Viergè et Enfant Sur Fond de Fleurs et d'Étoiles

Henri Matisse 1869-1954
Viergè et Enfant Sur Fond de Fleurs et d'Étoiles 1950-1951
Lithograph sur chine applique on Arches watermark paper
12 x 9 in. (image)
19.63 x 14.63 (sheet)

The anti-Jewish racial laws in Italy of 1938

"La Civiltà Cattolica" recently published an article by the distinguished Jesuit historian Giovanni Sale on the promulgation of the anti-Jewish racial laws in Italy in 1938 when the Fascists were in power.

"La Civiltà Cattolica" `s articles are reviewed line by line by the Vatican secretariat of state before they are printed. And this supervision has been even more stringent since Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone became secretary of state.

An English translation of the article has been published in Chiesa on line.

The laws were promulgated when Pope Pius XI was Pope and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, ( later Pope Pius XII) was Secretary of State.

Sale attributes to Pacelli in 1938 – the year of the promulgation of the anti-Jewish racial laws in Italy – a diplomatic prudence that "today it is embarrassing to defend."

The article "highlights Pius XI's desire to defend the Jews more energetically and condemn the racial laws more drastically. Pius XI, nonetheless, found himself muzzled twice over. His most incisive words and writings never saw the light of day, both because of the censorship of the Fascist regime, which banned the Italian Catholic press from publishing the pope's speeches against racism, and because of the caution of the secretariat of state, which prevented "L'Osservatore Romano" itself – the newspaper of the Holy See – from printing any papal texts that were believed to be too imprudent."

Sale concludes:

"It now appears embarrassing for the Catholic historian, especially after the openness of Vatican Council II in this matter, to defend this kind of viewpoint and manner of proceeding in moral or religious categories. But the task of the historian is to reconstruct, as much as objectively possible, the historical narrative, seeking to understand the mentality and culture of the subject in question, without ideological bias.

According to the Catholic culture of the time, although not everyone agreed with this principle, it seemed that the Church's duty was to protect its own faithful first of all, but without neglecting the sense of justice and charity due to all human beings....In the light of this principle, one can better understand the later interventions by Church authorities in this matter."

The Duty to Die: Part 2

In The Duty to Die, there was a comment on the article and interview of Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, DBE, FBA when on 17th and 18th September 2008, she was reported to have called for elderly people suffering from dementia should consider ending their lives because they are a burden on the NHS and their families.

It seemed rather strange and to come out of the blue.

Then I noticed today that on 17th September 2008, the Ministry of Justice Press Office issued a news release that the law on assisting suicide is to be simplified to increase public understanding and reassure people that it applies as much on the internet as it does off-line.

"Following a review of the Suicide Act 1961, the government has decided to reframe it in new, modern language that will make it easier for individual internet users and internet-based businesses, such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to understand. "

In England and Wales, suicide ceased to be a crime in 1961 but under section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961, it remains an offence to 'aid, abet, counsel or procure' a suicide or a suicide attempt. The law applies equally to online and off-line actions.

In a small footnote to the press release it is stated that "The precise proposals on how to update the language of the legislation will be published a soon as parliamentary time allows. The scope of the law will remain unchanged."

If you look at the Suicide Act 1961 you will see that it is not a very complicated piece of legislation. On the face of it, the Act especially section 2, would appear to be a model of brevity and clarity.

The Law Commission in July 2006 produced a Report Inchoate Liability for Assisting and Encouraging Crime

In Schedule B of the Report (pages 170 and following), the Law Commission said that the existing law was perfecly adequate to deal with the cases of suicide websites.

"B.26 Therefore, the contemporary problems posed by suicide websites and other involvements in the suicide of another could adequately be addressed without reform to section 2 of the Suicide Act." (emphasis added)

If the present law has been deemed perfectly adequate to deal with the case of suicide websites, why does it need to reform the law to simply make clear what is already the position?

Can the Ministry of Justice not simply write/e-mail ISPs and make clear the position by advertising ?

Or is there going to be another attempt to alter the substance of the existing law and make it easier for the provision of euthanasia ?

One hopes that legislators and peers who feel strongly about the right to life are vigilant about this legislation coming from the fag end of this Government.

And that the Baroness Warnock was simply flying a kite on her own initiative, without any encouragement or support from the Government.

Faith

Jackie Nickerson
Washing Eucharist Vessels, Poor Clare Monastery, Belfast (2006)
Photograph: Fuji crystal archive print
H: 99 x w: 79 cm / h: 39 x w: 31.1 in

Jackie Nickerson
Green Room, Perpetual Adoration Sisters, Perpetual Adoration Convent, Wexford (2005)
Photograph: Fuji crystal archive print
H: 99 x w: 79 cm / h: 39 x w: 31.1 in

The age of faith is not dead.

Depictions of faith and believers take new forms.

Jackie Nickerson first came to prominence in the 1990s as a fashion photographer working in Milan, Paris and New York, and featured in Elle, Marie Claire, Wallpaper, German Vogue, Arena, Interview and other publications.

For two-and-a-half years Nickerson photographed inside the churches, convents and abbeys of Ireland. The result is a series entited "Faith": the inside of Irish convents and monasteries.

