Lumen Caritatis: Part II

Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, February 26 2008.

Daniele Crespi (1597 - 1630)

Il Digiuno di San Carlo Borromeo / The fasting of St Charles Borromeo (c. 1625)

Oil on canvas

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Passione, Milan

The single most famous painting of the Lombard Seicento and a masterpiece of Seventeenth century Italian painting is of St Charles Borromeo (2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) (above)

It is a remarkable painting.

It was commissioned by St Charles`s successor as Cardinal Archbishop, his cousin, Federico Borromeo (18 August 1564 – 22 September 1631)

The Church of Saint Mary of the Passion was first constructed in the 1480s. However it was St Charles Borromeo when Cardinal Archbishop who began the reconstruction and renovation of the Church which is its present state.

It was a painting of the Saint painted after he had been canonised in 1610

The work is composed totally in accordance with the presriptions of sacred art laid down by the Fathers of the Council of Trent. Those same prescrptions of sacred art upheld by both St Charles and his cousin Federico but from different perspectives.

The painting emphasises his simplicity of life, and his devotion to learning and to prayer.

It is an austere work reflecting the ascetic nature of the saint. Beside the Crucifix is the symbol of his high office as a Prince of the Church: his cardinal`s hat.

But the saint is seated at a plain wooden table. He is fasting on bread and water. He often so fasted. He died fasting. His face is long, wan and pale. He suffers physical privation. He is reading a weighty tome. In front of him is a large crucifix. He is concentrating on what he is reading. He is crying. He often wept when overcome reading the Passion of Our Lord.

Unknown to him he is being watched by two men in black. He is wrapt in concentration in his reading. He does not notice them

The figure of St Charles emerges from the darkness with the force of a powerful and intense light.

It is an intense and lifelike work wrought by an artist still in his twenties but was to die at the tragically young age of 33 years in the Great Plague of Milan in 1630

St Charles is portrayed as a model of the active Christian contemplative, efficient and able as an administrator, filled with a spiritual divine Love compelled to perform great charitable works in a society under occupation.

At that time Milan and its Duchy was rule by Spain. It had a Spanish Governor. Charles, a Milanese, an Italian, was the Ecclesiastical power but in accordance with the Spanish rule firmly under the domination of Spain.

He lived only 46 years, dying horribly of tuberculosis. But recognising his own vocation at an early age and acting on it, throwing himself totally into it, he achieved an immense amount which appears almost superhuman. His role as one of the main players at the Council of Trent and his putting into practice the edicts of the Council in his own Archdiocese were works and achievements of more than one lifetime.

It is in this painting by Crespi that we come to get more than a glimpse of the great soul that was St Charles Borromeo

And so it is that Pope Benedict XVI in his Letter commemorating the four hundredth anniversary of the Canonisation of the saint tries to sum up something of this man who was a spiritual Colossus.

The key to the achievement of the man was his own spiritual reform and renewal:

Pope Benedict XVI said:

"In a period obscured by many trials facing the Christian community, with divisions and doctrinal confusion, the clouding of the purity of faith and custom, and the bad example of many sacred ministers, Charles Borromeo did not limit himself to deploring and condemning, nor simply to expressing hope that others would change; rather, he began to reform his own life".

The Pope went on to say that during the episcopate of St Charles, the huge vast diocese of Milan became suffused with a torrent of sanctity which conquered the whole Christian peoples within the teriitory. The Pope asks how did he manage to entrance and conquer his people.

He answers it: St Charles lit up and entranced them with the burning of his Love, a divine Love which was a living and real experience. He brought to them the Face of God which attracted them and made them his.

The Love which St Charles had and exhibited was the Love of the Good Shepherd.

That Love still burns today and is still remembered and commemorated and celebrated.

This year the solemn Pontifical Mass commemorating the event was celebrated by the present Cardinal Archbishop of Milan (Tettamanzi), all the bishops of Lombardy, 250 priests and 5000 of the faithful within the Cathedral of Milan. It was an impressive occasion and centred around the preserved body of the Saint.

