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Luke: The Beloved Physician
2010-10-18 21:03:00
Andrea Mantegna 1431 - 1506Saint Luke 1453- 1454From The Polyptych of St LukeTempera, gold leaf, oil on wood140 x 67 cmPinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy(Originally from the Monastery of Santa Giustina, Padua) On August 10, 1453, Mantegna signed a contract to paint the work for the monastery of Santa Giustina in Padua. The central figure of the Polyptych is that of St Luke The city of Padua (Padova) in Italy as well as having a great devotion to St Anthony also had a great devotion to St Luke. There was a tradition that the body of St Luke was taken to Padua before 1177. It was housed in the Monastery of Santa Giustina in Padua where the remains still lie. The last public exhibition of the relics was in 1562. Since then the cult fell into desuetude. It was forgotten. That is until October 1992 It was then that the Bishop of Padua, Antonio Mattiazzo, was formally requested by the Orthodox Metropolitan of Thebes, Hyeronimus, asking him for ?a significant fragment of the relics of St. L...

The Veneration of Relics: Relics as a Form of Icon
2010-10-17 20:44:00
Father Ray in his post A Day in Town  raised the question of the propriety of the displaying of relics in Museums. He wrote: "I was much more excited by the Medieval Gallery but then it does seem odd to have objects of veneration; relics, crosses, statuary, vestment sterilised of their sacredness by being in a Museum ...but they do show relics as if the bones of the Saints of God are historical artifacts, would they do that if they were the remains of Australian Aborigines or Native Americans?" Father Z in his post "Anscar Chupungco, wrong about relics"  raised a separate but related issue about the care and veneration of relics. He wrote: "Just because there were excesses or abuses in some period, that doesn?t mean that relics cannot be venerated properly ... [T]he writer [sc. Anscar Chupungco] seems to ignore that people have venerated the bodies of dead heroes for a lot longer than Christianity has been around. People know in their bones that their bones are important, ...
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The Mistress of Theology
2010-10-16 12:43:00
Blessed Angela of Foligno This week on Wednesday past Pope Benedict XVI continued his catechesis on women medieval mystics with a talk on the life and works of the Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248 - 1309) Of Blessed Angela, Bollandus quoted Maximilian Sandaeus, of the Society of Jesus, who called her the "Mistress of Theologians", whose whole doctrine has been drawn out of the Book of Life, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Her body lies within the Church of St Francis in Foligno and on 20th June 1993 Pope John Paul II visited Foligno and prayed before the urn which contains her remains. (see below) Pope John Paul II on 20 June 1993 before the Urn containing the remains of Blessed Angela of Foligno at the Basilica of San Francesco in Foligno In his homily on 20th June 1993, Pope John Paul II said that she deserved the title "Mistress of Theology " The homily which is an extended meditation on Blessed Angela is only in Italian on the Vatican website. One does wonder when they will finally get ...

