reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

@Praxiteles wrote:

@Rhabanus wrote:

The newspapers did not say. They mearly concentrated on the flattened condition of the Alwahabi that his hyper-sophisticated piece of machienary could have been dismantled at c. 5 am in the morning without the slightest apparent difficulty. He was just dumbfounded by that.

No descriptions of the robbers were given -obviously- in the newspapers. Most of the space was taken up by the Alwahabi’s reaction to his purty things being all broken all over the place. If recollections serves well, the newspaper article ended up with a ritualistic wringing of hands (totally hypocritical of course) about the violation of the sanctuary etc. but completely overlooking the much more serious violation of the sanctuary pracised by the Alwahabi himself. Something doe not quite add up there.

And, I suppose, we have to acknowledge that not only robbers wear donkey jackets – as I think we are in a position to demonstrate.

And, Rhabanus, Praxiteles is not all together certain that it is just or only the robbers in Kanturk should see the klink.

How true! Consider the incongruity of the Alwahabi vying with common thieves in vandalising the church, then getting into a state of high dudgeon when upstaged by their efforts. After all, did the Alwahabi apply for, and receive, the neccessary permits and authorisation to impose his renovations on a protected building?

The law, then, was just as effective as the hypersophisticated technology in preserving the church in Kanturk from violation.

It all sounds to Rhabanus like the Wild West. In fact it resembles Bottle Neck before Tom Destry showed up as the junior deputy. Does Kanturk have a saloon run by a platinum-blonde German named “Frenchie”? [Why not annex one to the church in any event? Might attract a bigger crowd.]
“See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have – and Tell Them I ‘m Having the Same!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYqwlKkwM5I

Maybe those gates ended up with Little Joe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQZpPfJfkyI

Meanwhile, at the most recent meeting of the HACK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnvJ0GMjnzU

Makes one appreciate the rule of law, doesn’t it?

And here is the statue:

@johnglas wrote:

Tacky – why do they do it?

Because for centuries the statue has been vested this way on solemn occasions. Festal days are marked by dramatic elements. Red damask adorns the shrines of the saints on their feast days, and each day in Lent the stational church is adorned with the red damask.

Tacky by whose standards?

Far be it from me to disagree with either of your venerable selves, but I don’t care how long it’s been done for or the ostensible reason for doing it. Using statues in any way as cult objects, or appearing to use them as cult objects, is treading on very dangerous ground. Statues as a ‘focus for devotion’, just about acceptable; statues as an integral part of the decorative scheme of a church, no problem; statues randomly dotted about the church pandering to ‘popular piety’, whom do you include/exclude or should it be done at all? Dressing statues up is tacky by the standards of propriety and common good taste. A sculpture stands or falls on its artistic merit. Does dressing a statue up add one scintilla to its religious significance? Some things are best consigned to the bin (or put the vestments on a mannequin in a museum if you must). Luther wasn’t all wrong.

Prax: As usual you chasten me – I am aware of the various ‘levels’ of cultus – ingenious… At base, I still have grave(n) reservations. San Pietro may do it tastefully and I agree we have become uneasy with pomp, but that is the tenor of the times and fashions come and go. Can you image pomp in the hands of some of the current incumbents and liturgists? I shudder.

And here is the Chiesa Nuova without its hangings during Lent and Ordinary time.

As I say, the image problem is a case of harsh climate and flint faced puritains!!

And here is a picture of the High Altar in St. peter’s with the reliquaires of Sts Peter and Paul set out on it.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Here is the Chiesa Nuova with its 17th century damask hangings

Ceiling by Pietro Cortona;the altar piece by Rubens

Chiesa Nuova is the church in Rome that does it best. The chapel of St Philip Neri is adorned magnificently during the novena leading up to the Saint’s feast (26 May). The damask hangings are put out in all their splendour and the altar decorated with magnificence. A photo of that is well worth a look. Even Saint Pilip himself is vested in priestly garb, ready for the liturgy of the New and Eternal Jerusalem!

The vast majority of the churches in Rome have given up these seasonal and festal ways of decorating. Such a pity that laziness and fecklessness have pervaded the liturgical scene.

The Church of the XII Apostoli used to be decorated sumptuouly for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (8 Dec) – with a great image of the Immaculata suspended over the high altar and festooned in bunting of white and blue.

The Romans once knew how to celebrate in grand style, carefully marking days of humiliation and festal days. Che bella Roma!

This style made its way into England: Newman’s Oratory in Birmingham and Fr Faber’s Oratory in London on the Brompton Rd. The statue of Our Lady of Victory over the Lady Altar is always decked out in cope and mantilla according to the liturgical feast and season.

The image of Our Lady of Walsingham in the Holy House within the Anglican Shrine likewise is decorated with sumptuous vestments.

This is not a tacky practice. In fact, in Spain and southern Italy in the Baroque era statues were intended to be vested/clothed.

The world-renowned image of the Infant Jesus of Prague (Czech Republic) has an enormous wardrobe – some of the most elegant and richly-wrought pieces were hand-crafted by members of royal households and exude consummate good taste. Every Carmel has an image of the Divine Infant which the nuns clothe according to the liturgical colours of the day. Many homes the world over imitate this pious devotion.

The practice of clothing statues is not confined to southern Europe, either. The Nativity figures displayed in the outdoor crib annually at St Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal, are clothed.
The image of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio is clothed in finery, and, like the Infant of Prague, has a sumptuous wardrobe of vesture sent from various parts of the world.

Praxiteles is quite correct. The grim religion that settled into many quarters of the northern countries in Europe is as drab and unimaginative as the bleak weather that covers those regions. Tell us: what masterpieces of fine art and literature come from such oppressive fastnesses of cold? no Odyssey, no Aeneid, no Sistine chapel, no Divine Comedy, no convent of san Marco, no St Peter’s Basilica, no Pantheon, no Parthenon. The list could go on.

The best that these northern climes produced, namely Shakespeare and Chaucer, are the products of a cultus and culture at once more generous and more joyful than what followed.

If Catholic architecture, statuary, and art were all examples of unmitigated tackiness, then why do the heirs and descendants of the Puritans hasten with such willing feet to Florence and Rome each year? The northerners are the first to come … and the last to leave every year!

Catholics and other western Christians would do well to rediscover the veil. The veil enhances what is sacred: the altar, the tabernacle, the bride, the nun as Bride of Christ, the statue in the church. Even the priests and bishops of the East have retained the veil. Iconoclasm and puritanical paranoia have robbed the west of the veil. Pity!

And, finally, as Prax suggests, the most uncompromising Baroque decor certainly beats the tatty felt banners, electric votive candles, and cheap signage that mar many a church in this darkening age. For the nonce, we shall draw a discreet curtain across the music, whether raucous or simpering, and the attendant electronic equipment (including amplifiers) than now invade many a church and sanctuary, dragging the soul further into the “slough of despond” (to quote that celebrated northern and puritanical epic, The Pilgrim’s Progress).

Take me, please, to the Gesu in Rome. You may leave me kneeling in silence at the tomb of St Ignatius Loyola.

Here is a picture of Andrea del Pozzo’s altar of St. Ignatius in the Gesù:

Rhabanus: I’ll defer to Prax, but not to you. The DIP is a doll dressed up and you seem to be obsessed by an ultramontane delusion. How many of these dour northerners have a culture of clerical sexual abuse? (Sorry about that, but it has to be said.)
I do not accept many so-called liturgical reforms, I deplore the stripping of the altars and the banalisation and vandalism of churches. I will not accept dubious practices dressed up (sic) as true religion. A bit of pomp occasionally, yes. But no to the rest and most of it is tacky.