Rhabanus
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@Fearg wrote:
Book makes out that the 19th century artists must “not have been educated men”.. I would be sceptical as well..
Agreed, Fearg! The 19th century artist had more erudition and talent than these twenty-first-century popinjays. The proof, of course, is in the pudding. The rector of St Mary and St Anne’s was sold a bill of goods.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Colour scheme is not bad, but the retro-fitted speakers hanging off the walls are tacky. There must be a more effective and aesthetical way to transmit sound. The arrangement of the lectern and chair could do with some sprucing up. I suspect that a pulpit must have graced this church at one time. Poke around in the basement and see if it’s still there. The chair can easily be moved over to the epistle side with the celebrant facing liturgical north – towards the current podium. The altar would go very nicely back up near the tabernacle, so the priest could pray without distractions as he leads God’s pilgrim people in prayer eastward toward the New Jerusalem our Mother. The reredos is a real treat for the eyes: graceful and elegant.
A far cry from the arrangement of the St Mary’s Oratory which resembles a Quaker Meeting Hall that could easily substitute for an Alcoholic Anonymous hall.
@Praxiteles wrote:
I hope that someone in the heritage department in Cork County Council has had enough waking-hours to notice the importance of preserving the fenestration and glazing of St. Paul’s in Cork.
From a previous posting, I notice a large window on the left which does not seem too “sensitive”. Also, it should be noticed taht the upper left window was gutted in another “sensitive” adaptation as a fire-escape and closed by a sheet-iron dooor. Hopefully this can be removed and the window restored. Or, is that too much to hope for?
Looks pretty “bush league” especially with that ridiculous fire escape. When was the last defenestration of an architectural “restorer”? Perhaps the wave of the future ….
@Praxiteles wrote:
Rhabanus!
In contarst to the modern interior inflicted by Richard Hurley on St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth, I would like you to take a look at the attached image: the classical elegance of the interior of the church in Dunmanway, Co. Cork:
The first image makes sense. Beautiful play of light from the north window on the sanctuary. Marble is most worthy of the altars. I admire the graceful sanctuary lamp hanging directly in front of the tabernacle. The statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady, each in its static pose, fit the classical architecture.
Not pleased, however, about the stations of the cross running along the galleries. In my view they ought to go along the walls, not the balconies. I find them rather distracting in the first image and downright silly running along the choir loft in the second image.
Why was the organ case not arranged in such a way as to admit the light from the window in the west wall?
Are plans afoot to massacre this lovely house of God, too, and replace it with an Abomination of Desolation like St Mary’s Oratory for Embalmed Shakers?
I could pray in Dunmanway, but more fervently without the distraction of the stations of the cross hanging off the balconies. I’ll wager that the original stations were oil paintings that fit harmoniously on the walls of the church.
Have a chat with the rector there, will you?
@Praxiteles wrote:
Re Richard Hurley’s “job” on St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth, one can say that the standard milking-stool-inspired tuffets have mercifully been replaced by a more conventional chair redolent of influences ranging from provincial English regency dining chair to the more domestic kitchen chair. As for the “president’s” chair and its accompanying stools, it is not clear to me where the inspiration for this amalgam comes from – though I think I saw something reminiscent of it in an animated version of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It is very interesting to note in this picture that none of the chairs has a kneeler to accomodate anyone who might wish to kneel down. It was perhaps to this phenomenon that Kieron Wood was referring to in an article published on 4 November 2005 in the Sunday Business Post. Apparently, unlawful disciplinary measures are taken against those in the Maynooth Menge who refuse to be socialized into Volk by resorting to such anti-social and psychotic behaviour as kneeling down. Clearly, it is no accident that the chapel is designed and laid out in a fashiion that is contrary to the current (post Vatican II) liturgical norms for the celebration of the Mass and disturbing because of some of the underlying concepts of liturgy as socialization whose sinister origins are to be found in German writers of the inter-war period – which should immediately counsel caution. How far is it from Volksgeist to corporate or aggragate or communal liturgy – none of which concepts makes even a fleeting appearance in Vatican II’s Sacroscantum Concilium ?
The reason for the enormous organ case in St. Mary’s Oratory, a relatively small space, is beyond me. ALso, placing the organ against the east wall obscures one of the more charming archictectural elements of the original chapel – namely, an enormous, simple, plain wall pierced only once by a tiny squat doorway.
Attachment 1 is a view of the Chapel as originally dcorated.
