Rhabanus
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- Praxiteles wrote:Well Rhabanus, the evidene certainly tends in your direction. Rather remarkably, the whole cultural expertise or baggage assembled by Irish architectural firms involved in building churches seems to have been almost totally lost and regaining it is not going to be an easy task. Unfortunately, drawing on the passé]
Praxiteles,
I am not recommending “the American scene” or American architects en bloc. I merely suggest that Irish bishops, when their heads stop spinning and they begin paying attention to their primary vocation, are going to have to call on leaders in the field of liturgy and architecture.My earlier remarks about AWN Pugin as a real liturgist as well as a brilliant architect implied that such genius is lacking in Ireland, hence the need to look for expertise from abroad.
There are always tares among the wheat, but when a promising field of wheat begins to manifest itself, it may be worth transplanting some of the best samples. I mention Stroik and Smith, who have completed some excellent houses of worship (churches, monasteries, seminary) and who are being given some impressive commissions.
Consider their work, then have a second look at what your local geniuses have on offer.
Caveat patronus!
@brianq wrote:
Prax,
i have taken part in many fora in the last few years but this post is an all time low. I can only trust that it is a temporary aberration and that future posts will from you will return to a more scholarly level. Very sad.
BQ
Enlighten our darkness, omniscient bq, and give us thy light! Open our minds to the mysteries concealed in St John the Baptist Church, Drumaroad, and the hidden secrets of Our Lady of the Wayside. Dazzle us worthless mortals with thy lofty insights! Despise not our nothingness, but in thine ineffable humility teach us thy wisdom, that we too may comprehend thine architectural idiom and be refreshed by that blessed communion with the fruit of pure genius which is the manifest lot of the holy prelates who have patronised thee.
So, Brian, explain, using explicit (or even oblique) references to St Augustine of Hippo, Amalarius of Metz, Suger of St-Denis, Guillaume Durand, Sicard of Cremona, St Charles Borromeo, or any other liturgists who have contributed to the venerable tradition of sacred architecture over the course of the centuries, how YOUR architectural oeuvre reflects their influence and the wisdom of the ages.
We are eager for you to raise the academic level of this (four-star) conversation/thread by your own brilliant insights into the idiom which best exemplifies your own works and pomps. Which, for example, is your chef d’oeuvre? Which your proudest boast? I await with bated breath the essay which will unfold for us and for future generations your architectural philosophy and the theological perspective that informs your work.
The ball is in your court! This is YOUR moment …..
@jmrowland wrote:
I would be interested in getting people’s read on what is being done with Sacred Heart Church in Peoria – http://sacredheartpeoria.com/index.html – personally, I think that the result is quite beautiful, but I have some reservations! If the link doesn’t work, copy and paste it into your browser. Gallery 1 is before, the others are during and after.
Thanks, JM, for exposing readers of this thread to the hope-filled proceedings at Sacred Heart in Peoria. Writing in Houston, you undoubtedly know the magnificent church of Our Lady of Walsingham -used by Catholics of the Rome-approved Anglican Use of the Roman Rite.
By the way, the current bishop of Peoria, a priest of Holy Cross, is the man responsible for the splendid restoration of The Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of The University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Let Brian Quinn and his groupies take note that beautiful churches can be designed and built and in fact ARE being designed and built. Peoria is in full communion with the Apostolic See and is known as an observant and indeed zealous diocese. No shortage of vocations and clearly no shortge of funds to build worthy edifices for divine worship.
Compare Sacred Heart, Peoria with St John the Baptist, Drumaroad or Our Lady of Wayside or any of the other postmodern expressions of unbridled philistinism and ill-considered pastiche under review on this thread. “The proof is in the pudding!”
Ireland is MUCH BEHIND THE TIMES in chasing after the masters of neo-brutalism and iconoclasm.
Just as in the nineteenth century AWN Pugin (and later his son Edward) exercised a most beneficial influence on liturgical life in reland (chiefly through the erection and ornamentation of exquisitely beautiful churches and cathedrals, so Ireland may benefit from the new movements in architecture and art abroad in designing beautiful churches fit for divine worship. The local boys seem stuck in passe pastiche.
Visit Duncan Stroik’s website or that of Thomas Gordon Smith Architects to see the renaissance in church design and building in North America.
@descamps wrote:
BTW can some one tell me the difference between removing something from its original position and shifting it?
