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N E W SColor returns to Amiens Cathedral inFrance. Following a restorative cleaningin 1992, traces of color were found inthe recesses of façade sculptures that dateback 800 years. Seen as too invasive, reapplyingpaint was rejected, but the effect ofcolor has been achieved instead with lighting.Paris-based designers Skertzo havematched the original pigments in lightand found a way to project them onto thesculptures. The colored façade can be seeneach evening from June to September andduring the winter holidays.Amiens Cathedral, FranceAccording to Elvira Obenbach, “a churchis not a museum but the house of God.”Covering 100 churches, convents, andhouses of Rome, Obenbach’s book In theFootprints of the Saints of Rome: Guide to theIcons, Relics and Houses of Saints encouragesthe spiritual discovery of Rome beyond theartistic. “This guide is to fill a lacuna andto lead a pilgrim not to the artistic work butin the footprints of the saints and blessed,”writes the author. She also says, “It is goodto remind the public that art is a support,not the essence.” Vatican Press is the publisherof her new book. See www.libreriaeditricevaticana.com.Neocatechumenal Way opens a chapel onthe Mount of the Beatitudes. In Tiberias,Israel, the design for the Domus GalilaeaeInternational Center, originally conceivedby Spanish painter Kiko Arguello withCarmen Hernandez and a group of internationalarchitects, will serve as a “bridgewith the whole Jewish tradition.” The designof the 12,000-square-meter complex,which slopes toward Lake Tiberias andspans three terraces, houses a multitudeof spaces from a congressional center anda church to guest rooms. The complex invitesChristians to return to Jewish sourcesto understand the meaning of the Jewishprayers and liturgical celebrations that dailysustained Jesus.Photo: Architectural Record, Nov, 2003Holy Transfiguration, Skete, an EasternCatholic monastery on the shore of LakeSuperior, adapts traditional Ukrainian designelements typical of country churches inthe Carpathians to contemporary needs ina new building project. Designed by PageOnge of Nashville, Tennessee, the 4,500-square-foot monastery is of conventionalwood framing and clad with sawn shinglesof local cedar. Consecrated on August 24,2003, by the Most Reverend Steven Seminack,Eparch of St. Nicholas in Chicago, theByzantine monastery also boasts of severalanodized aluminum domes. For more informationsee www.societystjohn.com.Augustus Welby Pugin is being proposedfor canonization by James Thunder, “Pugin:A Godly Man?” True Principles (Summer2002 and Summer 2003). Thunderfocuses on Pugin the man and not his architecture.He argues that, as with Gaudi,the canonization of an architect would notnecessarily canonize his architecture. Thunderexamines Pugin’s roles as husband, asfather to eight, as friend and colleague, aswell as Pugin’s response to adversity, hischarity, and above all the evangelical zealdemonstrated in his writings and work.The World Monuments Fund has releasedits 2004 watch list of the 100 mostendangered architectural sites. The WMFis a nonprofit organization that seeks topreserve the world’s historic, artistic andarchitectural heritage. Churches on thelist include St. Anne’s Church in Prague(which contains a series of Gothic, Renaissance,and Baroque Murals, as well as itsGothic truss system, despite its use as awarehouse for the last 200 years) and IglesiaSan Jose in San Juan, Puerto Rico (theoldest surviving building in Puerto Rico,as well as one of the earliest examples ofGothic-influenced architecture in the WesternHemisphere). See www.wmf.org.The Benedictine Monastery of the HolyCross has been founded in Rostrevor,Northern Ireland, as a sign of reconciliation.Five monks of the Congregation ofSt. Mary of Mount Olivet, coming from theAbbey of Bec in France, have formed thenew community in the interest of bringingthe Rule of St. Benedict back to Ireland.The foundation decree states: “Our particularmission is to contribute to reconciliationbetween Catholics and Protestants ina land marked by reciprocal violence andstained by the blood of Christian brothersand sisters.” See www.benedictinemonks.co.ukA cathedral in Nottingham, England,hopes to keep its doors open 24 hours aday. Police and social service personnelare now training volunteers to keep watchin St. Barnabas Cathedral. Approximately100 volunteers are needed to keep open the19th-century Gothic Revival cathedral byA.W. Pugin.Working collaboratively with the parishcommunity of St. Paul’s Episcopal Churchin Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Andersson-Wisearchitects transformed an overcrowdedchurch into a massive new spacewhile retaining the intimate feel of the 1911original. Central to the design is an emphasison the verticality of the space to heightenthe parishioners’ sense of relationship withGod. According to Rev. David Henderson,the key of the project is “paying homage tothe tradition of the church without replicatingit.” The effect is an elegant monasticsimplicity for the new 250-person capacity21,000-square-foot church.White Chapel at Rose-Hulman Instituteof Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana,is designed by VOA as an ecumenicalchapel.Copenhagen’s Pentecostal Christianslook to “Catholic” symbols for inspiration.Until now Pentecostal Christiansin Denmark have avoided symbols suchas crosses or candles as being too RomanCatholic. However they are beginning torealize their potential as Rev. Rene Ottesenfrom Copenhagen’s biggest Pentecostalchurch stated: “We have lost the symbols,and therefore we have lost the hook onwhich to hang our faith.” He also added,“The symbols give a physical and tangibledimension to our faith.”Photo: Contract, Sept, 2003Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 5

N E W SThe Poor Clare Sisters of Barhamsville,Virginia celebrate the completion of their40,000-square-foot monastery on 42 acres.Statistics are explored to find the goldenera of American Catholicism. James Davidson,a professor of sociology at the Universityof Purdue, collected data from the“Official Catholic Directory” on aspects ofchurch life for five-year intervals between1930 and 2000. With less than half of itscurrent membership, Davidson found the1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s were institution-buildingyears in which the Church had morediocesan high schools (2,123), diocesanseminaries (202), and private high schools(1,394) than it has ever had. The 1960sbrought new highs in building with recordsfor Catholic hospitals (808), religious orderseminaries (497), Catholic colleges anduniversities (304), and elementary schools(10,503). The number of parishes peakedin the 1990s (19,971) but has since declined.To sum his findings, the 1960s appear to bethe golden era, with 1965 being the peakyear.Hope fades for the preservation of St. StephenCatholic Church as a local historiclandmark in South Bend, Indiana. The 93-year-old church was closed in May of 2003and most of the building’s artifacts, includingits stained-glass windows, have beendonated or sold to other parishes. Whilethe Historic Preservation Commission statedthere was no question that the structurewould be eligible both architecturally andhistorically for landmark status, it has hesitatedto take action owing to the lack of anyproposals for how to take care of the buildingonce it ceases to be a church.“St. Peter and the Vatican: The Legacy ofthe Popes” is the largest collection of Vaticanartifacts ever to tour North America.The exhibit offers visitors a rare glimpseinto the 2,000-year history of the papacy asseen through the lens of 350 objects drawnfrom Vatican museums and archives, aswell as churches administered by the Vatican.This is the first time many of the objectshave ever left the Vatican or been onpublic display. “St. Peter and the Vatican”Photo Courtesy Poor Clare Sisterswill be at the San Diego Museum of ArtMay 15 through September 6, 2004. Formore information, visit www.sdmart.org.Among the victims of the November 20,2003, suicide bombing on the British Consulatein Istanbul was the community ofthe Catholic-Chaldean Church. Unlessthe badly damaged church and offices arerenovated the community cannot resumeits activities. The German-based Aid to theChurch in Need is leading the effort to helpand is seeking benefactors for support.Visit www.kirche-in-not.org/e_home.htm.After 30 years, construction has resumedon a long unfinished church designed byinfluential modernist Le Corbusier. Begunin 1970, the Church of Saint-Pierre deFirminy-Vert (a suburb of Saint-Etienne,near Lyon) was designed as part of a projectintended to unite dwellings, spiritual life,culture, and sport in a single urban complex,but construction of the church halteddue to lack of funds. While the bottom halfhas been built, it will require a minimumof 17 months to reinforce the structure,complete the interior, and build the shell ofthe edifice. The structure, which has neverbeen used as a church, will have a smallnon-denominational worship space, whilemost of the building will be an annex to theSaint-Etienne museum of modern art.Model of Le Corbusierʼs Church ofSaint-Pierre de Firminy-VertCalifornia’s missions are becoming endangereddue to lack of funding for preservation.The highest on the preservationlist is the closed mission of San Miguel inArcangel, which sustained further damagein last December’s earthquake. Though allof the missions receive the state’s historiclandmark status, there has been no statewideeffort on the mission’s behalf to fundraisefor their preservation.Romanian Catholics are seeking supportfrom the European Union to regain parishproperties that were handed over toOrthodox caretakers during the rule of thecountry’s former Communist regime. SupportingRomania’s petition for entry intothe European Union, Bishop Virgil Berceaof Oradea has made a plea to the EuropeanCommission to place “the patrimonialproblems of the Romanian Greek-CatholicChurch” on the agenda in talks with thecurrent government. A Byzantine bodyin union with the Holy See, the RomanianCatholic Church was outlawed by theCommunist regime after WWII as propertieswere confiscated and members forcedto choose between attending Orthodox servicesor risking imprisonment.6 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9Photo: © FLC-ADAGPPope John Paul II calls for artists to reflectGod with their work. Speaking to a groupfrom the Artistic and Cultural FormationCenter from Poland, the Pope remarkedthat “in man, the artist, the image of theCreator is reflected. I say this also so that allpresent here are conscious that this reflectionof God implies a great responsibility.”The Holy Father continued, stressing thatone’s talent must be developed in order “toserve one’s neighbor and society with it.”He added, “Artists are responsible not onlyfor the aesthetic dimension of the worldand of life but also of the moral dimension.If artists are not guided by good in creativity,or even worse, are led toward evil, theyare not worthy of the title of artist.”The sacrament of reconciliation goes mobilewith the blessing of a van in Augsburg,Germany. Supported by the Germansection of the International Catholic charityAid to the Church in Need, the confessionalon wheels will be used during events likeWorld Youth Day 2005 in Cologne and willalso offer a chance for people to speak to apriest and receive spiritual counseling.Grace Church in New York sells ad. spaceto banks and luxury-car companies on a140-foot billboard spanning its Gothic façade.Finding it difficult to generate the $2million funds needed for the restoration ofthe church, Rev. David M. Rider has had tolook for creative solutions to care for whathe calls a “high maintenance facility.” Designedby James Renwick, architect of St.Patrick’s Cathedral, Grace Church is a landmarkbuilding, which means it requires thehighest standards in restoration, while receivingno extra funds to follow such mandates.While the ads are temporary, architecturalhistorian Franz Schulze still comments,“It’s rather bad form to smear yourname over a very beautiful church façade.”

N E W SMosaic within Redemptoris MaterChapel, VaticanThe Vatican has established a website featuringthe recently renovated RedemptorisMater Chapel. The chapel was redecoratedwith mosaics inspired by the EasternChurch with money given to John Paul IIby the College of Cardinals in celebrationof the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination.Designed to capture the theologicalessence of both east and west—“the twolungs of the Church”—the chapel is thesite of the Holy Father’s Lenten retreat. Seewww.vatican.va/redemptoris_mater/index_en.htm.The Boudreaux Group Inc. has completeda renovation for St. Peter’s CatholicChurch in Columbia, South Carolina.The work incorporates a carefully detailedwood floor and a new baptismal pool thatuses the original font. The use of color, murals,and gold leaf has also given new life tothe triumphant columns and vaults of thehistoric interior. According to the architectsevery effort was made to use the best of materialsand methods to honor this beautifulchurch.Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St.Louis presided over the groundbreaking ofthe main church at the Shrine of Our Ladyof Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, onThursday, May 13. The estimated cost ofthe project is $20 million and is expected totake two and a half years to complete.Controversy arose in Italy over a localjudge’s decision to order the removal ofcrucifixes from public school rooms. Thecontroversy quieted as it was confirmed thata 1923 government decree, unaltered by theconcordat between Italy and the CatholicChurch in 1984, provides for crucifixes inItalian schools. Support for the crucifix camefrom both secular and religious communities.Giuseppe Vacca, current presidentof the Antonio Gramsci Institute, said thecrucifix goes beyond the boundaries ofChristianity and embraces the whole of humanityas well as forming part of the Italianand European cultural identity. Pope JohnPaul II also noted that social cohesion andpeace are not achieved by eliminating thecharacteristic religiosity of a culture.The recently completed Prince of PeaceCatholic Church in Taylors, South Carolinagarnered a merit award from theGreenville, South Carolina AIA. Built byCraig Gaulden Davis, Inc., the $6.2 millionchurch uses contemporary materials toevoke traditional Catholic architectural archetypesof verticality and light. The newchurch seats 1,200 and features a limestoneambo placed so that the gospel is readamong the congregation.Prince of Peace Catholic ChurchTaylors, South CarolinaArtisan Henry Swiatek works to restoreSt. Stanislaus Church in Rochester,New York. Recreating the rich palette ofpainted art work that was destroyed in the1960s renovation that covered the churchin shades of beige, the Polish Americanartist takes a special interest in this church,which was established in 1890 by Rochester’sfirst Polish immigrants. Of all the restorativeefforts, Swiatek’s have gained themost appreciation, with words of thanksand praise from the parishioners for givingthe community back “the full beauty ofthe church.”The Kate and Laurance Eustis Chapel forthe Ochsner Clinic Foundation in NewOrleans, Louisiana provides a place ofserenity in an otherwise constant realm offlux. Designed by Eskew+Dumez+Ripplethe nondenominational chapel avoids religiousimagery, but relies on natural light,water features, and a creative use of materialsto provide a sense of calm and depthin a small space. The 1,000-square-footPhoto: © Brian Dressler Photographyspace provides a connection with the lobbythrough a stained glass window-wall andenvelops the visitor with a woven ceiling“shroud” made of 5,000 separate pieces ofwood.A Slovakian priest works to restore aCatholic parish in Briansk, Russia. Fr. JanHermanovsky said many “people in Russia,after the decades of materialism…[have] noidea of the sacred; they do not have the habitof prayer, and make no distinction betweengoing to Mass or to the theater.” Now goingto Russia to reopen the parish of Briansk,referring to the fact that the former churchhas been converted into apartments he said,“I have preferred to purchase a private housefor purposes of worship. It still does nothave external signs characterizing it as achurch, but we will soon place the cross andan image of the Virgin on the façade.”A visit to Rome should include the “nobile”rooms of the Lateran Palace at the Basilicaof St. John Lateran. Now open to thepublic, the old papal residence rebuilt bySixtus V (1585-1590) includes a wealth ofartifacts from past papal households fromthe desk of Pius VII to the red velvet pagodaused to carry John XXIII. On a guidethrough the frescoed ten-room apartmentsFather Pietro Amato quoted Dante saying,“The Lateran is above earthly things.” Aticket to the Lateran Museum will now beincluded in the entrance fee to the VaticanMuseums.Emerging out of the post-Communist eraonly a decade ago, the Catholic communityin Mongolia now has a cathedral in UlanBator. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect ofthe Congregation for the Evangelization ofPeoples, consecrated the cathedral. About200 faithful make up the Catholic communityof Mongolia out of a population of 2.7 millioninhabitants. Speaking on the historicalroots of Christianity in Mongolia CardinalSepe said, “This was possible only becausethe great Mongol khans … showed a typeof wisdom that was rare in the 13th century,namely, tolerance and acceptance of all religions.”The new cathedral is dedicated toSts. Peter and Paul.U.S. bishops encourage popular devotionsas a means to shape our culture. Thebishop’s conference stated, “When properlyordered to the liturgy, popular devotionsperform an irreplaceable function of bringingworship into daily life for people ofvarious cultures and times.” The bishopsalso emphasized the primacy of the liturgyin their document, writing, “Since the liturgySacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 7