Memorial Day
2010-10-15 09:15:00
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (" Il Guercino")(1591-1666)The Appearance of Christ to St Teresa of Avila 1634Oil on canvas298 cm x 202 cmMusée Granet, Aix-en-Provence Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, il Guercino (1591-1666) Christ appearing to Saint Teresa Red chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, watermark helmet in a shield 12¼ x 9¼ in. (312 x 234 mm.) Private collection One of the  preparatory drawings for the painting now in the Musée Granet was auctioned by Christies in 2001 in New York The Christie`s catalogue entry is most instructive: "The picture is recorded in Guercino's Libro dei Conti on 5 January 1634 and on 18 August 1634, ... The first entry concerns the commission for a 'Tavola di Santa Teresia per il Sigr. Lumaga di lione di Francia da cordo in ducatni 400'. On 18 August payment was registered, and the picture was probably finished. The picture was then sent to Barthélémy Lumagne in Lyon, who hung it in his family chapel in the Church of the Carmelites. It was t...
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Hail Holy Queen
2010-10-14 23:59:00
The Responsory from the First Vespers of the Solemn Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as sung by the Trappist Monks of Gethsemani Abbey, recorded in 1958 Latin : Beata es, Virgo Maria, Dei Genitrix quae credidisti Domino, Perfecta sunt in te quae dicta sunt tibi. Ecce exalta es super choros angelorum. Intercede pro nobis ad Dominum Deum nostrum Ave Maria, gratia plena Dominus tecum. Intercede... English : Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, Mother of God who hast believed the Lord, Because those things have been done that were spoken to thee. Behold, thou art exalted above the choirs of angels! Intercede on our behalf before the Lord our God Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee Intercede.. At the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster website: Hail Mary, Full of Grace booklet available online - with audiohttp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot /Uocyk
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The Fall of the Divinities
2010-10-13 23:06:00
Jean-Jacques Lagrenée le Jeune (1739-1821)La Chute des idoles et le repos pendant la fuite en Egypte / The Destruction of the Idols and the rest on the Flight into Egypt c 1775Oil on canvas89 cm x 117 cmMusée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes The Gospels are almost silent as to what happened when the Holy Family fled to Egypt to escape the massacre of young children ordered by Herod Matthew 2:13-23 is quite uninformative about this period of the lives of the Holy Family. In the New Testament Apocrypha, various stories are narrated about what is said to have happened. These stories of the time in Egypt have been especially important to the Coptic Church, which is based in Egypt The Apocryphal Gospels recount that when Jesus took refuge in Sotine in Egypt, the 365 idols of the capitol fell down. Awed by this prodigy, Aphrodisius, remembered the fate of Pharaoh and hastened with his army to adore the Child Jesus, recognizing His Divinity. This "Destruction of the Idols" tradition appears not to b...

More on Theotókos, Dei Genitrix
2010-10-12 22:36:00
El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541 - 1614)Adoración de los pastores / Adoration of the Shepherds 1612-1614Oil on canvas319 cm x 180 cmMuseo Nacional del Prado, Madrid Yesterday I drew attention to the "off the cuff" speech by Pope Benedict to the Bishops gathered for the Special Synod of the Bishops in the Middle East The speech of the Pope has attracted a great deal of attention. Whatever you might think about this Pope, it is clear that he is no "lame duck". Who else could produce a mini-Encyclical at the drop of a hat ? Always grounded in Scripture, Tradition, Faith and Reason The speech has now been translated into English. There are two translations so far on the net: one on Sandro Magister entitled "It is the faith of the simple that knocks down false gods"; the other being the official "unofficial" translation by the Holy See produced in "double quick" time (please can we have more and quicker translations into English?) It really needs to be read in full: slowly, not...

Theotókos, Dei Genitrix
2010-10-11 22:44:00
The Mother of God (?Theotókos?) from a Deesis1600-1650Made in the Upper Volga Region, Russia Egg tempera, Gold and gesso on wood84.2 cm x 32 cmThe British Museum, LondonThree gold star-like ornaments on her mantle symbolize the Trinity and allude to her role in the incarnationInscription: in slightly obscure Greek besides the Virgin's halo: MP ?Y (Mother of God). This morning the Pope delivered an apparently off the cuff tour de force of a speech to the Bishops presently gathered for the Special Synod of the Bishops in the Middle East presently assembled in Rome. It was wide-ranging. At present it is only reported in Italian here. It may surprise many A large part of Pope Benedict XVI`s speech was about Mary. Let us hope an English translation comes out shortly. At the start the Pope referred to today used to be the Feast of Mary, Mother of God which (before 1969) was celebrated on 11th October. It was later moved to the beginning of January The Pope recalled that the Feast was on...

