The Meaning of
the Sculpture Program in
Our Mother of Africa Chapel
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The Four Evangelists
The Chapel dedicated to
Our Mother of Africa has been completed with the addition of four new
sculptures of the four evangelists from the New Testament created by
Giancarlo Biagi and Jill Burkee who maintains studios in New York and
Italy. These sculptures with distinct African features, of Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, are carved in gray Bardiglio marble.
Each of the Evangelists
created by sculptors Giancarlo Biagi and Jill Burkee have become
represented symbolically by one of the creatures described in the Book
of Ezekiel 1:4-5 and in the Book of Revelation 4:7. Christian art and
iconography have come to use these creatures as images found in
Ethiopian Christian Art.
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Matthew is the
Human/Angel — this Gospel begins by telling the human ancestry of Jesus
(Matthew
1:1). |
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Mark is the Lion — this
Gospel begins in the wilderness (Mark 1:3) |
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Luke is the Ox — this
Gospel begins with the temple, a place of sacrifice and tells of the
birth of Christ in a place where farm animals lived. (Luke 2:16) |
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John is the Eagle —
this Gospel begins far above all. (John 1:1) |
These symbols are
carved upon the clothing wrap of each Evangelist wherein the design of
the creatures connects our church today with the riches of the past.
Each of the carved creatures has the face of a human being, the face of
a lion, the face of an ox and the face of an eagle.
The four evangelists
are mounted within the walls of the Chapel in such a way that they
become and invite the visitor to enter into the Sacred Conversation with
the other art pieces in the Chapel — Our Mother of Africa in bronze, our
ancestors in the bas Relief Panel in bronze and the crucified Christ,
carved from Ebony Wood, on the Cross.
Our Mother of Africa Chapel
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