Meaning: The Agony in the Garden
Explanation: Due to a typological interpretation of the prophecy of Isaiah Torcular calcavi solus & de genibus non est vir mecum (I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no man with me), the figure of the winepress is used as a symbol of the Passion of Christ.Namely, among the diverse episodes that form the Passion cycle, the press seems especially suitable to signify the agony of Jesus on the Mount of Olives: first, because it provides an effective image to recall the drops of blood that the Lord sweated then (hence the header of this meditation: “The bloody sweat in the garden”); and second, because according to Ginther in Gethsemane: “as a result of the abundance of olives there was a press, not for grapes, but for olives, next to which Christ told his disciples to sit down”. Now then, instead of the traditional iconography of the Mystical Press, in which Jesus is represented as a pressed bunch of grapes (see for instance two engravings by H. Wierix and J. Callot), the pictura of this emblem depicts two hearts so as to show that not only Christ but also his Mother had to endure all the sufferings and sorrows of the Passion. In relation to this, the abstract that heads this Consideratio states: “When Christ was praying in the Garden, the Mother of Sorrows prayed; when he was fading, she faded”. For a detailed explanation, click HERE (in Spanish)
Explanation: Due to a typological interpretation of the prophecy of Isaiah Torcular calcavi solus & de genibus non est vir mecum (I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no man with me), the figure of the winepress is used as a symbol of the Passion of Christ.Namely, among the diverse episodes that form the Passion cycle, the press seems especially suitable to signify the agony of Jesus on the Mount of Olives: first, because it provides an effective image to recall the drops of blood that the Lord sweated then (hence the header of this meditation: “The bloody sweat in the garden”); and second, because according to Ginther in Gethsemane: “as a result of the abundance of olives there was a press, not for grapes, but for olives, next to which Christ told his disciples to sit down”. Now then, instead of the traditional iconography of the Mystical Press, in which Jesus is represented as a pressed bunch of grapes (see for instance two engravings by H. Wierix and J. Callot), the pictura of this emblem depicts two hearts so as to show that not only Christ but also his Mother had to endure all the sufferings and sorrows of the Passion. In relation to this, the abstract that heads this Consideratio states: “When Christ was praying in the Garden, the Mother of Sorrows prayed; when he was fading, she faded”. For a detailed explanation, click HERE (in Spanish)