Attachment 2 is a view of the Chapel following the 1966 reordering (note the size of the organ)Thank you, Praxiteles, for providing the photos from #271 on page 11 of this thread, and to Gianlorenzo for bringing them to our notice. If this is how the future clergy of Ireland are being forced to worship and to think liturgically, then all I can say, folks is, “You got trouble … in River City ….”
By the way, I came across this statement on one of the pages of the website of the Diocese of Cloyne:
“Professor Cathal O’Neill is highly regarded in his profession. As Head of the School of Architecture in UCD, he had educated a whole generation of architects. His work in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin is regarded as having been done with great sensitivity in keeping with the requirements of a more communal liturgical celebration.”
So, you have a whole generation (or more) of seminarians herded into the spartan IBM waiting room titled “St Mary’s Oratory” and a whole generation of architects emerging from the tutelage of Cathal O’Neill. God Save Ireland!
@Gianlorenzo wrote:
The chapel in Maynooth is still in good shape, but have you seen what they have done to St. Mary’s Oratory?
Take a look at #271 on page 11 of this thread.
Concerning believing observant articulate layfolk – they are around and they are trying, but many have found it impossible to get a sympathetic hearing from their clergy many of whom appear to consider obedience to the local liturgical clique more important than obedience to the norms of Catholic liturgy. Some of us are now trying to get these articulate layfolk to go directly to the Vatican with their complaints, but it will take time to get the word around.I shouldn’t be surprised that they have found it impossible to get a sympathetic hearing from the source of the problem! They ought not seek ‘a sympathetic hearing’ but rather inform the local clique that ‘enough is enough,’ that they [said clique] have overdrawn their credit, and that forthwith ALL financial support will be withdrawn and shall resume upon evidence that monies will be spent more judiciously. This does not violate the precept of the Church to contribute to the support of her pastors. [You may be amazed at how such talk immediately commands the attention of the administrative elite.] No precept of the Church, it should be remembered, compels Catholics to contribute to their own demise or to the alienation or destruction of Church property. Send the money to the best bishop, or else send it directly to Rome.
Take a leaf from Australia’s tome. How do you think that the relentlessly self-destructive trends prevalent for decades Downunder were reversed virtually overnight? How do you think George Pell was appointed to Melbourne, then to Sydney? How do you think that Australia won the bid for World Youth Day in Sydney? It didn’t happen by unvarnished insouciance, nor by the nervous twiddling of thumbs, nor the frenetic gnashing of teeth over bountiful cups of tea. It took place by sheer steely determination on the part of a handful of astute Australian laity who had had ENOUGH and who finally decided to blow the whistle and call the question.
It can (and should) be done in Ireland, too. Complacency gets one nowhere, as anyone plugged into the Celtic Tiger will tell you straight up. The Gospel tells us, “Where your treasure is, there also is your heart.”
@Gianlorenzo wrote:
Re. #1608
Perhaps St Patrick’s, Maynooth ought to offer a few courses on art and architecture as well as a few dedicated to theories of aesthetic. This tasteless menage could be featured on a page in the textbook of horrors to be avoided.Deformity, grotesquery, and an unhealthy attraction to the bizarre seem to dominate religious ‘art’ and ‘architecture’ in today’s Ireland. Will somebody bring the Irish clergy to their senses? The Emperor is wearing NO CLOTHES. And the Sacred Heart is missing a plinth.
Rhabanus,
Where do you think the cretins learned all this stuff in the first place – St. Patrick’s Maynooth, of course!!!Gianlorenzo,
The logical response to this situation, then, ought to be a close reckoning of accounts. It is the very definition of corruption that a body cannot heal itself.
I note, incidentally, that much of the chapel at St Patrick’s Maynooth looks to be in pretty good shape – at least according to the images featured earlier on this thread.
The seminary seems the ideal place to start to introduce a spiritual, liturgical, ecclesial renewal. The potential is there. It requires authentic leadership, however, to bring potency into act.
Of course if believing, observant, and articulate layfolk merely sit in the pews nodding approval at every new erosion of their religious, artistic, and cultural patrimony, then authentic renewal will take that much longer to come to fruition. Perhaps, as in the case of the classic alcoholic, one has to reach ‘rock bottom’ before any serious change comes about. The seminary, though, ought to be the seedbed of new hope.
@Praxiteles wrote:
The Honan Chapel, Cork
James Cronin of UCC has kindly reminded us that the 90th. anniversary of the consecration of the Honan Chapel will recur on 5th. November 2006.