The Rosary and Children
2010-10-10 20:50:00
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta 1682 - 1754Beggar Boy with Rosary (The Young Pilgrim) 1738/39Oil on canvas67 x 55 cmThe Art Institute, Chicago Pope John Paul I, Albino Luciani, then Patriarch of Venice, gave a homily on the Rosary on the Fourth Centenary of the Feast of the Rosary (October 1973) It was entitled The Rosary Helps us to be like Children He recognised that some people do not like the Rosary: "They say it is a childish prayer, superstitious, not good enough for adult Christians. Or, it is an automatic prayer, a mere monotonous and boring repetition of the Hail Mary. Or again : it is not for our day, today we can do better: read the Bible for example which compared to the rosary is like good flour compared to bran ! " The homily is worth reading in its entirety But he explained what benefit he received from recitation of the Rosary: "When we speak of "adult Christians" in prayer, at times we exaggerate. Personally when I speak tête-à-tête with God or with the Blessed Virgin ...

The Theology of St Gertrude of Helfta ("St Gertrude the Great")
2010-10-10 13:58:00
Franz Ludwig Hermann 1723 -1791St Gertrude the Great 1746-1755SculptureKlosterkirche, Zwiefalten (South Germany) A most invaluable resource for the study of St Gertrude the Great and her works is a Ph. D thesis by Laura Marie Grimes It can be accessed as a .pdf file here: THEOLOGY AS CONVERSATION: GERTRUD OF HELFTA AND HER SISTERS AS READERS OF AUGUSTINE In particular she discusses the similarities between the works of St Gertrude and St Augustine`s Confessions: "Gertrud?s Memoriale, which became Book II of Legatus,[is similar to] to Augustine?s Confessions. Beyond the similarity of style, Gertrud?s work uses key images, themes, and phrases found in Augustine?s. Like him, she tells her story of ongoing conversion to praise God and form a community that praises God by attention to the work of grace in their own hearts as well as those of the writer. Both Gertrud and Augustine see the incarnate Word of God as piercing the human heart with a transforming assurance of God?s mercy, ...
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A Vision of St Gertrude the Great
2010-10-09 21:39:00
Attrib. to Isidoro Arredondo (c1657-1712), The Vision of St. Gertrude the Great (St Gertrude of Helfta) with St Augustine and the Holy Trinity (c1673-1712)Oil on canvas 246.3 x 163.8 cmThe Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham St. Gertrude kneels at the bottom on the right in a nun's habit with a chain around her neck composed of the letters GERTR and a hear-shaped locket with a representation of the Infant Christ. The Museum speculates on the identity of the male on the left: "The male saint with the flaming heart may be Saint Augustine, who also wrote on the subject of visionary contemplation." But the attribution is debatable. It rests on an opinion of Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, from the Prado, on the grounds of its resemblance to a drawing The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Arrendondo (private collection, Madrid). Other suggested artists for the composition are: José Ximénez Donoso; and a follower of Claudio Coello Isidoro Arredondo specialised in religious subjects and the...

Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem
2010-10-09 01:56:00
""Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom, lead Thou me on", Newman wrote in The Pillar of the Cloud; and for him Christ was the light at the heart of every kind of darkness. For his tomb he chose the inscription: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem (From shadows and images into the Truth); and it was clear at the end of his life?s journey that Christ was the truth he had found" Letter of Pope John Paul II to The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Birmingham on 22 January 2001 on the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Blessed John Henry Newmanhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspo t/Uocyk

St Gertrude of Halfta and The Wreck of The Deutschland
2010-10-08 01:32:00
Photograph of four of the nuns from the wreck of The Deutschland (the body of one of the nuns in the company was not found) The Grave of Four of the Nuns from the Deutschland at St Patrick's Cemetery, Leytonstone E11From Flickr: Fotostream of Sludgegulperhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ sludgeulper/3471888853/in/photostream/htt p://www.flickr.com/photos/sludgeulper/347 1888849/sizes/z/in/photostream/ The inscription on the gravestone reads: "Pray for the Souls of Barbara Hultenschmidt ,Henrica Fassbender (not found), Norberta Reinkober, Aurea Badziura and Brigitta Damhorst. Franciscan Nuns from Germany who were Drowned near Harwich in the wreck of the Deutschland Dec 7th 1875. Four of whom were interred here Decr. 13th. RIP" The sinking of SS Deutschland (1866) in December 1875 was one of the great Victorian maritime disasters The German liner became stranded on the Kentish Knock while en route from Bremen for Southampton and New York with passengers, emigrants, and general cargo. It...