For a video of the Mass in the Cathedral of Milan see:

http://www.chiesadimilano.it/or4/or?uid=ADMIesy.main.index&oid=2620942

In the apse lies the body of the saint within the elaborate glass container. See below:

The paintings hanging from the walls of the Cathedral along the Nave are a series of canvases ("teloni") with Scenes from the Life of St Charles and the Miracles of St Charles (made 1602-1610). They were commissioned by Cardinal Federico Borromeo to celebrate the beatification of the Saint in 1602 and the canonisation in 1610. They were painted by Giovanni Battista Crespi (known as "Il Cerano" and the brother of Daniele Crispi) and Giulio Cesare Procaccini

The "taloni" are only exhiibited from 4th November to 6th January in each year

Lumen Caritatis: Part 1

4th November 2010 was the 400th anniversary of the Canonisation of Saint Charles Borromeo,(2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584), Cardinal Archbishop of Milan.

It was also the occasion for a Letter "Lumen Caritatis" from Pope Benedict XVI to the present Archbishop commemorating the great event.

Unfortunately the Vatican website has not got round to translating it into any other language than English yet

Englsih snippets are available from the Vatican Information Service

As a Bavarian, the Pope may have approached the task of writing the Letter to Cardinal Tettamanzi with more than a degree of trepidation. He must have been glad that it was off his desk and safely delivered to Milan and all without much fuss.

He must have had in mind the occasion of the last Papal Encyclical celebrating the Centenary of St Carlo Borromeo`s canonisation. It was issued in May 1910. It went down a storm. It made his Regensburg Speech look tame in comparison.

It was the Encyclical Editae Saepe (26th May 1910) issued by Saint Pope Pius X.

On the face of it it was to mark the 300th Anniversary of the Canonisation of the Saint. It was also meant to be a fierce attack on Modernism. It could also be interpreted as a scathing attack on the then Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, the now Blessed Andrea Carlo Ferrari (1850-1921) who was unfairly under suspicion of being too soft on "Modernism".

Another view of the 1910 Encyclical was it was an insulting attack on the German Reformation and the German Reformers. It was this view which led to major problems

In the Encyclical, Pius X honoured Borromeo as a model of a true reformer as distinct from "false reformers". False reformers such as Modernists and the German Reformationists were described as being in revolt against ecclesiastical authority and blind obedience to the Sovereign.

They were also described as "enemies of the Cross of Christ ... whose mind is looking for things temporal ... whose God is the stomach."

The quotation was from The Epistle to the Philippians and was standard fare of insult in the Reformation.

However it aroused deep anger and mass protest in Germany.

The Governments of Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony formally protested.

The German Roman Catholic episcopate were not pleased either as it hindered their attempts at interdenominational cooperation as well as causing major problems for the Catholic Centre Party.

As a result of such pressures, the Curia did not insist on official publication of the encyclical in Germany or that it was read from the pulpits in Germany. It backed down and retreated in the face of such diplomatic pressure.

The affair became known as that of the „Borromäus-Enzyklika“, Here are contemporary newspaper accounts of the reaction in Germany. The first, a popular cartoon by Albert Weisberger (1878 -1915) in the German Press. The second, how the matter was reported at the time by The New York Times.

Two Tourists at Santiago De Compostela

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez were amongst the pilgrims at the Papal Mass this weekend at the Cathedral of Santiago De Compostela in Spain

They were in Spain working on their latest movie "The Way", which is about the ancient pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Sheen `s father was originally from this region of Spain but emigrated to America.

In 'The Way,' Sheen plays a California doctor who struggles with the fact that his son has thrown in his studies to go off to travel the world. But after his son dies in a storm in the Pyrenees, Sheen flies to France and once there, decides to do the pilgrimage in his son's honour, scattering his ashes along the way.

The full story and video are on the Channel 4 website

In the interview with Channel 4, Sheen talks about the recent child abuse scandals

He said:

"If the Vatican ran out of dough and had to close up shop tomorrow, I'd still be a Catholic. Because I love the faith ...

The institution has a presence in the world but it's human and it's flawed and it's all-male, so it's bound to make some mistakes.

But the faith is something different. The faith is what the whole Church is about."

The Mass of Dedication of the Church of the Sagrada Familia and of the Altar

Today the Pope was in Barcelona to dedicate the Church of the Sagrada Familia and of the Altar

His Homily is on the Vatican website

Here are some video clips of the impressive ceremony in the most impressive setting.