The original quotation distinguished “shifting” from “removing.” Removal means taking something away, i.e. out of the building. Whether it was used in another, external context is beside the point. The point here is that is was taken away out of the church, or discarded. [Praxiteles hinted, for example, that the main altar in St Mel’s was removed, but, as a concession to a pressure group in the parish, is kept, unused, in the basement of the church. This is a case not of shifting, but of removing the altar.
Shifting a piece of furniture means taking it from its original place in the same church and placing it elsewhere within the same church perhaps even integrating it into a different part of the sanctuary or church. In many ‘renovations’, magnificent pulpits with beautiful testers or sounding boards were dismantled and reassembled in severely truncated form. Frequently they were shifted In these altered states from the nave, where they had been close to the ‘the people’, to the sanctuary, often quite unimaginatively plunked down on one side of the altar as though in symmetry with either the presidential chair or the tabernacle. Clutter, clutter,clutter. Pile everything up higglety-pigglety in the sanctuary, and litter it with hymnals, missalettes, and bulletins, and musical intruments, then complain about “confusion of roles.” DUH!
Communion rails that were not utterly destroyed or hauled away to the basement or given to the local pub as a novelty item sometimes were reworked into ambones or even altars. A rip-roaring renovator of a pastor in a southern Ontario parish once claimed that it would be “too labour-intensive” to make an altar out of the communion rail, so, amidst much vocal opposition of the parishioners who had donated the marble rail in honour of one of his most distinguished predecessors, Fr Rip’n’Snort tore out the beautiful marble communion rail and sold the rungs to a LAMP MANUFACTURER in the big city for $100.00 a pop. What a hero and man of the people!
Shall we make any further distinctions, descamps?
@Rhabanus wrote:
Has anyone yet received or read Augustus Welby Pugin, Designer of the British Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture (Hardcover) by Christabel Powell? It was due to be published in June 2006. Has anyone’s copy arrived? I thought I read a review in The Literary Review a few months ago, but perhaps I am mistaken. Of course, the reviewers receive advance copies that are still at the galley stage.
Any news of the book?
Christabel Powell’s Augustus Welby Pugin Designer of the British Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture (Lewiston and Queenston and Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006) arrived by yesterday’s post. Brava, Christabel!
In his foreward to the book, Dr Sheridan Gilley congratulates the author on underscoring Pugin’s liturgical imagination. Indeed she does a praiseworthy job of presenting Pugin as “a liturgist who had a liturgical vision” (p. 2). I see from another, related thread on Archiseek.com dedicated to the work of architect Brother Michael Augustine O’Riordan, that his work, like Pugin’s is being radically marred and in some cases utterly destroyed by an outbreak of postmodern philistinism parading under the deceitful banner of “implementing Vatican II” while outraging the sensibilities of worshiping believers and other lovers of art alike. Do those undertaking the daunting task of reconfiguring the work of these brilliant architects and their respective schools possess any liturgical credentials? What have they written on Gothic or Neo-Gothic, or Classical or Neo-Classical architecture? How conversant are they in any of these idioms? “By their fruits ye shall know them!” Just scroll up and down the respective threads and behold their works and pomps!
To surrender the oeuvre of a genius like AWN Pugin or J.J. McCarthy or any of their school to the clutches of our contemporary hacks only too eager to dismantle a rood screen or sweep away a reredos of transcendent beauty [or tinker with tucking a tabernacle into a south corner or a north wall] is to advance vandalism under the law. This destruction of excellence in architecture is the language of violence. Peruse the photos of St Patrick’s, Armagh in 1880, 1904, 1990 and in the final ‘renovation.’ Consider St Peter’s, Belfast, or St Mel’s, Longford, or St MacKartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan – all shown earlier on this thread. As the hymn goes, “Change and decay in all around I see! [O Thou Who changest not, abide with me!]”
Time for Irish Catholics and those conserned with the preservation of liturgical art to do their bit and reclaim their heritage. Just as the Folly Tower was razed during WWII and rebuilt in a later generation, so too can these magnificent cathedrals and great churches be restored to their pristine grandeur by real liturgists and real artists and real architects who know their respective disciplines thoroughly and who behave responsibly in maintaining the reverent atmosphere, dignity, and spiritual profundity of these houses of liturgical and personal worship.
Be sure to get your copy of Augustus Welby Pugin, Designer of the British Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture by Christabel Powell and have your library (if such is still permitted by the ruling barbarians to exist in your local or religious community).