Saint Gertrude the Great
2010-10-06 23:29:00
Francisco de Herrera (the Elder) 1576 - 1656Saint Gertrude the Great 1638-9Oil on canvas125 x 75 cmMuseum of Fine Arts, Seville Unknown Peruvian painter, early 18th centurySaint Gertrude the GreatOil on canvas48 ¾ x 35 ½ inchesInscription: In coide Gertrudis invenietis me The Pope has today continued his catechesis on important women within the Church. See for example: Women at the Service of the Gospel; Prohpetic Charism or Voices ? The Receiver of Supernatural Gifts Never Boasts God's nightingale Today he spoke about St. Gertrude the Great, also known as Saint Gertrude of Helfta) (January 6, 1256 ? ca. 1302) the German Benedictine, mystic, and theologian. She is the only woman of Germanic descent to be called ?Great? She experienced a deep conversion: in her studies she passed from worldly pursuits to the sacred sciences, and in her monastic observance she moved from concern with external things to a life of intense prayer She produced numerous writings, but only the The "...

Memorial to Blessed John Henry Newman : Saturday 9 October 2010
2010-10-06 21:33:00
This Saturday , 9 October 2010, is the first feast day of Blessed John Henry Newman There have been a number of good posts highlighting the first memorial of the newly beatified Cardinal See: George Weigel: Newman`s Faith Dom Donald: The Pope`s Homily The Feast Day of Blessed John Henry Newman Shawn Tribe: Mass and Dedication of Newman Chapel at the London Oratoryhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogsp ot/Uocyk
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The Present State of Catholic Knowledge: a Bad Case of Retinal Detachment a
2010-10-05 23:58:00
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)The Triumph of the Eucharist over Ignorance and Blindness (circa 1625 to 1626)Oil on panel16.2 x 24.4 cmThe Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Gregory Erlandson, the President of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing gave an address to the Catholic Press Congress at the Vatican on 4th October 2010 It is worth reading in its entirety. It is a .pdf file. The address covered a lot of ground and not only about the present state of the Catholic Press in America and worldwide. One issue which he focused on was the decline in knowledge about the faith. His remarks were quite startling. They seem to echo what has been said in other conferences, media and events, not only in the United State s but also in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. He said: "[W]e now have two generations of Catholics who have been significantly under-catechized in their own faith. A larger and larger share of our potential audience often does not understand Catholic vocabulary or Catholic ...
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Pope to visit Britain 2010
2009-09-24 01:06:00
Pope Benedict XVI will visit Britain next year following an invitation from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a government source said on Wednesday. It would appear that the visit will be a State Visit and not simply a "pastoral visit" as Pope John Paul II conducted many years ago. One hopes that there will be official confirmation of this soon: as well as an idea of his itinerary.
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Father Joan-Gilabert Jofré and Nuestra Señora de los locos e inocentes
2009-09-22 23:44:00
Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida 1863-1923 El padre Jofré protegiendo a un loco/ Father Joan-Gilabert Jofré protecting a mentally ill man 1881 Oil on canvas 154 x 205 cm Diputación de Valencia. Valencia. Spain Nostra Dona Sancta dels Folls Innocents e Desamparats (Nuestra Señora de los locos e inocentes), Valencia On Friday, February 24, 1409, Father Joan-Gilabert Jofré, (June 24, 1350 ? 1417) a religious Mercedarian Father was on his way from the convent of the Plaza de la Merced to the Cathedral of Valencia. The principal activity of the members of the Order of Mercy, founded in the year 1218 by Saint Pedro Nolasco, was to rescue Christians who were prisoners of the Muslims. Father Jofré was supposed to give the sermon at the Cathedral two days later. On his way there, probably on the street of Martín Mengod, the ancient street of the silver workers, next to the church of Santa Catalina, a great uproar caught his attention. A group of children were hitting and making fun of a me...

