Anima Sola | |
|---|---|
 The Anima Sola, a sculpture representation of this folk religion figure | |
| Lonely Soul | |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Santeria, Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, Dominican Vudu, Folk Catholicism |
| Attributes | Soul in purgatory, flames, broken chains |
Based on Roman Catholic tradition, the Anima Sola or Lonely Soul is an image depicting a soul in purgatory, popular in Latin America, as well as much of Andalusia, Naples and Palermo.
While scholars have thus far not provided a history of the Anima Sola (or Ánimas del purgatorio in Spanish), the practice of praying for the souls in purgatory extends at least as far back as the Council of Trent in which the following was determined:
"Whereas the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has from the Sacred Scriptures and the ancient tradition of the Fathers taught in Councils and very recently in this Ecumenical synod (Sess. VI, cap. XXX; Sess. XXII cap.ii, iii) that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar; the Holy Synod enjoins on the Bishops that they diligently endeavor to have the sound doctrine of the Fathers in Councils regarding purgatory everywhere taught and preached, held and believed by the faithful" (Denzinger, "Enchiridon", 983). [1]
The Anima Sola is taken to represent a soul suffering in purgatory. While in many cases chromolithographs depict a female soul, many other figures such as popes and other men are commonly depicted in chromolithographs, sculptures and paintings. In the most commonly known image of the Anima Sola, a woman is depicted as breaking free from her chains in a dungeon setting surrounded by flames, representing purgatory. She appears penitent and reverent, and her chains have been broken, an indication that, after her temporary suffering, she is destined for heaven.
Praying to the Anima Sola is a tradition in many ways unlike that of the more widespread cult of saints. In lieu of praying to a saint who then appeals to God, the Anima Sola represents souls in purgatory who require the assistance both of the living and the divine to ameliorate their sufferings in the afterlife. [2]
The Anima Sola is common throughout much of the Catholic world, though is perhaps strongest in Naples, where it is referred to as "the cult of the souls in Purgatory." In Latin America, one source reports, the Anima Sola is "a belief still deeply rooted in the mass of the campesinos. The devotion dates from the first colonizers, who probably brought the image in which the soul is represented as a woman suffering torments in purgatory with chains binding her hands.
The female depicted is sometimes called Celestina, however the anima sola is usually anonymous. According to legend, at the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday there were many people present: among them, a woman by the name of Celestina Abdenago. Her task was to give the three condemned men a drink of water. Celestina gave Dismas and Gestas a drink from her jar but she refused to give one to Jesus (who was very thirsty) as she despised him or feared retaliation from the enemies of Jesus. For this reason she was condemned to suffer thirst and the constant heat of purgatory." [3]
Sometimes an anonymous male figure is depicted as an anima sola, however the female soul was generally more common. Usually the male souls are shown as popes, priests or monks. In the cathedral of Guadalajara in Mexico there is a painting of a young monk or friar with a tonsure surrounded by flames and with a sad expression. According to tradition this young man was a priest who ended up in Purgatory because of his sinful life or because he absolved so many people at his last mass that he had to go to purgatory in their place. [4] In any case, the image of a male soul suffering in purgatory became popular in Mexico and diverse places with reproductions being created and distributed among the faithful.
As with many Catholic symbols, the image also appears in spiritist traditions. As described in The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells by Judika Illes:
Anima Sola translates as the "lone soul" or "lonely spirit" and refers to a very specific votive image. Based on Roman Catholic votive statues (but now a standardized chromolithograph), this image is particularly popular in Latin American magical traditions. It depicts a woman standing amidst flames, eternally burning yet never consumed. She gazes upwards, holding her chained hands towards heaven. Is her soul burning in the fire of Hell or does her heart burn with the fire of love? Allegedly unrequited love is what drew this poor soul into her predicament: the Anima Sola traded eternal salvation for the joys of temporal love. She is invoked in only the most desperate love spells, in which in return for obtaining the sought-after love the appellant agrees to replace Anima Sola in purgatory when they die. [5]
Another interpretation is that the sacred figures most frequently invoked include the "Lonely Soul" [Anima Sola], who requires prayers because of her predicament; San Silvestre, magical because of the date of his feast day; and Santa Elena and San Onofre. [6]
In Santería or Lukumi, the Afro-Caribbean religion of Cuba, there is a syncretization of the Anima Sola with the Eshu Alleguana. The Eshus are the Divine Messengers, the Tricksters, The Masters of the Roads and the Doors that are necessary for all prayers to reach their intended point. Eshu Allegwanna, one Eshu among hundreds, is thought to be the oldest of the Eshus, and to have existed on the Earth since a primordial time long before not only people, but before many of the gods of the religion, existed in the world. Therefore, he is synchronized with The Lonely Spirit, as many of the African Gods were syncretized with Catholic saints, or hidden behind them, in the first centuries of slavery, when the practice of the African religions were oppressed. Anima Sola is grouped in a triad in some traditions with The Intranquil Spirit and the Dominant Spirit.
All Souls' Day, also called The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, is a day of prayer and remembrance for the faithful departed, observed by Christians on 2 November. Through prayer, intercessions, alms and visits to cemeteries, people commemorate the poor souls in purgatory and gain them indulgences.
Erzulie is a family of loa, or spirits, in Vodou.
In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and all of the saints".
Nicholas of Tolentino (Latin: S. Nicolaus de Tolentino,, known as the Patron of Holy Souls, was an Italian saint and mystic. He is particularly invoked as an advocate for the souls in Purgatory, especially during Lent and the month of November. In many Augustinian churches, there are weekly devotions to St. Nicholas on behalf of the suffering souls. November 2, All Souls' Day, holds special significance for the devotees of St. Nicholas of Tolentino.
