Vessel of the Preborn Jesus.


Vessel

There it is, folks, in all its tacky glory, the vessel of preborn Jesus. Not a woman, not a mythological goddess, just this human-shaped fetus vase. This over-sized, schlocky ornament (3 ft high / 1 meter, $1,995.) gilds the deep, poisonous roots of religious misogyny. As we all know, women aren’t truly important, outside their status as fetus incubators. This status is further highlighted by that awful rosary which forms the outer boundary of Mama Mary’s uterus. I can’t help but note that uterus is riding really high. This is more Alien chest burster than human fetus. I suppose they didn’t want it allied too closely with that pesky crotch region which gets all those poor men into trouble all the time. Not supposed to think about that, no. Preborn Jesus is looking a tad over-baked as well.

Then, while praying the Angelus during a Holy Hour in church, Conklin said, “The image came in my mind’s eye of the umbilical cord around Jesus, the physical lifeline between mother and child. Slowly, the umbilical cord turned into the Rosary. The Rosary is the spiritual umbilical cord of prayer, which is the spiritual lifeline in the battle between Mary and the evil one.”

From James’ initial sketch, Lea Ravotti completed a watercolor called Vessel of the Preborn Jesus. Conklin said the Archdiocese of St. Louis Respect Life Apostolate used it for its pro-life ministry. This image has been used by pregnancy care centers, and it appears on prayer cards from PrebornJesus.com.

“This is about a devotion to Jesus in the womb of Mary, an aspect of his life we haven’t contemplated enough,” Conklin said. “It helps us realize so many truths about the sanctity of life and Mary’s role in God’s plan.”

Devotion to Jesus in the uterus. Right. What’s to contemplate? We already know the role of Mary, a young girl, who was chosen by a psychopathic god to be, at the very least, symbolically raped. Oh, I suppose we could get into that whole still a virgin after giving birth business, because next to being an incubator, Mary’s most important quality was being a perpetual and inviolate virgin. If you ever wondered where that whole Madonna/Whore thing came from, look no further.

Via NCRegister.

Comments

  1. Lofty says

    That’s Atheist Mary and the baked babby is wot she’s having for lunch. A medieval facebook pic.

  2. rq says

    How’d she get the rosary in there? That can’t be pleasant.
    Also a significant lack of placenta and amniotic fluids -- Jesus must survive on the Holy Spirit or something like that. Cannibalism all over the place!

  3. chigau (違う) says

    Mary standing on a snake and crescent is pretty standard iconography.
    Snake is obvious, crescent not so much.

  4. rq says

    I missed the snake (but I know that one); as for the crescent -- hmm. A melding of symbols followed by half-assed rationalization.

  5. chigau (違う) says

    There is a recent trend, in a certain segment of the population, to interpret the crescent as Islam.

  6. Pierce R. Butler says

    And she’s dressed in redwhitenblue, so you know it’s historically accurate!

  7. Onamission5 says

    That’s… not remotely anatomically correct. Baby Jesus’s head is lodged in Mary’s left lung and his butt is above, or possibly at, her navel. Mother Mary A) can’t breathe B) probably has cracked ribs C) is going to need a C-section.

    I guess showing the Baby Jesus in the proper birthing position with his head nearer to Mary’s vagina would have been indecent. We can’t have the savior associated with something horrible like vaginas, now can we.

  8. naturalcynic says

    That’s… not remotely anatomically correct. Baby Jesus’s head is lodged in Mary’s left lung and his butt is above, or possibly at, her navel. Mother Mary A) can’t breathe B) probably has cracked ribs C) is going to need a C-section.

    Not quite that high, but she can’t breathe as “easily” as a normal pregnant woman. And it doesn’t look 3 dimensional -- no baby bump. And if she gets a c-section the hymen will remain intact.

  9. Ice Swimmer says

    AFAIK, red and blue were used in the Madonnas from the middle ages on because the red pigment was expensive and blue (made from lapis lazuli) was hideously expensive, to show the wealth of the donor/mesenate of the painting.

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