Entry into Carmel
2009-09-22 20:39:00
Mount Carmel, Looking towards the Sea Print 1846 After William Henry Bartlett (1809- 1854) Published by Fisher, Son & Co (publisher/printer; British; 1821 - 1848; fl.) Print made by William Floyd (1836 ? 1877) The British Museum, London The Grotto of Elijah, Mount Carmel, Israel St Thérèse describes in this Letter her feelings and reactions before entering Carmel. It was written in 1887, shortly before Thérèse entered Carmel: ?MY DARLING LITTLE MOTHER [Agnes of Jesus],?You are right when you tell me that every cup must contain its drop of gall. I find that trials are a great help towards detachment from the things of earth: they make one look higher than this world. Nothing here can satisfy, and we can find rest only in holding ourselves ready to do God's will. My frail barque has great difficulty in reaching port. I sighted it long since, and still I find myself afar off. Yet Jesus steers this little barque, and I am sure that on His appointed day it will come safely t...

First Communion and Confirmation
2009-09-21 21:06:00
Eugène Carrière (French, 1849?1906) The First Communion Oil on canvas 25 3/4 x 21 in. (65.4 x 53.3 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Jules Breton 1827-1906 The Communicants (The First Communion) 1884 Oil on canvas Private collection Henri Alphonse Laurent-Desrousseaux (1862-1906) First Communion Oil on canvas 92.08 cm (36.25 in.), 72.71 cm (28.63 in.) Private collection By the time of the Renaissance, most Roman Catholics did not receive First Holy Communion until the start of adolescence, when they were about eleven years of age. This changed in 1910 when Pope Pius X (now Saint Pius X) lowered the age for receiving First Communion to the age of reason, reckoned to be about seven years of age. In his Quam Singulari decree on First Communion, Pius wrote: ?It is clear that the age of discretion for receiving Holy Communion is that at which the child knows the difference between the Eucharistic Bread and ordinary, material bread, and can therefore approach the a...

A Letter of Counsel from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
2009-09-20 23:34:00
Lorenzo Di Credi 1459-1537 An Angel Brings the Holy Communion to Mary Magdalen about 1510 Tempera on wood, 51 x 38 cm Christian Museum, Esztergom In a letter to her cousin Marie Guerin, Thérèse then aged only 15 years advised her about the necessity of frequent Communion. Her cousin had confided in Thérèse that because of scruples and her conviction that she had greatly sinned, she would refrain from Holy Communion. Pope Pius X after reading this letter declared it ?most opportune? It will be recalled that he was the Pope who made it possible for more frequent Holy Communion and for Communion for children. Someone once described Saint Thérèse of Lisieux as ?a religious prodigy?. The letter would appear to give support to that view. How many spiritual advisors are able to deal with scruples in such a confident and self assured manner ? The letter is dated 1888: ?Before you confided in me, I felt you were suffering, and my heart was one with yours. Since you have the humili...
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Pope Leo XIII meets two Saints
2009-09-20 21:55:00
Pope Leo XIII in 1898 St Therese describes her attendance at an audience with Pope Leo XIII. She summons up the courage to ask him to intervene to allow her to enter Carmel. Her father, now Blessed, also meets the Holy Father. But one really wants to know what exactly did Pope Leo XIII think of this strange young girl who would not let go of his knee and who was dragged off by the Swiss Guard. "We spent six days in visiting the great wonders in Rome, and on the seventh saw the greatest of all?Leo XIII. I longed for, yet dreaded, that day, for on it depended my vocation. I had received no answer from the Bishop of Bayeux, and so the Holy Father's permission was my one and only hope. But in order to obtain this permission I had first to ask it. The mere thought made me tremble, for I must dare speak to the Pope, and that, in presence of many Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops! On Sunday morning, November 20, [1887] we went to the Vatican, and were taken to the Pope's private...
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St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face
2009-09-20 19:08:00
The Community doing the laundry 1895 The Community in the fields July 1896 Here we see the Doctor of the Church, St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face , doing the laundry and working in the fields. At the same time she was doing and writing what Pope John Paul II called ?her doctrine [which] is at once a confession of the Church's faith, an experience of the Christian mystery and a way to holiness.? For some reason it is difficult to imagine other Doctors like Saints Jerome, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas in similar scenes. Not long after she died on 30 September 1897, Pope Pius X declared that she was "the greatest saint of modern times". Benedict XV, praised the knowledge of divine realities which God granted to Thérèse in order to teach others the ways of salvation Pius XI underscoring her special divine enlightenment and described her as a teacher of life. He considered Thérèse of Lisieux the "Star of his pontificate? after he had beatified and canonised her. ...