He spoke of the ceremony of dedicaton of a Church and the importance of Beauty of and in a Church:

"What do we do when we dedicate this church?

In the heart of the world, placed before God and mankind, with a humble and joyful act of faith, we raise up this massive material structure, fruit of nature and an immense achievement of human intelligence which gave birth to this work of art.

It stands as a visible sign of the invisible God, to whose glory these spires rise like arrows pointing towards absolute light and to the One who is Light, Height and Beauty itself.

In this place, Gaudí desired to unify that inspiration which came to him from the three books which nourished him as a man, as a believer and as an architect: the book of nature, the book of sacred Scripture and the book of the liturgy.

In this way he brought together the reality of the world and the history of salvation, as recounted in the Bible and made present in the liturgy. He made stones, trees and human life part of the church so that all creation might come together in praise of God, but at the same time he brought the sacred images outside so as to place before people the mystery of God revealed in the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In this way, he brilliantly helped to build our human consciousness, anchored in the world yet open to God, enlightened and sanctified by Christ.

In this he accomplished one of the most important tasks of our times: overcoming the division between human consciousness and Christian consciousness, between living in this temporal world and being open to eternal life, between the beauty of things and God as beauty.

Antoni Gaudí did this not with words but with stones, lines, planes, and points. Indeed, beauty is one of mankind’s greatest needs; it is the root from which the branches of our peace and the fruits of our hope come forth. Beauty also reveals God because, like him, a work of beauty is pure gratuity; it calls us to freedom and draws us away from selfishness.

We have dedicated this sacred space to God, who revealed and gave himself to us in Christ so as to be definitively God among men.

The revealed Word, the humanity of Christ and his Church are the three supreme expressions of his self-manifestation and self-giving to mankind.

As says Saint Paul in the second reading:

“Let each man take care how he builds. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:10-11).

The Lord Jesus is the stone which supports the weight of the world, which maintains the cohesion of the Church and brings together in ultimate unity all the achievements of mankind. In him, we have God’s word and presence and from him the Church receives her life, her teaching and her mission.

The Church of herself is nothing; she is called to be the sign and instrument of Christ, in pure docility to his authority and in total service to his mandate. The one Christ is the foundation of the one Church. He is the rock on which our faith is built. Building on this faith, let us strive together to show the world the face of God who is love and the only one who can respond to our yearning for fulfilment.

This is the great task before us: to show everyone that God is a God of peace not of violence, of freedom not of coercion, of harmony not of discord. In this sense, I consider that the dedication of this church of the Sagrada Familia is an event of great importance, at a time in which man claims to be able to build his life without God, as if God had nothing to say to him.

In this masterpiece, Gaudí shows us that God is the true measure of man; that the secret of authentic originality consists, as he himself said, in returning to one’s origin which is God. Gaudí, by opening his spirit to God, was capable of creating in this city a space of beauty, faith and hope which leads man to an encounter with him who is truth and beauty itself.

The architect expressed his sentiments in the following words:

“A church [is] the only thing worthy of representing the soul of a people, for religion is the most elevated reality in man”.

Other websites and blogs will refer to the important other themes in his homily. They can be read on the Vatican website. But the themes in the passage quoted above are important enough to require a posting on their own.

Apostolic Journey to Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona

The Vatican website has a special webpage regarding the Pope`s Apostolic Journey to Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona (November 6-7, 2010) where his speeches and homilies in English and other languages are posted and in double quick time

Pope Benedict in Santiago de Compostela

 The Pope today in the Pilgrim of Santiago`s cape bearing the seashell and cross

Pope speaking today at the Shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela wearing the stole of Pope Leo XIII which he wore during his visit to Westminster Abbey in London earlier in the year

Marguerite d'Oingt and the New Feminism

Anton Woensam von Worms (before 1500 - 1541)

Christ on the Cross with Carthusian Saints

1535

Oil on Oak,

67 x 86,5 cm

Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne

It is said that Feminist Theology "represents one of the most significant movements within the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council."