Of these communities, Nickerson said:

“These are individuals and communities which are steeped in an interiority, which they have discovered is not their own but something wider and deeper than themselves, of which they are a part.”

Her work is represented in many important public and private collections, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, the Santa Monica Museum in California, and the Margulies Collection in Miami.

In May 2008, she won the prestigious AIB prize for artists of promise in Ireland.

There have been exhibitions of “Faith” in New York, and Ireland.

Presently the exhibition is in Rome at the Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea, Rome (VIA DEI TRE OROLOGI 6A, ROME, 00197, ) from September 18 - November 16, 2008.

Later it will be shown at the Centre Culturel Irlandais as part of the Mois de la Photo in Paris.

More of the studies can be viewed online at the following websites:

Artnet

Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea

Of the book of the exhibition "Faith"

A Quiet Coronation

The Conclave of 1914 took place in the initial months of the First World War.

Cardinals from the various combatant countries assembled in conclave to elect a new Pope as successor to Pope Pius X.

The successor, Cardinal Della Chiesa, Archbishop of Bologna, (Pope Benedict XV) had only been a cardinal for three months.

The accounts of the conclave make it clear that he was the front runner from the start, notwithstanding that for the outside world (and for many of the cardinals), he was a complete unknown.

Benedict XV declined a grand coronation in St Peter`s Basilica. The coronation took place in a reduced ceremony in the Sistine Chapel.

He was prompted by the fact that the First World War had started and already people in Europe especially Belgium were suffering greatly.

Even this gesture was twisted by those involved in the conflict.

Some claimed that he was following the precedent of Pope Leo XIII in 1878. His coronation ceremony was curtailed due to the fact that the Holy See was still precarious after the Unification of Italy and capture of Rome in 1870. Leo XIII had intended an implied protest against the Roman Government.

Saint Anthony the Abbot in the Wilderness

Master of the Osservanza [active ca.1430-1450]
Saint Anthony the Abbot in the Wilderness, ca. 1435
Tempera and gold on wood; Overall 18 3/4 x 13 5/8 in. (47.6 x 34.6 cm); painted surface 18 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. (47 x 33.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum, New York

This panel belongs to a cycle of eight panels representing scenes from the life of Saint Anthony Abbot

In the lower left of the picture there was depicted a pot of gold. That detail was deleted/overpainted early on in the painting`s history.

Thus, the painting`s original and alternative title "Saint Anthony Abbot Tempted by a Heap of Gold"

That is why the sainly St Anthony is shown recoiling from something on the left hand side.

He is not afraid of the rabbit on the left hand side. This is not a forerunner of a Monty Python sketch.

He has resisted the temptation of worldly goods, Greed.

The eight panels, originally part of an altarpiece of uncertain provenance, are now divided between museums in New York, Washington, and Berlin, and the Yale University Art Gallery

Compared to the depictions by Bosch, Grünewald, Ensor and Beckmann, this depiction must rank as one of the most phantasmagorical on the theme of St Anthony and his temptations.

Wartime Pope 'spared no effort' to save Jews says Benedict XVI

From The Times 1939

Richard Owen in The Times (September 19, 2008) reports that Pope Benedict XVI has defended the actions of predecessor Pius XII during World War II, saying the pontiff spared no effort to try to save Jews

Pope Benedict said that Pius had intervened directly and indirectly but often had to be "secret and silent" given the circumstances.

Pope Benedict said he wanted prejudice against Pius to be overcome.

Analysts say this was one of the strongest Vatican defences yet of Pius's role.

Pope Benedict was speaking at a meeting with the US-based interfaith group, the Pave the Way Foundation, at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

He said Pius showed "courageous and paternal dedication" in trying to save Jews.

Pope Benedict said: "Wherever possible he spared no effort in intervening in their favour either directly or through instructions given to other individuals or to institutions of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict said the interventions were "made secretly and silently, precisely because, given the concrete situation of that difficult historical moment, only in this way was it possible to avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews".

He said that he hopes the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII this year will offer an occasion to get to the historical truth about him, overcoming prejudices that hide the facts.

"So much has been written and said of [Pius XII] during these last five decades and not all of the genuine facets of his diverse pastoral activity have been examined in a just light," the Holy Father noted. "The aim of your symposium has been precisely to address some of these deficiencies, conducting a careful and documented examination of many of his interventions, especially those in favor of the Jews who in those years were being targeted all over Europe, in accordance with the criminal plan of those who wanted to eliminate them from the face of the earth.

"When one draws close to this noble Pope, free from ideological prejudices, in addition to being struck by his lofty spiritual and human character one is also captivated by the example of his life and the extraordinary richness of his teaching. One can also come to appreciate the human wisdom and pastoral intensity which guided him in his long years of ministry, especially in providing organized assistance to the Jewish people."

However in a dissenting note Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal — whose contents are vetted by the Vatican —- said that the position taken by the Holy See towards the race laws introduced by Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator, in 1938 had been so weak as to be "embarrassing".

