The Precious Blood of Christ

Basilica of St. Vincent Martyr, Cáceres, Spain

Christ stands with his cross on a vat of grapes as if to press them out, a symbol of the belief that in the Mass the wine will become his saving blood, which pours from his wounds onto the crowd of people waiting their turn to be carried up to Heaven by the angels on the left.

In the lower foreground souls in Purgatory pray for release from the flames. One of them is a bishop, another a pope.

On the right the Father holds a symbolic cross in the way often pictured on images of the Trinity, but in this case the dove perches on the large cross that Christ is actually carrying.

In the upper left corner, St. Peter and St. Paul flank the entrance to Heaven.

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Read more about the Crucifixion and about the Trinity

Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.