In 1995 Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical Evangelium Vitae called for "a new Feminism". He said:

"In transforming culture so that it supports life, women occupy a place, in thought and action, which is unique and decisive. It depends on them to promote a “new feminism” which rejects the temptation of imitating models of “male domination,” in order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society, and overcome all discrimination, violence and exploitation." (Paragraph 99)

Other contributions to this new Feminism by Pope John Paul II include:

John Paul II, A Catechesis on the Book of Genesis: The Original Unity of Man and Women >(General Audience, November 7,1979),

John Paul II, Letter to Women (Letter, June 29, 1995),

John Paul II, Mulieris dignitatem, On the Dignity and Vocation of Women (Apostolic Letter, August 15, 1988),

John Paul II, Ordinatio sacerdotalis, On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone (Apostolic Letter, May 22, 1994),

Scholars who have contributed to the discussion regarding new Catholic feminism include Fr. Francis Martin, Janet Smith, Sr. Sara Butler, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Michele M. Schumacher, Sr. Prudence Allen, Pia de Solenni, Mary Ann Glendon, Mary Shivanandan, Alice von Hildebrand, and Monica Migliorino Miller

One of the most important and influential of these is Mary Ann Glendon who was the United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 2004 until 2009 and is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rights in international law. Glendon is currently the first female President of the Roman Catholic Church's official Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

She is a prolific writer. Here are links to some of her articles written for First Things and to one of her many articles on the new Catholic feminism: The Pope`s New Feminism >(Catholic Education Resource Center)


On Wednesday past (3rd November 2010) the Pope continued his catechesis on medieval women theologians and mystics. It is part of his contribution to the Catholic response to Secular Feminism (or the Old Feminism, as some might say)

This time the subject was Marguerite d'Oingt (c.1240 - 11th February 1310). This year was the 700th anniversary of her death.

A member of the Carthusian order, she was the fourth Prioress of the Carthusian monastery of Poleteins, in the Parish of Mionnay (Ain), near Lyon from 1288 until her death

The charterhouse where she resided was founded in 1238 by Marguerite de Bâgé. The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was set up by Marguerite to obtain God`s protection for her husband while he fought in Royal wars for the King

It was richly endowed by Marguerite with natural resources: lands, a lake, woodlands, vineyards and the like.

The lake was large and plentiful with fish

It was an unusual convent in that it was one of the few Carthusian institutions set up solely for women. It was the only one in the Region of the Ain. There were only two in France. Indeed outside the Grande Chartreuse, there were only six such establishments.

In the first few centuries the Convent was successful in its vocation : the contemplative life marked by solitude. In 1245 Pope Innocent V placed it under his special protection

Later by the middle of the 15th century, the discipline relaxed. By 1603, there was only one nun. In 1605 the Convent was dissolved and its personnel and assets were transferred to other Carthusian convents and monasteries.

In the Revolution its lands were sold and it became a farm.

The chapel of the Charterhouse was demolished in 1873 and replaced by a modern and large chateau which is still there

Why is Marguerite d'Oingt a significant figure ? The important point made by the Pope is:

" At first glance this figure of a Medieval Carthusian nun, as well as her life and her thought, seems distant from us, from our life, from our way of thinking and acting. But if we look at the essential aspect of this life, we see that it also affects us and that it would also be the essential aspect of our own existence."

We have a very little of her writings. What we have is derived from a strange manuscript now conserved in the Bibliothèque de Grenoble.

The manuscrpt consists of 38 leaves of parchment dating from the 14th century of which the last two leaves are blank. Each page written in ink consists of 25 lines in a fine hand. It is thought that the manuscript may have been penned by Marguerite herself.

She wrote in Latin and in Franco-Provençal.

Some writers have seized on her taking about Christ as "mother". This is only a tiny part of her work. In his talk the Pope has tried to restore balance to the evaluation and consideration of Marguerite and her writings:

"Marguerite's writings ... were inspired by the evangelical spirituality of Saint Bruno; they reveal her fine sensibility and her deep desire for God. Marguerite viewed life as a path of perfection leading to complete configuration to Christ, above all in the contemplation of his saving passion.