Writing in the latest issue Father Giovanni Sale said that the Vatican, then under Pope Pius XI, with Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli — the future Pius XII — as his Secretary of State, had criticised the race laws in diplomatic notes to the Mussolini regime, but only on religious rather than "biological-racial" grounds.

He said that the Vatican had been more concerned to draw the Fascist government's attention to the need to save Jews who had converted to Catholicism from persecution than to "defend Jews as a whole". Father Sale said that there was historical evidence that Pius XI had wanted to take a stronger line than Cardinal Pacelli, who became Pope a year later.

Mary and the Eucharist

Fra' Filippo Lippi (1406 – October 8, 1469)
Madonna in the Forest (also called L' Adorazione del Bambino con san Bernardo e san Giovannino, as well as Adorazione di Palazzo Medici )
c. 1458-1460
Oil on panel, 129.5 x 118.5 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Christ was born in the womb of the Virgin Mary. His body was offered on the Cross. It is present in the Eucharist.

There has always been a link between Mary and the Eucharist

It has been a theme in art as well.

In the altarpiece by Filippo Lippi for the private chapel of the Medici Chapel in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Mary is shown adoring her Son beneath the Father and the Holy Spirit with the figures of Saint John the Baptist (the Patron Saint of Florence) and Saint Bernard (or is it St Romauld). The picture was the physical and spiritual centre of the chapel.

As originally situated, the Child was just above the point where the priest consecrated the bread and wine

The remaining walls of the Chapel show Gozzoli`s celebrated frescoes of the Journey of the Magi. The picture by Lippi is the beginning and end of the journey depicted by Gozzoli. In the wall above the altar there is a circular window which is the "Star": the end of the Magi`s journey. The scene depicted in Lippi`s altarpiece is the destination of the Journey.

Father, Son and Holy Ghost form a central vertical axis immediately above the point of consecration by the priest at Mass.

Above this central point of action, God the Father is seen pouring forth the Holy Spirit.

Mary is the largest figure in the scene. She is kneeling on bare earth to contemplate and to adore her child. The Child who at and after the moment of consecration is again present on the altar

She is meant to indicate the right way to participate at Mass: to contemplate and adore the Christ.

Stuck in a Museum and not properly placed in a Church, the altar piece loses much of its meaning and significance.

As well as a contemplation on the role of Mary, the picture is also a contemplation on the Trinity.

The Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1439 reached agreement in principle (subsequently rejected) on the healing of the schism between the Western and Orthodox churches. One of the major differences was on the nature of the Trinity. The Western Church held that the Holy Spirit emanates from the Father and Son. This contrasts with the view held by the Orthodox Church, in which the Holy Spirit emanates from God the Father alone.

St Vincent de Paul

Shrine of St Vincent de Paul, Paris

St Vincent died at the Lazarus institution in Saint Denis, France on 27th September 1660 and was buried in the choir of the church.

During the French Revolution, over 100 years later, St Lazarus was looted and turned into a prison.

The remains of St Vincent were returned to the Lazarists (Vincentian Fathers) in 1795 - and kept in the chapel of the mother-house of the Daughters of Charity until 1830.

On the request of the Archbishop of Paris his remains were transferred to the chapel of the "Maison-Mère" at 95 Rue de Sèvres in Paris. The body rests above the main altar in a solid silver shrine covered by the goldsmith 'Odiot'.

The heart of St Vincent de Paul is kept in the Miraculous Medal Chapel in Paris.


Ways to donate in the USA, see here

Abbott Handerson Thayer

Abbott Handerson Thayer 1849 - 1921
The Virgin 1893
Oil on canvas H: 229.7 W: 182.5 cm (2.3m x 1.8m)
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Abbott Handerson Thayer (August 12, 1849 – May 29, 1921) was an American artist, naturalist and teacher

In the early 1880s, tragedy came to Thayer and his wife when two of their small children died unexpectedly, just one year apart.

In 1901, he and his wife settled permanently in Dublin, New Hampshire. Thayer’s wife lapsed into an irreversible depression, which led to her confinement in an asylum, the decline of her health, and eventual death, on May 3, 1891.

He married for a second time.

Thayer suffered from a condition that today is called bipolar disorder, as well as from anxiety.

He often painted ideal figures such as Angels.

The above painting depicts his children in an idealised setting. His daughter Margaret is the central figure who exudes innocence, purity, freshness and vitality. A father`s pride and joy.

Another conceptualisation of Latria ?

The Duty to Die

A little old lady of 84 years of age has recently made clear that it is her opinion that if one is suffering from dementia, you are wasting the resources of relatives and carers and further are wasting the resources of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

They are under a duty to die.

So what ?

Unfortunately the little old lady is Baroness Warnock.

Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, DBE, FBA (born 14 April 1924) is a British philosopher of morality, education and mind, and writer on existentialism. She is an "Establishment" figure: a guide on ethics in the public sphere in the United Kingdom.

She is amongst other things the author of The Warnock Report (1984): Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology. This has led to legislation in the United Kingdom. Her influence is pervasive. Her comments are not to be disregarded lightly.

