A Catholic priest has likened the photo of a Jos mother, who was inconsolably holding the lifeless body of her young man, Mr. Promise, a victim of the recent sporadic gunfire by suspected Fulani Islamist militants, to Michelangelo Buonarroti’s 1498 Pietà, which depicts Our Lady holding the lifeless body of Jesus.
Fr. Kevin Oselumhense Anetor, a priest of Uromi Diocese, in Edo State, made the comparison in a post obtained by Advocatus Africa, in which he described the photo as the “Nigerian Pietà.”
A key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture, which started the High Renaissance, the Pietà is a Carrara marble sculpture of Jesus and Mary at Mount Golgotha representing the “Sixth Sorrow” of the Virgin Mary in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
“My son, please wake up, wake up, I know you’re there, my son, you’re not dead. Promise isn’t dead, my son, wake up,” the widowed mother cried in an amateur viral video on social media.
The disturbing photo of the bereaved mother, holding the lifeless body of her son, trying to revive him after being shot by Fulani militia in Anguwan Rukuba, Jos, Plateau State, Northern Nigeria, has caused reactions.
On the tragic photo, Fr. Anetor wrote: “When Michelangelo sculpted the Pietà (Mercy), he intended to portray a mother’s heartfelt grief at the death of her only son. He surpassed his own expectations, as the sculpture went on to become one of his most famous works.”
Connecting Nigeria to Rome, the Pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Ahia and Udakpa, Ubiaja, Edo State, maintained that “From the chaos that ensued in Jos, Plateau State, in Angwan Rukuba, an iconic picture is now being called the ‘Nigerian Pietà.’”
Clarifying further, the cleric known for his digital ministry and media presence underscored that “It is a caption that is as sad as it is deeply meaningful.
“It is, therefore, no wonder that this picture of a mother, holding the lifeless body of her son to her bosom as she weeps in nerve-wracking agony, so powerfully captures our minds. We are instantly drawn into her grief, her pain, and her loss.”
Asking rather rhetorically, he stated, “When will it end? When will we summon the courage to say, ‘Enough is enough?’
Anetor underlined that “The heavens themselves weep with this Nigerian mother, and with the many other mothers who have had to bury scores of their sons and daughters,” stressing that “The Virgin Mother herself weeps at how heartless we have become.”
On her part, a resident of Jos, Vivian George, wrote on FB, “I felt for this woman who lost her son, her only son, it made me shed tears, I cried like a child, I shouted, ‘God where are you?'”
A resident of Jos, Vivian George, who wrote passionately about the ordeal of Promise’s mother
According to her, “This woman is in critical pain, and if you notice, there’s a woman behind her saying, ‘Don’t shed tears.’ She said she knows her son has wiped her tears—that’s why her face is calm. She believes her son will come back, so even in this present condition, she holds the pain as a mother, holding on for her child to return.”
Further commenting on the widow’s ordeal, Vivian noted, “How do you feel when your child says, ‘Mummy, I’m going out, I’m coming back,’ and the next thing is bad news, or they bring the corpse of your son back? If you are a mother—or even a brother or sister—how do you feel that my brother is dead? Oh my God! God have mercy… Ah, it’s so painful, it’s so painful.”
She prayed to God to “comfort all the families that lost their loved ones—we feel your pain, and we are with you. This affects the entire Plateau State, it really touches us and we weep with you all. Please, God of vengeance, come and take control, fight for your people, fight for your people, Lord. Plateau needs you at this moment.”