N E W Sis the center of the life of the Church, populardevotions should never be portrayed asequal to the liturgy, nor can they adequatelysubstitute for the liturgy. What is crucial isthat popular devotions be in harmony withthe liturgy, drawing inspiration from it andultimately leading back to it.”The Romanesque chapel of Our Ladyof the Assumption in Mystic, Connecticut,though new, gives the impression of“a sturdy spiritual beacon that has beenwatching over the boats on Fisher’s IslandSound for at least a century—maybe several.”Designed by Dennis Keefe of Boston,the chapel includes a host of liturgical artcrafted by artists associated with the St.Michael Institute of Sacred Art. As an islandchapel a nautical theme is prominentthroughout, especially in the pegged beamsof the ceiling recalling the inverted hull ofa ship. The Stations of the Cross, done asmedieval manuscript illuminations, reinforcethe local setting as the Passion unfoldswith important sites on the island formingthe backdrop. For further information visitwww.endersisland.com.Our Lady of the Assumption, ConneticutChurch leaders in Romania protest a proposalfor Europe’s largest gold mine thatplans to bulldoze 8 churches and 9 cemeteries.The mining project at Rosia Montanain Transylvania’s Apuseni Mountains willforce at least 2,000 people from their homesand require the removal of Roman remainsand relics from the region’s ancient Daciancivilization.Photo Courtesy Reefe Associatesplains each artistic element, from thechurch square to the altar, that has been assumedinto Christian churches throughouthistory.Final restoration will begin this summeron Santa Maria Antiqua, one of Rome’soldest and most prestigious churches. Setat the foot of the Palatine Hill, the church isnoteworthy for its varying types of Christianmural decoration spanning centuries.The earliest frescoes date from 536, includinga devotional image of the Virgin Maryand Christ Child, and carry through to theninth century, with a range of styles from afeather light brushtroke to that closely resemblingmosaic decoration. Visit www.archeorm.arti.beniculturali.it/sma/eng/index.html.John Paul II points to Pope St. Gregorythe Great as a guide for future generationsin praising his conviction that the historyof classical and Christian antiquity “constituteda precious foundation for all subsequentscientific and human development.”In a message sent to the president of thePontifical Committee for Historical Scienceson the 14th centenary of St. Gregory’sdeath, the pope remarked, “The futurecannot be built by disregarding the past.This is why on several occasions I have exhortedthe competent authorities to fullyappreciate the rich classical and Christianroots of European civilization, to transmitthe lymph to the new generations.”The Archdiocese of Boston prepares toshut down a significant number of its 357parishes. Though lay involvement hasbeen encouraged in this stage of the process,parishioners are worried followingthe announcement of parish closures byarchbishop Sean P. O’Malley that they willhave almost no chance of successful appealto higher authorities. Although the architecturaland historical significance of thePhoto: www.holytrinitygerman.orgHoly Trinity, Boston, is among theParishes chosen for closure.Giuliano Zanchi’s book Lo Spirito e lecose (The Spirit and Things) instructs thefaithful on the original meaning the Churchexpressed in divinely inspired forms of artand architecture. Published by Vita e Pensiero,this work is a “guided tour of Christianchurches where physical things re-findtheir original form and meaning throughunderstanding the ‘spirit’ in which theywere created.” From the first “domusecclesiae” to the Baroque, the author exchurchesis being considered, the archbishopsays it is only one factor; other importantconsiderations being the connection ofchurches to schools and the extent to whicha struggling immigrant group relies on aparish.Bernini’s “Charlemagne Wing” of theVatican reopened after a decade of restorationwith an exhibition of Baroque art. Theexhibition entitled “Visions and Ecstasies:Masterpieces of European Art Between the17th and 18th Centuries” was presentedfor the 25th anniversary of the pontificateof John Paul II. The mystical experience,featured in this display of Baroque art, wasalso the focus of Karol Wojtyla’s doctoralthesis, which was dedicated to St. John ofthe Cross.Sanitago de CompostelaCalled the spiritual heart of Europe byJohn Paul II, the Cathedral of Santiago deCompostela expects to draw ten millionvisitors in 2004. This year is a holy year forthe shrine millions of pilgrims have visitedsince the 9th century, when, according totradition, the bones of St. James the Apostlewere discovered and brought here. AfterRome and Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostelawas the third great pilgrimage site ofmedieval Christendom. The focus of thisyear’s jubilee is European unity, and theplanned events include a pilgrimage April21-24 by European bishops to commemoratethe entrance of ten new countries intothe European Union. For more information,visit www.csj.org.uk.The Liturgical Institute at the Universityof Saint Mary of the Lake/MundeleinSeminary sponsored a conferenceentitled “Shape of the Liturgy—Shape ofthe Church,” October 22-24, 2003. Conferencespeakers addressed the new GeneralInstruction of the Roman Missal and itsimplications for architecture, hoping to usePhoto: The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, 20008 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

insights from the Church’s theology andTradition to expand upon and give contextto the GIRM’s directives.Michelangelo’s “Moses” is again on viewafter five years of restoration work onthe San Pietro in Vincoli Church whereit is housed. With the restoration of thechurch, which coincided with the 500th anniversaryof the election of Pope Julius II,for whom the architectural and sculpturalcomplex serves as a mausoleum, a walledinwindow was discovered that now allowsthe sun to shine directly on the statue. Fora virtual exhibition, see www.progettomose.it.Proposal by Alexandros Tombazis for anew Basilica at FatimaIn response to the increasing numberof pilgrims to Fatima, a new basilica designedby Alexandros Tombazis is beingbuilt. There are commonly 10,000 whocome to attend Sunday mass at the currentbasilica, which seats 900 — the new basilicawill seat 9,000, making it among the largestCatholic churches in the world.Progress continues at St. James Chapelat Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicagoon restoration of the historic stainedglass windows. The fifth and final windowof the current restoration phase has beenremoved to Botti Studios in Evanston, Illinois.St. James Chapel, modeled after SainteChapelle in Paris, features a 28-ft. diameterRose Window in the rear of the Chapel,which has been completely restored. TheChapel is open daily for tours and the publicis invited to a concert held on the secondSaturday of each month in the Chapel.There are plans for future renovation inwhich four more stained glass windowswill be renewed and restored.Unprecedented in its history, the governmentof Qatar has authorized the constructionof Christian churches. This followsthe establishment last November of officialdiplomatic relations between Qatar and theVatican. A neighbor of Saudi Arabia, thePhoto Courtesy meletitiki.grpopulation of Qatar is about 800,000, mostlyBedouin Arabs. Islam is the majorityreligion, though there are 45,000 Catholicimmigrants in Qatar, mostly from the Philippinesand India.As a customary part of beatification ceremonies,the pope continues to receivedozens of new relics each year. Despitethe Vatican placing greater restrictions onthe distribution of relics, their presentationis a tradition that won’t go away. WhileLatin-rite churches no longer require sliversof relics to be sealed in the altars, newrelics that are large enough to be identifiableas a body part are often placed intomb-like urns under the altars. This reflectsthe original practice of building altarsand churches over the tombs of martyrs.An exhibition at the Metropolitan Museumof Art in New York City showed thatEl Greco’s work still inspires Christiancontemplation. Visitors were remindedthat there is more to be admired in the late16th century master’s work than his techniques,but also the religious message infusedby this man of faith. Displaying 70works spanning his career, the show madepoignant links to the nature of art todayand the ongoing discussion about faithand culture. According to Jim Sullivan,through the work of artists like El Greco“they helped ‘make disciples of all nations’in the manner of St. Francis: without theneed of words.”The Notre Dame Center for Ethics andCulture is sponsoring a conference entitled“Epiphanies of Beauty: The Arts in a Post-Christian Culture.” The conference, to beheld Nov. 18-20, will examine the variety ofways in which the fine arts can help build amore genuinely Christian civilization in anera that is ever more deeply post-Christianin its character. Further information aboutthe upcoming fall conference can be foundat http://ethicscenter.nd.edu.Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph projectfor the Norbertine SistersTehachapi, CaliforniaN E W SA sculpture of Mary by artist JohnCollier that is part of the first memorialmonument to those who died at theWorld Trade Center. See SacredArchitecture 2003 Issue 8, p.5Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 9Photo Courtesy Priory of St. JosephLettersEditor’s note: Sacred Architecture is addingan additional feature to the journal. Beginningwith this issue, letters to the editor will be reviewedfor publication and response. Pleasesubmit your letters to: Letters to the Editor, SacredArchitecture Journal, P.O. Box 556, Notre-Dame, IN 46556 or email: dstroik@nd.eduBuilding to EndureTo further the discussion of the articleconcerning Built of Living Stones, I’m curiousto discover if the document acknowledgesnot simply the issues of the forms ofarchitecture, but of their construction.Whether the forms are traditional orotherwise, there exists a trend in buildingtoday to employ similar methods of constructionaimed largely at reducing cost.The unfortunate result of this has been tofoster the sense of the transitory over theenduring, and has stripped some of themore beautiful recently designed spacesof a necessary feeling of authenticity. Thatis to say, even where we find communitiesembracing a traditional language of architecturethe result, due to cheaper methodsof construction, gives more the effect of astage set than a sacred space. To initial appearanceswe read the forms as beautifuland yet upon closer inspection we discoverthere is no real substance sustaining thepoetry.In a time when novelty and transitorinessare the norm, it is not enough for theChurch to seek only a surface architecture,but one that is lasting — a true and genuinewitness to our commitment to the buildingof the kingdom of God.John GriffinOklahomaPhoto Courtesy John Collier

A R T I C L E SA VACUUM IN THE SPIRITTHE DESIGN OF THE JUBILEE CHURCH IN ROMEBreda EnnisWhile on my way in the car to see thenew church built by Richard Meieron the outskirts of Rome, named “Godthe Merciful Father” (in the original Italian,“Dio Padre Misericordioso”), two phraseskept coming into my mind from Pope JohnPaul II’s Letter to Artists, in which he remarked:“even in situations where cultureand the Church are far apart, art remainsa kind of bridge to religious experience.”He goes on to mention whatthe Fathers said at the endof Vatican Council II: “Thisworld in which we liveneeds beauty in order notto sink into despair.” Evento people unfamiliar withRome, it will surely come asno surprise to learn that thecelebrated beauty of the centerof Rome bears no resemblancewhatever to the city’sdrab suburbs. As we drovealong the Via Prenestinaon the way to Tor Tre Teste— the site of the new Meierchurch — I noticed that thearchitecture along the waygot worse and worse. And,of course, when architectureis dull and drab, it tends tocreate a vacuum in the spirit.But was this vacuum nowabout to be filled?We turned the corner, leading to the inclinewhere the church is situated, and I gotmy first glimpse of the church. Almost atonce, however, I began to feel somewhatperplexed. There in front of me I saw amass of snow-white concrete walls, bothcurved and straight, held together by glassand surrounded by a pale paved area anda low wall. I walked with two friends towardthe front of the church, but it wasnot clear, at first, just where we were supposedto enter the church. Looking throughthe glass façade, the eye comes to rest onthe wall which divides the nave from theatrium or narthex, and you think that thiscannot be the entrance because you do notimmediately see the inner door. The twoother entrances are between the curved“sails”: one leads to the Day Chapel andthe other to the Baptistry area.When finally we got into the atrium, Ifound myself in a rectangular space whichhad, apart from the small geometric holywater font, an inscription on the wall announcing,“This Structure Is a TestamentFront View of the Jubilee Church by Richard Meierto the Monumental Work of Men in theService of Spiritual Aspirations. RichardMeier, Architect.” I was surprised by this,not accustomed to seeing the name of thearchitect so prominently placed in theatrium of the church. To be honest, I ratherexpected that the inscription might be aquotation either from the Bible or from oneof the writings of Pope John Paul II, a textperhaps from his encyclical, “Dives in Misericordia”(published in 1988). The Popehimself had decided that the name of thechurch should be “God the Merciful Father.”It was a Sunday, and the parish priest,Don Gianfranco Corbino, was celebratingMass as we entered. We remained quietlyat the back of the church, a good place toobserve both the people and the building.My first impression of the nave was that itwas really rather small. From earlier publicityand publications, I was expecting tofind myself in a vast space with seating forabout 700 people. Don Corbino confirmedthat it holds, in fact, about 300 people only,or 350 if extra chairs are added. The literatureon the church states that it holds 500.The parish itself is a mere seven years old.(The people in the parish had originally belongedto a parish nearby.) It has a populationof about 8,000 people (many youngpeople and about 2,500 family units).Before the building of the new church,the parishioners worshipped in a plain,secular space. Needless to say they are delightedto have a church and also happythat their church has provoked so muchinterest internationally. Many of the visitorsare students of architecture with theirprofessors. However, the publicity aboutthis project, upon its completion, has beennoticeably limited in Italy — surprisinglyso, given the fact that it is a Jubilee Church.When it was consecrated last October, minimumcoverage was given by Italian TV andPhoto: Breda Ennisnewspapers. Perhapsthe fact that no Italianarchitect was invitedto present a project canaccount for the tepidreaction.But there could beanother reason as well.In 1993, as part of aproject to build 50 newchurches for the year2000, a competitionwas launched (opento all countries whichare part of the DirettivaArchitettura dellaCommunità EconomicaEuropea) for churchand parish buildingdesigns. A specific requestwas made forprojects which includeda church, a buildingfor parish activities,and accommodation for clergy. A fewlocations were indicated, among them thearea of Tor Tre Teste. There was a massiveresponse — about 534 projects were presented.No project was thought suitable forthis particular area, however. The competitionran into difficulties, in part because ofthe high number of participants and alsobecause of the excessive number of jurymembers (coming from too many and toovaried backgrounds). Criteria were alsodifficult to establish, and agreement waseven more so.Lessons were learnt after this unhappyepisode, and when it was suggested that achurch be built to celebrate the Jubilee ofthe Year 2000, a much smaller commissionwas established. Only six internationalarchitects were invited to present projects,and clear criteria were indicated. It was decided,for example, that the architect chosenfor the project would not have to bea Christian believer. And, in the end, thename selected was that of Richard Meier,an architect from New York.10 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

View of rear elevationMass was being celebrated during myfirst visit, and it soon became clear thatthere are some serious problems with theacoustics. The priest’s voice was muffled,and bounced off the walls. You heard himand his echo. The same happened whenthe organist began to play and with thecongregational responses. Some technicaladjustments have since been made, butit is hard to see how this problem can becompletely resolved. The organ itself is apowerful one.Don Corbino has a very united and activeparish. They have published a bookof cartoons for children, entitled “Tracce diun cammino” (Traces of a Journey), wherethe history of the parish is narrated rightup to the day the church was consecrated.Numerous gifts were received from otherparishes and various associations, e.g.,chalices, liturgical vestments, etc. A giftof Pope John Paul II was the awardingof “titular” status to this Jubilee Church,and Cardinal Crescenzo Sepe, prefect ofthe Congregation for Evangelization, wasgiven the titular title.When the Mass ended we began to“feel” our way through the church. Onething I love about Roman churches is that,moving from the nave to the sanctuaryarea, you begin to experience a distinct“change of space.” But this did not happen.The altar itself is a block of travertineresembling a boat. It has the relics oftwelve saints, including St. Lawrence, St.Sebastian, and St. Maria Goretti. The long“bench” to the right of the altar I foundquite banal (it reminded me of the benchesin train stations). And the box-like ambodid not impress me either. Of course, ifyou have lived for many years in Rome,and been privileged to enjoy the deluge ofcolor within the ancient city, it can be difficultto accustom yourself to stark interiorsand raw geometry.On the positive side, the name of LeCorbusier comes to mind when you considercertain elements in the church, theprofound conical window behind the cross,the clear glass slit running around thechurch etc. But, walking to the end of thenave, and looking back directly at the altar,you suddenly realize that the beautifulCross — from the 1600’s, a wooden crossand Christ figure made of “papier mache,”a gift from a nearby parish — is not in linewith the altar. I found this really disconcertingespecially since the altar is supposedto be the sacramental focal point of thechurch. It is the symbolic “source of light,”from which “rays” stretch out in every direction.But, when the altar and the crucifixare not on the same axis, a visual “tension”is created which is in no way conducive toprayer or contemplation. In relation to thechoice of a crucifix for the altar wall, I wascurious about the fact that no contemporaryartist had been approached to designone. An interior like this would have benefitedfrom a crucifix like the one made byGiuliano Vangi for the Cathedral of Paduain 1997. Vangi’s Christ is made of silver,nickel, gold, and bronze.During my second visit to the church Ihad a long chat with Don Corbino aboutthe day-to-day life of his church. He toldme that thousands of people have cometo see it. When I asked him about the costof running a church of this complexity, headmitted that the income from the parishcould not cover the expenses. I saw thathe had a severe cold. He told me that thechurch heating system is under the travertinefloor and this means that, apart frombeing inadequate, it is necessary to turn iton at least ten hours before any ceremonyPhoto: Breda EnnisA R T I C L E Sor Mass. This is, of course, apart from thecost of regularly cleaning the vast quantityof glazed windows (for the church and theparish centre). Rome is famous for sciroccowinds from the desert — they tend to leavea thin layer of sand on every surface theyfind, and they are very frequent. So howare they going to keep the glass clean andthe costs down? This is a heavy burden, obviously,for the new church and parish ofGod the Merciful Father — more a misery,I would say, than a mercy!As one moves towards the sacristy,through an opening to the left of the altar,there is a large display case. Inside is a collectionof chalices, a crucifix, candlesticksetc., designed by the Jewellers Bulgari anddonated to the church. An extraordinarilybeautiful gift. The chalices are an excellentmix of Renaissance, Baroque and Gothicinfluences. Not surprisingly they attractedthe attention of many of the visitors. Thecollection itself is situated immediately behindthe altar wall on which the great crucifixis hanging. I wondered, though, why itwas put in that position. It would, I think,have been a better idea to have kept thecollection somewhere in the sacristy. Peoplelooking in from the back of the churchcan see the sacred objects, as it were, “onshow.”The Day Chapel and the Baptistry areaare separated from the main nave by an L-shaped wall. These are directly under themassive curved north wall or “sail” andseem to be a little lost in all the pale travertineand white cement. The chapel canseat about 24 people. At the end of the cha-Main entrance door into the churchPhoto: Breda EnnisSacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 11

A R T I C L E SView of interior toward altarpel there are the confessionals. I sat downand looked towards the altar. What caughtmy eye was the tabernacle. It is a goldensquare with a circular design on the front.Apparently Meier wanted a higher andnarrower one. The tabernacle is very beautiful.The front has a circular roughenedsurface which is pleasant to observe. It isat an angle so that it can be seen from boththe main nave and the chapel.I noticed that the parish has placed astatue of the Madonna in the chapel witha candle holder in front of it. Don Corbinotold me that a new statue will be madelater. Meier’s iconoclastic tendencies, itwould appear, did not seem to encouragehim to anticipate the specific devotionalneeds of the parish and parishioners,which is a pity! Some images in color, asan aid to prayer and contemplation, would,perhaps, have been the best idea. Visitingthe church one’s mind kept looking backto Le Corbusier’s use of stained glass inhis chapel at Ronchamp (1950–54). I foundmyself reflecting on some expressions usedby Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his bookentitled Spirit of the Liturgy (1999, IgnatiusPress) where in a chapter entitled “A Questionof Images,” he speaks about iconoclastictendencies in Sacred Art. He notes:“Images of beauty, in which the mystery ofthe invisible God becomes visible, are anessential part of Christian worship.”Photo: Breda EnnisThe confessionals are smallcubicles with two seats in eachone and the doors are made ofwood and glass slits, linking upto the design in paneled woodon the vertical south wall of themain nave. This creates a senseof continuity between the two areasof worship. The priest andthe parishioner can be clearlyseen inside. I understand thatan old-style grating confessionalwill be added to cater for thepastoral needs of those peoplewho do not like the ‘face to face’confessional style. FigurativeStations of the Cross are beingmade, in bronze or stone. Theoriginal idea, I understand, wasto have each Station representedby a Greek cross.One of the areas in the churchI find most problematic is thebaptismal font and where it hasbeen placed. It is just to the leftof the nave, in full view of thecongregation and the celebrant atthe altar. Again it is a rectangulardesign in travertine, with an indentedcentre for the holy water,and in front of it there is a smallsloped area. You almost fallover it as you move to the side ofthe nave. I felt that it is too closeto the main altar and that it getslost in the hub of geometricalconstructions nearby, i.e., the confessionals,the organ, the day chapel wall, etc. Iwould have liked to have seen it placednear the entrance door of the “corridor”which leads to the day chapel. The baptismalfont is the place where Christians areinitiated into the communion of believers.Only after this initiation are they invitedto take their place around the main altar.Here, unfortunately, the font and altar areso near together that it is difficult visuallyto perceive that they represent two distinctstages in the Christian mystery.Much has been said and written aboutthe three curved walls, or sails. One’s mindgoes back immediately to John Utzon’sSydney Opera House (1957–73), thoughthe latter is a more exuberant and dynamicstructure. The feeling I get from the threecurved walls is of a building falling in uponitself — even if the parish building and belltower “lean against” a strong vertical wallwhich marks the demarcation line betweenthe church and the rest of the complex. Thewhole structure is visually very analyticaland “cubist.” When I look at old or newchurches I always search for that sense ofa breakthrough of the sacred into humanexperience (on a visual level) — what theRumanian scholar Mircea Eliade called “hierophany.”He says that in developed religioussystems there are three cosmic levels— heaven, earth, and the underworld,linked together by the vertical “axis mundi.”Church spires, domes and bell towershave this quality, and this is why they areable to soar up above all their surroundings.The Meier church seems to lack thisdynamic element. Again I returned, in mymind, to the Le Corbusier church in Ronchamp.In comparison, the Meier church isvery rational in its conception, whereas theLe Corbusier church draws you up into itsmystical web.The bells in the tower were cast at thePontifical Marinelli Foundry and are dedicatedas follows: the first and biggest bellto Europe and the Virgin Mary — it containsa list of all normal Jubilees from 1300.The second is dedicated to America andSts. Peter and Paul, Patron Saints of Rome.The third is dedicated to Africa and St.Charles Borromeo (to honor Pope JohnPaul II, whose first name is Karlo). Thefourth represents Oceania, and is dedicatedto St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. ThomasAquinas — the name of the parish whichowned the property on which the newchurch stands. The fifth and last is dedicatedto Asia and Sts. Francisco Saverio andThérèse of Lisieux. Four of the bells list,respectively, the dates of the first baptism,funeral, and wedding in the church, andthe date of the laying of the first stone.When the Vicariato commissionedMeier to construct this church they appointedan Italian engineer, Ignazio BrecciaFratadocchi, to supervise the work.Some modifications were made to Meier’soriginal project. These relate to the parishcenter only, where some new spaces werecreated (relating to the actual needs of theparish). The church authorities made someView of Interior toward entrancePhoto: Breda Ennis12 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