Surely some mistake ? No. Check out the Director of SPUC`s blog ("Baroness Warnock and a "duty to die") and the Daily Telegraph ("Elderly people suffering from dementia should consider ending their lives because they are a burden on the NHS and their families, according to the influential medical ethics expert Baroness Warnock")

And if you still don`t believe it check out BBC Radio 4` PM Programme blog where you can listen to the interview with the Baroness.

In the interview she makes clear that the economic argument of caring for someone who has no useful economic potential outweighs any argument about "the sanctity of life". In Britain this is a very dangerous proposition.

We have the National Health Service. It is supposed to look after the health of citizens of the United Kingdom from cradle to grave. It is a monopoly.

The private medical sector is extremely small and is only available to the very rich. Citizens are compelled by law to pay for the very costly and inefficient service through heavy taxation and other imposts.

Bureaucrats already impose rationing on services and resources through the backdoor and are not publicly accountable except in theory to Ministers who, of course, are not particularly bothered or involved in the minutiae of such important decisions.

Not that the service for non-disabled people is that great. Ask an American citizen here in the United Kingdom what he would do if he got ill here. He will tell you that he has been warned by his employers and his own doctors in the States not to use the Service here. In an emergency only he should go to a hospital which is attached to a University and insist on seeing a consultant privately, and then only after checking out the consultant carefully.

Anyone who has ever visited a hospital where long term Alzheimer patients are kept (assuming that they have not been kept home or shunted into a private nursing home) will know that these people are helpless. If the argument that there is a duty to die and economic factors are material in making that decision is accepted, the consequences will be appalling.

Anglican Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Rocco Palmo in The Spring Is For... Rowan? reports on a historic pilgrimage of ten Church of England bishops, 60 Anglican priests and 400 Anglican lay worshippers to Lourdes. It will be led by Dr Williams, the Anglican Primate.

It is the first visit by any Anglican Primate to the shrine.

Quaerere Deum

Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
La Vierge adorant l'hostie/ The Virgin adoring the Host 1854
Oil on canvas 113 cm x 113 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

At the weekly general audience in Paul VI Hall the Pope summarized his trip last weekend to Paris and Lourdes on. 12-15 September 2008. Zenit`s report went on to say:

"Commenting on his address to the world of culture, the Pontiff said his address at the Collège des Bernardins began with "a reflection on monasticism, whose objective was to seek God, 'quaerere Deum.'"

"In an age of profound crisis of the ancient civilization," Benedict XVI continued, "the monks, guided by the light of faith, chose the 'via maestra': the way of listening to the word of God. They were, therefore, the great cultivators of sacred Scripture, and monasteries became schools of wisdom and schools of 'dominici servitii, 'of the service of the Lord,' as St. Benedict called them."

The Pope said the search for God led the monks to learning and knowledge "that made the formation of culture possible." He added that even today the search for God continues to be the "foundation of all true culture."

He said he urged priests, deacons, men and women religious and seminarians "who had come from all parts of France, to give priority to the religious listening of the divine word, looking at the Virgin Mary as sublime model.""

Ingres painted this theme of Mary and the Host many times. This version in the d`Orsay was painted in 1854, the year of the declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. It was commissioned by the State under Louis Napoleon III. It was very popular. It is still a popular and well-known image.

Ingres painted his first version of this theme in 1841 for the Crown Prince of Russia (the future Alexandre II). It is still in the Pouchkine Museum in Moscow.

It is a circular painting. It is like the tondo of many Renaissance paintings.

Mary is worshipping the flesh of her Son and is in meditation before the Host.

The composition brings the viewer into the action being portrayed.

At the same time, Mary is shown as a regal figure in her own right, a central point of fascination and interest in the painting.

Unlike the 18th Century, the 19th Century was a century of great Marian devotion: it was encouraged by the great apparitions in France of the Virgin to Catherine Labouré (1830), the young shepherds at La Salette (1846), to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes (1858) and to the four children at Pontmain (1871). In 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared.

Ingres’ sole teaching model was the ideal of classical beauty which could only be attained by the painstaking study and copying of Antique sources. All Antique statuary was considered to be the quintessential embodiment of the concept of Beauty. This Mary is the epitome of classical Beauty, perfection.

After 1824, Ingres produced many images of the Virgin: half length, without the Child, but in a prayerful pose, her hands in prayer and placed on her chest. Some criticised Ingres at the time for only producing one image of the Virgin which was simply repeated time after time in different poses.

This particular image of Mary with the Host is claimed by some to be a particular invention of Ingres, linked to the rise of the Ultramontane Movement in France which placed particular emphasis on the Eucharist. However this view is probably mistaken. The depiction of the Virgin`s relationship to the Eucharist has a long history and should not be seen as a mark of an alleged ideological movement.

Not all at the time particularly liked the paintings by Ingres of the Virgin with the Host. For example, one critic in 1841 said of the earlier version: "one senses a woman who poses in order that she be admired." L`Univers in 1841 commented on the rather disdainful expression of the Virgin. In 1865, Proudhon said: : "An imperceptible smile of satisfaction was spread over this charming figure who seemed to be saying softly to herself at the moment she took the Holy Sacrament: `It is I, however, that made you O great blessed Lord...` "

However many contemporary critics were not as critical of Ingres` images of the Virgin.

