Sacred Pain—Study On Images Of Saints’ Suffering In The 15^th Century Of Italy

Crucifixion has special significance in Christianity, which represents the culmination of what Jesus suffered and redeemed. It is also a momentous route for saints to be integrated into Christ as imitators. Among Christian art, images of saints’ suffering have been abundant and various, especially in the late Middle Ages to the 15 TH Century, which is closely related to social structure, religious needs and survivors’ psychology. These factors are obviously reflected in religious art.In this paper, the popular images of saints’ suffering in the 15 TH century of Italy are summed up and analyzed in two categories, which are about martyrdom and spirituality, based on different ways of pain in saints’ body. However, all of the saints had both active and passive suffering experiences, who express their profound love to Christ. These experiences made it possible for them to obtain divine power from Christ. In reality, saints were widely known and worshiped by the public, in virtue of whose ability to intercede for people’s suffering in front of God. Images of saints’ suffering were involved in shaping the figure of saints and were also used to stimulate religious emotion in prayer, so as to set an ideal example of death for their fellow Christians.Images of saints’ suffering incarnate a “Good Pain” in Christianity: Christians know God through the pain of their own bodies, breaking the limits of the body and the soul. With a positive social significance, this “sacred pain” empowers the body to save itself. It becomes more of a religious and faithful belief, than just a physical limitation.