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Still falls the Rain.
2008-01-29 21:57:00
Clive Branson 1907-1944Blitz: Plane Flying 1940Oil on canvassupport: 610 x 509 x 20 mm frame: 750 x 650 x 50 mmTate Britain, London Edith Louisa Sitwell DBE (7 September 1887 ? 9 December 1964) was a British poet and criticShe had two younger brothers, Osbert (1892-1969) and Sacheverell Sitwell (1897-1988) both distinguished authors, well-known literary figures in their own right, and long-term collaborators.The poems she wrote during the war brought her back before a public. They include Street Songs (1942), The Song of the Cold (1945) and The Shadow of Cain (1947), all of which were much praised. Still Falls the Rain , about the London blitz, remains perhaps her best-known poem (it was set to music by Benjamin Britten as Canticle III: Still Falls the Rain).In 1955, Sitwell converted to Roman CatholicismStill Falls the RainThe Raids, 1940. Night and Dawn.Still falls the Rain---Dark as the world of man, black as our loss---Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nailsUpon the Cross.S...

The Pauline Anniversary
2008-01-28 21:37:00
Angelos Akotantos (active 1436 - 1450):Icon of The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and PaulOil on canvas on panel; 46.4 x 37 cm.Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Maria Vassilaki, in ?A Cretan Icon in the Ashmolean: The Embrace of Peter and Paul?, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 40 writes:"The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul, whose names are inscribed in Latin, belongs to a series of nearly identical icons by the Veneto-Cretan painter Angelos Akotantos, two of which are signed.The subject is seen as symbolic of oecumenical peace.More specifically, these icons have been linked to hopes raised at the Council of Ferrara/Florence (1438-9) which unsuccessfully aimed at the union of the eastern and western churches."At 5.30 p.m. on June 28, 2008 on the eve of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, Pope Benedict XVI will preside at the celebration of first Vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the- Walls.During the ceremony, the Pope will proclaim a ...
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Vision of Ezekiel
2008-01-27 22:55:00
David Bomberg 1890-1957Vision of Ezekiel 1912Oil on canvassupport: 1143 x 1372 mm frame: 1203 x 1435 x 68 mmTate Gallery, London Bomberg was closely associated with the Vorticist group in London but was never officially a member of the Vorticist Group. Indeed he resisted attempts to enlist him as a member of the movementThe subject is taken from the Old Testament and illustrates the occasion when God guided the prophet to a valley full of bones and commanded him to speak. 'There was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together.'The brilliant colours emphasise the exultation associated with resurrection.Note the sense of struggle between the figuresBomberg may have chosen this text after the sudden death of his mother.Bomberg painted a series of complex geometric compositions combining the influences of cubism and futurism in the years immediately preceding World War IHis faith in the machine age shaken by the trauma of serving on the Western Front as a sapper in the ...

The Tomb of St Thomas Aquinas
2008-01-27 11:33:00
The Tomb of St Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 ? 7 March 1274)Le couvent des JacobinsToulouse, France The saint`s remains were placed in the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse in 1369.Between 1789 and 1974, they were held in Saint Sernin basilica of Toulouse.In 1974, they were returned to the Church of the Jacobins, where they have remained ever since.From Pope Leo XIII - Aeterni Patris (August 4, 1879)"17. Among the Scholastic Doctors, the chief and master of all towers Thomas Aquinas, who, as Cajetan observes, because "he most venerated the ancient Doctors of the Church, in a certain way seems to have inherited the intellect of all."The doctrines of those illustrious men, like the scattered members of a body, Thomas collected together and cemented, distributed in wonderful order, and so increased with important additions that he is rightly and deservedly esteemed the special bulwark and glory of the Catholic faith.With his spirit at once humble and swift, his memory ready and tenacious, h...
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Mammon
2008-01-26 20:47:00
George Frederic Watts 1817-1904Mammon 1884-5Oil on canvassupport: 1829 x 1060 mmpaintingTate Britain, London This is a powerful picture with powerful social comment.Mammon, the god of money, is represented as a tyrant on a throne. Note the small skulls on either side on the back of the throne.He nurses money bags in his lap and two youthful figures (one female ?, the other male) are crushed by his monstrous power. They are deprived of life.Mammon is surounded by the accoutrements of wealth: the crown or diadem, the fine clothes, the elegant suroundings.This is one of a series of paintings in which George Frederick Watts criticised modern commerce and its de-humanising effect on the nation.Watts subtitled the picture Dedicated to his Worshippers, as if inscribing a monument.He apparently had plans to commission a sculpture of Mammon for Hyde Park where he hoped the god?s followers ?would be at least honest enough to bow the knee publicly to him?.

