Contemporary devotional practices urged individuals to confront their personal sins through meditation on the lives of saints such as Peter and Mary Magdalen, who was also frequently shown weeping. Cardinal Bellarmine insisted that Peter’s tears were a form of confession. The moment is after he denied being a disciple of Christ in the courtyard of the house of the High Priest: "and Peter remembered how Jesus had said, ‘Before the cock crows you will disown me three times.’ He went outside, and wept bitterly." (Matthew 26:75 Mark 14:66–72 Luke 22:55–62 John 18:17–18, 25–27) As Emile Mâle has explained, the subject became especially popular following the Council of Trent’s defense of penitence as a sacrament. The picture and subject: The picture shows Saint Peter, his hands clasped in prayer, his head directed heavenwards, his eyes reddened and filled with tears.
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