She imagined the Lord's life, his words and his actions, as a Book which he hold out to us, a Book to be studied and imprinted on our hearts and lives, until the day we read it from within, in the contemplation of the Blessed Trinity.

Marguerite's writings, filled with imagery drawn from family life, radiate a warm love of God and deep gratitude for his grace which purifies our affections and draws us more closely to him.

The life and writings of Marguerite d'Oingt invite us to meditate daily on the mystery of God's infinite love, revealed above all in the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, and to find in it the strength and joy to place our lives at his service and that of our brothers and sisters."

To use Marguerite and her writings as weapons in an ideological and partisan dispute would be a great pity. Much light, truth and wisdom running counter to the culture of her day and of today would be overlooked.

As a Carthusian, the life of Marguerite d'Oingt would have been very austere. Devoted wholly and essentially to a life of prayer, manual and intellectual work, she and her fellow nuns would not accept external help. The rule prescribed silence and they could only speak on few certain prescribed occasions. Their number was limited. Each nun occupied a cell which had a small garden. In their hermitage, there were few occasions in the day for meeting other nuns as they made their way from their cells by way of the common cloister to the chapel.

She said of her vocation that it was piety which made her become a Carthusian:

« C'est pour vous seul mon doux Seigneur, que j'ai quitté mon père, ma mère, mes frères et tous les biens de ce monde »

("It was for you alone, my sweet Saviour, that I left my father, my mother, my brothers and all my property of this world")

In her Meditations (written in Latin) she wrote:

"Sweet Lord, I left my father and my mother and my siblings and all the things of this world for love of you; but this is very little, because the riches of this world are but thorns that prick; and the more they are possessed the more unfortunate one is. And because of this it seems to me that I left nothing other than misery and poverty; but you know, sweet Lord, that if I possessed thousands of worlds and could dispose of them as I pleased, I would abandon everything for your love; and even if you gave me everything that you possess in heaven and on earth, I would not consider myself satiated until I had you, because you are the life of my soul, I do not have and do not want to have a father and mother outside of you" (Marguerite d'Oingt, "Scritti Spirituali," Meditazione II, 32, p. 59 Cinisello Balsamo, 1997).

Of interest to philologists are two remarkable sacred texts of hers in her native Lyonnais dialect. The first, entitled "Speculum" ("The Mirror")", describes three miraculous visions and their meanings.

The other work, "Li Via seiti Biatrix, virgina de Ornaciu" ("The Life of the Blessed Virgin Beatrix d'Ornacieux")", is a long biography of a nun and mystic consecrated to the Passion whose faith led to a devout cult. This text contributed to the beatification of the nun more than 250 years later by Pope Pius IX in 1869. See Catholic Encyclopedia, at Beatrix: VI. Blessed Beatrix of Ornacieux

For those who would wish to pursue their interest in studying her work might wish to consult

this website
Marguerite d`Oyngt. Oeuvres. Publiées d'après le manuscrit unique de la Bibliothèque de Grenoble (1877)

Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Renate (1997). "The Writings of Margaret of Oingt, Medieval Prioress and Mystic". (From series: Library of Medieval Women). Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85-991442-9

Death and Purgatory

Michel François Dandré-Bardon (1700-1783)

Saint Jacques intercédant auprès de la Vierge en faveur des âmes du Purgatoire
Saint James interceding through the Virgin in favour of the Souls of Purgatory

Oil on canvas

47 cm x 31.5 cm

Musée Magnin, Dijon

The oeuvre of Michel François Dandré-Bardon has only been rediscovered in the last twenty years. A pupil of both Jean-Baptiste van Loo and Jean-François de Troy, he spent five years in Rome and a further six months in Venice before returning to Paris where he was entered the Académie in 1735. He became its Director in 1778

In the course of his career he concentrated primarily on religious and mythological themes and, to a somewhat lesser extent, allegories and historical subjects.

But why few modern works of art on the subject of Purgatory ?

Why is Purgatory often ridiculed ? Perhaps the ridicule of and the avoidance of the subject is something to do with the fact that modern society feels it difficult to deal with the idea of death.

This was a point taken up in the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (December 2001)

"259. "Hiding death and its signs" is widespread in contemporary society and prone to the difficulties arising from doctrinal and pastoral error.

