If The Church Is The Body And Pope Francis Is The Head - I Would Be The Middle Finger On The Right Hand Flipping Pope Francis The Bird!*

Speculum humanæ salvationis in the form of a hand, 1476. 
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, H. 60.

The Speculum was also the source for works in many art forms, among them medieval tapestries at La Chaise-Dieu in the Auvergne; stained glass at Mulhouse, Colmar, Rouffach, and Wissembourg in Alsace; and sculptures at Vienne near Lyon. In individual woodcut prints it appears in the form of a hand, presumably used as an aid to prayer. Four examples are preserved, each from a different woodblock. At the top of the print reproduced here is an almost indecipherable text from the Bible, above a large hand with an inscription at the joint of each finger and a banderole at each tip. On either side of the wrist is the Latin text, translated as follows:

If you know the will of God
Recognize evil so you may avoid it
If you acted evilly, be sorry
If you are truly sorry, confess
If you have confessed, be content

The thumb signifies the will of God
The index finger signifies knowledge
The middle finger (means) contrition
The ring finger (means) confession
The little finger (means) contentment

The fingers are flanked by Maria Magdalena with an ointment jar, and Maria Martha using an aspergill which is attached by a rope to a bulldog (or dragon?)

UC Press

*What? Did you think I would just post a gif of flipping the bird? No, there is a Catholic thing to everything I post......

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