It looks as though some further work has been carried out o the chapel and I am glad to report that the great silver sanctuary lamp has been re-instated in the sanctuary of the chapel. It was needlessly removed during
a silly reordering of the chapel carried out in 1983. ALso removed at that time was the magnificent grille on the west door and the altar rail. It is to be hoped that both of these items can still be located so taht they too can be restored to their original positions from which no liturgical provision of the post-COnciliar reform required their destruction or removal.I hope that All Saints Day is still marked with due solemnity in Ireland. Are any particular customs observed in the various regions? Is there a single church in Ireland especially famous for celebrating All Saints?
In St Peter’s-in-the-Vatican, all the relics of the saints contained in the treasury are placed on the high altar for the veneration of the faithful. At San Marco in the Piazza Venezia, Rome, a splendid display of relics in their exquisite reliquaries takes place on All Saints Day as well as on the feast of St Mark I (the pope and martyr – NOT the evangelist Mark).
Since the pontificate of Benedict XV (1914-22), all priests throughout the world are permitted to celebrate three Masses on All Souls Day (2 November). According to current liturgical legislation, the vestments for Mass on All Souls may be black, violet, or white.
Recall that a plenary indulgence applicable only to the souls of the faithful departed may be obtained once a day from 1 – 8 November by those who devoutly visit a cemetery and there pray for the repose of souls of the faithful departed, and for the intentions of the Pope. Sacramental confession and Holy Communion are also required at least two weeks before or two weeks after the visit to the cemetery. In order to obtain the indulgence, one must have no attachment to sin, even venial sin.
Happy Feast of All Saints!
I am aware that 6 November is the Feast of All Saints of Ireland. Is there a church with that dedication in Ireland?
@Praxiteles wrote:
Rhabanus!
I thought you might like to puruse this link:
It would help if people consulted Church documents before they put pen to paper and wrote a tissue of inaccuracies regarding liturgical norms and guidelines.
Again, I ask, where is any kind of accountability or responsibility to present things accurately or precisely?
Praxiteles wrote:Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Charleville, Co. CorkRhabanus!
Here is a picture of the famous chancel window in Charleville. Top range is Christ in his gloriy]
Thanks, Praxiteles!
Note the differentiation among the choirs of angels signified by the colour of their wings. Those with red wings are the Seraphim, the angels of the highest order or choir. Those with the blue wings are the Cherubim and they are of the second choir. And so forth.
The window is exquisite! Something substantial to meditate upon during the ‘sermon’ or the ‘homily’ or ‘the thought for the day’ or whatever ill-prepared palaver is on offer in the bawling tub. We’ve all heard it before: “Let me tell you a wee story about x, y, or z.” Some days it pays to leave the hearing aids (deaf-aids) at home.
Why has this remarkable church been left to fall down? Doesn’t anyone besides Praxiteles see the value in preserving this stunning gem? Where is the accountability?
@Praxiteles wrote:
To complete the views of the sanctuary of the church of the Holy Cross, Charleville, Co. Cork, here is a picture of the main window depicting the apotheosis of the Cross:
Ave Crux, spes unica!
I’d like to see a close-up of that apotheosis of the Holy Cross. The window looks magnificent even from a distance.
Is there any accountability for stewardship of ecclesiastical buildings in Cork or the rest of Ireland?
It is a disgrace to let a sumptuous church such as this fall to ruin.
is there no -get-up-and-go left in the faithful there? Why is such a beautiful church allowed to fall down about itself?
@Rhabanus wrote:
Is there no accountability when a cleric takes a notion to wreckovate a church in Ireland? Are there no courses in the seminaries (ahem, seminary) where the responsibilities of a pastor toward the artistic and cultural patrimony of the church’s fabric are discussed even cursorily?
Just in terms of the cura animarum or care of souls, how is authorising a travesty such as this pathetic betise even remotely helpful to the piety of the faithful or the proclamation of the Gospel?
This kind of nonsense should be denounced for what it is. No wonder the churches in Ireland are being emptied. What reasonable soul could stand by and tolerate such blithering idiocy – then be asked in a dunning sermon to pay for such brutality?
Do these wreckovators think they are immortalising themselves by such degradation? History will look upon the generation that undid the stunning artistry of the beautiful churches of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and will laugh it to scorn.
