Memento Mori: Beyond An Aesthetic

Do you remember the trending “dark academia” aesthetic? It skyrocketed in 2017 across platforms like Instagram and Tumblr, as Britannica recalls, “References to classic literature, and a mysterious atmosphere… The prevailing motifs include Anglo-American boarding schools and college campuses, accoutrements with a romantic aura (billowing sleeves, melting candles), and analog artifacts (old compasses, monocles) … earthy neutral colors, Gothic architecture, vintage knitwear, handwritten notes, dark vintage photographs, oil paintings, marble busts, skulls, stacks of worn-out books, yellowed paper with fountain pen ink and charcoal, and fog, among other visual elements.”

Perhaps it is the opening description that resonated far and wide: “a mysterious atmosphere,” this sense of being caught up in something that cannot be neatly folded into a box. Death and suffering will always have an element of mystery. No wonder there are whole sonnets, genres, films, and industries that focus on it.

The expression of memento mori, meaning “remember your death,” is often symbolized in sacred art by a skull and serves as a reminder of the mystery of death. Many hermits and scholars within the Church are depicted holding a skull close to the chest, expressing that they are well aware their fulfillment lies beyond this life. The skull is a reminder that the world does not satisfy our infinite desire; therefore, we have confidence in the struggle of the everyday knowing each moment draws us closer to our eternal home.

As Catholics, we are confident that death does not have the final say. We know in Christ we are promised the Resurrection, “But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:8-18).

We die to rise with Christ. We are called to die to self by allowing the Holy Spirit to purify our desires and reorder our loves. Giving up control, not knowing the solution, and living in the tension of the unresolved is HARD.

We live in a Fallen world which means tension, suffering, death are realities we still face; but the life of grace makes the cross sweet. Suffering cannot be explained way; grief is long unfolding; but Jesus sits with us in the tension (He understands. You do not have to explain your anger to Him).

We do not need to fear the mystery because Jesus has not does left us to ourselves to figure it out. Memento mori reminds us that we are fragile and cannot sustain ourselves. When we lean into a memento mori mindset, we are reminded to surrender to grace and find safety in the heart of Christ.

There is something admirable in the darker aesthetics. They emphasize mystery and a reminder of one’s own mortality. The classic “goth aesthetic” is traditionally inspired by Victorian mourning attire, “During the 19th century, particularly after the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's prolonged period of mourning popularized a highly stylized and somber dress code…Including tightly laced corsets, high collars, flowing sleeves, and long, dramatic skirts… Goth subculture and its distinctive fashion emerged in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s, born from the ashes of the post-punk music scene…a sound characterized by darker, more introspective themes, their fans began to cultivate a visual identity to match” (source: Form & Taste). We are called to true remorse for sin. The introspection in the goth scene can be comparable to an examination of conscience.

In Rome, there is a church cloaked in memento mori, Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte (St. Mary of Prayer and Death), in which there is a crypt filled with “human bones that have been arranged into crosses, decorative patterns, and chandeliers” ( ChurchPop ). The Confraternita dell'Orazione e Morte (Confraternity of Prayer and Death) cares for this church and is dedicated to the corporal work of mercy: burying of the dead, “[Their] charitable purpose in Rome was to find and bury the dead who had been abandoned by the poor (who could not afford to arrange a proper burial) on the outskirts of the city…also arranging their requiems and praying for the holy souls” (Liturgical Arts Journal).

May we not forget our brothers and sisters of the Church Penitent, those souls in purgatory who rely on our prayers. Consider wearing a dark academia aesthetic or goth aesthetic one day as a tangible reminder to pray for the dead and offer reparations for sin.

A few years ago, we designed our memento mori scarf which is covered in flowers dying and rising throughout the scarf, reflecting our call to die to self so we might rise in Christ. St. John the Baptist reminds us of the core in this calling, “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30). Joseph Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy mentions how creation point us to this reality in that the days get shorter after John the Baptist’s birthday in July and the days are longer after Christ’s birthday. The promise of the resurrection is reaffirmed again in the scarf with a blue butterfly (a sign of the resurrection) floating near the skull. The dark penitential background reminds us: “Dust you are and dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The gold ornaments in the corners are a note of reverence for those who have died and the hope of eternal life. During the Anointing of the Sick, a sick-call crucifix that holds the candles, holy water, and oil for the blessing often has gold detailing since this would be set up during the administering of Holy Communion to the one who is ill.

We hope this scarf can be a tangible reminder to pray the Litany of Humility as an act of dying to self. In addition, we hope it encourages confidence that despite our frailty and mortality, Christ has promised eternal life and to provide every needed grace in the struggles of this life.

For your further memento mori pondering, take to prayer Holy Sonnet 10 by John Donne (1572-1631):

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy'or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.