Giovanni Bellini and St Francis in the Desert
2009-09-20 13:26:00
Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 - 1516) St. Francis in the Desert , 1480 Oil and tempera on poplar panel 49 in. x 55 7/8 in. (124.46 cm x 141.92 cm) Henry Clay Frick Bequest The Frick Collection, New York The theme of seclusion is more common in paintings that depict the retirement of saints During the early Renaissance, the cult of saints became "more intense and passionate" than ever throughout Europe Giovanni Bellini is an important figure in the early representation of the hermit saints in solitude Bellini's portrayals of St. Francis and St. Jerome were among the first examples of the subject, in which the theme of solitude is created through a physical division from the external world The painting`s true subject is somewhat elusive. It used to be known as ?St Francis in Ecstasy?. Now it is called ?St Francis in the Desert? St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82?1226), founder of the Franciscan order, is believed to have received the stigmata ? the wounds of Christ's Crucifixion ? ...

St Ambrose and Reading
2009-09-19 18:59:00
Matthias Stomer (Amersfoort, 1600 - Sicily, after 1650) Saint Ambroise/Saint Ambrose Circa 1633-1639 Oil on canvas 110 x 130 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, Rennes St Augustine, in his Confessions [Book Six, Chapter Three] has a curious anecdote which bears on the history of reading: ?When [Ambrose] read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud? St Augustine wondered why St Ambrose read silently and was not even moving his lips. He puts forward some reasons: "Perhaps he was afraid, that if he read out loud, a difficult passage by the author he was reading would raise a question in the mind of an attentive listener, and he would then have to explain what it meant or even argue about some of the more abstruse points." The impli...
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Paradiso, St Bernard of Clairvaux and Deus Caritas Est
2009-09-19 15:15:00
Philippe Quantin (c. 1600 -.1636) Saint Bernard éc rivant/Saint Bernard writing Oil on canvas H. 181.1 ; L. 120.4 Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon The work was originally commissioned for the Church of the Collège des Godrans, in Dijon. It was seized by the French State in 1799 Francisco Ribalta 1565- 1628 Cristo abrazando a San Bernardo/ Christ embracing St Bernard 1626 Oil on Canvas 158 cm x 113 cm Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid Christ leaves the cross for an instant in order to embrace Saint Bernard, founder of the Cistercian Order. The scene is based on one of the saint's mystical visions, drawn from one of the most popular religious books of the Baroque era: Pedro de Ribadeneyra's Flos Sanctorum or Book of the Lives of the Saints, published in 1599. The painting, one of the triumphs of Spanish Baroque, was probably originally commissioned for the Charterhouse of Porta Coeli in Valencia The Inferno and Purgatorio carry the reader along entertainingly; the Paradiso by comp...

