Ecclesiastical Art & Architecture module

LITURGICAL ART AND
ARCHITECTURE
Christian dC. Andres
Graduate School of Theology
Immaculate Conception Major Seminary

HOW KEEN ARE YOUR EYES FOR ART?

NORTE DAME DE PARIS
(PARIS, FRANCE)

HAGIA SOPHIA
(ISTANBUL, TURKEY)

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
CATHEDRAL
(APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF PALAWAN)

ST.CATHERINE OF
ALEXANDRIA CATHEDRAL
(DIOCESE OF DUMAGUETE)

N.S. DE LA ASUNCIÓN PARISH
(BULAKAN, BULACAN)

THE LAST SUPPER
(LEONARDO DA VINCI)

CHERUBS
(RAFAELO [RAFAEL SANZIO])

THE CREATION OF ADAM
(MICHAELANGELO
BUONAROTTI)

LITURGICAL ART, ARCHITECTURE AND
STRUCTURE
I. Theology of Liturgical
Environment/ Space
II. Historical Overview of
Development of Arts and
Architecture in the Liturgy
III. Guidelines and
Regulations on Arts and
Architecture in the Church

Are church edi
fi
ces and the sacred arts necessary for the
church?

On the other hand, liturgical assemblies are helped in
important ways by having spaces whose arrangement and
furnishings lend support to the proclamation of God’s
word and the celebration of the liturgy and thus
contribute in a positive way to the koinonia or communion
of the members with God and among themselves.

To give God glory
To sanctify men

I. THE THEOLOGY OF
LITURGICAL ENVIRONMENT

(Chupungco.What, then, is liturgy?p.155)
“ By his incarnation, God, who exists beyond time and
history, broke into cosmic time and into space. Jesus, the
word made
fl
esh, stayed in the womb of a human mother,
was born in the little town of Bethlehem, and was laid in a
manger. And after he died, he was laid in a tomb; thus,
completing the human cycle that starts in the womb and
ends in the tomb…”

“When God became human, he
occupied space, sanctified it,
and made it a place of
encounter with the divine.”

II. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTS AND
ARCHITECTURE IN THE LITURGY

THE INFANT CHURCH—CA. AD 85
(THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES)
ca. AD 85—Early Christians
were rendered “apropos”
Domus Ecclesiae (House
OF the Church)
Dura Eurupos
House of the Church
(Domus Ecclesiae) ➡
House Church (Domus
Ecclesia)

THE INFANT CHURCH—CA. AD 85
(THE FIRST CHRISTIAN
COMMUNITIES)
HOUSES

The
fi
rst identi
fi
able Christian art
appears about the year 200. Its absence
for nearly two centuries after the
beginning and of the church is usually
attributed to:
1. A continuation of the Jewish aversion
to images based on the Decalogue
(Exodus 20:4-5)
2. Christianity being a spiritual religion
antithetical to material manifestations.
3. To Christian opposition to a pagan
culture closely associated with visual
imagery.
4. The economic and social
circumstances of most Christians, not
to any inherent opposition to pictures
or other expressions of art.

Another theory of the origins of Christian art is
that it began in small objects of everyday use
which everyone had to have, such as seal rings and
household lamps. Clemens of Alexandria spoke of
images appropriate for Christians to employ on
their seal rings: dove,
fi
sh, ship, lyre, anchor,
fi
sherman. Not to be used were images of idols,
implements or war like sword or bow, and
drinking cups (since Christians were temperate).

As a speci
fi
c context for the beginnings of
Christian art, since pagans decorated their tombs,
Christians did too. The earliest examples of
Christian art come from the catacombs, the
underground burial chambers, around Rome.
The rooms(cubicula) and their entrances were
sometimes decorated with small paintings, and
the stone slabs covering the burial niches (loculi)
in the galleries were sometimes chiseled with
inscriptions or s

LATE AD 500-1100
Romanesque Architecture

The Romanesque era is usually called the
“cathedral crusade”
Eighty cathedrals, not to mention thousands of
parish and monastery churches, were built in
France alone.

The construction boom was made possible by the
ff
:
1. The return of relative peace and order to
western Europe
2. Increased trade that brought greater wealth to
cities.
3. New developments in architectural skills

Gothic cathedrals have been compared to the Scholastic
summas of theology as syntheses of reality aiming to depict
its totality and as expressions of the human aspiration to
reach God.
They and their art o
ff
ered a “model” of the cosmos, a
summary of history, a mirror of a moral life, and an image of
the heavenly city.
Romanesque churches looked like fortresses for refuge in
troubled times; Gothic churches, on the other hand, were
characterized by openness and harmony, corresponding to
Scholasticism’s emphasis on rationality and the
reconciliation of opposites

RENAISSANCE
ARCHITECTURE
Baroque Architecture- ca. 1600
Classicism/ Neo-classicism

This style was initially practiced only by Italian
architects, but by the end of the seventeenth
century, architects throughout Europe were
building uniquely perfect monastic, cathedral, and
pilgrimage churches.
The ultimate re
fi
nement or, depending on the
viewpoint, exaggeration of the baroque style that
developed around the middle of the eighteenth
century has been given the name “rococo”, but
the name “late baroque” seems preferable.

