A monastic group in Vienna is offering to ink followers. I’m all for it: with its cycle of pain and regret, it’s pure Old Testament
In the olden days of the missionaries, God used to recruit followers with nothing more than simple prayer and colonisation. Now his emissaries have swapped holy water for industrial inks: a small monastic group in Vienna is offering free tattoos for anyone who wants one. Its venue is right by St Stephen’s Cathedral, in a meeting place called Quo Vadis – or “where are you going?” in Latin.
Well, first you go to the pre-tattoo church service, where the implements are blessed, then you get down to it. It’s ritualistic in that classic Catholic way: bundling intention, theatricality, anticipation, abjection, mortification and catharsis together in the name of the Lord, with a seamy smog of incense and chanting layered over the top. Forget the font, chuck the crucible; it’s in the tattooist’s chair that you’ll get your deliverance.
Bidisha Mamata is an Observer columnist
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