A R T I C L E SCHARLES BORROMEO AND CATHOLIC TRADITIONREGARDING THE DESIGN OF CATHOLIC CHURCHESMatthew E. Gallegos, Ph.D.While the Tridentine documents containedfew specific directives regarding thedesign of Catholic churches in the context ofthe Protestant Reformation, the Council affirmedthe authority of tradition in all mattersrelated to Christianity. It was in thatcontext that one of the main participantsin the Council wrote a summation of theChurch’s tradition regarding the design ofCatholic churches. In light of the two mostrecent documents regarding the design ofCatholic churches in the United States, Environmentand Art in Catholic Worship (1978)and Built of Living Stones: Art,Architecture, and Worship (2000),it is useful to revisit the understandingof Church traditionthat existed prior to their publication.1Charles Borromeo (1538–1584), whom the CatholicChurch recognizes as a saint,published a summary of Catholictraditions regarding churchdesign fourteen years after theconclusion of the Council ofTrent. Borromeo’s publication,Instructiones Fabricae et SupellectilisEcclesiasticae, was the centraldocument that applied thedecrees of the Council of Trentto the design and furnishing ofCatholic churches. 2 Borromeoofficially wrote the Instructionesto direct construction within theArchdiocese of Milan, but hisintention was that it have widerusage. Borromeo publishedthe document in 1577, and it was reprintedwithout major revisions at least nineteentimes between 1577 and 1952. Until thelate 1960s the architecture and furnishingsof most Catholic churches throughout theworld were consistent with the Instructiones’directives.Borromeo began his treatise with aletter in which he identified that he wascompiling the directives from informationprovided by two sources of authority,one ecclesiastic and the other secular. Hewrote:... this only has been our principle,that we have shown that the norm andform of building, ornamentation andecclesiastical furnishing are preciseand in agreement with the thinking ofthe Fathers ... and ...we believe it necessaryto take the advice of competentarchitects. 3As an active and influential participantin the Council of Trent, Borromeo had intimateknowledge of the Church’s official decreesand of their intent. 4 He served as thePapal Secretary of State under Pope Pius IVduring the Council’s final sessions. He alsowas one of the most influential agents of reformafter the Council’s conclusion, servingfirst as the Papal Legate to Italy and then asthe Archbishop of Milan. Along with authoringInstructiones, he exerted great influencein the writing of the Church’s revisedceremonial manual, Pontificales secundumFacade of Milan Cathedralritum et usum Sancte Romane Ecclesie (1561);the decree regarding priest’s seminarytraining, Cum adolescentium aetas (1563); therevised Roman Breviary (1568); and the revisedRoman Missal (1570).Borromeo’s Instructiones incorporatedhis awareness of Catholic church architecturein Italy as well as of Church teachingand of recent and historic Church and seculardocuments. There is evidence that Borromeoowned a copy of and incorporatedideas from a sixteenth-century edition ofthe medieval text by William Durandus, RationaleDivinorum Officiorum (c. 1280), whichdeals with the symbolism of churches andchurch ornament. 5 Evidence of Borromeo’sreliance on Durandus’ text in the Instructiones,is his consistent use of numbers thatcorrespond to Catholic doctrinal teachingsas Durandus recommended. These includeuse of the numbers three, five, seven, andtwelve in recognition of respectively theTrinity, Pentecost, the Seven Sacraments,and the Twelve Apostles.Borromeo’s Instructiones also incorporateideas that were contained in seculararchitectural treatises to which he had access.6 These included the ancient Romantreatise by Vitruvius, De Architectura (c. 49BC - 14 AD); Pietro Cateneo’s L’Architetturadi Pietro Cateneo Senese (1554); and AndreaPalladio’s I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura(1570). These secular sources as well asChurch tradition advocated using platonicforms such as circles, domesand vaults as evocations ofperfection and of the heavenlyrealm. Both Church and Westernaesthetic tradition favoredthe use of an odd rather thanof an even number of units soPhoto © Mary Ann Sullivanthat a composition would alwayshave a clear center. Thispredilection for centrality andanthropomorphism often resultedin symmetric compositions.If circumstances dictatedasymmetry, the right side wasfavored due to the negativeassociations within Westerncivilization of all things relatedto the left, including the Latinword for left, sinestra.From this wide range ofecclesiastical and secular sourcesBorromeo compiled neithera theoretical nor a theologicalwork, but a compilation of theChurch’s traditional design elementsand organizational strategies forCatholic churches. It was Borromeo’s goalto identify design elements that conformedto official Church teaching and not to advocatea particular aesthetic style. Whilethis is true, Borromeo wrote the Instructionesin the context of the explosion of artisticcreativity which typified the baroque aesthetic.The Counter Reformation and thebaroque aesthetic were symbiotic. Whilethe Catholic Church was emphasizing thatthe sacred could be encountered throughthe senses and most Protestant reformerswere rejecting this idea, architects, sculptors,and artists such as Giovanni LorenzoBernini, who were working for Catholicclients, were developing the baroque aesthetic.These designers worked with theintention of integrating all the visual arts tomaximize the engagement of people’s sensibilities.Despite the boisterous aesthetic14 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

context in which Borromeo was writing,he only occasionally refers to the classicalorders or other stylistic issues within theInstructiones.Borromeo organized the text of theInstructiones into thirty-three chapters.Thirty chapters focus on the design oftypical parish churches, and also includeinformation regarding cathedrals. Thelast three chapters address the designof churches for oratories, convents, andmonasteries. Despite the chapters’ titles,the topics covered are not always clearlysegregated within the chapter divisions.The first thirty chapters address six categoriesof information: a church’s siting,plan configuration, exterior design, interiororganization, furnishings, and decoration.With regard to a church’s siting, Borromeostates that a church should be in aprominent location. 7 If natural topographydoes not provide an advantageoussite to give a church visual prominence aswell as to guard against floods and dampness,the church should be placed on araised platform. Borromeo recommendsthat three or five steps provide access tothe platform. If circumstances requirethat there be a greater number of steps,there should be a landing at either everythird or fifth step. Churches are to be freestanding,having no structures directly attachedto them other than a sacristy. Theresidence of the pastor or bishop may beclose by or connected to the church by apassage, but the church and clerics’ residenceshould not share a common wall.Churches should be situated in non-commercialareas, far from stables, markets,noise, unpleasant smells, or taverns. Ifpossible, a church’s sanctuary should betoward the east and should align with thesunrise at the time of the equinox.Borromeo’s concerns regarding thesiting of churches are consistent with thosecontained within the architectural sourceswith which Borromeo was familiar. Palladio,one of those sources, states thatchurches should sit on prominent siteswithin a city or on public streets or nextto a river so that people passing through atown may see them and:may make their salutations and reverencesbefore the front of the temple[church]. 8Catholics frequently observed thiscustom by making the sign of the cross,whenever they walked or drove past achurch, and men customarily tipped theirhats. Borromeo’s siting directives are alsoconsistent with the hierarchy of buildingtypes as they were understood in Westerncivilization from the Renaissance era untilthe nineteenth century. 9 Renaissance architecturaltheorists recognized that thereare five building types to which all buildingsconform and among which a hierarchyof status exists. Places of veneration,such as a domus dei, hold the most exaltedplace within that hierarchy and as such requireprominent siting, the expenditure ofsuperior craftsmanship and materials, andshould be freestanding. Buildings of lesserimportance such as private residences, commercialstructures, or markets merit lessprestigious sites, and more modest expendituresof material, labor, and financial resources.Borromeo clearly states that the Latincross or cruciform plan is the preferred configurationfor Catholic churches. 10 He doesrecognize that central plan configurationsS. Maria Vallicelli, Rome, 1605also have historical precedent, and siting,economic concerns, or other circumstancesmay require variations from the Latin crossprototype. Not distinguishing between theterms “nave” and “aisle,” Borromeo statesthat a church may have one, three, or five“naves,” meaning that the church may be ahall church, or have either single or doubleaisles on either side of its nave. A church’smain entrance and nave should align axiallywith the church’s main sanctuary. Thesanctuary, if possible, should be containedwithin a vaulted apse form.Borromeo indicates that there should bea distinct architectural element that formsthe entrance into a church. Dependent onsite and budget restraints, an atrium, portico,or vestibule, or a combination of theseelements can fulfill this requirement. Thiscomponent of a church’s facade regardlessof its form should have a distinguishabledepth and serve as a visible transition spaceinto the church. At various times in history,this transition space accommodated ritualinitiation into the church or ritual cleansing.Borromeo appears to reject this transitionalspace’s cleansing associations. He stipulatesthat the holy water vase that contains theblessed water with which members of thecongregation cross themselves upon enteringa church, be located not in the transitionalspace, but inside the church itself.A R T I C L E SBorromeo suggests that a churchshould be large enough to accommodatenot only the area’s local inhabitants, butalso the large numbers who would congregatefrom distant places for holy days.He identifies that a church’s interior areashould provide approximately four squarefeet of space for each person who will attendthe church regularly.Seven different chapters in the Instructionesaddress aspects of the exterior appearanceof a Catholic church. Borromeoidentifies that the church’s entrance facadeis its most important exterior wall and thatit should contain all of a church’s exteriorornamentation and decoration. Narrativevisual embellishments normally shouldnot be placed on a church’s side or rear elevations.In reference to the nature of thefront facade’s narrative decoration Borromeowrites:... there is one feature above all thatshould be observed in the facade ofevery church, especially a parochialchurch. In the upper part of the chiefdoorway on the outside, there shouldbe ... the image of the most BlessedVirgin Mary, holding her son Jesus inher arms; on the right-hand side thereshould be the effigy of the saint towhom the church is dedicated, whileon the left-hand side ... the effigy of anothersaint to whom the people of thatparish are particularly devoted.Borromeo recognizes that if circumstancesdo not allow having three separateimages or statues on a church’s frontfacade, then at least the image of the saintto whom the church is dedicated should berepresented.Borromeo’s directives regarding achurch’s exterior doors and windows hadboth practical and symbolic purposes. Hestates that a church’s front facade shouldhave an odd number of doors, and if possiblereflect the church’s number of “naves”[nave and aisles]. If a church’s central naveis sufficiently wide, three doors shouldenter directly into the nave in addition tosingle doors that lead into the nave’s adjacentaisles. Borromeo observed that ifa church does not have side aisles, it stillshould have three doors in its front facade.A church therefore should have a total ofthree, five or seven doors in its front facade.The central doorway should be thelargest and have greater ornamentation,especially if the church is a cathedral, as itaccommodates the clergy and their retinuein ceremonial processions. Borromeo’s directivesregarding the location of windowsare equally specific. His concerns relate toissues of illumination, security, and maintaininga proper decorum within a church.He writes:the windows should be constructedas high as possible, and in such a waythat a person standing outside cannotlook inside.Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 15

A R T I C L E SIf possible a church’s principle sourceof interior illumination should be providedby clerestory windows into the church’snave and windows that are placed highon the walls of the church’s side aisles. Allwindows should have provisions to guardagainst unauthorized entry and should beodd in number. If the church has a naveand aisle configuration, the window spacingshould align with the center of thespaces that are defined by the columns inthe nave arcade or colonnade. If the naverequires additional illumination, a window,preferably round, should be placedabove the doorways in the church’s frontfacade or in the walls of its apse. Borromeoobserves that lanterns that project above achurch’s roof line and oculi in domes canilluminate either a church’s sanctuary ornave from above, but cautions that suchdevices are difficult to make watertight.Borromeo is adamant about not placingaltars directly under or close to a potentialsource of water leakage. He also discouragesplacement of windows in any locationwhere the illumination provided by themwould prevent the congregation from havinga clear view of either the main altar orside altars.Borromeo’s directives regarding windowsclosely follow those of the Renaissancearchitectural theoretician and Catholicpriest Leon Battista Alberti. Albertistated that:nothing but the sky may be seenthrough them [the windows], to theintent that both the priests that are employedin the performance of DivineOffices, and those that assist on accountof devotion, may not have theirminds in any way diverted. 11Church tradition as expressed by Durandusheld that:... by the windows, the senses are signified:which ought to be shut to thevanities of this world, and open to receivewith all freedom spiritual gifts. 12Bells and bell towers are the last exteriorfeatures of a church that Borromeoaddresses. 13 He states that the purposeof church bells is to call people to liturgywithin the church, to mark the hours atIl Gesu, Giacomo da Vignola, 1568-1575, in Rome, Italywhich the Divine Office is to be prayed,to mark the times of the Angelus, and totoll the death of one of the faithful. He instructsthat bells should be either in a freestandingtower, or in towers that form apart of the church’s front facade. If there isonly one tower, it should be on the churchfacade’s right side as a person approachesthe church. If circumstances do not permitthe construction of a bell tower, the bellmay hang within a pier or buttress in thesame location as that of a single tower. Acathedral should have seven bells in itstower, but a minimum of five is allowable.Even the humblest church should have abell that can be played in two distinct manners.14 Although the tower is to be of solidconstruction, the actual belfry should beopen on all sides to allow the sound of thebell to radiate in all directions.Towers should have a fixed cross attheir apex. A clock and a weather vanemay be incorporated into a bell tower’sdesign. The clock’s face should show theday’s third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth hoursto mark the times of the Divine Office. Thevane should have two components. Thetower’s fixed cross may serve as the vane’sfixed shaft. The vane’s variable componentshould be the figure of a cock. The fixedcross represents the solidity of faith, whilethe moveable vane’s cock form representsboth perpetual vigilance and the variabilityof all things other than faith. 15A church’s interior organization, furnishings,and decoration are the focus of amajor portion of Borromeo’s Instructiones.Borromeo identifies that a church’s mainaltar and sanctuary should be the nave’saxial focus and each transept arm can accommodatea side altar. If a church doesnot have a transept and/or if the side aislesare of sufficient width, side altars shouldbe the axial focus of a church’s side aisles. 16In discussing a church sanctuary’s design,Borromeo states that a sanctuary’s floorlevel should be an odd number of stepsabove that of the nave and side aisles. Ifcircumstances permit, the sanctuary’s floorfinish should be of a more durable, refined,and carefully crafted material than that ofthe nave and aisles. The sanctuary’s vaultshould contain mosaicor other decorativework. A railing atwhich the congregationPhoto: Varrian, Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecturereceives communionshould separate thenave from the sanctuary.The sanctuary’ssize should be adequateto accommodate thosesolemn occasions thatinvolve a large numberof clergy.The main altar holdingthe Blessed Sacramenttabernacle shouldbe the principle objectCiborium and tabernacle, designed byPellegrino Tibaldi, 1581, for the MilanCathedralof focus in the sanctuary while also accommodatingthe saying of Mass. It shouldrest at least one step, if not three stepsabove the height of the sanctuary’s floorlevel. Side altars should support devotionalstatues and contain reliquaries. Side altarsmay directly adjoin a wall but the mainaltar must be freestanding. The main altarshould be made of solid stone or faced withmarble and must contain relics of at leasttwo saints. If the main altar is not made ofsolid stone, an altar stone containing relics,which is also identified as a portable altar,should be within the altar’s top surface.Borromeo conveys that a decree issuedby his regional provincial council ofbishops stipulated that the Blessed Sacramenttabernacle should rest on the mainaltar. 17 This requirement became a part ofthe Church’s rubrics in 1614. The Ceremonialfor Bishops, which was in effect in Borromeo’sepiscopal province when he wrotethe Instructiones, stipulated that in contrastto the requirement for parish churches, theBlessed Sacrament tabernacle in a cathedralwas not to be located on its main altar.A cathedral’s tabernacle was to rest onan altar within a separate chapel that wasdedicated to that purpose and which wasadjacent to the sanctuary. Voelker observesthat the Apostolic Constitutions, a fourthcenturytreatise on religious discipline thatwas a part of the tradition Borromeo drewPhoto: Da Passano, Storia della Veneranda Fabbrica, 199816 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

