By Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB –
In 2009, Benedict XVI, made an anticipated appeal to the invitees in the Sistine Chapel, “for the return to an authentically Catholic sacred art” signed by concerned scholars, philosophers and theologians, all laymen of various competencies and professions without any clergyman or Vatican signatory.
It is not unusual that Asia did not represent in such influential trend-setting meet, leaving it to be a recipient of Vatican’s decision, as ever. The pontifical commission for the cultural heritage of the Church, which is often consulted for the papal liturgical celebrations and other symbolic/artistic work do not have official representative from the Asian region. With such major exclusion, this meet was dedicated to the causes of the current fracture between the Church and art, to theological references, to the commission, to the artists, to the sacred space, to sacred music, to the liturgy, ending with the appeal:
“For all the reasons set out above, we are eager to receive from Your Holiness a fatherly listening and the merciful attention of the Vicar of Christ. We beseech you, Holy Father, to read in our heartfelt appeal our most pressing concern for the appalling conditions of contemporary sacred art and sacred architecture, as well as a modest and most humble request for your help so that sacred art and architecture can once again be truly Catholic. This so that the faithful can again enjoy the sense of wonder and rejoice once again at the presence of the beauty in God’s House. […] faithful to the most intimate sense of Beauty that shines in the Truth of Christ.”
The alliance between faith and art is inseparable from the Church’s identity. Judaism prohibited sacred images. But faith in the incarnate God quickly prompted the Church to take Greek and Roman art as its own figurative language. Today, the Church intends precisely to arrest that decline and restart a dialogue, in the hope that a fruitful alliance between art and the Church may reemerge. When faith is declining in the world the Pope reiterates what St. John Damascene said in the thick of the iconoclast storm: “If a pagan comes and says to you, ‘Show me your faith!’, bring him to church and show him the decoration with which it is adorned, and explain to him the series of sacred paintings.”
The Sacred Art of Heaven
According to John Paul II “true art has a close affinity with the world of faith” and in a multi-cultural and non-Christian context “art remains a kind of bridge to religious experience.” Art has always played an important part in such experience. Art is something ‘sacred’ in itself and there is a close relationship between art and spirituality. It is oriented toward the infinite beauty of God, thus becoming signs and symbols of the supernatural world.
Similarly, there is a close relation between artistic action and moral action: “The second question deals with the relationship between the rights, as they are called, of art and the norms of morality” (Inter Mirifica, 6). Art as a human activity reveals the splendor of truth through beauty. Art also is said to be a ‘cultural act’, and a ‘cultural good’. Within cultural pluralism, “different styles of life and multiple scales of values arise from the diverse manner of using things, of laboring, of expressing oneself, of practicing religion, […] of cultivating the sciences, the arts and beauty. Thus the customs handed down to it form the patrimony proper to each human community” (GS 53).
On the other hand ‘liberal arts’ as understood by Thomas Aquinas are those that “are directed in the service of gratifying the soul”. The Church, therefore tells the artists: “Do not refuse to put your talents at the service of divine truth […] It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the heart of man […] which unites generations and makes them share things in admiration.” This, therefore, is a call to a deeper journey in “mutual acquaintance and dialogue in order to arrive at an authentic ‘renaissance’ of art in the context of a new humanism.”
An essay, Ingresso alla bellezza (Entryway to beauty), by Enrico Maria Radaelli, published in L’Osservatore Romano, February 4-5, 2008, holds the central thesis that the Son of God does not have only one ‘name,’ but two. He is ‘Logos,’ but also ‘Imago.’ He is word, but also image, face, the reflection of the divine thought. He is truth, but also the beauty of the true. This ‘entryway’ is therefore a master road for entering into the mystery of the Triune and incarnate God. Beauty is the appearance of the invisible truth. And, vice versa, the inexpressible nature of the divine mysteries is manifested in the splendors of the liturgy, art, music, poetry. But the true understanding of this Triune-Incarnate-God can reach human hearts only through contextual and lived liturgy, locally existing art and cultures, within its natural ecological surrounding and social living.
The Old Testament forbade all images, and it had to forbid them in a world that was full of divinities and deities; in contrast with other temples, there was no image in the Jewish temple, but only the empty throne of the Word, the mysterious presence of the invisible God, not circumscribed by our images. The mysterious God-made-flesh in Jesus (New Testament), physically became part of a human history which is also a divine history – a history which continues with the saints, martyrs, and the marginalized who are always a continuation in the image of the Body of Christ (Church). As part of the same history, the iconoclastic period that followed the Second Vatican Council, tried to free the Christian world from the superficiality of too many images (e.g. Khristo Mandir at Krishnagar, St. Peter’s in Rome, Bandel Basilica, etc).
To be continued…
This article is an extract from book on Art and Faith Perceptions in the Shrines: An integration of Church-Art in Pluri-Cultural Context by Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB, a Salesian priest from the Kolkata Province. He has a Licentiate in Catechetics and a Doctorate (Christian Education) from UPS, Italy. He has number of years of teaching experience in college and in the formation of future priests. Besides, he has written number of research papers and articles, and has 25 years of Ministry in India and abroad as Educator, Formator, Retreat Preacher, Editor and engaged in School, Parish Catechetical & Youth Ministry. He is now an assistant priest in Bandel Basilica, rendering pastoral and catechetical ministry to the parishioners and to the pilgrims. He can be contacted at [email protected].