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Marianské morové sousoší

Saint Mary's and Plague Column

Christian Widemann & František Zeber
1715

Description

Column with a statue of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, standing on a snake. The column stands on a square base with the town's coats of arms, the date 1715 and below a relief of Saint Rosalie (not photographed). It is surrounded by a balustrade with nine statues:

7 Sv. Pius V. St. Pius V	6 Sv. František Xaverský St. Franciscus Xavier		5 Sv. Marie Magdalena St. Mary Magdalene
8 Sv. Barbora St. Barbara	1 Sloup - Column Panna Maria Neposkvrněná St. Mary Immaculate Sv. Rozálie - St. Rosalie		4 Sv. Vavřinec St. Lawrence
9 Sv. Josef St. Joseph	10 Sv. Šebastián St. Sebastian	2 Sv. Roch St. Rochus	3 Sv. Václav St. Wenceslas

Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ (Wikipedia).
St. Rosalia (1130-1166), also called La Santuzza or "The Little Saint", revered as a protector against infectious diseases (Wikipedia).
St. Roch (14th century), saint from Montpellier, he is specially invoked against the plague. (Wikipedia).
St. Wenceslaus (c. 907 - 935), duke of Bohemia, raised as Christian by his grandmother, Saint Ludmila. He was murdered in 935 on his way to church. Patron saint of the Czech people and the Czech Republic (Wikipedia).
St. Lawrence (c. 225 - 258), one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian. Usually holding a gridiron and wearing a dalmatic (Wikipedia).
St. Maria Magdalen Mary of Magdala is described, in the New Testament, as one of the most important women associated with Jesus during his ministry (Wikipedia).
St. Francis Xaver (Javier, Navarra 1506 - São João Island, China, 1552), pioneering Roman Catholic missionary, co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Wikipedia).
Pope Pius V (1504 - 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), pope from 1566 to 1572 (Wikipedia).
St. Barbara known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian saint and martyr (Wikipedia).
St. Joseph the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ (in distinction to God, his "heavenly father") (Wikipedia).
St. Sebastian (died c. 288), martyr, killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians (Wikipedia).

Annotation

The plague column of the Virgin Mary commemorates the great plague of 1713.

P.S. 12 September 2012 was a rainy day... The photos are therefore not as good as usual.

Marian, Holy Trinity and Plague Columns (Mariensäule, Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Pestsäule)

Marian and Holy Trinity columns are religious monuments with a statue of Saint Mary or a depiction of the Holy Trinity on top of a column. Around the base of the column are usually various saints. Marian columns were built to thank the Virgin Mary for intervention to quell the pestilence and other scourges. The first of those was erecrted in Vienna in 1667 (Mariensäule) and the second in 1679 also in Vienna at the Graben, the Pestsäule.
The purpose of the Holy Trinity columns was usually simply to celebrate the church and the faith, although the plague motif could play a role.
Erecting religious monuments in the form of a column surmounted by a figure or a Christian symbol was a gesture of public faith that flourished in the Catholic countries of Europe especially in the 17th and 18th centuries (Wikipedia)

Sculptors

Christian Widemann, sculptor from Plzeň.
František Zeber, stonemason from Horaždovice.

Sources & Information

The Souhrada Family website, Pisek, Czech Republic - Town History.

Locatie (N 49°18'26" - E 14°8'56") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: czjc024; Photograph: 12 September 2012
Of each statue we made photos from various angles and also detail photos of the various texts.
If you want to use photos, please contact us via the contact form (in Dutch, English or German).
© Website and photos: René & Peter van der Krogt

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