Puts one in mind of Shelley’s Ozymandias:
“Two vast trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert ….and on the pedestal of the statue were inscribed the words:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
According to Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium ch. 7.122:
“The fine arts are very rightly reckoned among the most noble expressions of human creativity – and especially religious art, together with its highest form, namely the art of worship. By their nature, they are oriented to the infinite divine beauty, which is in some way to be expressed through works done by human beings. Insofar as their only purpose is to do as much as possible to turn human minds and hearts towards a right relationship with God, they are thought of as God’s, and as praising him, extending his glory.”
How is lowering the Sacred Heart to the floor so that worshippers have to look down on Him, instead of the other way round, “do[ing] as much as possible to turn himan minds and hearts towards a right relationship with God?” Think again, whoever dethroned the Sacred Heart from His proper shrine! Think again!
Now, mark the next line: “Thus the Church has always been the friend of the fine arts.” [122] Is this true in Ireland today? Scroll back, O Reader, over the works and pomps captured in photographs and displayed for the scrutiny of all on this thread. Is the Church the friend of the arts in Drumaroad, Killavullen, St Saviour’s Dublin, Armagh? And who can forget the scheme to set loose the ball and crane in the sanctuary of St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh? Friend of the fine arts, is it? With friends like these, enemies become superfluous.
Read on:
[122] “It [the Church] has never ceased to seek after the noble service they provide and to train artists and craftspeople.” Is any of this happening in Ireland?How about this line? [122] “In permitting the alterations in material, design or decoration which have come as a result of the advance of artistic technique through the course of time, the church has been especially careful to see that sacral furnishings contribute to teh decorum of worship by being dignified and beautiful.” Do you suppose this means deposing the Sacred Heart and flanking Him with spider plants and a portrait of the reigning ppontiff just to let Him know who’s in charge, lest He forget?
Get this line:
[124] “… Bishops should see that works done by artists which clash with faith, and with the religious attitude appropriate to Christianity, and which are offensive to a true religious sense, be kept well and truly out of the house of God and out of other places of worship – whether this is because of the decadence of the forms, or because the art is below standard, mediocre and pretentious.”“All artists and craftspeople, who, led by their creativity, want to give service to God’s glory in the church, should always remember that they are dealing with a kind of worshiping imitation of God the creator, as well as with works of art set aside for catholic worship, for the spiritual growth of believers, and for their devotion and religious formation.” [127]
And finally,
[129] “While they are doing their studies in philosophy and theology, clerics should also be trained in the history of the art of worship and its development, together with the sound principles on which works of worship should be based. They will thus appreciate and preserve the hallowed monuments of the church, and be able to give suitable advice to artists and craftspeople as they bring their works into being.”Instead, the Church in some quarters is now afflicted with monstrosities of elaborate pastiche and other atrocities of the most outrageous kind, a clergy devoid of taste and sense, not to mention learning, and a cadre of ill-prepared artisans only too eager to leave behind monuments to extravangant decadence. O tempora! O mores!
Is there no accountability when a cleric takes a notion to wreckovate a church in Ireland? Are there no courses in the seminaries (ahem, seminary) where the responsibilities of a pastor toward the artistic and cultural patrimony of the church’s fabric are discussed even cursorily?
Just in terms of the cura animarum or care of souls, how is authorising a travesty such as this pathetic betise even remotely helpful to the piety of the faithful or the proclamation of the Gospel?
This kind of nonsense should be denounced for what it is. No wonder the churches in Ireland are being emptied. What reasonable soul could stand by and tolerate such blithering idiocy – then be asked in a dunning sermon to pay for such brutality?
Do these wreckovators think they are immortalising themselves by such degradation? History will look upon the generation that undid the stunning artistry of the beautiful churches of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and will laugh it to scorn.
Puts one in mind of Shelley’s Ozymandias:
“Two vast trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert ….and on the pedestal of the statue were inscribed the words:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
@Praxiteles wrote:
The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Charleville, Co. Cork
Two further pictures of the Sacred Heart Chapel.
The first shows the lateral wall of the chapel with the door to the sacristy:
The other shows the position of the altar which was needlessly vandalized and the gaping hole in the wall filled up by sheets of limestone – completely out of place in this highly decorated interior. AFter the vandalism subsided, the statue of the Sacred Heart was returned. No longer having an altar on which to lace it, it remains standing on the floor, parked against the wall.What cretin would pull a stunt like this? Take another look at the photograph. The Sacred Heart, gazing downward, stands like a lawn ornament on the floor of this chapel . Obviously the statue was designed for a higher placement, say, on an altar of the Sacred Heart in a chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart, so that the statue could look down upon the faithful praying before it. Is this too difficult to comprehend? Even children and those who lack full cognition can picture the dynamic originally intended. They, too, would object, correctly, to the current (mis)arrangement.