In 1844 Drach dedicated Volume II of De L`Harmonie entre L`Eglise et la Synagogue ou Perpetuite et Catholicite de la Religion chretienne to Ingres. In particular he praised La Vierge adorant l'hostie as "the most beautiful painting that has been consecrated in modern times to the glory of the Holy Virgin of Bethlehem."

Adrien Egron described that "all the genius of painting in representations of the Virgin is captured in the work of M. Ingres."

The Banality of Evil

For some reason the following quotation came to mind when I became rather depressed by the undernoted entries in some of the blogs I came across recently.

"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together, for it implied — as had been said at Nuremberg over and over again by the defendants and their counsels — that this new type of criminal, who is in actual fact hostis generis humani, commits his crimes under circumstances that make it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he is doing wrong. "

Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975) Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963)

Blog/Websites entries referred to:


Two healthy babies miscarry following testing for Down's Syndrome for every three foetuses diagnosed with the condition in the womb, according to new research

Is Trig at the Heart of Media's Reaction to Palin?

Canadian Doctors Group Worried Palin Example Could Pressure Some Women to Not Abort Down's Child

Death in a Dutch Family

U.K. Mother Murders Daughter Because "Embarrassed" by Disability

The Lamb of God

The firm of Castellani
Micromosaic brooch with the Lamb of God,
Rome, Italy, around AD 1860
Diameter: 5.300 cm
The British Museum, London

The Museum Catalogue describes this beautiful work in this way:

"The brooch is made of glass and gold mosaic, set in enamelled gold. The central medallion is made up of minute cubes of glass, or tesserae, of differing shades of colours. The halo of the Lamb (symbolizing Jesus Christ) is made of real gold tesserae, not glass. The outer border is decorated with enamel set within a pattern of gold cells. As the enamel does not fill the entire depth of the cells, the pattern stands out in relief.

Pio Fortunato Castellani (1794-1865) pioneered the revival of jewellery techniques from the ancient world. His firm, carried on by his sons Alessandro (1823-83) and Augusto (1829-1914), became the most original and prolific producer of jewellery in the 'archaeological' style, so called because most of their work was based on actual Etruscan, Greek or Roman jewellery. This followed the excavation of Etruscan tombs in the area around Rome in the 1830s."

The design of the Lamb is based on the large-scale mosaic in the apse of the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Rome. See below.

The mosaic dates from 527-530 AD. The dominating figure in the centre is that of Christ the Judge, who stands above the dramatically coloured clouds, clothed in a clasped toga and a stole signifying a learned man. To approach Christ, it is necessary to cross the Jordan River, symbol of Baptism and life giving grace.

The Apostle Peter presents Cosmas and the Apostle Paul presents Damian so that they may receive the crown of their martyrdom.

In the lower band, coming from the left and from the right, is a procession of sheep (symbol of the new humanity) moving from Bethlehem and Jerusalem towards the Divine Lamb from Whom springs up the rivers of life: the Geon, Fison, Tigris and Euphrates.

Grief

Charles Cottet [1863-1925]
Au pays de la mer.(Les victimes de la mer) Douleur [In the Land of the Sea (The Victims of the Sea.) Grief]
1908 et 1909
Oil on canvas H. 2.64 ; L. 3.45m
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

On a makeshift trestle on the shore is the body of a drowned man, a Breton fisherman. Over him bend his anguished wife and his weeping mother and one other (his sister ?). The serious faces of the men and the grief of the women are vivid and almost real.

Perhaps it is an appropriate picture on the day of commemoration of Our Lady of Sorrows.

The religious parallels of the tableau are obvious. They do not need to be spelled out. They are not coincidental.

It is a large painting with at least three titles. On one level it simply depicts as Cottet was wont to do, the harsh life of mariners and their families in the port of the Ile of Sein . But he transformed the event into something more universal.

In addition to grief and pity, there is also resignation: the utter helplessness of Man alone in the face of more powerful forces than himself.

Stormy seascape, scenes of bereavement, the ordinary lives of Breton people were the scenes which Collett often depicted. But in doing so, he attempted to address fundamental human issues

Collett was a pupil of Puvis de Chavannes. But it was his first visit to Brittany aged twenty three which set him on a course which lasted him for the rest of his life.

He was initially associated with Les Nabis, later becoming the leader of the Bande Noire, a group that formed after he met Lucien Simon and Andre Dauchez. Sometimes deignated as a post Impressionist but more probably belongs to the Realist school. In any event he is an original painter whose originality is still apparent today.

He painted with great tonal intensity, somber lighting, and directness.

This is the second version of the composition which he painted and exhibited in 1908 at the Salon de la Société National des Beaux-Arts, and refined in 1909 for the exhibition at Tokyo.

The 1903 Conclave

The result of the 1903 conclave was a surprise. Cardinal Rompolla had been expected to be declared Pope. His nomination was vetoed. Giuseppe Melchiorre Cardinal Sarto, Patriarch of Venice, had not been on the lists of likely successors.

At an audience in January 1959, Pope John XXIII recounted how, as a young seminarian in Rome, he had been present in St Peters Square when the white smoke had issued from the Conclave which elected Pope Pius X on 14th August 1903.