Happy reading, fellow anawim! Non praevalebunt!!
@Praxiteles wrote:
And here is an external view:
The Madeleine in Paris looks like the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, Rome or the Parthenon, Athens:
Clearly a larger budget and a freer hand than the situation that gave rise to St Mel’s.
@Praxiteles wrote:
To return to our discussion of St. Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, I was wondering if anyone had any idea as to the classical prototypes that inspired this incredible building:
I admire the lunettes which lighten the vaulted ceiling of St Mel’s, Longford.
Here is the Gesu in Montreal, Quebec from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It is higher than St Mel’s and has a cleerestory instead of lunettes.
Any thoughts?
Chuck E R Law wrote:I couldn’t agree more. Now that we are about to embark on the Tenth Crusade let us not worry to much about “]In reviewing the interventions of our comrade on this and related threads, I note a distinct consistency in his displays of acrimony, rancour, and bad manners. The interventions offer little for fruitful consideration, shed no light whatsoever on the architectural or artistic data under consideration, make no contribution toward a deeper appreciation of the relationship between architecture and liturgy or even culture, and all too frequently stoop to prejudice and bigotry – undignified solutions characteristic of persons with few intellectual resources.
Criticism can open up new perspectives and point to lacunae in knowledge or lapses of judgement. This is welcome in any debate or discussion, where the interlocutors seek to discourse with others of varied backgrounds, experiences, and views. It is essential, nevertheless, that the conversation, however challenging, extravagant, and even pointed, remain civil.
I hope that this thread may lead to a renewed dedication to preserving the litugical and cultural heritage of the Church in Ireland by safeguarding those monuments of faith which still maintain their original beauty, and reclaiming those which have been compromised or utterly marred by misguided attempts to “modernise” or “renovate” them with no appreciation of their authentic liturgical and artistic context.
@Rhabanus wrote:
Perhaps of interest to lovers of sacred art and the sacred Liturgy:
The Parish of St John Cantius in Chicago offers a schedule of dignified liturgy according to the current liturgical books approved for use in Catholic churches.
Yesterday’s Mass on the memorial of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, televised and shown around the world courtesy of Eternal Word Television Network, was celebrated with characteristic aplomb and decorum, the memorial corresponding as it did with the first Saturday of the month of October. The Ordinary parts of the Mass were set to the music of Mozart’s Coronation Mass. A procession in honour of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary followed the Mass.
St John Cantius provides a splendid example of a robust inner-city parish proud of its heritage and eager to meet the challenges of contemporary America. Take a tour of the parish’s art here: http://www.cantius.org/Sacred-Art.htm
Aggiornamento does not mean having to gut a church, or turn it into the theatre of the absurd.
Here is a link to St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medny/stpat1.html
Some side altars have been renovated, although with little evidence of real improvement. In fact, they clash with the rest of the building. The side altars most frequented by the faithful are those which have maintained their original arrangement and pristine beauty.
MacLeinin wrote:Or these for that matter.[/QUOTEYou’ve GOT to be kidding! Is this on its way to becoming a ballet school or a theatre?
@Rhabanus wrote:
RE: St Nicholas’ Church in Killavullen and other like works of ‘renovation’ and ‘re-ordering’:
Doubtless many of you good readers, whether native patriots or children of Eire abroad, have heard the following poem set to music by Thomas Moore (1779-1852). The song relates the tale that, during the reign of the medieval king, Brien, Ireland was so well governed that ‘a young Lady of great beauty, adorned with jewels and a costly dress, undertook a journey alone, from one end of the Kingdom to the other, with a wand only in her hand, at the top of which was a ring of exceeding great value]
It is difficult for those conversant with Christian theology not to think of the Lady in allegorical terms as Holy Church
Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And bright gold ring on her wand she bore;
But, oh! her beauty was far beyond
Her sparkling gems and snow-white wand.“Lady! didst thou not fear to stray,
So lone and lovely, thro’ this bleak way?
Are Erin’s sons so good or so bold
As not to be tempted by woman or gold?”“Sir Knight! I feel not the least alarm,
No son of Erin will offer me harm;
For tho’ they love woman and golden store,
Sir Knight, they love honour and virtue more!”On she went, and her maiden smile
In safety lighted her round the Green Isle;
And blest for ever is she who relied
Upon Erin’s honour and Erin’s pride!Perhaps of interest to lovers of sacred art and the sacred Liturgy:
The Parish of St John Cantius in Chicago offers a schedule of dignified liturgy according to the current liturgical books approved for use in Catholic churches.