The Temptation on the Pinnacle
2008-01-26 20:24:00
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851The Temptation on the Pinnacle circa 1834Pencil, watercolour and gouache on papersupport: 212 x 160 mmon paper, uniqueTate Britain, LondonThe Temptation on the Pinnacle, engraved by F. Bacon published 1835Engraving on paperon paper, printTate Britain, London Turner contributed three designs for 'Paradise Lost' and two episodes from 'Paradise Regained' for Macrone's 1835 edition of Milton's 'Poetical Works'.This vignette shows the third and final temptation endured by Christ in the wilderness, when challenged by Satan to throw himself down from the highest pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem.Turner depicts the moment of Christ's triumph over Satan who can be seen hurling himself away from the scene in anger and frustration.

New Mosaics in Westminster Cathedral
2008-01-25 23:13:00
What the chapel in Westminster Cathedral will look like when finished In The word made mosaic, Apollo Magazine has a feature on the artist Tom Phillips who has been commissioned to prepare a series of designs for new mosaics for a chapel in Westminster Cathedral, London.Phillips works from his house in Peckham, South London."Six years ago he presented a ?Summary Treatise on the Nature of Ornament? to the Architecture Forum at the Royal Academy, a critique of modern Western practices that gives a nod to Sir Joshua Reynolds?s Discourses on Art. Like so much that he does, it is an assimilated work, fusing academic theory and personal concerns, part generated, perhaps, by the Westminster commissions.It provides a vehicle with which to castigate the demotion of the term ?craft?, and assert the spiritual significance of calligraphic ornament, ?where form embodies truth directly?. These concerns inform his mosaic designs.Designing for the chapel cannot have been easy because this little sp...

Martinique 1848 and a Baptism
2008-01-25 22:01:00
UnknownFrench, Martinique , summer 1848Daguerreotype4 3/8 x 5 13/16 in.J Paul Getty Museum This photograph records the baptismal ceremony for the slaves of the West Indian island of Martinique in 1848.The sacrament represented affirmation from the church of their recent emancipation from slavery.Britain captured the island during the Seven Years' War, holding it from 1762 to 1763. Between 1794 and 1815, there was a strong British interest in Martinique, with Britain controlling the island during the French Revolutionary Wars from 1794 to 1802; and again during the Napoleonic wars from 1809 to 1814.Slavery was abolished under the earlier period of British rule, but reinstated after 1802, when the Treaty of Amiens gave Martinique back to France, and Napoléon Bonaparte allowed slavery again.Abolishing slavery in all its colonies was one of the goals declared by the new French provisional government in early 1848. Although news of this objective reached Martinique in late March, it was ...
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Crucifixion
2008-01-24 22:05:00
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475 ? February 18, 1564),Crucifix ion (c. 1530s)Drawing in black chalk368.000 mm x 268.000 mmThe British Museum, London Michelangelo made this devotional image for his friend Vittoria Colonna (April, 1490 - February, 1547). They wrote sonnets for each other and were in regular contact until she died.The widow of Francesco Ferrante D'Avalos, son of the marquis of Pescara , an aristocratic poet and religious reformer, she became Michelangelo`s confidante around 1537 when he was in his sixties.She was the friend of and esteemed by Cardinals Reginald Pole and Contarini. Pietro Bembo, Luigi Alamanni and Baldassare Castiglione were among her literary friends.Colonna wrote the following letter to Michelangelo to thank him:"Unique master Michelangelo and my most particular friend, I have received your letter and seen the Crucifix which has certainly crucified itself in my memory more than any other picture that I have ever seen.No image ...

