, naming it "La Nona Ora" ("The Ninth Hour"). In 2004, it sold at Christie's for $2.7 million. Pope John Paul II is made of wax, and the meteor is volcanic rock.

Science and Religion News discusses some possible meanings of the sculpture. The meteor may represent the new militant atheism movement, or it might be the Kaaba stone at Mecca, showing Islam's ascendancy over Christianity. Cattelan himself raised the idea of an "upside-down miracle," in which a tragedy comes from the heavens and the Pope is saved by earthly forces.

I like to see it as a symbol of the physical illness that John Paul II suffered in the final years of his life.

What do you think of the sculpture? What might it stand for?

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Marysienka · 870 weeks ago

I looked at La Nona Ora and immediately thought it to mean the pain of earthly life and the struggle (at times hopeless-seeming) towards union with God ... I suppose.
When Come Be My Light came out, and non-Christians claimed Mother Teresa's almost constant feeling of being isolated from God meant something damning for Christianity, the truth was, as CS Lewis has said (to paraphrase), "Those who need God's help less receive less of it."
The barrage of bad luck, ill will, sickness, poverty, etc, that the best of us sometimes suffer as Christians does not mean, as non-Christians might like to believe, that being one gets you nothing but pain. It means that we do actually have something to believe in that is worth all our earthly sufferings.

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The Secret of Newton · 846 weeks ago

Look at how fiercely he clings to the cross. When the world has collapsed or shattered you cling to the cross. Or, for that matter, if you get struck by a meteorite or a volcanic projectile, you cling to the cross.

I'm also intrigued because the facial expression on the Pope very closely matches the expression on the Newton death mask which I use as the logo for my blog. Newton was unorthodox on in many parts of his theology, but my pet theory is that his heresies were just a cloak for his orthodoxy, written in the coded language of alchemy. Kind of the mirror image of The da Vinci Code where outward orthodoxy was a cloak for secret heresy. The expression in both pictures speaks to me of hard determination (stiff-necked stubbornness even) with a hint of "I know something that you don't" which allows them to prevail.

Personally, I was first shocked by the Pope sculpture, but like it more the more I think about it. Not sure where it will fit in my living room though. The broken glass thing will have to be worked out with my 10 year old son and visitors. Perhaps a perimeter of "caution" tape.

Thank you for this post. It has clicked an idea for me that I want to chew on for a while. I'll trackback to you and give you the hat tip when I post. Keep up the good work Ginko, I'm enjoying your blog.

Also, I'd like you to tell me a bit more about the "Intense Debate" service. I'm curious.