A Most Sublime Prayer
2009-09-18 22:49:00
Philipp Veit (1793-1877) Fresco cycle in Casa Massimo, Rome: The Empyreum (with at the centre Dante being led to the Virgin Mary by St Bernard of Clairvaux) 1817?1827 Casa Massimo, Rome In the final stages of Dante`s Paradiso, Dante approaches the  Empyrean, a heaven of pure light beyond time and space. Beatrice, his guide in Paradise until then now returns to her place There appears instead a new guide for the final stage of the celestial voyage: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-53) Bernard shows Dante his last vision of Beatrice, who has resumed her throne among the blessed. Across the vastness of Paradise, Dante sends his soul's prayer of thanks to her. Beatrice smiles down at Dante a last time, then turns her eyes forever to the eternal fountain of God. Bernard, the most faithful of the worshippers of the Virgin, promises Dante the final vision of God through the Virgin's intercession. Accordingly, he instructs Dante to raise his eyes to her throne. Dante obeys an...
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Monastery Landscapes
2009-09-18 00:16:00
Joseph Anton Koch 1768-1839Monastery of San Francesco di Civitella in the Sabine Mountains 1812Oil on panel, 34x46 cmThe Hermitage, St. Petersburg Alexey Savrasov. (1830-1897)Monastery Gates. 1875. Oil on canvas. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. In his recent study of art displayed in contemporary American homes, David Halle discovered that landscape pictures are the first in popularity in all various social classes he surveyed. Importantly his study shows further that almost all the landscape pictures he sampled are about "a sedate and tranquil nature" with few or no human figures, and that people's general reason for preferring landscapes to other genres is "above all the tranquillity of the subject matter," because "they are 'calm', 'restful'; they offer 'solitude' and 'quiet'; they soothe." (David Halle, Inside Culture: Art and Class in the American Home (Chicago, 111.: The University of Chicago Press, 1993), pp. 59-72) Without doubt, as Halle himself has c...
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Cloisters
2009-09-17 21:54:00
The St Gall Monastery Plan (?an architectural plan for an ideal monastery ?)AD 825 -830(Dedicated to Gozbertus, the Abbot of St Gall from 816-36)Roll of parchment made of five pieces sewn together (ca. 77cm. by 112 cm.)Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen, Switzerland Cluny II and its Monastery, according to Excavations and the Dimensions of the Farfa Consuetudinary (1043).(J P Conant) The cloister was the heart of a monastery. It was a covered walkway surrounding a large open courtyard. It gave access to all other monastic buildings. It was also a passageway and processional walkway, a place for meditation and for reading aloud. It was the site where the monks washed their clothes and themselves. One fascinating interpretation of the architectural symbolism intrinsic in the layout of the buildings surrounding the cloister is by William Durandus (13th c.) in his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum according to which the church building symbolises the Church Triumphant and the claustrum signifi...

The singing of Psalms and the Divine Office
2009-09-17 20:32:00
Gradual--Use of Saint-Michel de Gaillac, Near Albi, before 1079. Manuscripts Department, Western Section, Lat. 766, ParchmentThe Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris Psalter-Hymnal of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, middle of the 11th century. Manuscripts Department, Western Section, Lat. 11550, ParchmentThe Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris Arundel 83 f. 55v Musical notation, heraldic decoration and DavidFrom the Howard Psalter (Arundel 83 I) showing the incipit of Psalm 80 ("Exultate Deo"). In the initial 'E', a seated king plays bells. In the border, hybrids hold trumpets bearing the Fitton and Freville arms, and other hybrids play musical instruments. c. 1310 - c. 1320Parchment 360 x 235 (250 x 165) in two columnsThe British Library, London The Last Judgement in The Winchester Psalter ('St Swithun Psalter')Ink and pigments on vellum1150Cotton MS Nero C IV f.39rLength: 32 x Width: 22.1 centimetresThe British Library, London(The Psalter was probably used by Hugh of Blo...
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