For being of Jewish ancestry
2008-01-24 22:03:00
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, (1746-1828)Por linage de ebros, (?For being of Jewish ancestry') 1814-24Brush drawing in brown ink and wash205.000 mm x 142.000 mmThe British Museum, London Goya (1746-1828) had become Principal Painter to the King of Spain and a successful society portrait painter. However personal illness and later the horrors of the Peninsular War (1808-14) turned him away from conventional subjects and to observe the darker side of Spanish life.This is a scene from the despotic reign of Ferdinand VII (1808-1833) who, in 1814, had restored the InquisitionThese 'penitents' are identified by their paper tunics and tall hats.Their only crime is 'for being of Jewish ancestry', as Goya's brief inscription makes clear.The composition seems to be derived from traditional depictions of Christ presented bound and robed, with a crown of thorns, to the people of Jerusalem.This association further emphasises the true innocence and dignity of the accused.Goya himself ...
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Bishop Juan Gerardi: The Art of Political Murder
2008-01-24 21:40:00
Bishop Juan Gerardi The Times is publishing extracts from The Art of Political Murder by Francisco Goldman.(Atlantic, £16.99 )On April 26, 1998, days after publishing a damning indictment of the Guatemalan Government's human rights record, Bishop Juan Gerardi was bludgeoned to death at the Church of San Sebastian.As official explanations became increasingly bizarre, the novelist Francisco Goldman turned investigator.The Guatemalan Bishops' Conference described the investigation of the murder as "totally inadequate." and that the murder was "a premeditated blow to the Guatemalan Catholic Church" designed to "limit our pastoral action and remind us that the most fearful forces in the country are still intact and possess enormous power."After the murder a Vatican spokesman, Father Pedro Freites, expressed shock over the murder of the Bishop, who he described as "one of the new martyrs of the Latin American Catholic Church."Goldman worked assiduously for seven years on the book. He tr...
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Psalms
2008-01-23 22:50:00
Eliot Weinberger in The London Review of Books reviews The Book of Psalms : A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter. The review is entitled Praise Yah"New translations of a classic text are either done as a criticism of the old translations (correcting mistakes, finding an equivalent that is somehow closer to the original, writing in the language as it is now spoken) or they are a springboard for trying something new in the translation-language, inspired by certain facets of the original (such as Pound?s Chinese or Anglo-Saxon versions, Paul Blackburn?s Provençal, Louis Zukofsky?s Latin).Alter, whose concern is Biblical Hebrew and not contemporary poetry, is in the former camp.As he explains in the introduction, his project is to strip away the Christian interpretations implicit in the King James and later versions and restore the context of the archaic Judaism of the half-millennium (roughly 1000-500 BCE) in which the Psalms were written.His poetics is an attempt to reproduce ...

The Golden Cell
2008-01-23 22:07:00
Odilon Redon (1840-1916)La Cell ule d'Or 1892"A rendering of the invisible"Drawing in oil and metallic paint301.000 mm x 247.000 mmBritish Museum, London In 1894 it was seen by Tatiana Tolstoy, the daughter of the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who noted in her diary: 'One of them whose name I could not make out-something like Redon-had painted a face in blue profile. On the whole face there is only this blue tone, with white-of-lead.'Tolstoy quoted this in his diatribe against contemporary art, 'What is Art?', first published in 1898, as irrefutable evidence of the degenerancy of modern art.La Cellule d'Or ('The Golden Cell') suggests introspection.The blue and gold halo are the traditional colours of the Virgin Mary, but no further religious message intrudes.