The drudge who plunked down the Sacred Heart on the floor must consider the Pope Our Lord’s special and cool buddy, as the juxtaposition of the portrait of His Holiness with the statue makes little sense otherwise. Pope Benedict XVI and the Sacred Heart stand at eye-level one with the other (with the Pope given the dignity of an easel) and the proportions of each contrast with the other.
The papal portrait belongs in the vestibule of the church, not sidling up to the statue of the Sacred Heart in the chapel of the Sacred Heart.
The dreary spider plants merely underscore the depressing nature of this scene. At least the plants are arranged symmetrically on either side of the statue. [Note that the flower-arranger has better taste than the cretin who wrecked this chapel.] This symmetrical placement of the plants, however, emphasises the unsuitability of the papal portrait on an easel beside the Sacred Heart on the floor.
Perhaps St Patrick’s, Maynooth ought to offer a few courses on art and architecture as well as a few dedicated to theories of aesthetic. This tasteless menage could be featured on a page in the textbook of horrors to be avoided.
Deformity, grotesquery, and an unhealthy attraction to the bizarre seem to dominate religious ‘art’ and ‘architecture’ in today’s Ireland. Will somebody bring the Irish clergy to their senses? The Emperor is wearing NO CLOTHES. And the Sacred Heart is missing a plinth.
@Praxiteles wrote:
Well…….have we any comments?
Praxiteles,
Whilst the world awaits the Liturgical Testament of bq, you and others concerned about the relationship between the earthly and the cosmic liturgy, with particular reference to architecture, may be interested in the work of a scholar, David Clayton, who is currently addressing the issue of liturgical architecture from a variety of interesting perspectives, including number. He is fully conversant with St Augustine’s understanding of the symbolism of numbers. Explore Clayton’s forthcoming article in Second Spring:
http://www.secondspring.co.uk/articles/clayton2.htm.
A pleasure to read such well-articulated insights.
@Praxiteles wrote:
Holy Cross Church, Charleville, Co. Cork.
The lateral walls of the chancel with further mosaic work by Ludwig Oppenheimer
One would have thought that the local bishop, or at least the pastor of the church, would have launched an appeal to secure these works of ecclesiastical art. After all, preserving the artistic, cultural, spiritual, and liturgical patrimony of the Church falls under the pastoral responsibilities of a bishop. Money spent on building new churches in the shape of boats and Buddhas would be better spent shoring up the resources that already exist.
There is something wrong with this picture, as kite points out.
Connect the dots …..
A key to AWN Pugin’s vast influence on the Church and on other architects was the fact that he left an intellectual and spiritual testament of his vision. Christabel Powell [Augustus Welby Pugin Designer of the Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture (Pellen Press, 2006), pp. 25-26, cites John Betjeman, Collins Guide to English Parish Churches (London: Collins, 1958), p. 69: It is not in his buildings but in his writing that Pugin had so great an influence on the men of his time.” Pugin himself wrote to John Hardman in 1851: “My writings more than what I have been able to do have revolutionised the Taste of England” (cited by Powell, p. 26)
Still eager to read bq’s Manifesto on Liturgical Architecture ….
@Praxiteles wrote:
Nothing better illustrates the slump of Irish ecclesiastical architecture into introspective eccentricity than the contarst between the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, which was consecrated in 1945 and the dreadful effort of MH Associates of Letterkenny and Derry who extructed All Saints in Newtowncunningham in 1999. In the short space of 54 years, the decline has been so thorough and far reaching that not even a Cross was infixed on the highest point a church. It is perhaps telling that the website of MH Associates of Letterkenny and Derry who built All Saints does not even have a category of “church” or “ecclesiastical” in its projects’ list. All Saints is listed under “community” and could just as easliy be a hall or a dispensery. The multi-functionality of the building is a further reason for unease. It would seem that this particular set of practitioners are not too farmiliar with the meaning of the term “consecration” (con-sacratio), that is to say a setting aside or a cutting off of something which is made over exclusively to the service of God. Clearly, we are here dealing with …hay-barn builders!
Come, now, Praxiteles, God has had the Kingdom for far too long, now. Time for the Celtic Tiger to take God’s place and get a piece of the action. No more ‘wasting’ good resources on ‘religion and all that stuff.’