ROMANTIC ERA (1800)
Art Noveau

In the
fi
rst half of the nineteenth century, the Romantic
movement gave rise to a new enthusiasm for the Middle Ages
and its architectural styles: Romanesque and especially Gothic.
The result was historicism or an imitative return to the past.
Meanwhile, the end of the nineteenth century saw the rise of
Art Nouveau which supplied new impetus for a contemporary
art.
The slow break from historicism was also aided by the use of
new building materials and techniques that had been
discovered in the nineteenth century. The result was a
breakthrough in ecclesiastical architecture; this movement is
simply called “modern church architecture”.

III. GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS
ON ECCLESIASTICAL ARTS AND
ARCHITECTURE

V
at.II, SC, chap. VII
Of their nature, the Arts are directed toward expressing in
some way the in
fi
nite beauty of God in works made by
human hands. Their dedication to the increase of God’s
praise and of his glory is more complete, the more
exclusive they are devoted to turning men’s minds
devoutly toward God

The Church has not adopted
any particular style of art as
her own. She has admitted
styles from every period, in
keeping with the natural
characteristics and
conditions of people's and
the needs of the various rites.
Ordinaries are to take care
that in encouraging and
favoring truly sacred art,
they should seek for noble
beauty rather than
sumptuous display.

Bishops should be careful to ensure that works of
art which are repugnant to faith, morals and
Christian piety, and which o
ff
end true religious
sense either by depraved forms or through lack of
merit or because of mediocrity or pretense, be
removed from the house of God and from other
sacred places.
When churches are to be built, let great care be
taken that they be suitable for the celebration of
liturgical services and for the active participation
of the faithful.

All artists who, promoted by their talents, desire
to serve God’s glory in holy Church should ever
remember that they are engaged in a kind of holy
imitation of God the creator: that they are
concerned with works destined to be used in
Catholic worship, for the edi
fi
cation of the
faithful and to foster their piety and religious
formation.

ENVIRONMENT AND ART IN CATHOLIC
WORSHIP (1978)-NATIONAL CONFERENCE
OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS (USA)

QUALITY
QUALITY is perceived only by contemplation, by standing back from
things and really trying to SEE them, trying to let them speak to the
beholder. Cultural habit has conditioned the contemporary person to
look at things in a more pragmatic way: "What is it worth?" "What will
it do?" Contemplation sees the hand stamp of the artist, the honesty
and care that went into an object's making, the pleasing form and color
rand texture. Quality means love and care in the making of something,
honesty and genuineness with any materials used, and the artist's
special gift in producing a harmonious whole, a well-crafted work. This
applies to music, architecture, sculpture, painting, pottery making,
furniture making, as well as to dance, mime or drama – in other words,
to any art form that might be employed in the liturgical environment
or action.

APPROPRIATENESS
APPROPRIATENESS is another demand that liturgy rightfully
makes upon any art that would serve its action. The work of art
must be appropriate in two ways: 1) it must be capable of bearing
the weight of mystery, awe, reverence, and wonder which the
liturgical action expresses; 2) it must clearly SERVE (and not
interrupt) ritual action which has its own structure, rhythm and
movement. 22. The
fi
rst point rules out anything trivial and self-
centered, anything fake, cheap or shoddy, anything pretentious
or super
fi
cial. That kind of appropriateness, obviously, is related
to quality. But it demands more than quality. It demands a kind
of transparency, so that we see and experience both the work of
art and something beyond it.

CHURCH STRUCTURE IN THE
ERA OF THE SECOND VATICAN
COUNCIL
Proximity and Visibility

PROXIMITY
In contemporary times, the
relocation of the altar facing
the congregation
theologically states that
Christ, represented by the
altar, is the center of ur lives
and worship. The altar facing
the people says that the
celebration of mass belongs
to the entire worshiping
body, not just the priest.

Reverence, which was at one time expressed by
recessing the altar deep into the sanctuary, distant
from the people, emerges in its new forms of
proximity and transparency.
Churches that are long and narrow can easily
handle the problem of separation of priest and
people by thrusting the sanctuary a few rows into
ten body of the church. The process would
eliminate the altar rail leaving the sanctuary freer,
open, and more inviting space.

The thrusting of the sanctuary into the
congregation is a signi
fi
cant step in updating the
environment for liturgy. It represents a concrete
statement in form and material that the worship
of the local community is a central, tangible, and
proximate experience.

VISIBILITY
The congregation’s line of
vision should be able to
easily center on the lectern,
the table of the Lord, and
the celebrant. Whatever
distracts or visually clogs
these primary signs of
proclamation and unity is
either to be eliminated or
signi
fi
cantly reduced in its
importance.

As the church should be uncluttered, so should the
table of the Lord convey the same simplicity. The
meal action of the Eucharist and the sign value of the
wine and bread is oftentimes obstructed by a visual
blockade of
fl
ower arrangements, bulky candle
holders, book stands, raised prayer cards, and
cruci
fi
x. These help create a wall between the
Eucharist and ten people. Only what is of absolute
necessity belongs on the table of the Lord; namely,
chalice, communion plate, puri
fi
cator, and Mass
book. In such a way, the obvious sign of the bread
and wine occupy the visual focus of attention and
speak un-confusedly for themselves.

Ecclesiastical Art & Architecture module

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