A R T I C L E SEngraving of Milan Duomo, 1809, showing crucifix on rood beam, twoambos, and a canopy above the tabernacle.upon, identified that within the sanctuaryof a cathedral:...in the middle, let the bishop’s thronebe placed, and on each side of him letthe presbyters sit down. 18Such an arrangement required that thealtar be located between the body of thenave and the bishop’s cathedra. Borromeostates that the prohibition against placingthe tabernacle on the altar in cathedralchurches was motivated by the desire tomaintain an unimpeded visual sightlinebetween the cathedra and the congregation.Borromeo’s resolution of this requirementwithin his archdiocese was to raisethe tabernacle on columns above the altar,maintaining a line of vision between thecongregation and the cathedra. In circumstanceswhere the cathedra, the altar andthe tabernacle are all in axial alignmentwith the nave, a freestanding or suspendedcanopy, a baldachin, should be placed overthe altar and tabernacle.Borromeo envisioned that most churchservices would occur during daylight hourswhen a church’s interior would receive naturallight. Despite this circumstance, Borromeostipulates that certain candles or oillamps must burn inside a church’s sanctuary,regardless of the natural illuminationlevels within the building. 19 This requirementwas prompted by Catholics’ identificationof a burning flame as a symbol ofChrist’s presence, because of Christ’s selfidentificationas “the Light of the World.” 20The required artificial light sourceswithin a church’s sanctuary include a lampadarium,which is a lantern whose flameis referred to as the sanctuary light. 21 Thelampadarium contains either oil lamps orcandles and should be located in visualproximity to the Blessed Sacrament tabernacle.The sanctuary light is to burn wheneverthe Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle.The lampadarium should have threeor five lamps; seven in large churches; or aminimum of one in smaller churches. Inaddition to having the lampadarium closeto the tabernacle, six candlesticks should beon the main altar. 22 Only two of the altarcandles are to burn during most liturgies,but four or six should burn during Solemnor High Mass and other special observances.In addition to the six candlesticks, Borromeoidentifies that a crucifix should be onor above the main altar. 23 Should a churchhave a diaphragm arch above its sanctuary,the crucifix should be on the diaphragmwall above the arch.Borromeo does not establish definitiveplacement for a church’s ambo, whichaccommodates the proclamation of scripture,or for a pulpit, which accommodatespreaching. He states that these furnishingsshould be convenient to the altar, not blockthe congregation’s view of the altar, and besituated so the congregation can easily seeand hear the ambo’s or pulpit’s occupants.Borromeo states that ideally there shouldbe two ambones, one accommodating thereading of the Gospel, the other the epistle.From the congregation’s viewpoint, theGospel ambo should be on the nave’s leftside and the epistle on its right. A singleambo can fulfill both functions if circumstancesdictate that there only be a singleambo. In those circumstances it should beon the Gospel side.Sacristies should be adjacent to the sanctuary.Ideally, a church should have twosacristies. One would be next to the mainsanctuary and the other would be locatedPhoto: Da Passano, Storia della Veneranda Fabbrica, 1998close to the church’s entry doorway andprovide storage for vestments and a placewhere the ministers could vest. The vestingsacristy’s location by the church’s entrydoorway allowed the priest who was sayingMass to initiate and close liturgies witha formal procession, an ancient Churchtradition. At the bishop’s discretion, moremodest churches could function with onlyone sacristy if it was located close to thesanctuary.Four chapters of Borromeo’s Instructionespresent directives regarding additionalfurnishings for a church. Two chaptersdeal with sacrariums, i.e, special sinks forwashing altar linens and other items associatedwith the Mass; and furnishings toenforce the segregation of the congregationby gender. A lengthy chapter contains adiscussion of baptisteries. Detailed specificationsare provided for baptisteries thatcould accommodate baptism by immersionor affusion, placing either the requiredpool or pedestal type baptistery withina stepped depression so as to signify descentinto a sepulcher. A cathedral’s baptisteryshould be freestanding, while thoseof most churches ideally would be locatedwithin either a chapel or in front of an altarat the rear of the church on the Gospel side,although it could be located on the epistleside. The directives regarding confessionalsfocus on providing privacy for thepenitent while simultaneously removingany appearance or avenue for inappropriateconduct or pecuniary gain on the partof the confessor. Detailed dimension andmaterial requirements are recommendedfor baptisteries and confessionals.Two chapters and portions of othersin the Instructiones identify directives regardingthe use of decoration, religious images,relics, and graphic inscriptions withinchurches. In 1563, the Twenty-Fifth Sessionof the Council of Trent had issued a statement“On the Invocation, Veneration, andRelics of Saints, and on Sacred Images.” 24Within this statement the Council reiteratedthe Second Council of Nicaea’s positionregarding these issues, i.e., that Christiandogma makes images, especially images ofChrist, imperative, as in them, “the incarnationof the Word of God is shown forthas real and not merely phantastic.” NicaeaII extended this justification of religiousimagery beyond pictorial representationsof Christ, by stating:with all certitude and accuracy thatjust as the figure of the precious andlife giving Cross, so also the venerableand holy images, as well as in paintingand mosaics as of other fit materials,should be set forth in the holy churchesof God, ... the figure of Our Lord Godand Savior Jesus Christ, of our spotlessLady, the Mother of God, of the HonorableAngels, of all the saints and ofall pious people. 25Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 17

A R T I C L E SBorromeo’s directives regarding iconographyand art admonish bishops thatit is their responsibility to ensure that thesubject matter and quality of the images inchurches and the honor shown the imagesbe appropriate. Within his episcopal province,Borromeo required bishops to instructpastors and artists of their responsibilitiesin this regard, and to enforce fines or punishmentagainst pastors and artists whofailed to fulfill those responsibilities. Borromeospecifically stipulates that windowglazing should incorporate images of thesaints. He also states that sacred imagesshould not be incorporated into pavementpatterns, where the potential would existthat the images would not receive properveneration. Borromeo recommends thatsaints’ names should be written under theirimages if the image’s identity is at all obscure.He also admonishes that great careshould be taken that the images within achurch represent historical truth or validtheological teachings.Two Church publications were mainlyresponsible for disseminating Borromeo’sdirectives beyond the bounds of the Archdioceseof Milan. These were the descriptionof “The Church and Its Furnishings”in the Roman Missal, and the “Instructionsfor Consecrating a Church” in The Ceremonialof Bishops. 26 Borromeo was the principleauthor of both of the revised versions ofthese documents which resulted from theCouncil of Trent’s deliberations. Althoughthese publications were modified severaltimes over the centuries, the portions regardingchurch design remained relativelyunchanged and generally were adhered towith minor exceptions worldwide until thetwentieth century. 27Catholicism is an inherently conservativetradition and one that historically hasrecognized tradition’s authority. The UnitedStates’ National Conference of CatholicBishops’ Committee on the Liturgy’sEnvironment and Art in Catholic Worship(1978) was the first document pertainingto Catholic churches in the United Statesthat sought to revise the guidelines containedin the Instructiones. That documentrecently has been superseded by Built ofLiving Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship(2000). While these documents attempt toaddress the impact of the Second VaticanCouncil’s reformed liturgy on the designand furnishing of Catholic churches, thoseparts of Borromeo’s Instructiones that arerooted in Catholic theology should not beignored.Matthew E. Gallegos, Ph.D. is professor ofArchitectural History in the College of Architectureat Texas Tech University and aregistered architect.S. Maria presso S. Satiro, by Bramante, 1488, Milan, ItalyNOTES:1. Committee on the Liturgy, Environment and Artin Catholic Worship (Washington DC: NationalConference of Bishops/United States CatholicConference, 1978); idem, Built of Living Stones: Art,Architecture, and Worship (Washington DC: NationalConference of Bishops/ United States CatholicConference, 2000).2. In this article Evelyn Carole Voelker’s, CharlesBorromeo’s Instructiones Fabricae Et SupellectilisEcclesiasticae, 1577: A Translation With Commentaryand Analysis, (Ph.D. Diss., Syracuse University,1977) is quoted. Voelker’s dissertation has threedistinct portions; a translation of Borromeo’s text,notes on the text, and commentary. To distinguishhere between Borromeo’s text and Voelker’s notesand analysis, whenever reference is made directly toBorromeo’s text, the citation appears as: Borromeo,Instructiones, and the page number. Referencesmade to Voelker’s notes and analysis are cited as:Voelker, Charles Borromeo’s Instructiones, and thepage number. In both instances, the pagination refersto Voelker’s text.3. Borromeo, Instructiones, 21–23.4. Michael Andrew Chapman, The Liturgical Directionsof Saint Charles Borromeo, Liturgical Arts 3–4(1934): 142; Richard McBrien, Lives of the Popes,(San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1997), 287–289; R.Mols, Charles Borromeo, in New Catholic Encyclopedia;Voelker, Charles Borromeo’s Instructiones,53.5. Quotations from Durandus in this text are from:William Durandus, The Symbolism of Churches andChurch Ornaments, trans. John Mason Neale andBenjamin Webb (Leeds: T. W. Green, 1843).6. Voelker, Charles Borromeo’s Instructiones,43–44.7. Borromeo, Instructiones, on siting see: 35–38 and122, 359; on the sanctuary’s alignment see: 124.8. Palladio quotation in Voelker, Charles Borromeo’sInstructiones, 45.9. Robert Jan Van Pelt and Carroll William Westfall,Architectural Principles in the Age of Historicism(New Haven:Yale University Press, 1991), 138–167.10. Borromeo, Instructiones, on church plan configurationssee: 51–52; on a church’s interior alignmentsee: 124, 125; on church entrances see: 75 and287; on floor area requirements see: 38; on churchfacades see: 63–64; on thenumber of doors see: 97–99;on windows see: 109–112.11. Alberti quotation inVoelker, Charles Borromeo’sInstructiones, 117–118.12. Durandus, The Symbolismof Churches and ChurchOrnaments, 29.13. Borromeo, Instructiones,326–330.14. This is generally accomplishedwith a mallet thatstrikes the bell when it is nottolling, and by tolling the bell,which causes the suspendedgong that hangs within thebell to strike the movingbell. The ritual ringing of theAngelus and other occasionsthat elicit bell ringing requirethese two types of bell tones;see Durandus, “Of Bells,” inThe Symbolism of Churches,87–97.15. Durandus, cited in Voelker, Charles Borromeo’sInstructiones, 336.16. Borromeo, Instructiones. for the sanctuary’ssize and the construction and location of altars, see:143–148 and 194–197.17. Borromeo, Instructiones, 160; and Voelker,Charles Borromeo’s Instructiones, 164-168. Voelkerestablishes that prior to the Council of Trent, thetabernacle was sometimes within a niche on theGospel side of the sanctuary, in a pyx in the shapeof a dove hanging next to the altar, or within a towersomewhere in the sanctuary. Prior to the legislationof 1614, bishops or provincial synods had the discretionto determine the tabernacle’s location withincathedrals.18. Voelker, Charles Borromeo’s Instructiones, 138.19. Borromeo, Instructiones, 243–245.20. John 8:12, The New American Bible; Durandus,The Symbolism of Churches and Church Ornament,29.21. Borromeo, Instructiones, 243–245.22. Michael Andrew Chapman, The Liturgical Directionsof Saint Charles Borromoeo, Liturgical Arts 4(1935) 109.23. Borromeo, Instructiones.24. Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent,English trans. by J. J. Schroeder (Rockford, IL:Tan Books, 1978), 215–217. Quotations regardingNicaea II from: “The Council of Nicaea II, 787,”in Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven EcumenicalCouncils (325–787): Their History and Theology(Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1983, 1990 ed.),309, 310.25. Information regarding these publications takenfrom The Roman Missal in Latin and English, (NewYork: P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1930), xxvi–xxvii.26. There were two directives that were commonlyignored even during Borromeo’s lifetime. One prohibitedproviding views from private residences intochurches for use by wealthy individuals. Examplesof the disregard of this directive include Rome’sPamphilji Palace and Church of San Agnese (1645–1650, 1653–1657), the Royal Chapel at Versailles,and the Residenz in Würzburg, Germany. Theother directive that generally was ignored requiredthat men and women be segregated not only withinchurches, but while receiving the sacraments or evenupon entering or leaving a church.18 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

During the last five years I have hadthe great good fortune to be theagent for a last long look at American sacredarchitecture. My opportunity came asthe result of my attempt to save the architecturefirm of Ralph Adams Cram.Twelve years ago I merged my incipientarchitecture practice with the remnantof the Cram firm. At the time I was astonishedto learn that the firm, an icon of theVictorian era, had survived over a centuryand through the entire period of modernismand post modernism without losingits essential character. I also found myselfwondering how it was possible that I hadcompleted architectural school withouthearing about the firm, its founder or theirwork.As I began to look at the firm and its100-year body of work, other questionssoon followed. How had I graduated fromarchitecture school without studying religiousbuildings? Why was it that my studyof monasteries and cathedrals had been onmy own after architecture school? Why hadit been the credo of the schools I attendedthat it was unnecessary to study the pastbeyond Corbusier or Kahn or Rossi. Whyhad study of masters been replaced by themirror-like self-fascination of the study ofmagazines?Of course, none of these changes hadbeen accidental. During the internationalistascendancy the study of historical periods,styles and orders was replaced in mostAmerican architectural schools with thestudy of modernist examples to supportthe faculty’s contention that architecturalchange was legitimate and current andcompelling.And it was not just religious architectureor Roman and Gothic historical precedentsthat were discarded but also FrankLloyd Wright (for his immorality) Greenand Green (for the lack of interest in handmadethings) and every other craft-orientedarchitect.To understand the architecture of thetime we also need to remember the principlesof the modernist era. This was thetime of the Italian modernists with theirmanifestos of the liberation of the workingclasses through machines. And we heard itsechoes here in America. Machinery wouldliberate us to have greater and greateramounts of free time. We would have theenviable problem of finding leisure activitiesto fill our idle hours.Machines were going to liberate menfrom the drudgery of handwork. Futuristsactually imagined a time when our handsA LAST LONG LOOK ATAMERICAN SACRED ARCHITECTUREEthan Anthonyand other extremities would atrophythrough generations of disuse. Only thebrain and organs of sense would survive.During the heady war boom years of the1960s, Paolo Soleri imagined an Americabuilt of mega-structures that would eachhouse ten thousand in luxury apartmentsbuilt over floors of automated factoriesthat would produce all the necessities oflife quietly below with no human participation.The dwellers above would fill theiridle hours in making wind chimes, doorknobs,and other craft items to enrich theirapartments with spiritually full items.Accepted Scheme: Cathedral of St. Johnthe Divine, New York CityOf course the boom years were followedby the oil shock and inflation decade andthe Vietnam defeat, all of which servedto bring such empty dreams to an abruptend. Since then architecture has been in athirty-year funk. Struggling to find a properexpression for the age, for the nation andfor the world, indeed for the era that hasfollowed. Unfortunately for architecturethis has been an era as devoid of culturaladvance and creativity as the previous erawas full. The seventies and eighties werea last dying reflection of the excitement ofthe fifties and sixties, and the nineties as wenow know were the bursting of the bubble.In the late forties and early fifties a fewchurches established the paradigm of modernistreligious architecture. Corbusier’sRonchamp, Sarrinnen’s Yale whale, andWright’s Unitarian churches. These becamethe models followed by the few architectswho designed the very few churches thatwere built after World War II that attemptedto build well-designed and thoughtfulstructures. Perhaps more importantly theywere soon adopted by “design-builders”who incorporated inexpensive space-makingqualities and discarded the humanizingdetails and glazing for aluminum storefrontand large expanses of empty walls.In the pre-World War II generationmany fine churches of traditional designand relatively expensive high quality materialshad been built. In that era (roughlyfrom 1900-1940) the popular mind acceptedthe concept that it was desirable to commita high level of resources to the church as anexpression of the community’s devotion.The postwar generation adopted a differentideology. New churches built after thewar were seen as a financially burdensomeproblem to be solved as inexpensively aspossible.As a result it was easy for postwar congregationsto agree that light entering thebuilding from a skylight above was a symbolicexpression of God’s presence replacingmore concrete and expensive representationssuch as stained glass and sculpture.The arts thus finally for the first time inAmerica could be excluded from the religiousspace. As the mother of the arts,architecture’s exclusion of the arts from religiousexpression resulted in a reaction inthe arts itself. The arts no longer looked toreligion as a source of inspiration, and soonart was looking everywhere else: inside itselfand in popular culture that blossomedinto the void left by religion’s decline as aclient.And this about sums up the situationwe find ourselves in at the beginning of thethird millennium. Church building has descendedto mere auditorium design, emptybarns suggestive of illusive nebulous ideasreliant on electronic screens and powerfulsound systems as replacements for stainedglass and great buildings and art for thetelevision generation. Religious art andarchitecture are in atrophy with little exemplarywork in either produced for the religiousinstitutions of our time.The ReactionA R T I C L E SMany of the architects in my own generationhave reacted against the dominantmodernist paradigm almost from the start.The first real expression of this reaction wasknown as postmodernism and led by PeterBlake, Robert Venturi, Charles Moore, andSacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 19Photo courtesy of Ethan Anthony