The good christian entrepreneur likes multi-purpose buildings in order to ensure the flow of all things bright and beautiful, especially $$$$$. After all, we ARE community, so let’s be broad-minded and keep all our options open. Let the old folks have their altars and statues, then fold them up and roll them (altar and statues, not necessarily the old folks) out of the way as the building is transformed into a school by day and a pub-casino by night. That way EVERYBODY gets some benefit from the community ‘centre.’ God gets His cut of the pie, and we get all the rest. Fair and square.
Seriously, though, Ireland seems to have reached a spiritual nadir in the past twenty years of temporal prosperity. What the Irish faithful refused to abandon through twelve hundred years of oppression and affliction, they have tossed away with unmitigated zeal within a single generation.
The great Gothic Revivalist Augustus Welby Pugin was not merely a clever or even a brilliant architect]Early Victorian Architecture in Britain [/I](London: Trewin Copplestone, 1954), vol. I, p. 13, Pugin’s was an “essentially religious crusade deeply imbued with values both ethical and sacramental.” John Betjeman actually deplored Pugin’s Gothic Revival because it evidently was “all mixed up with social morality and religion” Ghastly Good Taste (London: Anthony Blond Ltd, 1933), p. 31. Both quotations are cited in Christabel Powell, Augustus Welby Pugin Designer of the British Houses of Parliament (Lewiston NY and Queenston ON and Lampeter UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006), pp. 24 and 25.
On that note, has anyone heard tell of bq’s Statement of Vision or Apologia pro opere suo or Summa of Liturgical Architecture or Exposition of Architecture in the Service of Sacred Liturgy? Might he be putting the final touches on it? Could he be having it proofread by Paddy J? We are all awaiting Argus-eyed its illustrious advent either on this thread or in local bookstores. It is doubtless bound to raise the academic level of this thread when it finally hits the proverbial fan.
By the way, be sure to get your copy of Christabel Powell, Augustus Welby Pugin Designer of the British Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture (Lewiston NY and Queenston ON and Lampeter UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006). Have your local library order a copy, too, so your less affluent neighbours can avail themselves of this fascinating tome.
@Fearg wrote:
Superb job..
By means of comparision – here is a recently renovated Church of the Sacred Heart in Co Donegal, Ireland:
Fearg,
Thanks for the pics of Sacred Heart, Carndonagh, Co. Donegal. The screen erected on the communion rail looks like the framework of an iconostasis]de novo[/I] on the basis of a pagan temple, whether Celtic or Germanic, Greek or Roman, is ill-advised because of the messgae conveyed by the architecture.
The earliest public churches were modelled on the basilica, not the Temple in Jerusalem, nor the pagan temples of the Roman Empire. Imitating a pagan mound suggests to me a mistaken direction. Much earlier in hte thread, around p. 53 or 54, Praxiteles pointed out the disturbing parallels between Our Lady of the Wayside and an ancient druidic mound, one which has been rather well preserved.
The Christian church should draw on distinctly Christian sources and resources when designed or constructed de novo. After all, what is most worthy of imitation?
@Fearg wrote:
and for those of you who do not know Burt – its quite respectable, defintiely Liam McCormack’s best work.
Link to a couple of photos from Archiseek:
http://www.irish-architecture.com/infobase/riai/riai_gold_medal_winners_staengus.html
And some interior shots:
http://www.lamp.ac.uk/trs/Special_Research_Interests/burt.htm
Definitely works best when seen from outside!
I read the blurb provided by The Arts Council of Aelion about the “gold medal winner”:
“The eminent Donegal architect Liam McCormick designed St. Aengus’ Church or ‘Burt Chapel’ as it is locally known during the period of 1964-67.McCormicks distinct ability to read a site and produce remarkable buildings from that, sets him apart from any of his Irish church architect peers.”
What, may I ask, is the obsession with circlular churches and circular sanctuaries? Everything is turned in on itself. Seems eerily Freudian to me – too much narcissism and self-absorption being transmitted through the architectural idiom. Then consider what Ireland has been through ecclesiastically over the last forty years ….
Long rectangular naves conducting substantial processions of clergy into an apse glittering with mosaics seem far more vigorous, assertive, and virile than these round mounds. In churches built with cruciformity one expereinces movement rather than stasis, engagement rather than introspection, leadership rather than withdrawal and detachment. As I have stated more than once on this thread, liturgical architecture betrays the state of the church in a given place.
I hope that Rome is taking due notice of what has transpired in Ireland over the last forty years. The architectural disasters have left abundant hieroglyphs and petraglyphs. Time to read the writing on the wall: “Counted, weighed, and found wanting.”
