The Skull
“Remember that you will die” (memento mori): a call to penance. At the foot of the Cross it is Adam’s skull, on Golgotha, the Place of the Skull.
Remember death. A skull calls to mind the words said on Ash Wednesday: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). It is not a sign of despair, but a call to turn from sin and live for the life to come.
Penitent saints. St Francis of Assisi, St Jerome, St Mary Magdalene and St Charles Borromeo are shown with a skull, meditating on death, often beside a crucifix or a book.
Adam’s skull. Golgotha means “the place of a skull” (Mark 15:22). An old tradition holds that Adam was buried there, so a skull lies at the foot of many crucifixes: the blood of Christ, the new Adam, falls on the first man and redeems him.
St Francis. Francis welcomed death as a sister. In his Canticle of the Creatures he praised God “for our Sister Bodily Death”.
Also called: memento mori
Where you’ll see it
The Passion and the martyrs
All symbols →
A statue with the skull?
Every statue is made from scratch in our studio in Mangalore.