Phillips Church, Ralph Adams Cram(1897) after 2003 restoration by hdb/Cramand Ferguson IncRobert Stern. Responding to their students’protests against the dominant paradigmduring the seventies, these three postmodernistsprovided vital articulation of theprotest against the loss of humanism thatresulted from modernism and the technologyculture.The first step in restoring principles toarchitecture was to create space for newparadigms by destroying the credibilityand removing the current paradigm fromits pedestal. This work was done by PeterBlake and others by questioning the legitimacyof modernism and techno-culture.With his book on modernism he exposedthe weak philosophical underpinnings andinconsistencies underlying much modernistwork.The second stage of the reaction to modernismwas the resurrection and culturalrehabilitation of art and architectural history.Postmodern architects looked backat the remaining examples of traditionalarchitecture that had not been destroyedduring the modernist period and beganto find pieces and parts to “quote” in theirown work. The discovery was exemplifiedby Robert Venturi in Learning from Las Vegasand the mannerist re-use by Moore inRay Smith’s SuperMannerism and by Sternin his work.The current situation in the mainstreamof architecture — which one would hardlyguess from glancing through the typical architecturalmagazine — is that traditionalforms and styles are back in an enormouswave that has swept across the nation whilethe magazine editors and “architecturalcritics” have been pushing alien forms andcomplaining that no one is following theirleadership. As in the 1930s critics say thatthe mainstream consumer of architectureneeds to be led and is incapable of choosingthe environment he or she wants.Where do American churches fit in thisgreat debate about form in architecture?Churches come late to this argument, inlarge part due to conditions beyond theircontrol. Just ten short years ago mostmainline denomination churches I visitedPhoto courtesy of Ethan Anthonycomplained that their congregations hadshrunk to the point that they could hardlyafford to maintain their buildings. Manydisappeared altogether in the decades ofthe seventies and eighties. Though thenineties had accomplished a change thatreversed the situation.During the 80s the baby-boom generationbegan to age into its thirties and fortiesand raise children. Many parents wanted tohave their children educated about religionand spirituality by a church, sometimesbut not always the church of their own upbringing.This brought families back to thechurch and swelled church membershipsacross the nation. For churches with olderbuildings this meant finding the means tobegin to address the long neglected repairand maintenance of their buildings andthis led to many fine restorations and renovations.Congregations that have grown rapidlyhave been returning to a building mode forthe first time in five decades. The resultingbuildings of this new church boom havebeen largely negative to this time, though afew points of light can be found.We can understand church architectureof the current era if we see it as separatedin four main categories: Barns, Flying Saucers,Regional Styles, and Revivals.BarnsSome denominations build pre-engineeredsteel sheds more typical of factory,supermarket, or agricultural architecture.They are inexpensive to build and requirea relatively small investment per seat. It isunnecessary to address the usually undesirable“aesthetics” of this type of buildingbecause these churches have opted out ofthe architectural discussion about religiousart and architecture. As such they do notmatter and we hope will be torn downsoon and replaced by a building that willshow us the true feelings of the congregationabout themselves and their God.East Liberty Presbyterian ChurchPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPhoto courtesy of Ethan AnthonyFlying SaucersThese churches, typical of Baptist andmore recently Southern Catholic churches,are the logical extension of the barn form.Necessarily gigantic for reasons of marketingor clerical coverage, an attempt issometimes made to dress up the barn butthe essential realities remain. They are explodedformless, barren, and cold cavernswith regrettable acoustics and a total lack ofimagination. These buildings are intentionallykept cheap as they are seen as disposable.Music is impossible in these buildingswithout powerful artificial reinforcement.Modernist and Postmodern (RegionalStyles)A few mainline denominations sparedthe need for very large spaces in recentdecades but needing to build nonethelesshave requested and received passable butpedestrian church buildings designed byarchitects with neither experience in norpassion for religious architecture. Thesearchitects typically have practices that arepredominantly in other building types butare given the commission for other reasons.They are community leaders or membersof the congregation whose practice may bein banks, schools, or railroad stations, andthe results have usually been recognizableas an example of their signature work inthose forms. While the quality of the architecturemay be debated on its own merits,it fundamentally misses the point. It is apersonal exercise and not a participant inthe great discourse on the expression of religionin architecture. In this sense they donot matter.RevivalsThis final category in which I personallyhave practiced, I list last because it hassurfaced most recently chronologically andin my view is the highest and best phaseof recent developments in church architecture.It is my opinion that development inthis area of religious design has the greatestpromise for leading to the next higherstage of religious design.Revivals have grown out of the need forcongregations to rebuild either from a fireor from a cataclysmic event in the life ofthe congregation. In this category I wouldinclude congregations that have split overdifferences of principle and viewpoint.These buildings also have resultedwhen a congregation has approached thebuilding process with a clear understandingof the meaning that is enshrined in abuilding and has been willing to sacrifice inthe sense of paying more per seat to havea building that has real meaning inherentwithin it.These traditional buildings are morecostly per seat than the three previous cat-20 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

A R T I C L E SPhoto courtesy of Ethan AnthonyPhoto courtesy of Ethan AnthonyInterior view of Our Lady of Walshingham Roman CatholicChurch, Houston, Texas, 2004egories, but the congregations that take onthis challenge have a heightened awarenessof the importance of the spiritual contentof the building and a determinationto express their beliefs in the architecture;this is especially important. In our culture,which has been sold on throw away anddisposable plates, cups, cars, and culture,an institution that intends to be lasting hasan opportunity in building to leave a lastingmarker of the community that raisedthe money and had the vision to build thebuilding.Throw-away barns, alien flying saucers,and even regional but non-religious formsare inadequate and inarticulate as churchbuildings.A Word about RevivalsFinally a word about the work we havebeen engaged in these last ten years. Ithas been my great good fortune to participatein the birth of three great newGothic churches. They have been the firsttrue Gothic churches since the SecondWorld War. Our ability to create these essentiallymedieval monuments has growndirectly out of our work over the past decaderestoring and renovating a group ofchurches designed by Ralph Adams Cramand his firm, designers of some of the finestchurches America has ever produced.In our work in modern times, both inrelation to repairing and restoring thechurches Cram and his craftsmen builtso lovingly and in building a new churchmeant to look and feel like those Cram andhis craftsmen built, we have had no suchbackground to which to turn.More than fifty years have passed sinceCram built his last churches and the workmenwho once made the hinges, doors, andwindows of those fine buildings have longago retired. Mechanized production hasreplaced the loving creation of handcraft,and new sophisticated hand tools havechanged the processes.The aesthetics of architecture havechanged to adapt to the new capabilities inpart because of the influence of both Americanindustry and its handmaiden, the magazinepublishers, and in part because of theinfluence of the Bauhaus through Harvardand IIT. Architecture has undergone afifty-year process of adapting to mass productionand standardization, and we havecome to a point where instead of architectsdesigning individual creative responsesto formal challenges we have architectslargely choosing pre-designed parts fromcatalogs. Modern architects have becomeshoppers.Because of this change it has been extremelychallenging to begin to take a freshapproach to architecture again. Rather thanusing a tired set of standardized parts in asterile formal exercise, as touted by Corbusierwith his modular strangely based on theheight of the average French policeman, wehave been taking a fresh look at the designof environment for work, worship, and forstudy.This has sometimes meant not onlylooking anew at the environment and ourresponse but inventing new language fordescribing it, because after all language canbe so defining that use of existing languagebecomes a confinement in itself.In the design of a Gothic church thishas presented itself as re-learning the oldlanguage, which really is learning a newlanguage for the modern. If first one learnsanew what a vault, pier choir, retro-choir,reredos, voussoir, and buttress is, one thenwill inevitably begin to think about designin an entirely different way. The tiresomearguments over the choice of a basis for astandard unit, over alternation of squaresor rectangles in a pattern, or the deep innermeaning of geometric forms and shafts oflight seem utterly mute when stood nextto a great Gothic building with its myriadparts all with a long tradition and a strangeinternal beauty.The creation may begin with the creationof spaces and their subdivision intostructural bays and vaulted sub-spaces.Exterior view of Our Lady of Walshingham RomanCatholic Church, Houston, Texas, 2004There follows placement of familiar forms;columns and arches, windows and frames,beams and vaults. Finally there are finishingtouches, paneling, and paving. And inall there is attention to the quality of thedetail, the hand touches. No longer needwe fear the personal touch of the craftsman,for it is welcome here as a mark of itsinternal dignity and worth.I have looked back to the original manytimes in now six trips to Europe in the lastfive years and in extensive research in ourfirm archives as well as in reading the originalworks Cram himself read and cited inhis extensive writings. This process has ledme to an understanding of many fundamentalstarting points for the Gothic buildingand an internal ability to work withinthe style. As extensive and thorough as thisresearch has been, it has been only a beginningbecause we in fact are not building inmedieval times and must adapt everythingwe want to accomplish to modern times,methods and cost realities.This has meant that, strange as it maysound, the modern builder in medievalforms has to invent everything anew. Paradoxicallythere is far more inventiveness inattempting a Gothic building than in themodern building that now can and oftenis ordered almost entirely from a catalog.This has been the difficulty and the greatexcitement of building in this revival style.Finally it will also be the genesis of a newstylistic adventure as industry and humaninnovation catches up with us and increasinglyoffers the parts and pieces we needto do this work in catalogs. In this waythe form will be easier to produce and theidea will spread far beyond the few initialchurches that we have had the great goodfortune to design.Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 21Ethan Anthony is the principal of Hoyle, Doran& Berry Architects in Boston, the successorfirm to Ralph Adams Cram.

A R T I C L E SLOST IN SPACESUSPICION OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE NEW ORATORY ATAVE MARIA UNIVERSITYDenis McNamaraThe debate generated by the recentrelease of images of the initial proposalfor Ave Maria’s new chapel cuts tothe heart of larger discussions which havebeen circling the Catholic architectural debatefor almost 50 years now. Can glass andsteel be used for a Catholic church? Theanswer, of course, is yes. But rather thanasking can it be done, the primary questionis should it be done? Philosopher DavidHume proposed this is/ought problem inthe 18th century, and modernist architectshave been equating the is and the oughtfor decades. What is, they claimed, was atwentieth century dominated by machines,Initial proposal, Ave Maria Oratory,exteriorInitial proposal, Ave Maria Oratory,interiorPhoto courtesy of Ave Maria UniversityPhoto courtesy of Ave Maria Universityglass, steel and industrial production.Therefore, what ought to be was architecturemade up of those very things. What is,they claimed, was an architecture that hadpassed through the age of the priest and“attained what is rightly called culture,” asLe Corbusier claimed. The great irony withthe Ave Maria chapel, of course, is that thevery same architecture which heralded theage of rationalistic doubt and the glorificationof the machine is now being used toproclaim a new era of traditional Catholicrenewal. Certainly this can be done. Again,ought it be done?It is somewhat edifying to hear that AveMaria University has hired the excellent liturgicalart firm of Talleres de Arte Grandawho will no doubt supply beautiful interiorappointments for their chapel. It is alsogood news to hear that the glass modelshown in the early news releases is to begreatly revised. However, the fundamentalproblem remains that the Fay Jones’sThorncrown Chapel lies at the heart of thedesign. While Thorncrown is clearly a nicestructure — a tiny building of minimal architectureand views to the forest on everyside — it succeeds because it is almostanti-architectural. It blends with the naturalsurroundings, making the viewer feelas if he or she is outdoors when indoors,one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s great architecturalconcerns. There is indeed a suspicionof architecture at the Thorncrown Chapel,where instead of a building, viewers aregiven lines of beams. Admittedly, theselines and beams are designed and arrangedquite well, but that is all they are. Thebeams look as if they were ripped on a tablesaw, just as Frank Lloyd Wright desiredin his famous essay “Art and Craft of theMachine,” in which he called the machinethe “Intellect mastering the drudgery ofearth that the plastic art may live.” Again,we can base a chapel on this philosophy,but ought we?The answer has to be no. I make this a“soft” no because I understand the allureof Frank Lloyd Wright and Fay Jones. Theydid wonderful things in their ways. However,a Catholic church ought not to be amachine, nor ought it to look like a machine.It ought to be an icon of heaven, theHeavenly Jerusalem described in chapter21 of the Book of Revelation. We ought touse an architecture which speaks in signThorncrown Chapel by E. Fay Jonesand symbol in the very architecture itself, inthe anthropomorphism of columns and theinherited sign value of classical motifs usedby Constantine, Abbot Suger and Michelangelo.It ought not simply to let us look outto the fallen natural world, but to presentto us an image the redeemed world, just asan icon of a saint is not a portrait but an imageof a Christian infused with the divineenergy, aglow with the inner life of God.Vague reminiscences of gothic in glass andsteel on a mammoth scale do not signal aCatholic renewal. Rather, they signal theincomplete understanding of what VaticanII tells us real Catholic renewal should be:the sacramental use of art and architectureto give us a foretaste of the heavenly liturgythrough sign and symbol. We can tryto force glass and steel to represent Catholiclanguage, but we ought not to. It is notsuited to the task, and filling it with beautifulGranda statues will not change the factthat the architecture itself remains mute.The opportunity here is great, just as it wasat the Los Angeles Cathedral, and what aterrible thing for this opportunity to be lostbecause we substitute the is for the ought.Dr. Denis McNamara is an Architectural historianand assistant director at the LiturgicalInstitute, University of Saint Mary of the Lake.Photo courtesy of Thorncrown.com22 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

A R T I C L E SRECAPTURED GLORYTHE RENOVATION OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. AUGUSTINE IN BRIDGEPORTSean TobinThe Cathedral of St. Augustine inBridgeport, Connecticut was builtfrom 1865 to 1868, and recently underwenta two-and-a-half year renovation.Under the guidance of Bishop Lori, headof the Diocese of Bridgeport, and throughthe design of architect Henry Menzies, thecathedral has been returned to its placeof splendor and prominence amongstConnecticut’s churches.Although the church of St. Augustinewas a large church when it was built, itwas not originally designed to serve as acathedral. According to Mr. Menzies, thishad led to many functional problems overthe years, and was a challenge to overcomeduring the design process. In addition, aseries of renovations over the years hadleft the church bereft of any extraordinarypresence deserving of a cathedral. Theapse was plain and relatively empty. Thefinishes inside the church had aged andwere subdued. According to Mr. Menzies’article, “Comments on the Renovationof the Cathedral of Saint Augustine,” themandate from Bishop Lori was to restorethe church and bring back its original glory– using a “contemporary vernacular.”Something modern or new was desired.Bishop Lori also requested that the restorationfollow the latest guidelines of theVatican for church layout, which return totraditional arrangements of the altar andtabernacle.Under this mandate, Mr. Menzies hasprovided the Diocese of Bridgeport with anunqualified success. He has met or exceededall of the published desires of the Bishopwith his design. Upon entering the church,a feeling of peace envelops the visitor asthe outside world drops away. The newfinishes and light inside the cathedral bringa sense of peace and grace to the space,even as one contemplates the interior andthe glory of God and his house. The interiorshave been re-designed to celebratethe church and to instruct the parishionersthrough the use of iconography.Photo: Henry MenziesInterior view of St. Augustine Cathedral, Bridgeport, Connecticut, after renovation.Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 23

A R T I C L E SView of renovated sanctuaryView of sanctuary before renovationPhoto: Henry MenziesPhoto: Henry MenziesThe centerpiece of Mr. Menzies’ design is the altar, which is,without a doubt, the crowning aspect of the project. The altaris the focus of the church, and the eye is invariably drawn to itfrom almost any point in the cathedral. The color scheme andfloor patterns chosen by Mr. Menzies accentuate the altar’s importanceand help to focus the eye. The color scheme insideconsists of very pale walls and columns, highlighted by goldcapitals. The eye is drawn from the capitals along the ribs ofthe nave ceiling. The ceiling is painted blue, reminiscent of colorschemes of the Renaissance. The ceiling represents heaven,often painted blue to portray the heavens within the structureof the church. The attention is then gathered at more highlycolorful areas of the church, such as the altar and side chapels.To set the altar apart, it is raised on three steps above themain floor. The baldacchino dominates the altar, both in sizeand presence. Mr. Menzies has designed a structure that capturesthe spirit of Gothic architecture and yet is unquestionablymodern. It is made of solid bronze, meticulously crafted inNew York. Its structure manages to feel light and reaches towardthe ceiling. Above the altar, a wood crucifix is suspendedfrom the structure, and above that, a spire reaches towards theceiling with the Angel Gabriel blowing a horn at its peak. Thebronze structure echoes the ribs of the nave supporting the ceiling.It is a very subtle, but effective, echo or miniaturizationof the cathedral above the altar, as is fitting. The baldacchinoclearly defines its space and yet manages to be light enough todisappear.In addition to the baldacchino, the tabernacle, cathedra, altar,and pulpit are all new designs that contribute to the space.Although the cathedra is an antique, the other pieces are ofdark Honduran mahogany. The pieces all stand out againstthe lighter walls and emphasize their importance. The pulpitand screen are unquestionably Gothic, but they are not strictlytraditional. It follows in the footsteps of the baldacchino, creatinga more modern language of the architecture that speaks tothe same spirit that created the cathedral in the 1800s, yet distinctlyof the 21st century. The layering of arches on the screenis traditional in nature and serves as a great backdrop to thetabernacle itself. The tabernacle is highlighted by a mosaic ofangels flanking a central panel filled with the image of a dove.The iconographic narrative is continued throughout the screen,with carvings and statues representing the apostles adding layersof meaning to the design. The recurring theme of a triptychcan be noted throughout the design and is another subtle, yetpleasing, aspect. The interplay of light and dark and layeringof foreground and background throughout the altar creates avibrant energy in the space and further emphasizes the altar asthe appropriate focus of the church.Beyond these aspects, Mr. Menzies has transformed the restof the space through the restoration of many finishes — seats,railings, and the organ among others. He has also designed newchandeliers for the nave and new doors throughout the complex.In all aspects of the project, the design is sensitive to thetraditional and historic aspects of the church and its architecturallanguage yet successfully creates a modern idiom of Gothicarchitecture. This complements the original spirit and intent ofthe building and celebrates the new history in the church.The restored Cathedral of St. Augustine is a resplendent success.Bishop Lori and Mr. Menzies have created a design thatrecaptures the glory of a cathedral, and created a fitting spaceto serve as the symbolic center of the diocese. This cathedral issomething that should lift the spirits of all celebrants and parishioners— for generations to come.Sean J. Tobin is a Registered Architect and Fellow of the Institutefor Classical Architecture.24 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