Yesterday’s Mass on the memorial of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, televised and shown around the world courtesy of Eternal Word Television Network, was celebrated with characteristic aplomb and decorum, the memorial corresponding as it did with the first Saturday of the month of October. The Ordinary parts of the Mass were set to the music of Mozart’s Coronation Mass. A procession in honour of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary followed the Mass.
St John Cantius provides a splendid example of a robust inner-city parish proud of its heritage and eager to meet the challenges of contemporary America. Take a tour of the parish’s art here: http://www.cantius.org/Sacred-Art.htm
Aggiornamento does not mean having to gut a church, or turn it into the theatre of the absurd.
RE: St Nicholas’ Church in Killavullen and other like works of ‘renovation’ and ‘re-ordering’:
Doubtless many of you good readers, whether native patriots or children of Eire abroad, have heard the following poem set to music by Thomas Moore (1779-1852). The song relates the tale that, during the reign of the medieval king, Brien, Ireland was so well governed that ‘a young Lady of great beauty, adorned with jewels and a costly dress, undertook a journey alone, from one end of the Kingdom to the other, with a wand only in her hand, at the top of which was a ring of exceeding great value; and such an impression had the Laws and Government of this Monarch made on the minds of all the people, that no attempt was made upon her honour, nor was she robbed of her clothes or jewels.’
[Hear it on ‘Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies’ in the original settings by Sir John Stevenson with instrumental music from The Ancient Music of Ireland by Edward Bunting, performed by ‘Invocation’, who are conducted by Timothy Roberts for Hyperion (London, 1995); the excellent notes are prepared in a handsome booklet, compiled by conductor Timothy Roberts, from which the quotation above is taken (it originally comes from Irish Melodies, i, 1807).]It is difficult for those conversant with Christian theology not to think of the Lady in allegorical terms as Holy Church
Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And bright gold ring on her wand she bore;
But, oh! her beauty was far beyond
Her sparkling gems and snow-white wand.“Lady! didst thou not fear to stray,
So lone and lovely, thro’ this bleak way?
Are Erin’s sons so good or so bold
As not to be tempted by woman or gold?”“Sir Knight! I feel not the least alarm,
No son of Erin will offer me harm;
For tho’ they love woman and golden store,
Sir Knight, they love honour and virtue more!”On she went, and her maiden smile
In safety lighted her round the Green Isle;
And blest for ever is she who relied
Upon Erin’s honour and Erin’s pride!Is it the practice in Ireland, as it is in the United Sates, to employ a “liturgical consultant” when going about the task either of building new churches or of re-ordering older churches? If so, then it certainly would be interesting to learn who were the “professional” liturgists who advised the architects and the pastors on “the re-ordering” of the churches posted thus far, as well as those who were consulted on those churches recently built de novo.
Anyone have an answer to these queries?
Luzarches wrote:Re: St Nicholas’ Church, Killavullen.It’s rather nice though that the laity sit in an entirely untouched nave]
D’accord, Luzarches! Re St Nicholas’ Church in Killavullen, you wrote:
“the laity sit in an entirely untouched nave; traditional, you might say.
And the clergy sit in the new and reordered sanctuary; modernist, you might say.”Poetic justice, I’d say.
It is to be regretted, however, that the good faithful have to watch the bland proceedings in the bland sanctuary.
If this is not “spectating” at its most bland, tell me how it is not. I would be interested to learn how much the lay faithful “participated” by membership on various committees in bringing about this strange result or in being consulted before the final monstrosity was unveiled (in more ways than one).
Luzarches wrote:Re: St Nicholas’ Church, Killavullen.It’s rather nice though that the laity sit in an entirely untouched nave]
RE: St Nicholas’ Church in Killavullen and other like works of ‘renovation’ and ‘re-ordering’:
Rome will have to address this ridiculous practice of placing the tabernacle on a pillar, a plinth (St Peter’s, Belfast), a whale’s tooth or inverted parabola (St Patrick’s Armagh, two renovations ago), and a jack-in-the-box popcorn dispenser in (Killavullen). The Lord was sacrificed on the altar of the cross; He was mocked and scourged on a pillar.
Two fundamental questions ought to be addressed: first, what is the relationship of the Reserved Blessed Sacrament to the Sacrifice of the Mass? If there is a connection, then this relationship ought to be expressed in architectural terms, either through aligned axes or, more effectively, by ensuring that the repository has enough space for Mass to be celebrated on it, as is the case with the four major basilicas in Rome (as well as many other churches throughout the world).