Special editions of newspapers were circulating within half a hour.

On his way back, he passed the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini quite near the Vatican. There he found an old woman studying the photographs of the new Pope. She said "I don`t know anything about this Pius X... but at least he`s handsome."

Some others at the time were not so enthusiatic about his election. The future Servant of God, Father Giovanni Semeria (Coldirodi, 26 September 1867 – Sparanise, 15 March 1931) and later co-founder of l’Opera per il Mezzogiorno d’Italia, on hearing of the result of the election, is reported to have said:

«Un reazionario! Siamo fritti» ("A reactionary ! We`re cooked !")

In this he was quite prophetic. In 1912, Pope Pius X exiled him from Genova to Belgium.

St Gemma Galgani

Passionist convent in Lucca: Saint Gemma Galgani

Last year I was fortunate to hear Mass at the Passionist Church in Lucca which houses the tomb of St Gemma Galgani. Near her tomb are the the tombs of her spiritual director Venerable Germanus and St. Gemma’s confessor Monsignor Volpi

The Church is outside the historic medieval city walls of Lucca but if any visit the city they will find the Church easily as it is not far by foot from the train station.

There is a new website dedicated to the saint. It is simply entitled Saint Gemma Galgani and is the work of one man with a special devotion to the saint.

Hattip to The Hermeneutic of Continuity

"To seek God and to let oneself be found by Him"

Chapel of the Patron Saints of Europe (Benedict, the father of western monasticism (5th-6th century), and the brothers SS. Cyril and Methodius, the evangelizers of the Slavonic peoples in the 9th century.)
Vatican Grottoes
Source: St Peters Basilica

Tommaso Gismondi (1906-2003)
Altarpiece SS. Benedict, Cyril and Methodius (1980)
Bronze 3m x 1.8m
Chapel of the Patron Saints of Europe
St Peters Basilica

Sandro Magister provides the full text in English of Pope Benedict`s speech to the intellectual world in Paris, at the Collège des Bernardins, September 12, 2008

The theme of the talk was set out at the very beginning by the Pope:

"I would like to speak with you this evening of the origins of western theology and the roots of European culture. I began by recalling that the place in which we are gathered is in a certain way emblematic. It is in fact a placed tied to monastic culture, insofar as young monks came to live here in order to learn to understand their vocation more deeply and to be more faithful to their mission. We are in a place that is associated with the culture of monasticism.

Does this still have something to say to us today, or are we merely encountering the world of the past? In order to answer this question, we must consider for a moment the nature of Western monasticism itself. What was it about? From the perspective of monasticism’s historical influence, we could say that, amid the great cultural upheaval resulting from migrations of peoples and the emerging new political configurations, the monasteries were the places where the treasures of ancient culture survived, and where at the same time a new culture slowly took shape out of the old. But how did it happen?

What motivated men to come together to these places? What did they want? How did they live?"

Sandro Magister compares its importance to the speech of the Pope two years earlier at Regensburg.

Seven Days

I shall be away for the next seven days and unlikely to be able to post

The Seventh National Eucharistic Congress: Genova 1923

Pope Pius XI had the year before (1922) presided at the International Eucharistic Congress in Rome. The theme of that Congress held between 24th and 29th May 1922 was "The Peaceful Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist"

In December 1922, he had published his Encyclical Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio (On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ) 23rd December 1922

The Eucharist and Communion was again one of the major themes of his speech in the Secret Consistory of 23rd May 1923

He again stressed the importance of the Eucharist. He described as the apogee, the centre and the reason for being of the Church.

In September 1923, the Italian National Eucharistic Congress was held in Genoa (Genova). The Congress was hosted by the newly appointed Archbishop: Giosuè Signori, who died a few months later on 25 November 1923

The Pope`s Legate was Gaetano Cardinal de Lai (born 26th July 1853, died 24th October 1928, Rome), part of the Roman Curia.

He was made cardinal in 1907 by Pope Pius X.

He took part in the 1914 conclave which elected Pope Benedict XV, and the 1922 conclave which chose Pope Pius XI.

On the last day of the Eucharistic Congress the Host was transported through the streets of the city and then on board the barge Bucentaur.

Soldiers and sailors stood to arms, the Mayor and civil authorities were in attendance and as the barge moved slowly through the long avenue of ships, hydroplanes escorted it, strewing flowers from the air.

To mark the close of the Congress, Pope Pius XI broadcast a message for world peace from the Vatican as thousands kneeled.

In 1912, Genova had been the centre of controversy. The State had refused to confirm Pope Pius X`s appointment of Archbishop Caron as Archbishop of the city. As a result, he had put the city under a Quarter Interdict. The matter was only resolved early in the reign of Pope Benedict XV who was, of course, of Genova.

As can be seen from the photographs below, the incident had been well and truly forgotten.