“You are also God’s building. Using thegift God gave me, I did the work of the expertbuilder and laid the foundation, and anotherman is building on it. But each of us must becareful how he builds. For God has alreadyplaced Jesus Christ as the one and only foundationand no other foundation can be laid.”— St. Paul, 1 Cor. 3:10The foundation of the cross shelters allwho are homeless. “I was a strangerand you received me into your home.”We live in a time in which it is morelikely to run into difficulty for doingsomething well than doing it poorly.Both Church art and secular art havereached an all time low. It is as alwayseasier to understand how this canhappen to secular art, but how did ithappen to sacred art as well?As the Church’s desire to becomerelevant culturally between the twoworld wars grew, the Church inAmerica found itself in a peculiar situation.On one hand it still had whatit saw as its second-hand Europeanhand-me-downs of art and architecture.It also had to differentiate itselffrom Anglo-Saxon Protestant societyso prevalent in the US. We becamesuspicious of our own works as if itwere the art under the scrutiny of theReformation.Our own nudity and all of its metaphoricalmeanings have all but disappearedfrom civic and ecclesiastic art,in particular Catholic art. We havereturned to the bushes, shaking, unableto answer God’s question as towho told us we were naked. It’s as ifwe had forgotten that by the time Ghibertihad completed his second set of baptisterydoors, the four types of nudity establishedin Church art were being expressedthroughout: nuditas virtualis, such as theyoung Baptist casting off his garments todemonstrate his abandonment of worldlygoods; or nuditas temporalis conditional nudityas in the Susanna at the bath; nuditascriminalis, in the expulsion from the Garden,or the drunkenness of Noah; and nuditasnaturalis, as in the Creation of Adamand Eve, all took their proper place androle in church art. However, with politicalcorrectness abounding, subjects such as thenudity of Noah would not be permissibleand would be considered counter-symbolicsince it is insensitive to a person’s dealingwith substance. Theologically, we haveTHE ANATOMY OF SACRED ARTPART II: AD QUID VENISTI? QUO VADIMUS?Anthony Viscoremained Catholic. Culturally, we havebecome Protestant with overtones of iconoclasm.But as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger soaptly puts it, “Iconoclasm is not a Christianoption.”The study of human anatomy wasthrown out of the curricula in art schools;and drafting the classical orders was beingeliminated from the schools of architecture.Just as the American Renaissance hadplaced its classical architecture; classicalsculpture and painting were to have followedhad not both been interrupted by theSecond World War. From 1950 onward, theNoahʼs Ark, Noah Planting Vines,Drunkeness of Noah. Lorenzo Ghiberti, panel onBaptistry doors, Florencefigurative languages of both artist and architect,the “anatomy” of both, had becomeuseless tools in the inept hired hands of themodernists. As modernism needed flatnessto express nihilism, it was unable touse human anatomy and the orders properly;thus, they were kept from studentswho wanted to use them. Conversely, themodernist jargon of non-representationalflatness became as equally burdensome toChristians as artists of the Incarnation. Yetthere were many who believed that thiswas the new way of the Church! Under theweight of modernism, anatomy, the senseof “embodiment” in both ecclesiastical artand architecture, became all but impossibleto find in the American church. Architecturally,when we abandoned bilateral symmetry,we abandoned the body. Sadly, theA R T I C L E SCatholic Church followed the hired hand ofthe modernist into fields where the flocksliterally were scattered and the good grasswas trampled and the waters muddied.We have learned much by looking toother artists who have heard the call fromEternity and responded as contemporaryartists throughout time. If we listen, wecan perhaps gain a better idea of ourselvesas the created as well as what the Callerasks of us now. Yet we must be mindfulthat the masterpieces of the past, present,and future are like the stars in the heavens.They can indeed give us our locationbut we must wait for the darkness andhope for a clear night in order to seethem better. Perhaps our darknesswas indeed modernism; perhaps ourclear night is arriving. Then, once ourlocation in the Third Millennium islearned, the greater question for themaker of sacred arts will be where dowe go from wherever we are?How Modernism Broke the ConvenantAs modernism spoke only of theself, it became a gift to self rather thana gift of self.There were two attributes of modernismthat violated the covenant as itwas governed by two major conventionsof thought. First, there was “traditionalmodernism,” the need to sacrifice,to omit, to discard something inorder to make something unique andnovel. But to sacrifice does not meanomit. It means to make holy. Just asa contract is not a covenant, a sacrificeis not an omission. The second attribute ofmodernism, “conventional modernism,”was when a risk must be taken, no matterhow needless or fruitless. Combined theywere to make something “original,” somethingthat hadn’t been done or seen before.Quality thus came from novelty and replacedbeauty with “new” formalistrelations.With originality as its goal, modernismsought to invent its own language; it tookmetaphor and replaced it with irony. Inits need to sacrifice, it took the alphabet ofall classical art and architecture and threwout the vowels. In its need to be original, ittook this new alphabet without vowels andonly consonants, and made words illegible,unintelligible, and unpronounceable,a language that could mean anything, andSacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 25Photo: Marchini, The Baptistry and the Cathedral of Florence, 1972

A R T I C L E Scalled it “untitled.” We soon came to realizethat “untitled” was very much indeeda title. If modernism spoke at all, it said, “Iwill not serve.”Modernism had convinced an entirepopulace to expect nothing great from artor artists. Now used to avant-gardism, thepublic has grown suspicious of themselvesif confronted with art they can understand.For Roman Catholics in particular, themodernist collision happened in the sixtieswhen the secular art form, the “pop,”the “folk,” and the avant-garde styles wereadopted and mingled with a most misinterpretedversion of the Vatican II messageencouraging the use of contemporary artand music in liturgy. Contemporary wasnever meant to mean modernist; it nevermeant non-representational. For the firsttime in history, instead of leading the secularart world as it had done for centuries,the Church now followed it. For the liturgicalartist and architect, for the painterand sculptor of religious works, it couldn’thave come at a worse time. Its outcome wasalready being foretold in 1964 by Pope PaulVI, a global advocate for the entire worldof sacred arts, in his meeting with artists in1964:We can say at times we have placedagainst you a leaden burden; pleaseforgive us! And then we have abandonedyou. We have not explained ourthings; we have not introduced youinto the secret cell where the mysteriesof God make man’s heart leap with joy,hope, happiness, and exaltation. Wehave not had you as students, friends,interlocutors, so you have not knownus. Thus your language for the worldhas been docile, yes, but also tied up,labored, incapable of finding its voice.And thus we have felt this artistic expressionunsatisfactory… We havetreated you worse, we have turned tosurrogates, oleography to works of artof little value and less expenditure, alsobecause we did not have the means tocommission things which were great,beautiful, and worth being admired.Things seemed to changing in 1976 atthe 41st International Eucharistic Congresshosted by the Exhibition of Liturgical Artin Philadelphia. Both the Archdiocese ofPhiladelphia and Catholic patrons alikecommissioned several works with the centerpieceof the Congress being the commissionof one permanent sculpture. It becamea standing bronze Christ to be made byWalter Erlebacher and placed in front ofthe Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. It isan Apollo-Christ, clearly reminiscent of ourearly Christian world in which a beardlessyoung man with the physical attributes ofan Apollo are fused and brought to realizationin Christ. It is the Eucharistic Lord, theSecond Adam, reborn, as he stands youngand old, virile and effeminate, living anddying, with arms extended, still bleedingform his costal wound while offering toall his broken bread. As it was and still remainscounter to church renovations of itstime, it was definitely contemporary butnot modernist.Yet with its many commissions given tosome of the country’s most popular galleryartists of the day (all in storage now), theshow itself was a hodge-podge of styles ofart about art, art for art sake, art about theartist, with only a smattering of that whichJesus breaking bread, W. Erlebacher, 1978was truly religious or liturgical. This disdainfor quality, for the utilitarian, for theclassical, was further echoed in the exhibition’scatalogue liner notes as they wenton to denounce the Quattrocento: “In fact,what historians might indicate to be theapex of Church art and art in general mayactually signal the real decline, possibly thedecadence of sacred art in the West … theRenaissance.”This argument that the Greco-Romanand the Renaissance periods were pagan inorigins and therefore unsuitable or unworthyfor contemporary church art and architecturehas long needed to be put to rest.Countless Christian attributes predate thebirth of Christ, as the Mystery entered Itsown creation from the beginning. As weare called on to acknowledge the “anonymousChristian” in those who have notheard the teachings of Christ yet lead theirlives in the spirit of Christ, so are we, alongwith the Church, called to acknowledge theanonymous Christian in art and architecture.The truth is that Christianity has moreclassical structures than pagan antiquityhas ruins.To follow this anti-classical logicthrough would call on us to not show ourGod as having taken on human form, tonot show that the Mystery became flesh.After all, the idea of anthropomorphizingone’s god was not primarily Christian, asit can be found in both pagan and naturereligions predating the Incarnation. Yet it isironical that these same critics who despisethe use of the classical for its pagan originsor “political incorrectness” seem to haveno problem in appropriating the designs ofother pre-Christian nature religions for ourchurches. As Stonehenge replaces the altarand sanctuary, and “medicine wheel” seatingreplaces the nave, our “worship spaces”becomes theaters in the round. Whenthe corporeal reality of place is lost to badart and architecture, the spiritual reality ofplace is lost with it. The true freedom tomake something beautiful for the Churchand its faithful is placed in exile and itsfaithful with it.The beauty due in sacred art and architecturecannot be subject to political correctnessas if it were a matter of politicalrationing. Beauty contains the measure ofgift within itself, not the percentage allottedin the art budget. Modernist art andarchitecture will not be catalogued bysome future Vitruvius. There will be noBrunelleschi and Donatello traveling toa modernist Rome to measure its proportions.If modernism broke the covenant, itdid so simply on the basis of not giving.When faith and aesthetics do not share acommon goal, both are degraded. Whenaesthetics’ affairs are so ordered as in modernismthat there is no recognition of eitherthe moral or visual aesthetic, there can beexpected a belittling of the faithful. Thefaithful have a right to a response fromthe artist and architect that is a reflectionof their beliefs. Wherever, whenever, andhowever this right is dislocated, the verynotion of a serving aesthetic is sacrificed,omitted, for the santitiy of individualism.Thus, so-called sacred art will have nomeaning other than that projected by theartist’s ego. There can be no covenant whenthe goals of the art are separated from thegoals of the faith. Sacred art without thefaith and faithful being served is a parodyand an injustice. The covenant is broken.The Disregard of RepresentationalSacred ArtEven with his work among our best religiouspaintings of the twentieth century,Salvador Dali goes unrecognized for hiscontribution to sacred art. His “Last Supper”is hung as to not be seen or read as itis placed on a stairwell going to the basementin the National Gallery in WashingtonDC. Ironically, just as the Christ it depicts,it holds the place of embarrassment,a “stumbling block” that the modernist curatorcannot explain to his visitors, that theart historian would rather her students skipover. Yet Dali holds a place for the exten-26 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

Discovery of the Americas by Columbus,Salvador DaliPhoto courtesy of Anthony Viscosion of Catholic art. His was and is the artof ongoing conversion. However it neitherreceived proper notice from the Churchofficials or the art critics. For the sake ofDada, art history prefers and needs Dali tobe its “bad boy” and would rather not bereminded of his slips into religious art.In his “Discovery of the Americas byColumbus,” sometimes called the “Dreamof Columbus,” Dali depicts the discoveringof the New World out of time and place.Here he presents “Christo-Foro,” the ChristCarrier who brings the Ship of Christ withall its crosses as well as his Church to theNew World. But simultaneously he, theman, also arrives and discovers this NewWorld found in the Resurrection of Christ.As this Christoforo emerges from the watersof Baptism, he pulls his ship, his cross,to a new shore never to return to his pointof departure, never to leave his new discoveredtrue home in Christ. Here this pictorialdiscovery gives evidence that neither theworks inspired by Franciscan or Ignatianspirituality belonged to a certain period ofart or Church history. Sadly, in our anxietyto be relevant, this art became unintelligibleto us as we allowed modernism toappropriate our Catholic language.Now through what is called postmodernism,we may have learned that religious,sacred, or liturgical art cannot serve the artcommunity as art does the secular world.The artist of religious work is usually selfeducatedin the signs and symbols, theforms, the colors and geometry and proportionsof sacred art. When we meet otherslike us, it is the smaller if not the smallestcircle of artist friends. Onceinstalled, our commissions are notvisited by curators or reviewed byany art reviews. Our works areoften reproduced on holy cards,church calendars, and in books,yet we remain “anonymous.” Artistsand architects may be called“church ministers,” but too often,they remain nameless, somethingthat Paul VI knew in the long runhurt the Church more than herartists. If we have learned anythingfrom modernism and ourhistory, we know that religiousart does not receive notoriety forbeing novel, from being ironic, orbeing clever. To have one’s workbe such an attraction in the secularworld is to be a success. To doso in the religious sector is to havefailed at your mission. Obviouslythis is not work for those withouta calling. The paintbrush or chiselin the hand of the “uncalled” isas worthless as the crosier heldby the “hired hand.” The formerwould open windows that leadthe flock nowhere, while the latterwould simply close or renovateour churches and leave the flocksto scatter. We are left with the question asto how people find us.Yet despite the efforts and argumentsmade by art historians, critics, galleries,museums, and teaching institutions, aswell as those within the Church hierarchy,classicism, like the Church, the Bride herself,cannot be chronologically framed. It,unlike modernism, is not a linear fashionof one style begetting another and another.Here the modernist view would like usto think that Michelangelo if alive todaywould be a “liturgical mime performanceartist.”At best, our recent past can provide uswith a sense of where we may find our-By the end of the secondAmericanA R T I C L E Sselves today.millennium,artists had been workingalongside, if not withinthe secular, thus beingboth modernist and puritan:the modernist believingthat the artist wasfreest when not tied tothe burden of representationalismand the puritanneeding to believe all artis by nature superficial,controversial, and alwaysto appear out of place.By their combined definitions,modernism andPuritanism produced anart from what was onlyacceptable if and whenit seemed shocking, ifand only when it was inappropriate,and if and only when it wasnon-representational, all of which sacredart cannot do if it indeed accepts the Incarnation.Should it be any wonder why thetympani reliefs of Creation for the NationalCathedral in Washington DC by FredrickHart went unnoticed by both the art worldand the religious world alike when unveiledin 1984?The Church as Bride, Daughter, Mother,and Sister of ChristBut if our works are to find themselvesin beauty, that must be centered in love.As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians,“… I pray that you may have yourroots and foundation in love, so that youtogether with God’s people may have thepower to understand how broad, and long,how high and deep is Christ’s love.” If wetake these dynamics and apply the dimensionalaspects of the Christ’s love for us inhis Church as his Bride, as Daughter, asMother, and as Sister, we can then applythese same dynamics to our works as artistsin Christ.As Bride she is forever erect, upright.She is always dressed, with her lamp litand ready for action. Her stature demonstratesher being His chosen. Her heighttells of her devotion. Attentive, she is neversquat. As she patiently awaits her Master,she wears her veil in the form of a façade.Its design gives us hint to her inner beauty,of her true face, which she takes on as shemeets the Groom at the altar. As the Brideof Christ she must be adorned with the finestfurnishings, moldings, and ornamentsfitting for the holiest occasion. Yet all thatshe wears from her vaulted ceilings anddomes to her tiled floors, points to whomshe awaits. In all, she must be well suitedfor that place where time and eternity meetand heaven and earth kiss.As the Mother she is the great breadthof the Church as she is also the seat, the cathedrain which she holds the infant ChristEx Nihilo, Creation bas relief, Washington NationalCathedral, by Fredrick HartSacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 27Photo courtesy of John Stroik

A R T I C L E SOur Lady of the Eucharist, Anthony ViscoChild as well as the Pieta holding her dyingSon. Yet as mother to all she is also womb,the place where we are all born in Christ,a chair, a cathedra in which she cradlesthe Christ child as the Incarnation and asthe mother of her crucified Son. As MaterEcclesciae, all her forms wrap around herchildren in stone, in words or images, allare durable, substantial, made of the finestmaterials possible. She would give usnothing less, nothing artificial even as partof the meal or portion of our nourishment.As Sister with her nave as the deck, sheis the length of our ship as she accompaniesus on our journey to meet our Brotherin Christ. Her spires as masts, her stainedglass as portals, she is a mighty ship preparedto take us on this journey and providesus with the proper sacraments andsacramentals. This ship, she says, can takethe entire city, no, the entire world alongwith her.As Daughter, in her depth she remainsin the loving care of the Father. She is thefirst born of the First Born of the dead. Sheis the product of the loving will and thereforehouses all that was done with lovingwill. Her artists and artisans listen alongwith her to the Holy Spirit, and as the NewEve, she with them in turn cares for the Fatheras He provide for his other children,giving them the works for His family in us.The Bride Church is a labor of love andfaith of the Groom Christ in and for us, Hiscreation. So in kind, our art works, our laborsmust be of love and imbued with faithif they are to reach others. Like Bride andBridegroom they must bear the resemblanceof the lover and the beloved. If artdoes not serve the Creator, how can it servehis creation? Conversely if it cannot or willnot serve His creation, how can it serveHim?Photo courtesy of Anthony ViscoDoes the Church need a Renaissance?Christ at Tiberius, detail, Anthony ViscoPhoto courtesy of Anthony ViscoAs Meister Eckhart states, “To be properlyexpressed, a thing must proceed fromwithin, moved by its form.” Here formmeans pure idea. This could be easily seenas absent in modernist works as they becamemore obtuse and self-centered. Yetthey did nothing less than mirror our contemporaryliturgies. As the translation ofEt cum spiritu tuo, “and with your Spirit,”became “and also with you,” our art beganto imitate our liturgy. Our salutation to theHoly Spirit within each other as communitybecame an individual greeting to thecelebrant’s ego.We have learned now that when faithand aesthetics do not share a commongood, as happened in modernism and puritanism,sacred art and architecture degradethe faithful and deprive them of any highervision. Their view remains no higher thanthe naked physical properties and processesof the works. The art work fails torise with the faithful to its higher capacity.Like galleries and museums, many churchesstill cling to solutions that modernismcould never afford, nor was ever willing togive to Ecclesiae. American churches havegrown lazy in their search for the best. Inmany cases, with its order of iconography,it clings to a model that trivializes spirituality,placing catalogue Mary and catalogueJoseph on either side of the altar (or block)as if they were the salt and pepper shakersfor the Lord’s Supper. The statuary ismost often purchased from catalogues forprices beyond the cost of a commission,to have all done by the day of dedication.The only comforting thought that we mustcontinually allow ourselves is the fact thatthe Church is never complete in time andspace. Nor should it be.As we leave the laboratory of modernism,we face new problems. Like a pickledlab frog connected to the batteries of museums,galleries, and magazines, modernismdoesn’t know that it’s dead, that its kicksare not real. How do we pull the plug? Wewill have some problems here. Modernismtried and to some extent succeeded intrying to make beauty untrustworthy. Asa result, we live in a time whereby we aremore likely to run into difficulty for doingsomething well than for doing it poorly.Thus, conviction and faith must pervadethe painting and sculpture of religious artif it is at all to succeed in its mission.Great sacred art should point to our expectations.In this it remains forever contemporaryin its ability to point and leadus to our higher goals. Here, art historyand fashion can and will be put aside asthe faithful become willing once again tosubmit to and trust the influence of willfulbelief in beauty. The only reality for thetrue artist is true beauty and the only truebeauty is God.The American Catholic Church longsfor a renaissance; not a renovation. It longsfor a renaissance, not as an art movementto be replaced with another, but a rebirth ofits qualities that reflect the covenant. Likeour architecture, our painting and sculptureneed to bring us closer to and includeus in the mysteries of our faith. Their mission,their message cannot be withered andwasted by the desire to be novel or the fearof borrowing from within our own traditions.To deny our qualities is nothing lessthan a denial of our transfiguration.Of course the greatest aspect of transfiguration,of transformation, is still the liturgy,is still the ongoing work of the Church.As such, sacred art remains the work of thenew in that it is the work that can always bereborn and, like the Church, extend itself. Itis an inclusive and open form that allowsfor rebirth both within and without. Yet ifsacred art and architecture are to functionas guide posts along the way, then theymust point in a guided direction, not a misleadingone. If our destination is Eternity,it is inevitable that a renaissance will occur.For now we must wait for the Church towake up from the slumber of modernism,to regain its ability to distinguish the differencebetween novelty and renaissance.We may then ask, does the Catholic Churchneed a “renaissance”?Ultimately, the answer is always “yes.”The Church needs renaissance because theChurch is renaissance.Anthony Visco is an artist who maintainsa studio in Philadelphia. Among his manyliturgical commissions he is currently workingon the National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia. Hehas taught at many institutions including thePennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and theNew York Academy of Art. His work can beseen at www.anthonyvisco.org28 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