Cardinal Manning: is it time for a re-assessment yet ?
2008-01-22 21:00:00
Cardinal Manning `s reputation is not as high as his fellow Tractarian, Cardinal Newman. Newman`s present reputation certainly dwarfs that of Manning.One reason for the decline in Manning`s reputation lies in the publication not long after his death in 1896 of his "authorised" biography.The "official" life of Cardinal Manning was The Life of Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster (1896) by Edmund Sheridan Purcell [1824?-1899].Professor Owen Chadwick described it in The Victorian Church as "Purcell`s famous but discreditable biography".Possibly this is due to the fact that at the time it was published, it caused shock in some circles as perhaps the biographer was not selective enough in his use of the raw or primary materials and revealed what perhaps should not have been revealed or what Cardinal Manning would not have wanted to be revealed.It comprises two volumes.Volume 1 (Manning as an Anglican) and Volume 2 (Manning as a Catholic)Both volumes can be downloaded on the links a...
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A national bio-ethics commission ?
2008-01-22 20:49:00
In an article in The Times entitled Following Dolly into the future Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, has called for the setting up of a national bio-ethics commission charged with pursuing serious ethical scrutiny of issues as a precondition of research and of the development of biomedical technologies.The call comes within the context of The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which is presently wending its way though Parliament.In the article, the Cardinal says:"In the 10 years since Dolly the sheep briefly walked the Earth the pace of biomedical research has massively accelerated, with extraordinary prospects for serving the good of humanity. Yet science is running ever further ahead of society's ability to reflect and assess the wisdom of the latest technological advance. We cannot stop the tide of knowledge, and nor should we want to. But we can and must find better ways of deciding how that knowledge is used, or risk the profound social con...
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Feast of St Agnes, Martyr
2008-01-21 21:11:00
Mosaic depicting Saint Agnes flanked by Popes Symmarchus and HonoriusInterior view, apse, S. Agnese fuori le MuraRome
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Westminster Cathedral: The Appeal
2008-01-20 20:43:00
Solomon, I Have Surpassed Thee gives details of the urgent restoration appeal launched for Westminster Cathedral This week Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor launched a £3 million appeal for Westminster Cathedral to fund a major programme of work including urgent repairs to the Cathedral's domes and the replacement of outdated electrical and heating systems.The Cathedral does not charge an admission fee. It receives no financial aid from the Government, or from the Vatican, but is dependant on voluntary donations to pay for its running costs.The blog of Mgr Mark Langham, the Administrator of Westminster Cathedral, gives more details and how to contribute.
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Cardinal Manning and the "Social Question"
2008-01-19 19:25:00
In Cardinal Manning and the Social Problem by D. J. Mc Dougall (a lecture given at Loyola College, Montreal, September 12, 1957), McDougall describes how Manning`s view of Catholic social theology and his influence had effects greater than simply in the United KingdomIn the Spring of 1887, at a time when industrial strife was assuming dangerous proportions in many parts of the western world, the Holy See was called upon to adjudicate in a case concerning the status of an American trade union popularly known as the Knights of Labour.The question in dispute was whether the practices and the objectives of this society were inimical to faith and morals, and whether it should he condemned by the Church, and Catholic working men forbidden to join it.One of the strongest opponents of the society was Archbishop Taschereau of Montreal. Like many other American unions the Knights had spread into Canada. In the early 1880?s a number of branches had been formed in Toronto, Montreal andother ind...
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Glass Chalices
2008-01-19 18:24:00
David Jones (1895-1974)Glass Chalice with Flowers and Mugabout 1950 - 1955Watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper78.20 x 58.70 cm (framed: 117.00 x 86.80 x 3.00 cm)The National Gallery of Scotland Jones made a series of watercolour drawings which feature a glass goblet of flowers on a table surrounded by a variety of domestic objects.This composition is centred around an eighteenth-century German glass chalice.