Cardinal De Lai, the Pope`s Legate in Genova

Cardinal Giorgi

Cardinal De Lai

The Eucharist Procession at Sea

Outside the Duomo

Before the procession

Federico Zandomeneghi (1841-1917)
Prima della processione/ Before the procession (1865)
Oil on canvas 104 x 82cm
Private collection

He was born in Italy. In 1874 Zandomeneghi went to Paris, where he was to spend the rest of his life. He quickly made the acquaintance of the Impressionists. His style changed to that of his friends.

Paul's Damascus Experience

Jacopo Tintoretto 1518 - 1594
The Conversion of Saint Paul, c. 1545
Oil on canvas
Overall: 152.4 x 236.2 cm (60 x 93 in.) framed: 193 x 276.2 x 14.9 cm (76 x 108 3/4 x 5 7/8 in.)
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

In this picture, the young Tintoretto is influenced by the battle scenes of Titian's Battle of Spoleto, Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari and Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina.

The "enemy" is unseen, present and invincible.

At the general audience held in Paul VI Hall. The Holy Father continued his series of catecheses on the thought and person of St. Paul. (3rd September)

The Holy Father focused on St. Paul's experience of Christ on the road to Damascus

Benedict`s message was that "Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person"

Zenit went on to say:

"[T]he Pontiff called [it] "decisive moment of Paul's life."

"What happened on that road," the Pope asked.

To answer, he drew from two sources: the Acts of the Apostles and the letters written by Paul himself.

"The risen Christ appeared as a splendid light and addressed Saul, transforming his thinking and his very life," the Holy Father explained. "The splendor of the Risen One left him blind; presenting also externally what the interior reality was: his blindness in regard to the truth, to the light, which is Christ. And then, his definitive 'yes' to Christ in baptism reopens his eyes, and makes him truly see."

Intense event

Though Paul does not give details of the event, as Luke does in Acts, he makes it clear that it was the key moment of his life, Benedict XVI noted.

"[Paul] never spoke in detail about this event; I think he assumed that everyone knew the essentials of his story," the Pope said. "All knew that from being a persecutor, he was transformed into a fervent apostle of Christ. And this did not happen at the end of his own reflection but after an intense event, an encounter with the Risen One.

"Although not mentioning details, he refers to this most important event, that is, that he is also a witness of the resurrection of Jesus, the revelation of which he has received directly from Jesus himself, together with the mission of apostle."

The two sources -- the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of St. Paul -- converge in a fundamental point, the Pope said: "The Risen One spoke with Paul, called him to the apostolate, made him a true apostle, a witness of the resurrection, with the specific charge to proclaim the Gospel to the pagans, to the Greco-Roman world.

"And, at the same time, Paul learned that, despite the immediateness of his relationship with the Risen One, he must enter the communion of the Church, be baptized, and live in harmony with the other apostles. Only in this communion with all will he be able to be a true apostle, as he wrote explicitly in the First Letter to the Corinthians."

A "conversion"

Benedict XVI clarified that Paul "never interprets this moment as an event of conversion."

This is because, the Pope contended, "this change of his life, this transformation of his whole being was not the result of a psychological process, of a maturation or intellectual and moral evolution, but it came from outside: It was not the result of his thinking but of the encounter with Jesus Christ. In this sense it was not simply a conversion, a maturing of his 'I,' rather, it was death and resurrection for himself: A life of his died and a new one was born with the Risen Christ. [...]

"At that moment, he did not lose all that was good and true in his life, in his heritage, but understood in a new way the wisdom, truth and depth of the law and the prophets; he appropriated them in a new way. At the same time, his reason opened to the wisdom of the pagans. Having opened himself to Christ with all his heart, he became able to engage in a wider dialogue with all, he made himself everything to all. Hence he could really be the apostle to the pagans."

The Holy Father further affirmed that Paul's experience has implications for the faithful of today.

"It means that also for us, Christianity is not a new philosophy or new morality. We are Christians only if we encounter Christ. Of course he does not show himself to us in that irresistible, luminous way, as he did with Paul to make him Apostle of the Gentiles," he said. "However, we can also encounter Christ in the reading of sacred Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church.

"We can touch Christ's heart and feel him touch ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we really become Christians. And in this way, our reason opens, the whole of Christ's wisdom opens and all the richness of the truth. Therefore, let us pray to the Lord to enlighten us, so that, in our world, he will grant us the encounter with his presence, and thus give us a lively faith, an open heart, and great charity for all, capable of renewing the world."

Francois-Leon Benouville (French, b. 1821 - d. 1859)

Francois-Leon Benouville (French, b. 1821 - d. 1859)
Saint Francois d'Assise, transporté mourant à Sainte-Marie-des-Anges, bénit la ville d'Assise (1226)/ St Francis of Assisi, dying, is carried to St Mary of the Angels, and blesses the town of Assisi (1226) [1853]
Oil on canvas 93,l x. 240 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Francois-Leon Benouville (French, b. 1821 - d. 1859)
Martyrs chrétiens entrant à l'amphithéâtre/ Christian martyrs going into the amphitheatre (1855)
Oil on canvas 4.59 x 3.91 m
Musée d'Orsay, Paris,
Francois-Leon Benouville (French, b. 1821 - d. 1859)
SAINTE CLAIRE RECEVANT LE CORPS DE SAINT FRANCOIS D'ASSISE /
St Claire receiving the Body of St Francis of Assisi [1858]
Oil on canvas 118 x 80cm
Musée Condé, Chantilly

Like Ingres many years before, Benouville was a winner of the Prix de Rome. In his case in 1845.