D O C U M E N T A T I O NHIGHLIGHTS OF THE LITURGICAL RENEWALINITIATED BY SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUMFrancis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect, Congregation for Divine Worshipand the Discipline of the SacramentsKeynote address to the National Conventionof the Federation of Diocesan LiturgicalCommissions at the Omni San AntonioHotel, October 8, 2003. (We have abridgedthis address to focus on some issues related toliturgy and church architecture – ed. )Forty Years of Grace through the LiturgyThe celebration of the mysteries of ourredemption, especially of the paschal mysteryof the suffering, death and resurrectionof Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ inthe sacred liturgy, is central in and tothe life of the Church. Participationin liturgical celebrations is seen by theSecond Vatican Council as “the primaryand indispensable source fromwhich the faithful are to derive thetrue Christian spirit” (SacrosanctumConcilium [SC], no. 14).Translation. Adaptation. InculturationSt. Ignatius Loyola, New York, New YorkThe Second Vatican Council introducedthe vernacular into the liturgyand also allowed for properly consideredadaptations and inculturationin the rites. This poses a considerablechallenge and requires careful consideration....It is clear that whether in adaptationor inculturation, great care is needed torespect the mysteries of Christ whichare celebrated in the liturgy. Writing onthe Holy Eucharist, Pope John Paul IIsays that “the treasure is too importantand precious to risk impoverishmentor compromise through forms of experimentationor practices introducedwithout a careful review on the part ofthe competent ecclesiastical authorities[and] because the sacred liturgyexpresses and celebrates the faith professedby all, and being the heritage of the wholeChurch, cannot be determined by localChurches in isolation from the universalChurch” (EE, no. 51).It is therefore reasonable and indeed obviousthat there must be liturgical regulationsand norms. With reference to the HolyEucharist, for example, Pope John Paul IIsays that “these norms are a concrete expressionof the authentically ecclesial natureof the Eucharist; this is their deepestmeaning. Liturgy is never anyone’s privateproperly, be it of the celebrant or of thecommunity” (EE, no. 52). That is why SacrosanctumConcilium already declared thatthe regulation of the sacred liturgy dependssolely on the authority of the Church, thatis, on the Apostolic See and, as laws maydetermine, on the Bishops and the Bishops’Conference. “Therefore, absolutely noother person, not even a priest, may add,remove, or change anything in the liturgyon his own authority” (SC, no. 22).The danger is that some peopleseem to think that inculturation in the liturgyencourages free and uncontrolled creativity.They imagine that according to VaticanII the progressive, modern and enlightenedthing to do in liturgical celebrations isto be creative, to be original, to introducesomething new, to do it yourself. Pope JohnPaul writes that “it must be lamented that,especially in the years following the postconciliarliturgical reform, as a result of amisguided sense of creativity and adaptation,there have been a number of abuseswhich have been a source of suffering formany “(EE, no. 52).The truth is that genuine inculturationhas nothing to do with the product of theover-fertile imagination of an enthusiasticpriest who concocts something on Saturdaynight and inflicts it on the innocent Sundaymorning congregation now being used as aguinea pig. True and lasting inculturationdemands long study, discussions amongexperts in interdisciplinary platforms, examinationand decision by Bishops, recognitionfrom the Apostolic See and prudentpresentation to the people of God. Moreover,it should be noted that in religiousmatters, people’s sensitivity and piety caneasily be hurt by ill-considered and hastynovelties. In religious practices, mostpeople are understandably conservativein the good sense and unwillingto endure frequent changes.Even when we give the hasty innovatorthe benefit of the doubt, thatthe motivation is a sincere attempt tobring the liturgy home to the people,it remains true that the results are generallydisastrous. Unapproved innovationsdistract and annoy the people.They often draw attention to the priestrather than to God. They generally donot last long. They are often superficial.And they scandalize becausethey run against Church norms andregulations. If many lay people hadonly one request to make, they wouldask that the priest celebrate Mass, orother rites, simply according to theapproved books. Many lay faithfulcomplain that rarely do they find twopriests celebrating the Eucharisticsacrifice in the same way. The Romanliturgy is not a free-for-all experimentationfield where each celebrant hasthe option to tag on his cherished accretions.Repeated and laid-down actionis part of ritual. The people arenot tired of it, as long as the celebrantis full of faith and devotion and hasthe proper ars celebrandi (art of how tocelebrate).Pope John Paul II laments that“some have promoted outlandish innovations,departing from the norms issued bythe authority of the Apostolic See or theBishops, thus disrupting the unity of theChurch and the piety of the faithful andeven on occasion contradicting matters offaith.” (VQA, no. 11). “It cannot be tolerated,” he continues, “that certain priests shouldtake upon themselves the right to composeEucharistic Prayers or to substitute profanereadings for texts from Sacred Scripture.Initiatives of this sort, far from being linkedwith the liturgical reform as such, or withSacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 29

D O C U M E N T A T I O Nthe books which have issued from it, are indirect contradiction to it, disfigure it anddeprive the Christian people of the genuinetreasures of the liturgy of the Church”(VQA, no. 13).It is therefore clear that inculturationdoes not encourage banalization or trivializationof the sacred liturgy. Spontaneityrun wild can manifest itself in manyways. At the beginning of Mass the priestcan trivialize by amusing the people on theweather, by saying “Good morning everybody”instead of “The Lord be with you”or “The grace of Our Lord... ,”which are theproper liturgical opening greetings. He canbanalize by an exaggerated autobiographicalintroduction and trite jokes in his misguidedeffort to warm the people up forworship! He may not realize that he is nowdrawing attention to himself instead of toGod and the liturgical celebration of theday. Other distractions and even desacralizationscan come through dances that offendagainst good sense and do not help toraise people’s mind to God, loquacious andunnecessary commentaries, over-dosagesinging monopolized by the choir whichallows no time for personal prayer, and theintroduction of bizarre vestments and unacceptablevessels for the Holy Eucharist.We have dwelt somewhat long oninculturation because the experience ofmany is that it is often misunderstood andoffended against. But genuine inculturationis what Holy Mother Church wants. Andthe challenge before us is to promote it andnot to allow the cockle to grow among thewheat.Active ParticipationThe Fathers of the Second VaticanCouncil stress the importance of the activeparticipation of all the faithful in liturgicalcelebrations. “Mother Church earnestlydesires that all the faithful be led to thatfull, conscious and active participation inliturgical celebrations which is demandedby the very nature of the liturgy. Such participationby the Christian people as ‘a chosenrace, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,a purchased people’ (I Pet 2:9; cf 2:4-4), istheir right and duty by reason of their Baptism“ (SC, no. 14).For this to be possible, the clerics mustthemselves be properly formed in the liturgy.So should religious personnel, catechistsand other pastoral agents. No onecan give what the person does not have.It is important to realize that the internalaspect of participation is indispensableas a basis, a requirement and the aimof all external participation. That is whypersonal prayer, Scriptural meditation andmoments of silence are necessary. “Thesacred liturgy does not exhaust the entireactivity of the Church. Before people cometo the liturgy they must be called to faithand to conversion”(SC, no. 9). It is highlyCathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fort Wayne, Indianaadvisable to promote moments of silencefor individual reflection and prayer duringthe Eucharistic celebration, at such times asafter each reading, and after the homily andHoly Communion. Choirs should resist thetemptation to fill every available quiet timewith singing.A sense of reverence and devotion isconducive to interiorized active participation.Prominent among those who influencethe congregation in this matter is the priestcelebrant. But the altar servers, the readers,the choir and the extraordinary ministersof Holy Communion where they are reallyneeded, do also influence the peopleby every move of theirs. Reverence is theexterior manifestation of faith. It shouldshow our sense of adoration of God mostholy and most high. And our belief in theReal Presence of Jesus Christ in the HolyEucharist should come across in how theministers handle the Blessed Sacrament,how they genuflect and how they recite theprescribed prayers.Liturgical music promotes worship. TheGregorian chant has an honored place inthe history of the Latin rite. It is to be notedthat even the young people today do appreciateit. Most liturgical singing will understandablybe in the mother tongue. TheDiocesan or National Music Commissionshould see that such texts are suitable fromthe theological and musical points of viewbefore they are approved for Church use.The Roman Missal wisely notes theimportance of common gestures by theworshipping congregation (cf GIRM, nos.42-44). Examples are times for the congregationto stand, kneel or sit. Bishop’s Conferencescan and do, make some specifications.Care should be taken not to appearlike regimenting the congregation, as if itwere an army, Some flexibility should beallowed, more so as it is easy to hurt people’sEucharistic sensitivity with reference,for example, to kneeling or standing.Church architecture also influences activeparticipation. If a church is built andthe seats are arranged as in an amphitheatreor as in a banquet, the undeclaredemphasis may be horizontal attention toone another, rather than vertical attentionto God. In this sense the celebration of Massfacing the people demands from the priestand altar servers a high level of discipline,so that as from the offertory of the Mass itbe seen clearly that both priest and peopleare turned towards God, not towards oneanother. We come to Mass primarily toadore God, not to affirm one another, althoughthis is not excluded.Some people think that liturgical renewalmeans the removal of kneelers fromChurch pews., the knocking down of altarrails or the positioning of the altar in themiddle of the sitting area of the people. TheChurch has never said any such thing. Nordoes liturgical restoration mean iconoclasmor the removal of all statues and sacred images.These should be displayed, albeitwith good judgment. And the altar of theBlessed Sacrament should be outstandingfor its beauty and honored prominence, otherwisein some so-called restored churchesone could rightly lament: “They have takenmy Lord away, and I don’t know wherethey have put him “ (Jn 20:13).When the liturgy is so celebratedthat everyone can properly take part, thepeople are offered a number one opportu-Photo: Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend30 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

D O C U M E N T A T I O Nnity to draw from the primary Christianfountain for their spiritual growth.Revitalization of Church Life through theLiturgyIn Vicesimus Quintus Annus, Pope JohnPaul II thanks God “for the radiant vitalityof so many Christian communities, avitality drawn from the wellspring of theliturgy” (VQA, no. 12). There is no doubtthat Sacrosanctum Concilium has continuedto sustain the Church along the pathsof holiness for fostering genuine liturgicallife. This re-emphasizes why it is ever importantto see that the Council’s genuinedirectives are followed.It is a fact that as the Pope says, “somehave received the new books with a certainindifference, or without trying tounderstand the reasons for the changes;others, unfortunately, have turned back ina one-sided and exclusive way to the previousliturgical forms which some of themconsider to be the sole guarantee of certaintyin the faith “ (VQA, no. 11). It must notbe presumed that most priests, consecratedpeople or lay faithful are well informedon the reformed books of the liturgy thesethirty years. Ongoing formation continuesto be necessary.Moreover we have to note that the liturgyof the Church goes beyond the liturgicalreform. Many young priests, consecratedbrothers and sisters and lay faithful are notconversant with the liturgical books of fiftyyears ago, either because they were born afterVatican II, or because they were infantswhen it was celebrated. What is above allneeded is “an ever deeper grasp of the liturgyof the Church, celebrated accordingto the current books and lived above all asa reality in the spiritual order” (VQA, no.14). Under the direction of their Bishops,Diocesan and National Liturgical Commissionsare to be encouraged to continue theirwork along these lines. Moreover, Catholicuniversities and higher institutes, seminaries,religious formation houses, and pastoraland catechetical centres also have theirrole to play. There should be a specific aimof promoting widespread formation of thelay faithful in the theology and spiritualityof the liturgy.Devotion to and veneration of the HolyEucharist outside Mass also have theirplace. Liturgy promoters must not givethe impression that attention to the HolyEucharist ends with Mass. For centuries,Catholic practice in the Latin rite has helddear visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament,Eucharistic Benediction, Procession andCongress, and Eucharistic Adoration protractedfor one hour, or for the whole day,or for forty hours (cf DC, no. 3; EE, no. 25;Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC],nos. 1378-1379).“Popular devotions of the Christianpeople are warmly commended, providedthat they accord with the laws and normsof the Church” (SC, 13). The Directory publishedby the Congregation for Divine Worshipand the Discipline of the Sacramentsin 2002 will be found to be of great helpin understanding and guiding these devotionsso that they agree perfectly with theCatholic faith, lead to and emanate from liturgicalworship and continue to contributeto the life of holiness of the people of God(cf. CCC, nos. 1674-1676; VQA, no. 18).Church of the Precious Blood, Los AngelesLooking towards the FutureAs we come to the close of these reflections,it would be good to take a look at thefuture. A few points of reference are proposed.The role of the Diocesan Bishop is irreplaceable.“The Bishop is to be consideredthe high priest of his flock. In a certain senseit is from him that the faithful who are underhis care derive and maintain their lifein Christ. Therefore all should hold in veryhigh esteem the liturgical life of the diocesewhich centers around the Bishop, especiallyin his cathedral church” (SC, no. 41).This truth imposes a heavy responsibilityon the Bishop and also calls on the peopleto recognize his role and to respect and followhis liturgical leadership.It is normal for Bishops to form Diocesanor National Liturgical Commissions forthe carrying out of the liturgical apostolate.Members of such bodies should strive toabsorb the genuine Catholic faith and spiritand to avoid pushing private or personalagendas through the Commissions. It isobvious that appropriate relations with thediocesan office, the Bishop’s Conference orthe Congregation for Divine Worship andthe Discipline of the Sacraments should befostered. Liturgical Commissions shouldguard against making too many regulationsfor the people or ignoring directivesfrom higher authorities. When adaptationsand inculturated changes by the Churchin a country get so many that the Romanrite is somewhat obscured, the fault maylie not just on the Bishops, but also on theirPhoto courtesy of Berger, Sacred SpacesLiturgical Commissions and other liturgicalexperts who advise the Bishops.The role of the parish priest remainsvery important. He is the official representativeof the Church nearest to most of thefaithful. His liturgical formation, his ideasand the way he celebrates the Mass, theother sacraments and the rest of the liturgy,affect most of his people. Whatever can bedone to help the parish priest to rise to theheight of his calling is to be encouraged.Church architecture, earlier mentionedin this paper, is so important that Iwould like to return to it here. The shapeof the church building has its importance.As someone has said, a gym that lookslike a church is still a gym. Some questionscan be of help. Does this church buildinghelp to raise people’s minds to God, to thetranscendent? Where are the tower, thebell, the Cross? Within the church, is thesanctuary clearly distinguished from therest of the church? Why were the beautifulaltar rails that have been there for oneor two centuries removed against the wishesof many of the parishioners?Why is it so difficult to make out wherethe tabernacle is located? Where is OurBlessed Mother’s statue or image? Is iconoclasmback? I am aware that the renovationof church buildings can be a contentiousissue. Bishops and members of LiturgicalCommissions have the delicate task ofweighing all sides of the question. But beforethe hammer or compressor machineis applied to objects that have touchedthe devotional sensitivity of the peoplefor decades or even centuries, those whohave to take the decision cannot avoid askingthemselves whether there are reasonsweighty enough to upset so many peopleand ask the parish or diocese to pay for theexercise.My dear brothers and sisters engagedin the promotion of the sacred liturgythroughout the dioceses of this great andvast country, I thank you on behalf of theHoly Father and of the Congregation forthe Divine Worship and the Discipline ofthe Sacraments for your important apostolate.I rejoice with you for all the graceswhich have come to the Catholic communitythrough your work. May the MostBlessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Savior,obtain for you the grace to continue yourecclesial service in joy, peace and grace,and in the comforting assurance that youare thereby fulfilling a vital role in the missionof the Church.Francis Cardinal Arinze is the Prefect of DivineWorship and the Discipline of the Sacramentsfor the Roman Curia.The full text of this address can be found atwww.adoremus.org/1103ArinzeAddress.htmlSacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 31

