Angels of the Passion

Here's a little slide show from BeliefNet of the Angels of the Passion with scriptural meditations on the last hours of Jesus. The angels are sculptures that line the Bridge of Angels in Rome. Each angel holds a symbol of Christ's suffering and death.

The Meaning of the Bridge of Angels

The Bridge of Angels spans the Tiber River in Rome. Only a few steps away from St. Peter's Basilica, the bridge reflects the psychological shift from secular to sacred that occurs when pilgrims crossed from the busy streets of Rome over to the churches of the Vatican. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famed Italian sculptor, originally designed the bridge's angel sculptures in the seventeenth century. Though few of the angels standing today were done by his hand, Bernini's vision for the bridge lives on.

Five angel sculptures flank each side of the bridge, with statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul on the eastern bank. At the base of each sculpture is a line from the Bible in Latin. The verses inscribed on many of the sculptures are dissimilar to the verses readers find in today's Bibles, because they are based on an old and superseded scripture translation called the Latin Vulgate.