The Artist and the Archbishop
2008-01-19 18:09:00
Wikipedia states that "Theological aesthetics is the interdisciplinary study of theology and aesthetics, and has been defined as being "concerned with questions about God and issues in theology in the light of and perceived through sense knowledge (sensation, feeling, imagination), through beauty, and the arts".This field of study is broad and includes not only a theology of beauty, but also the dialogue between theology and the arts, such as dance, drama, film, literature, music, poetry, and the visual arts.Notable theologians and philosophers that have dealt with this subject include Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, among others."Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, was born in Swansea, south Wales was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford before becoming a Bishop.He is acknowledged internationally as an outstanding theological writer, scholar an...
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Sunday Mass
2008-01-18 23:17:00
David Jones (1895 - 1974)Sunday Mass : In Homage to GM Hopkins, SJ. 1948Pencil, watercolour, chalk & bodycolour on paper55.5 x 37.5cmJohn Creasey Museum, Salisbury The work depicts two women attending Sunday Mass at Whitsun.It was produced during or shortly after David Jones second illness.The artist is concerned to capture the moment of Pentecost, with the dove resting between the women's head.Jones idenitified with Hopkins (a poet like Jones) in a very personal way.

Pelican in Her Piety
2008-01-17 21:40:00
David Jones 1895-1974Pelican in Her Piety From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1929EngravingPublished: Douglas Cleverdon, Bristol 1929The text is :ACCENDAT IN NOBIS / DOMINUS IGNEM SUI / AMORIS ET FLAMMAM / AETERNAE CHARITATISJones converted to Roman Catholicism in 1921, and throughout his life the symbols and liturgy of the church played an important part in his art.When Jones became a Catholic, under the influence of Eric Gill he read Maritain's "Art et Scholastique". But his theology was poles apart from Gill's.He developed an understanding of the Thomist definition of art, which he saw as intimately related to the meaning of sacrament.In 1928 he engraved on copper the series of illustrations to Coleridge?s Rime of the Ancient MarinerFor his last 20 years, until his death in 1974, he inhabited a single room in Harrow, welcoming visitors but otherwise pursuing his work in isolation. He called that room his "dug-out", but in truth it was almost a monastic cell.The great religious...

Exiit Edictum
2008-01-17 21:37:00
David Jones 1895-1974Exiit Edictum 1949Drawing and gouache on papersupport: 406 x 330 mmon paper, uniqueThe Tate, London Large painted inscriptions were an important part of Jones's later work, beginning around 1943.The Latin texts that Jones has chosen here refer to Christmas.'Exiit Edictum' comes from the account of Christ's birth in St Luke's Gospel, and the separate line of 'Iam Redit Apollo' comes from Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, which Christian writers believed prophesied Christ's birth.Jones combines fragments from different texts, so as to give visual form to a complex of inter-related meaning.

