The Vulnerary of Christ: The Mysterious Emblems of the Wounds in the Body and Heart of Jesus Christ

Book Synopsis: The Vulnerary of Christ, finally published for the first time more than 70 years after its author’s death, contains exceptional findings by French Catholic archaeologist and symbologist Louis Charbonneau-Lassay (1871–1946) on the five wounds of Christ: their symbolism, representations, and meaning in Christian art.

Born in Loudun (France), Lassay developed an early interest in the Christian faith. From 1903 to 1925, he published articles on prehistory, Celtic and Gallo-Roman archaeology, numismatics, heraldry, and folklore, which he illustrated with his own engravings. When contributing to the Catholic periodical Regnabit, he refocused his research on wide-ranging aspects of the Sacred Heart, with the purpose of showing its universal dimension. In 1925 compiled from his notes on Christian animal symbolism the book The Bestiary of Christ, published in 1941 and now a primary reference in Christian symbology. He completed the present The Vulnerary of Christ shortly before his death in December 1946, but it has only recently been published—wherein lies a fascinating tale, told in this first English edition.

Put briefly: In 2013, Gauthier Pierozak, while transcribing Lassay’s correspondence, found clearly explained the story of The Vulnerary of Christ and the many articles it was to have contained. Experts in the field led Gauthier to the vast archive the author had assembled over his lifetime. In December 2016, exactly 70 years after the author’s death, Gauthier was able to take possession of the entire archive, and so, with access to all the articles Lassay had compiled in the lost manuscript of The Vulnerary of Christ, reconstituted the first French edition of this extraordinary book, which was published in 2017. Angelico Press then worked with a translator personally familiar with Lassay’s writings, who undertook the monumental task of preparing this extraordinary 586-page text of 33 extensive articles and nearly 600 illustrations for publication in English. Angelico Press hopes to publish further compilations of Lassay’s archived articles, including an unexpurgated edition of The Bestiary of Christ and two further volumes on the Christian symbolism of plants and of minerals, entitled respectively The Florary of Christ and The Lapidary of Christ.