Second, what effect are these bizarre arrangements having on the faith and devotion of the Church? Is a priest’s reverence deepened by this architectural and theological disconnection? What are these obtuse re-orderings saying, likewise, to the laity who believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharistic Lord, when the Blessed Sacrament is hidden away in a corner or made to look absurd in its architectural surroundings?
Instead of goading architects on from one flight of fancy to the next in some profitless quest to be “on the cutting edge” of post-modern or post-Christian ecclesial architecture, bishops and pastors ought to be zealous in conveying the reality of the Christian sacraments and liturgy when they set about constructing or embellishing Catholic houses of worship.
Finally, the ideal of BEAUTY must be recovered. In an age when tattoos and piercings mar, disfigure, or otherwise obscure the natural beauty of the human body, the Church ought to be especially vigilant in avoiding grotesqueries in the art and architecture employed in her buildings. This seems to me to be a duty of the utmost importance particularly in the teeth of the widespread disfigurement of ‘the image and likeness of God.’ Let the world set its own trends. Let the Church raise her own standards and restore beauty in art and architecture.
In the meantime, it might be helpful to consult The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (ICEL trans. 2002), which, regarding the arrangemnt and furnishing of Churches for the Celebration of the Eucharist, states: “Sacred buildings and requisites for divine worship should, moreover, be truly worthy and beautiful and be signs and symbols of heavenly realities” (288).
What, if any, heavenly reality is represented here? The New Jerusalem? Are those puny plants supposed to represent the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life from the original Garden of Paradise?
It is, as Prax points out, a better striving after the Buddhist ideal of Nirvana or the annihilation of self than participation in the Cosmic Liturgy offered before the Throne of God and of the Lamb. Are these latter represented by the obtuse chair and that Jack-in-the-box tabernacle off to the corner?
Read on: “Consequently, the Church constantly seeks the noble assistance of the arts and admits the artistic expressions of all peoples and regions. In fact, just as she is intent on preserving the works of art and the artistic treasures handed down from past centuries and, insofar as necessary, on adapting them to new needs, so also she strives to promote new works of art that are in harmony with the character of each successive age.
On account of this, in commissioning artists and choosing works of art to be admitted into a church, what should be required is that true excellence in art which nourishes faith and devotion and accords authentically with both the meaning and the purpose for which it is intended.” (289)Get it? “… what should be required is that true excellence in art which nourishes faith and devotion and accords authentically with both the meaning and the purpose for which it is intended.” Where is the “excellence of art” evident in this monstrosity? How, I ask, does this desecration nourish faith and devotion? Do you think that that Nora Nagle, foundress of the Presentation nuns and native of Killavullen, would be inspired to deeper faith and more intense devotion by seeing the destruction of a once-handsome sanctuary and its replacement with a blank wall? Can anyone on this thread tell me how the ‘renovation’ at St Nicholas “accords authentically with both the meaning and the purpose for which it is intended”?
Regarding the placement of the Reserved Blessed Sacrament: “In accord with the structure of each church and legitimate local customs, the Most Blessed Sacrament should be reserved in a tabernacle in a part of the church that is truly noble, prominent, readily visible, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer.” (314)
Is any corner a suitable place for the Blessed Sacrament? It looks like what Archdale A. King once called “a hole-in-corner affair.” Again, as in many other churches under scrutiny on this thread, the connection between the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Reserved Sacrament is far from obvious.
How about sacred images? How about them? Where are they? Aside from the flagrant violation of the rule that a crucifix be permanently attached to the wall of the sanctuary or permanently suspended, the GIRM states that “images of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Saints, in accordance with the Church’s most ancient tradition, should be displayed for veneration by the faithful in sacred buildings and should be arranged so as to usher the faithful toward the mysteries of faith celebrated there.” (318)
After all, as the Instruction explains, “In the earthly liturgy, the Church participates, by a foretaste, in that heavenly Liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which she journeys as a pilgrim, and where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; and by venerating the memory of the Saints, she hopes one day to have some part and fellowhip with them.” (318)
It would make sense to elevate the Altar and to place the Tabernacle in the most obvious place of prominence – the centre of that beastly sanctuary denuded of every shred of beauty and dignity. Must beauty always be fated to suffer in these bush-league attempts at ‘liturgical renewal’?