To do so was a great achievement.

The Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the French national art and architecture academy, was founded in 1648.

An admissions test, given only to men under 30, required drawing a figure from a model in natural light in six two-hour sessions.

Once enrolled, the student embarked on a rigorous curriculum devoted solely to drawing. (Painting was studied in the private ateliers of Beaux-Arts teachers.)

The goal: to win the coveted Prix de Rome, which was a five-year scholarship studying classical art at the French Academy there.

For the Prix, entrants had to produce -- in 12 hours flat -- an oil sketch for a single history painting for which the subject was announced at the last minute by the academy. They were then allowed 72 days to produce their finished works.

To prove his progress during the five-year stay, each scholar had to send specified works back to Paris.

For the first two years they included a life-size painting of a nude along with drawings of figures from life and from antique sculptures.

The third year demanded an oil or drawn sketch of a freely chosen subject, and the fourth a same-size copy of the work of an Old Master or figures from an Old Master fresco.

The fifth and final year's requirement was an original history painting of the artist's choice.

History painting, the depiction of great moments, was seen by the academy as an artist's highest calling.

Benouville painted numerous paintings with a historical or religious theme.

In Rome he had became interested in Early Christian art.

He was considered by many to be among the most promising history painters of his time. Unfortunately at an early age, he contracted typhoid fever and died only 38 years.

Even after 1848, history painting continued to bring to life events from the past and the present, to complement the dramatic scenes decorating churches and public buildings. They rivalled literature in inventiveness and brilliance.

Christian Martyrs is monumental. It tends towards Ingres but avoids pastiche;

Many of these large works are in storage awaiting space and the revived interest of the general public and critics.

Jeanne d'Arc

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral (Jeanne d'Arc au sacre du roi Charles VII dans la cathédrale de Reims), 1854,
Oil on canvas, 240,x 178 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The painting depicts St Joan at the zenith of her power and her success: July 17th 1429.

After assuming leadership of the French armies and having broken the siege of Orléans, she defeated the English armies at the Battle of Patay (Agincourt in reverse).

She led the French army to Reims recovering French territory on the way (Auxerre and Troyes included). At Reims, the Dauphin was crowned. Paris (in the hands of the English) was within reach. However before Paris could be taken, the Dauphin ordered a retreat.

Betrayed, she was captured by the English and put on trial for heresy. The trial was rigged. She was executed

A posthumous retrial opened after the war ended. The court declared her innocence on July 7, 1456.

No one knows what Joan looked like. She did sit for one painting. Unfortunately, the painting has been lost. In real life, Joan never wore plate armour She has inspired artistic and cultural works for centuries.

Her image grew from the relative obscurity as a minor provincial figure to a much greater one.

Voltaire portrayed her as a sexually alluring stable maid in a quasi-pornographic satire .

Napoleon had a medal struck with Joan on one side and himself on the other.

She became the spirit of France, the maiden, the holy warrior, the Republican and Napoleonic symbol for opposition to the English and for those who would protect France from foreign domination.

Strangely it was not until the nineteenth century that there were determined efforts to have her canonised. Félix Dupanloup, Bishop of Orléans from 1849 to 1878, the ally and friend of Archbishop Darboy of Paris at the First Vatican Council, led the efforts to have her canonised. She appealed to the Gallican sensibility. It was part of the rising nationalism and Catholic revival after the French Revolution.

The Academy of Fine Arts in Orléans commissioned this picture in 1852 for memorial celebrations for Joan of Arc in 1854, during the July Monarchy. Note the presence in the picture of the standard next to the fleur-de-lis, the symbol of the French monarchy. The picture was exhibited in Orléans then and in Paris at the large Ingres retospective at the International Exhibition in 1855.

Included as one of the figures who pay homage to Joan is Ingres himself (in the guise of a royal servant).

On the altar is King Charles VII`s gold crown.

At 74, Ingres was determined to show the triumph of France when Church and State were united.

Joan is cast here as a powerful woman warrior recalling the Roman personification for Fortune and Fortitude, and even personifications of Liberty and the Republic from the French Revolution

As well as triumphalism, there is also a mood of piety in the picture.

The left as well as the right also revered the memory of Joan of Arc. They saw her as one of the people standing up to the clergy and ultimately betrayed by them.

The debate prior to beatification in the Sacred Congregation of Rites was held on 15th November 1903 before Pope Pius X. It was closely fought. The problem was the lack of evidence as to her virtue and also, her behavious of standing up to the clergy at the trial and thereafter. However on 5th January 1904 (the birthday of Joan of Arc) Pope Pius X cut through the academic argument and announced that he was satisfied that Joan`s practice of all the virtues in a heroic degree was established.

She was beatified in 1909, a particularly difficult time for the French Church after the 1905 Law in regard to separation of Church and State.

In the First World War, the saint`s popularity increased. She was a symbol of the struggle to free France from subjugation.

On 16 May 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonised her.