History, Art, and Death - Emily Woodard

Voltaire, the French Enlightenment author and philosopher, famously defined history as “a pack of tricks we play on dead people.”(1) His quip represents a pessimistic view of history—itis generally unknowable, indiscernible, and therefore it has nothing to teach us. Christians familiar with God’s Word ought to heartily disagree with Voltaire. Not only does the Bible teach that we serve a God who has revealed himself in the time and space of human history, it is full of commands to remember. In my adult years, I have grown in my love for and appreciation of the history and chronology of the Bible (I love a good timeline!), but I have only recently discovered an interest in church history. I can’t take any credit for this ‘discovery’ and I should mention that its context is the two church history courses that are required in my degree program at Erskine Seminary. However, having not anticipated actually enjoying the content of these courses, finding that I really do has been a pleasant realization. In my current studies, we’re learning about the state of the church at the end of the 15th century, a few hundred years before the Enlightenment and Voltaire.

 

In the decades leading up to the Protestant Reformation, one of the glaring examples of the corruption present in the late medieval church is found in the papacy of Alexander VI, who “managed to bribe his way to victory… in 1492 despite the awkwardness of having several mistresses and at least seven known illegitimate children.”(2) Pope Alexander’s birth name was Rodrigo Borgia, and if that surname doesn’t ring any bells for you, I can probably skip all the vulgar (though lately contested) details and just tell you that both Showtime and Netflix have produced series based on the Borgia family. The byline of the Netflix version speaks of “betrayal, intrigue, and corruption in the Vatican” and if that doesn’t say enough, Wikipedia’s entry for “House of Borgia” includes “adultery, incest, simony, theft, bribery, and murder.”(3) Shocking and scandalous stories seem prime material for the entertainment industry, and sadly, church history is full of them. But it doesn’t take a historian to know that sometimes family resemblance stops with a common name.

 

​Pope Alexander’s great-grandson was Francis Borgia, the 4th Duke of Gandia, and I was first introduced to him not in my church history class or on Netflix, but in an art museum. Jose Moreno Carbonero, a 19th century Spanish artist well-known for portraits, painted The Conversion of the Duke of Gandia in 1884.(4) The piece displays a morbid scene featuring the open casket and cadaver of Empress Isabel of Portugal (the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) who died suddenly at the age of 36. Carbonero’s use of light in the painting and the many figures whose faces are almost disfigured by emotion caught my eye as we walked through the gallery, but it was the title and the caption below the painting that really fascinated me. As the story is told by the Jesuits, the Duke accompanied Isabel’s funeral procession to the place of her burial. The coffin was opened and it was the sight of the previously beautiful but already decaying queen that forever changed the Duke. The enormity of the moment is portrayed in the collapse of the Duke into the arms of one of his knights. It was the undeniable evidence of the vulnerability of the human condition to death that moved the heart of Francis Borgia to serve the Lord. “Not wanting to serve another master who would die, he began to devote himself to prayer and penance.”(5) Seven years later, Francis’ own wife died, and he dedicated himself to the service of God, completing a doctorate in theology and becoming a Jesuit priest.

 

It was death, not a history lesson, that reformed the Duke. But what does history teach us if not the fact that until Jesus returns, death continues to reign? Years ago I attended the funeral of a young woman who died quite suddenly and tragically. The officiating minister compassionately walked the congregation through the questions that everyone was asking and that no one could answer: Why would God allow...? What if..? When will I stop feeling pain/grief/anger…? Then he gently challenged us with an alternative question: “What now? Now that you know you are not promised tomorrow, what now?” When confronted with death and the questions it inevitably poses, Francis Borgia chose to serve a master who not only lives and reigns, but is also coming back to subdue and destroy death as the final enemy. 

 

​There is a quotation about death that is often displayed in Latin above the entrances to hospital morgues which says, “Let idle talk be silenced. Let laughter be banished. This is the place that death delights to teach those that live.” (6) The quote is attributed to Giovanni Morgagni, an 18th century contemporary of Voltaire’s. Morgagni was a pathologist rather than a philosopher, so the teaching of death he had in mind was probably more related to anatomy and disease or injury. But his quotation highlights why Voltaire was so wrong about history; he didn’t believe he could learn from death, or rather, those who are dead. Francis Borgia, on the other hand, heeded the lesson offered to him by death and history. Understanding the certainty of death (until Jesus returns) should change how we live. Paul writes to the Corinthians to not only encourage them with the sure hope of death’s ultimate defeat, but to move them to live differently in the present. Death will be swallowed up in victory, but what now? “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

(1) Carl Becker. "Mr. Wells and the New History." The American Historical Review 26, no. 4 (1921): 641-56. Accessed May 27, 2021. doi:10.2307/1836730.

(2) Alister McGrath. Christianity’s Dangerous Idea. (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 22.

(3) https://www.netflix.com/title/70208792, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Borgia

(4) https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-conversion-of-the-duke-of-gandia/

(5) https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/saint-francis-borgia/

(6) If you haven’t visited a morgue recently, this fan site dedicated to a Sherlock Holmes-themed TV series, Elementary (CBS), references the Latin phrase: https://cbselementary.fandom.com/wiki/Morgue