George Herbert and Vikram Seth
2008-01-17 20:29:00
George Herbert (April 3, 1593 ? March 1, 1633), Rector of the parish of St. Andrew, Bemerton, near Salisbury. (1630-1633)St. Andrew's Church dating from the 13th Century. One mile west of Salisbury CathedralBemerton Rectory on the banks of the River Nadder (now part of Salisbury) [house dating from 1470 restored by George Herbert] / Medlar Tree That George Herbert Planted 1630The poet and novelist, Vikram Seth, (author of The Golden Gate , A Suitable Boy, An Equal Music) has an interesting piece in The Times Literary SupplementHe is the present owner of the former Rectory attached to St Andrews, Bemerton in Somerset, where for three years the poet and Anglican priest, George Herbert (April 3, 1593 ? March 1, 1633) lived and where he died.Seth explains his early encounter with the works of George Herbert at school studying for `A` Level English.Many years later, by chance, the Rectory came on the market and he bought it.He explains how the house`s associations and his earlier readin...
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St Augustine: Do not despair
2008-01-16 21:09:00
BOULLOGNE Louis le Jeune, [Paris, 1654 ; Paris, 1733]Baptème de Saint Augustin c 1703Oil on canvasH. 160 ; L. 226 cmMusée des Beaux-Arts, BordeauxCHASSERIAU Théodore [1819 - 1856]Saint Augustine with Saint Monica at Ostia c.1840(Chapter X of the Confessions: Discussion which St Augustine had with his mother on Eternal Life)0,243m x 0,205 mLead on aquarelleDépartement des Arts graphiques, Musée du Louvre, ParisThe Catholic News Agency carries a report on Pope Benedict`s catechesis on St. Augustine which he delivered today: St Augustine being a particular favourite of the pontiff.The theme of the talk was Augustine`s deep love for God which has inspired countless people to reject despair and turn to help those in need."The [Pope] recalled the period in history just prior to St Augustine's death when North Africa was beset by division and threatened by Vandals.After designating his successor as bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine wanted to dedicate the last four years of his life to a more...
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Marriage of Convenience
2008-01-15 21:24:00
Sir William Quiller Orchardson 1835-1910Mariage de Convenance 1883Oil on canvasGlasgow Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow The "Mariage de convenance" was perhaps the most popular of all Orchardson's pictures.
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The Pope, The Cardinal and the Dockers
2008-01-14 21:28:00
Banner of the Amalgamated Society of Watermen and Lightermen (Greenwich Branch no. 13).National Maritime Museum, London The Amalgamated Society of Watermen, Lightermen and Bargemen was established in 1872.The banner shown belonged to a branch of the union from Greenwich and shows Cardinal Henry Manning (1808-92), Archbishop of Westminster.The Cardinal was a supporter of the dockers during The Great Dock Strike of 1889. Manning was instrumental in settling the Strike.Manning supported social reform. He appealed for unemployment relief and protested against the Poor Law.Manning also campaigned for decent housing for the poor and supported the right of workers to join trade unions and go on strike.These views are reflected in the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum issued by Leo XIII and on which Manning exercised great influence.Manning's involvement in the Dock Strike made a major impression on Hilaire Belloc, 19 years old at the time - who was to become a major speaker for the Catholic ...
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The Baptism
2008-01-13 12:10:00
James Joseph Jacques Tissot (October 15, 1836 ? August 8, 1902)Baptism of Jesus Christ, 1886-1894.Watercolour.Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Millais and the Parables
2008-01-13 10:56:00
Sir John Everett Millais, Bt 1829-1896The Lost Sheep published 1864from Illustrations to `The Parable s of Our Lord', engraved by the Dalziel BrothersRelief print on paperimage: 140 x 108 mmSir John Everett Millais, Bt 1829-1896The Rich Man and Lazarus published 1864from Illustrations to `The Parables of Our Lord', engraved by the Dalziel BrothersRelief print on paperimage: 140 x 108 mmFor these powerful designs in The Parables, Millais broke with tradition and relocated the timeless texts into native, and sometimes even his beloved Scottish, settings.

In Our Time
2008-01-12 21:00:00
In Our Time is a radio programme on BBC Radio 4.It is presented by Melvyn Bragg and guests investigate the history of ideas.Often the programmes are on Religious ThemesYou can listen again to all the programmes.Access is through this page on the BBC website.Topics include:The Nicene Creed - when Christ became God ""We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds."Thus begins the Nicene Creed, a statement of essential faith spoken for over 1600 years in Christian Churches - Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant.But what has become a universal statement was written for a very particular purpose - to defeat a 4th century theological heresy called Arianism and to establish that Jesus Christ was, indeed, God. The story of the Creed is in many ways the story of early Christianity ? of delicate theology and robust politics. It chan...