For Heaven’s sake, why not just call it a day, and start all over again from scratch, using Catholic principles of furnishing and decorating a sanctuary?
I am pleased that Praxiteles did NOT post the a photo of the sanctuary of this church before it underwent the devastation that we behold in this shot.
There is little more that can be said about such an outrage. I trust that readers have sufficient common sense and decency to draw logical conclusions when they see an act of sheer stupidity peeping out at them from their computer screens.
NEXT!
Praxiteles wrote:If I might destract from the discussion of Longford Cathedral for a moment, I would like to ask Rhabanus what he thinks of the following photograph. This is the interior of St Nicholas’ Church, Killavullen near Malow, Co. Cork. The Norman origin of the parish is evident in its dedication to St Nicholas of Myra whose relics are venerated in Southern Italy at Bari in the other Norman kingdom. The church was built in the early 19th. cenrury by a local architect, Br. Michael Augustine O’Riordan in the classical idiom. Since the parish was the birth place of a certain Richard Hennessey who settled into the brandy trade in Cognac, and since his descendants maintained contact with the parish, funds were available for the building of a fine village church. The interior, up to very recently, conserved its classical altar and typical picture of the crucifixion. Then, the beucholic idyll was ahattered: the altar and retable were demolished]I suppose my first response to the disaster before my eyes is to prefer the medieval Norman to the postmodern Irish invaders of this parish. Perhaps the building ought to be renamed ‘Cinema Paradiso’ under its new dedication.
The parocco (Italian for ‘Parish Priest’) can sit in the big comfy (?) armchair, greet the customers, and introduce the daily feature to the audience. Reflecting on his vast experience of extensive travel to such cosmopolitan centres of culture as Florida, Malibu, Hollywood, Disneyland, Disneyworld, and Las Vegas (not to mention Cannes, Monte Carlo, Biarritz, and Paris in the Springtime), he can enlighten the hoi polloi (Greek for “the peons who pay for Father’s extensive cultural travels and his importation of the latest architectural and artistic trends to re-order his village church”) about the shadows soon to be cast upon the walls. The introductory commentary substitutes for the first homily of today’s liturgical experience. [Members of the audience (aka hoi polloi) are invited to bring their own bowls and to help themselves, before the filmic liturgy, to the ultra-chic popcorn-stand in the far-right corner of the former sanctuary. [Please, no crunching during Father’s commentary. You may crunch and munch during showtime, once the daily feature begins.] Temperance beverages, refrigerated to perfection, will be provided on the table next to Father’s chair.
Just help yourselves.After the main feature, if the hoi polloi are particularly well-behaved, Father may condescend to bring out from his private vault one of those deathless classics of the silent era, say, Carl Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928) or The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919) or Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914). Mrs Higgins, sitting at the Mighty Wurlitzer, is poised to accompany the special feature with the musical scores of Giuseppe Becce, John Muri, Gaylord Carter, or, in a nod to aggiornamento, Richard Einhorn (with the parish choir mouthing Voices fo Light). Just before the film rolls, Father provides a much more animated, personal commentary (aka the second homily) based on his own rum days in the Theatre of the Absurd and points out the avant-garde approaches of the set designers, costumers, and actors of his day. On days of penitence, he may draw the curtain aside on his brief career in the Theatre of Cruelty, in which case facial tissues will be provided at the entrance for sensitive dispositions.
Once the projector stops rolling, the house lights come up and Mrs Higgins takes her bow, to thunderous applause. Then Father wraps up the day’s liturgy with some scintillating remarks on the skill of his fellow artistes and the need for further developments in the liturgy (now the third homily), then dismisses the audience. See you next time in Killavullen … at … Cinema Paradiso ….
Closing credits.
Stay tuned for Next Week’s Main Feature, Specially Selected to Mark “Irish Church Re-ordering Week”:
Bambi Meets Godzilla[/I (1969)@Fearg wrote:
Re Longford. To replace the old altar, surely they could have found something more in keeping with the building that that cheap looking banner? it totally detracts from the architectural coherence of the apse.
Has anyone yet received or read Augustus Welby Pugin, Designer of the British Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture (Hardcover) by Christabel Powell? It was due to be published in June 2006. Has anyone’s copy arrived? I thought I read a review in The Literary Review a few months ago, but perhaps I am mistaken. Of course, the reviewers receive advance copies that are still at the galley stage.
Any news of the book?