In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into:
Religions with the belief in a final judgment, a resurrection of the dead or an intermediate state often offer prayers on behalf of the dead to God.
The communion of saints, when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, but excluding the damned. They are all part of a single "mystical body", with Christ as the head, in which each member contributes to the good of all and shares in the welfare of all.
In Catholic tradition, the Five Holy Wounds, also known as the Five Sacred Wounds or the Five Precious Wounds, are the five piercing wounds that Jesus Christ suffered during his crucifixion. The wounds have been the focus of particular devotions, especially in the late Middle Ages, and have often been reflected in church music and art.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order, particularly within the Catholic Church. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid-13th century. They built in the midst of their hermitages a chapel which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they conceived of in chivalric terms as the "Lady of the place." Our Lady of Mount Carmel was adopted in the 19th century as the patron saint of Chile.
The agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is an episode in the life of Jesus, which occurred after the Last Supper and before his betrayal and arrest, all part of the Passion of Jesus leading to his crucifixion and death. This episode is described in the three Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament. According to these accounts, Jesus, accompanied by Peter, John and James, enters the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where he experiences great anguish and prays to be delivered from his impending suffering, while also accepting God's will.
Purgatorial societies are Roman Catholic Church associations or confraternities which aim to assist souls in purgatory reach heaven. The doctrine concerning purgatory, the condition of the poor souls after death, the communion of saints, and the satisfactory value of our good works form the basis of these associations.
In some forms of Christianity the intermediate state or interim state is a person's existence between death and the universal resurrection. In addition, there are beliefs in a particular judgment right after death and a general judgment or last judgment after the resurrection.
The idea of purgatory has roots that date back into antiquity. A sort of proto-purgatory called the "celestial Hades" appears in the writings of Plato and Heraclides Ponticus and in many other pagan writers. This concept is distinguished from the Hades of the underworld described in the works of Homer and Hesiod. In contrast, the celestial Hades was understood as an intermediary place where souls spent an undetermined time after death before either moving on to a higher level of existence or being reincarnated back on earth. Its exact location varied from author to author. Heraclides of Pontus thought it was in the Milky Way; the Academicians, the Stoics, Cicero, Virgil, Plutarch, the Hermetical writings situated it between the Moon and the Earth or around the Moon; while Numenius and the Latin Neoplatonists thought it was located between the sphere of the fixed stars and the Earth.
Ursula de Jesus (1604–1668) was a Roman Catholic mystic of African descent in 17-century Peru. She was born in Lima, Peru, and was the legitimate daughter of Juan Castilla and Isabel de los Rios. Isabel de los Rios was a slave, leaving Ursula to inherit her mother's status. Ursula de Jesus was an African Peruvian who rose out of slavery to become a donada in the Roman Catholic Church. She lived under her mother's owner, Gerònima de los Rios, until she was roughly eight years old. The daughter of slaves, her first experience with mysticism was when she became the property of Luisa de Melgarejo Sotomayor, a mystic and beata, lay pious woman, in Lima. In 1617 she went to the Convent of Santa Clara in Lima as the servant of Ines del Pulgar, a 16-year-old novice and the niece of the woman who owned her parents. She labored as a slave for forty-three of her sixty-two years.
A number of prayers to Jesus Christ exist within the Roman Catholic tradition. These prayers have diverse origins and forms. Some were attributed to visions of saints, others were handed down by tradition.
Purgatory is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations, an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory is the final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. Tradition, by reference to certain texts of scripture, sees the process as involving a cleansing fire. Some forms of Western Christianity, particularly within Protestantism, deny its existence. Other strands of Western Christianity see purgatory as a place, perhaps filled with fire. Some concepts of Gehenna in Judaism resemble those of purgatory. In Islam, the upper most layer of hell serves as a form of purgatory for Muslim sinners.
Akan religion comprises the traditional beliefs and religious practices of the Akan people of Ghana and eastern Ivory Coast. Akan religion is referred to as Akom. Although most Akan people have identified as Christians since the early 20th century, Akan religion remains practiced by some and is often syncretized with Christianity. The Akan have many subgroups, so the religion varies greatly by region and subgroup. Similar to other traditional religions of West and Central Africa such as West African Vodun, Yoruba religion, or Odinani, Akan cosmology consists of a senior god who generally does not interact with humans and many gods who assist humans.
There are extensive and varied beliefs in ghosts in Mexican culture. In Mexico, the beliefs of the Maya, Nahua, Purépecha; and other indigenous groups in a supernatural world has survived and evolved, combined with the Catholic beliefs of the Spanish. The Day of the Dead incorporates pre-Columbian beliefs with Christian elements. Mexican literature and cinema include many stories of ghosts interacting with the living.
The Latin Church is the largest autonomous particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Christians in communion with the pope in Rome. The Latin Church is one of 24 churches sui iuris in communion with the pope; the other 23 are collectively referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches, and have approximately 18 million members combined.
Haitian Vodou art is art related to the Haitian Vodou religion. This religion has its roots in West African traditional religions brought to Haiti by slaves, but has assimilated elements from Europe and the Americas and continues to evolve. The most distinctive Vodou art form is the drapo Vodou, an embroidered flag often decorated with sequins or beads, but the term covers a wide range of visual art forms including paintings, embroidered clothing, clay or wooden figures, musical instruments and assemblages. Since the 1950s there has been growing demand for Vodou art by tourists and collectors.