B O O K SINTERIOR SPLENDORSacred Spaces: Historic Houses of Worship inthe City of AngelsBy Robert Berger, with text by AlfredWillis. Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 2003.176 pages, 100 color images$59.95Reviewed by Domiane ForteWhen compared to other cities aroundthe world, Los Angeles would most likelynot rank very high on a list of places to visitbeautiful, sacred buildings—that is, untilnow. What is most striking, especially toresidents of Southern California like myself,is not only the realization that Los Angelesis such a rich font of the built sacredenvironment, but that so many gems areright around the corner. Thankfully, photographerRobert Berger takes us on a visualand written journey across the City ofAngels that will leave the reader in awe ofthe beauty found in so many of her sacredbuildings.A veteran architectural photographer,Berger documented over 300 churches, templesand synagogues for Sacred Spaces: HistoricHouses of Worship in the City of Angelseventually selecting 54 for the book, whichwere all 50 or more years old, and whichhad special “architectural or historical significance,or were just plain fun to look at.”Those selected represent not only the grandand monumental, but also the humble andvernacular. They are in the wealthiest ofneighborhoods, and the poorest. Someare in pristine condition, while others areabandoned. They are houses of worshipfor Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists,and Muslims. And they are all fun to lookat. With a keen eye for details, as well asartistic composition, Berger offers a wellbalancedarchitectural documentation, inpart and in whole, while still capturing thesense of the sacredness experienced if youwere to be standing there yourself. Whilethe majority of the book is imagery, eachbuilding is coupled with sometimes informational,sometimes factual, sometimesanecdotal histories by noted architecturalhistorian Alfred Willis.One of the most enjoyable aspects of thebook is Berger’s focus on interiors. All toooften this is left untreated, as most architec-tural visual documentaries focus on exteriors,sometimes not giving any treatment tointeriors. While still offering overall exteriorviews, he uses full page photos of interiorshots to describe what the congregationwould inevitably be more acquaintedwith, thus transporting the reader to anotherplace and time. It is hard to imagine,after peeking at just one or two imagesfrom this book, that even a non-believerwould not want to further explore thedepth of beauty found inside any one ofthese buildings. While hopeful more peoplewill visit these churches, synagogues,and temples, Berger is also fearful of theeventual disappearance of many of thesesacred buildings, which is always a possibilityin Los Angeles’ constantly changinglandscape, and thus he provides the ethosof his project.Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles, foundedunder the law of the Indies in 1781, was untilthe 1920s a predominantly Catholic city,at which time it can be described as havingbecome more or less Protestant. Immediatelyfollowing the Second World War,Los Angeles exploded in population withimmigrants from all over theworld, especially from the FarEast and island countries, whobrought with them as many differentfaiths. Thus Los Angelesbegan to alter its identity froma generally stable and constantMexican American outpost,Photo:Berger, Sacred Spaces, 2003until it became the present-daymetropolis, which is ever in astate of flux, and is never thesame architecturally or politicallyfor more than a week. Nowhome to nearly as many faithsas people, Los Angeles cannotbe said to have a clearly identifiablearchitectural “style,” as canbe said of the historic centers ofmost other world cities. However,it is this very diversitywhich allows the sacred architectureof Los Angeles to span abroad spectrum of architecturalstyles and types. As SacredSpaces: Historic Houses of Worshipin the City of Angels depicts,this diversity is not merely developedthrough her varioussacred buildings, but it is donewith vigor, vitality, and beauty,to a degree which any city ofany era would be proud to encompass.St. Paulʼs Roman Catholic Church, Los AngelesDom Forte is an architect inSanta Barbara, California.32 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

IN WHAT STYLE SHOULD WE BUILD?The Romanesque Revival: Religion, Politics andTransnational ExchangeBy Kathleen Curran. University Park, PA:Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.364 pp. 180 b/w illus., 8 color plates. $80Reviewed by Michael J. LewisFor too long the Romanesque Revivalhas played the part of poor stepsister to thenineteenth-century’s Gothic Revival. Whilethe Gothic Revival claims a copious scholarlyand popular literature, its Romanesquecounterpart has consistently been slighted.There is good reason for this. The GothicRevival was strongly literary in characterand boasted such gifted writers as JohnRuskin and William Morris, who ensuredthat its ideas remained in circulation longafter its quaint buildings were mocked andmutilated. The Romanesque Revival hasno such literary foundation. Its roots arein German historiography and theology,much of it obscure to Anglo-Americanscholars. And its character was profoundlyinternational, connecting architects, theologians,and intellectuals—mostly liberalProtestants—between Germany, England,and the United States. All this has made itnotoriously difficult to capture the sweepand complexity of the movement.Until now, that is. Kathleen Curran’ssplendid Romanesque Revival is a spaciousstudy of the subject, bolstered by researchhere and overseas. Hers is no easy task,for the revival was much more than a merenostalgic revival of the round-arched architectureof the early twelfth century. The antiquariannostalgia was certainly there, butit was offset by an equally strong modernizingtendency, which contended throughoutthe nineteenth century, and which gavethe movement much of its peculiar vitality.Both impulses were very much at playwhen the German architect HeinrichHübsch published his celebrated pamphletIn welchem Style sollen wir bauen?(1828). Althoughhis title is often taken to be a rhetoricalquestion—literally, “In what styleshould we build?”—Hübsch had in mindsomething quite concrete. He wrote toadvocate what he called the Rundbogenstil,literally, “round-arched style,” a modernsynthetic style, in which elements frommany styles might be brought together in abuilding that was disciplined and orderedby “objective” considerations of construction.Objectivity was a concept new to architecture,and surely owes its origin toHübsch’s early training in philosophy. Byappealing to objective principles, ratherthan to the dead letter of the past, Hübschgave a permissive cast to the Rundbogenstil.Unlike the Greek or the Gothic, styles thathad reached an apex of stylistic refinementand then declined, the round-arched styleof the twelfth century never achieved itsfullest realization, but was superseded bythe architecture of the pointed arch. ForHübsch this made the style susceptible offurther development and elaboration, andrendered it strangely suitable for the demandsof the present. Sustained by theseideas, the Rundbogenstil enjoyed great experimentalvitality during the second quarterof the nineteenth century (which ledfrom time to time to the odd architecturalmonstrosity).Curran’s accomplishment is to drawout the complex network of internationalconnections that carried Rundbogenstildoctrines and designs beyond Germany.Remarkably, many of these connectionsconverged in one man, Christian Carl Jo-Bowdoin College Chapel by RichardUpjohn, Brunswick, Mainesias von Bunsen, the polyglot historian andtheologian who served as Prussian ambassador,first to the Holy See and later to England.Bunsen was evidently everywhere:we find him in Rome in 1824, showingKarl Friedrich Schinkel its early Christianchurches; in London in 1841, inspecting recentromanesque churches with the Bishopof London; and active even on shipboard,where he befriended the president of BowdoinCollege, who promptly built the firstRundbogenstil chapel in America. Bunsenwas also a key aesthetic advisor to FriedrichWilhelm IV, the Prussian king, and hisscholarly researches into the early Christianbasilica provided the firm historical basisfor buildings such as the Friedenskirche inPotsdam (1841-49).Curran shows how swiftly architecturalideas ricocheted between England and Germanyduring this period. During the 1840s,B O O K Sten churches were built as part of a unifiedcampaign in the London slum of BethnalGreen. Six were Romanesque, clearly inspiredby recent German trends. But by1845, Friedrich Wilhelm sent his architectFriedrich Augustus Stüler to England tostudy them; the result was a battery of newbrick churches in Berlin, predominantlyRomanesque, and explicitly based on theBethnal Green program. We tend to thinkof this period in which A. W. N. Pugin, theTractarian movement, and the Gothic enthusiastsof the Ecclesiological Society comprisedthe principal forces for architecturalcreativity. Instead Curran shows that therewas an independent channel of development,one that was intellectually sophisticated,hostile to medieval obscurantism,and broadly cosmopolitan in outlook.Curran’s forte is institutional history,and she is at her best when documentingthe activities of theorists and patrons ininstitutional contexts, such as Robert DaleOwen (the Smithsonian Institution), WilliamBackhouse Astor (Astor Library, NewYork), and Philips Brooks (Trinity Church,Boston). The aesthetic life of buildings isgenerally subordinated to their intellectualroots, which is not altogether inappropriatefor a style whose origin was academic.But this causes her to neglect some figureswhose buildings are primarily of interestfor their artistic qualities, such as thestartling range of geologically inventivechurches around Coblenz by the Rhenisharchitect Johann Claudius Lassaulx.A few elements might have made thisadmirable volume even better. For example,a discussion of the Cooper Unionin New York, a striking combination of aprogressive educational program and atechnologically advanced Rundbogenstilessay by Frederick A. Peterson, a refugeefrom the failed Prussian revolution of 1848.And more might have been said about thedomed churches of Charente, France, withtheir strong Byzantine influence. Thesebuildings were exemplary for the vigorousFrench version of the Romanesque Revival,especially the churches of Paul Abadie.They were also studied in England, wherethey were published by the architect EdmundSharpe, and perhaps in America aswell.But such is the ambitious scope of thisadmirable volume that one cavils only withreluctance. The Romanesque Revival is absolutelyindispensable for any scholar ofnineteenth-century architecture.Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 33Photo courtesy of Curran, The Romanesque RevivalDr. Michael J. Lewis is the chairman of the artdepartment at Williams College. His books includeThe Gothic Revival and Frank Furness:Architecture and the Violent Mind.

B O O K STHE ART OF EMBODIED IDEASTimeless Cities: An Architect’s Reflections onRenaissance ItalyBy David Mayernik. Boulder, CO:Westview Press, 2003. 256 pp. $26Reviewed by Ralph C. MuldrowIn the past, it was a given in educationfor the arts that one would study the greatclassics in the given field, be it literatureor art, sonatas or cities. Following in thefootsteps of the greatest poets and visionariesseemed like a natural, if challenging,approach to rigorous learning thatcould build upon prior achievementswith new innovations. Yetfor many generations, art hasstruggled with an existential angstconcerning what it is and whatbases there should be for assessingitself. The underlying assumptionis that established classics mustbe dismissed to provide freedomof expression. Ironically, manyof these artists then invoke classicalmythology and classics of philosophyand literature to canonizemany of these bizarre or simplisticcreations.Such angst can be digested orrefused when isolated to a cornerof a gallery; the odd gunshotwound from performance art ordripping underwear can be viewedor avoided. Not so with ourcities. In his book Timeless Cities,David Mayernik makes a strongcase that our cities are “homesbuilt large,”evocative built environmentsthat either nurture us orweaken us depending on the levelof care we give them. Mayernikposits that an awakened concernwith triumphs of city planning inthe great era of Renaissance Italianurbanism can instill our own citieswith meaning and richness whichare both plangent and regenerative.Timeless Cities takes us to fivewonderful Italian cities: Rome,Venice, Florence, Siena and Pienza. DavidMayernik draws on his own experiences inItaly both as a fellow at the American Academyin Rome and as an architect living andworking in Rome and Florence. Mayerniksuffuses his descriptive narratives withwisdom from the humanist tradition of theItalian Renaissance. In one of his pithy observations,he says, “Architecture is the artof embodied ideas,” and furthermore, that“cities to the European imagination beforethe Enlightenment were more than simplyPlaces, they were built Ideas suffused withcultural memory.” While this seems likea lofty ideal for our time, he convincinglyshows us in detail how Renaissance designaddressed just those issues.Mayernik charts the buildings alongthe Possesso route (the route of the Papalprocession between the Lateran and theVatican) in Rome as conscious respondentsto the meaningful history of that recurringevent. He notes that the processional routewas already conceived of as a metaphorical“bridge” that consciously took in areasof the city that contained memories in theform of relevant historical structures orsites of historical events. Renaissance andBaroque designers added to that sense ofmeaning with new, exceptionally creativedesigns such as that of Sant’ Andrea dellaValle. He points out that, “the past for ...such artists was not a straightjacket but aninexhaustible font of ideas and forms fromwhich to learn ... to the humanist mind citiesneeded continuity with their past, betweenbuildings, along a street or around apiazza, even across a river, to be harmoniouslike the universe and memorable likecities of our imagination. The classical styleand humanist culture, passed along andtransformed through centuries, provided afirm grounding that allowed buildings andartists to speak to each other across spaceand time.”Another discovery made by Mayernikis a fascinating example of cultures engagingin a dialogue across time: he points outthat Bramante’s Tempietto at San Pietroin Montorio has the exact diameter of theoculus of the Pantheon. The idea that theTempietto sits levitated on a hill in Trastevereconceptually completing the Pantheonwith a lantern is an extraordinary Baroqueconception. Other striking discoveriesby Mayernik arise throughouthis discussions of the five Italiancities as he investigates what isgreat and good about these places.When one reaches the finalchapter, “What We’ve Lost andWhy These Ideas Matter Today,”one truly wonders how such stunninghistory and beauty can nourishour own cities. Yet therein liesMayernik’s inspiring message: itwill not be easy, but it will be surpassinglyimportant to build ourcities based on aspirations ratherthan circumstantial economics. Henotes that the cities he discussesare Memory Theaters; when walkingin those cities, one senses theaccretions over time and experiencesthem as layered up iconswith inherent meanings and associations.Mayernik believes that a renewedconcerned with transcendentvalues could guide us tobuild the best to which our culturemay aspire, celebrating such timelessvirtues as Learning, Memory,Justice, the Good Life, Noble Character,Permanence, Harmony, andTranscendent Beauty. To accomplishthis, he says we need confidence— confidence in ourselvesas worthy city-builders deservingof good places for ourselves andour progeny — and confidencein timeless lessons which we maylearn from the classics, from Rome andFlorence, Venice and Siena, and from theconfident resolve of the artists who createdthe most memorable portions of those urbanrealms.Ralph C. Muldrow is an architect and theSimons Professor of Architecture and Preservationat College of Charleston where he teachesarchitectural and urban design and history.34 Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9

A gift to the World:E x h i b i tThe Legacy of the Pope’s Travels to the New WorldReviewed by Anne Husted BurleighThe largest Vatican collection everto tour North America, “Saint Peter and theVatican: The Legacy of the Popes,” completedits four-month stay in Cincinnati,Ohio, on April 18 at the Cincinnati MuseumCenter.At the conclusion of its Cincinnatileg, the exhibition will move on to theSan Diego Museum of Art, where it will beopen from May 15 to September 6.“Saint Peter and the Vatican” is abrilliant exhibition, a beautiful, often spectacularpresentation of 350 works of art,furnishings, and sacred vesture from theVatican collections. The exhibition leadsthe viewer through a tasteful, solemnchronological explanation of the papacy,beginning with the erection of the Basilicaof St. Peter by Constantine in the 4th century,continuing with the Renaissance basilicaconsecrated in 1626, and moving intothe modern papacy, including the pontificateof John Paul II.The viewer will be struck by thebeauty, intricacy, and variety of papal tiaras,rings, vestments, crosiers, chalices, andso on. Yet the exhibition is clearly intendedto emphasize one thing above all: the authenticityof Peter as the rock upon whichthe Church is built and the authenticity ofthe popes who have followed him in apostolicsuccession. The very simplicity of theChurch’s humble beginning inspires theviewer with the realization that the Churchrests literally upon Peter’s bones.Papal Tiara of Pope Pius IX,Bourden, GhentPhoto: San Diego Museum of ArtRing of Pope Pius IX, 1871Photo: San Diego Museum of ArtIn the circus built by the EmperorCaligula (34–41 A.D.) on Vatican Hill, numbersof early Christians were martyred.There, too, during the reign of Nero (54–68),the Apostle Peter was also martyred—crucifiedupside down. He was buried in thenearby necropolis, where, ancient traditiontells us, his grave was immediately reveredas a holy site.The first monument to be builtover the Apostle’s tomb was constructedin the mid-2nd century. When Constantinebuilt his basilica between 320 and 350, hepositioned the altar directly over the 2ndcenturymonument. Likewise, Pope CalixtusII built his altar of 1123 in the identicalspot, followed by Pope Clement VIII in1594 with another altar in the same place.Bernini’s magnificent baldacchino wasbuilt above the 1594 altar, with Michelangelo’sdome soaring above it.The excavations, or scavi, of theancient cemetery that took place from 1940to 1957 proved that Peter’s tomb, preservedand venerated from the time of his deathand buried four floors directly beneath thealtar of St. Peter’s Basilica, is indeed the authentictomb of the Apostle, the literal rockof the Church.The viewer should allow a minimumof two hours to see the exhibit.Among the many items to note are the reproductionof the tomb of St. Peter and agold votive plaque found in the area of thetomb; the mosaic fragment of St. Peter fromthe Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls;the reliefs from the ciborium of Sixtus IV;and the Mandylion of Edessa, a 3rd–5thcenturyimage of Christ on linen, consideredby some to be the oldest known representationof Jesus.There are also four papal portraitsfrom St Paul’s Outside-the-Walls; a reliquaryof Pope Gregory the Great; models ofthe Constantinian basilica; a mosaic “Bustof an Angel” by Giotto; signed documentsby Sangallo the Younger, Della Porta, Maderno,and Bernini; and a glorious 15th-centuryprocessional cross. There are 17th-centuryembroidered vestments of Urban VIII;Michelangelo drawings and letters, includingfigure studies for the Sistine Chapelceiling; and Bernini’s terra-cotta sculpture,“Charity with Four Putti,” in which the artistpressed his thumbprint in the clay.Still more objects include documentsof papal conclaves; miters and jewel-encrustedtiaras; ivory and gilded crosiers;papal seals, hats, mantles, gloves, andshoes; amazing copes and crucifixes; chalicesand monstrances; missals and missionaryletters; a copy of the ancient cathedra,or chair, of St. Peter; letters of CardinalJohn Henry Newman and Oliver Plunket;pectoral crosses and hammers for openingthe holy doors; and the pastoral staff ofPope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II.Charity with Four Putti,Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1627-1628Finally, at the end of the exhibit is abronze cast of the hand of Pope John PaulII, with the invitation to each visitor toclasp the hand in friendship and good will.This exhibit is much more than a panoramaof Vatican treasures. It is meant tobe—and succeeds in being—an experienceof what the Catholic Church gives to theworld.Anne Husted Burleigh lives in Rabbit Hash,Kentucky and writes for numerous publicationsincluding “Magnificat.”Sacred Architecture 2004 Issue 9 35Photo: San Diego Museum of Art

Unless the Lord Builds the HouseReconquering Sacred Space 2000:The Church in the City of the Third MilleniumSALEThis important volume was published in conjunction with the second international conferencein Rome evaluating the ongoing renaissance of Catholic architecture. This catalog features overeighty new projects from architects around the world, essays examing the relationships betweenchurch buildings and sacred space, and a foreword by Francis Cardinal George expressing thetimely importance of the exhibition. Anyone truly concerned with sacred architecture must readthis book!“Reconquering Sacred Space comes at an appropriate moment...The projects in the present exhibition indicate the vitalityof tradition in the visual arts today, a vitality which draws on the best of the Church’s accomplishments.”--His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. Archbishop of ChicagoSALEReconquering Sacred Space 2000, originally $29.95, is now availablefrom New Hope Publications for only $15.95.To order by phone: (800) 764-8444To order by fax: (270) 325-3091To order by mail:Send $15.95 + $5.00 shipping to:New Hope Publications3050 Gapknob RoadNew Hope, Kentucky 40052The groundbreaking original catalog Reconquering Sacred Space 1999 is still available in limited quantitiesS a c r e d ArchitectureP.O.Box 556Notre Dame, IN 46556Presorted StandardU.S. PostagePaidPermit No. 6New Hope, KY