VATICAN

Vatican Museums: "The Lord with us in the Eucharist”

As the Church marks Maundy Thursday, we draw inspiration from Cosimo Rosselli’s Fresco of the Last Supper in the Sistine Chapel (1481-82).

Cosimo Rosselli. Fresco of the Last Supper; 1481-82; Sistine Chapel (© Musei Vaticani)

This fresco is found on the north wall of the Sistine Chapel where the 15th century artists depicted the cycle of the Life of Christ. Cosimo Rosselli’s Last Supper represents the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, while beyond the windows, three moments of the Passion can be seen: the Agony in the Garden, Jesus’s arrest, and the Crucifixion.

“The Lord wants to remain with us in the Eucharist. And we become the Lord’s tabernacles, carrying the Lord with us; to the point that he himself tells us: if we do not eat his body and drink his blood, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. This is a mystery, bread and wine, the Lord with us, within us, inside us.”

(Pope Francis, Mass of the Lord’s Supper, 9 April 2020)

Under the direction of Paolo Ondarza

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