Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Sep. 2011
In the religious sphere the word piety has a special and important presence since through it the fervor and the religious faith that the believers or faithful who belong to a certain religion manifest regarding figures, symbols, considered elementals of the religion they profess.
Religious fervor that the believer manifests regarding his beliefs
In Christianity, more especially in its book sacred, the BibleWe find two different conceptions regarding the term piety; in the Old Testament is linked to this term with the mercy, it is common to find the phrase: "Have mercy on me oh God", meanwhile, in the New Testament , the word mercy implies ideas of fear of God, obedience to his commandment and to religious life, those people who led a committed religious life were called pious.
Compassion felt for someone
On the other hand, in common language we use the word piety to denote the compassion what can be felt from someone or a group that is suffering from some issue
. “I ask you please to have a little mercy with me, I just suffered a tremendous loss and you are yelling at me. Laura asked the police to have mercy on her, when she recovers from the shock of the assault she promised to testify.”Such a situation implies that the person who feels pity or mercy for another has a natural inclination to perceive that misery and to feel especially sorry for it.
However, it does not remain solely in lament, but pity in this sense moves the person to act, to help the one who suffers to alleviate the pain that he suffers.
Sculpture made by the Renaissance artist Michelangelo and that is exhibited in a chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican
And the other of the extremely popular uses of the word piety is to designate in the painting or in the sculpture, to that representation of the Virgin Mary while she is holding the corpse of her son Jesus Christ descended from the cross.
One of the representations of this scene most emblematic is the one carried out by the plastic artist of the Renaissance Michelangelo and which is exhibited in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, in the Vatican.
This sculpture was made by the artist enrolled in the movement of the Renaissance between 1498 and 1499.
It has dimensions of 1.74 x 1.95 and is made of marble.
It stands out formally for being a sculpture with a round shape, which is characterized by imposing the third dimension in representation, in real and true proportions and natural sizes, which brings even more reality to the artistic work in question.
Piety, for example, can be appreciated from all angles, although we must emphasize that the preferential point of view is the frontal one.
The work has a supreme emotionality due to the sensitive theme it conveys, a mother holding his dead son with all the emotional load that this sad event supposes for any mother.
The work was commissioned by the Cardinal of San Dionisio Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas, ambassador of the French king to the Vatican, made to Michelangelo.
In 1498 they signed the agreement for the artist to begin with the realization of the work and it was indicated not only that It should be completed before the term of one year, but it also indicated the payment of a sum of 450 ducats of gold.
Incredibly, the work was completed on time, two days before the deadline that had been proposed in the written agreement, but the cardinal who commissioned it could not see it since he died two days before.
At first it was erected on the French cardinal's own tomb and then in 1749 it was moved to its current location in the first chapel on the right in St. Peter's Basilica.