Doctors, nurses, and relatives frequently believe that they have a duty to hide the fact of imminent death from the sick who, because of increasing hospitalization, almost always die outside of the home.

It has been frequently said that the great cities of the living have no place for the dead: buildings containing tiny flats cannot house a space in which to hold a vigil for the dead; traffic congestion prevents funeral corteges because they block the traffic; cemeteries, which once surrounded the local church and were truly "holy ground" and indicated the link between Christ and the dead, are now located at some distance outside of the towns and cities, since urban planning no longer includes the provision of cemeteries.

Modern society refuses to accept the "visibility of death", and hence tries to conceal its presence.

In some places, recourse is even made to conserving the bodies of the dead by chemical means in an effort to prolong the appearance of life.

The Christian, who must be conscious of and familiar with the idea of death, cannot interiorly accept the phenomenon of the "intolerance of the dead", which deprives the dead of all acceptance in the city of the living.

Neither can he refuse to acknowledge the signs of death, especially when intolerance and rejection encourage a flight from reality, or a materialist cosmology, devoid of hope and alien to belief in the death and resurrection of Christ.

The Christian is obliged to oppose all forms of "commercialisation of the dead", which exploit the emotions of the faithful in pursuit of unbridled and shameful commercial profit."

Spe Salvi Facti Sumus — In Hope we were saved

It is November - the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

At the beginning of the month of November perhaps it is worth looking again at the Pope`s Encyclical Spe Salvi

It was signed at the end of November 2007. Perhaps Part III, paragraphs 41 - 48 should be looked at again

The Pope deal with the subjects of Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and last but not least Purgatory.

Perhaps in this month the following passages from this Part are relevant for contemplation,

"In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures; the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst.

We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced.

45. This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God."

Bonifazio Veronese (also known as Bonifazio de Pitati) (1487-1553)

Dives and Lazarus, or The Rich man and Lazarus 1540-1550

Oil on canvas

436 x 204 cm

Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

"The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory.

We do not need to examine here the complex historical paths of this development; it is enough to ask what it actually means.

With death, our life-choice becomes definitive — our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms.

There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell.

On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours—people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment what they already are.

46. Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life.

For the great majority of people —we may suppose— there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil—much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul.

What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur?"

Tom Phillips born 1937

Canto XII: [no title] 1981

Intaglio print, screenprint and lithograph on paper

image: 290 x 200 mm

Tate Britain, London

(Descending by a very rugged way into the seventh circle, where the violent are punished, Dante and Virgil find it guarded by the Minotaur; whose fury being pacified by Virgil, they step downward from crag to crag; till, drawing near the bottom, they see a river of blood, wherein are tormented such as have committed violence against their neighbour.)

William Blake 1757-1827

The Serpent Attacking Buoso Donati

From Illustrations to Dante's `Divine Comedy' 1824-7

Pen and ink and watercolour on paper

support: 372 x 527 mm

Tate Britain, London

(In Hell, Dante and Virgil see a thief, in the guise of a serpent ‘all on fire’, preparing to attack another thief, named Buoso de’Donati. Donati (right) is about to be punished by being turned into a serpent; we see his human life draining away into coldness. This is the seventh pit of the eighth circle, described in the Inferno)

"Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each person's particular circumstances. He does this using images which in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualize these images—simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it.

Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures.

If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues:

“Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15).

In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast."

William Blake 1757-1827

Dante and Virgil Approaching the Angel Who Guards the Entrance of Purgatory 1824-7

Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on paper

support: 527 x 373 mm

Tate Britain, London

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)

Buoncante da Montefeltro circa 1774-1778

Pen and ink and wash 475 x 353 mm

The British Museum, London

(The scene is from Dante`s Purgatory. Buonconte da Montefeltro was killed in battle in 1289, during Italy’s bloody civil wars. In Dante’s account, good and evil angels vie for his body briefly, but his soul is saved because of one final tear of repentance.)

"48. A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important for the practice of Christian hope.

Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC).

The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is common to the Eastern and Western Church. The East does not recognize the purifying and expiatory suffering of souls in the afterlife, but it does acknowledge various levels of beatitude and of suffering in the intermediate state.

The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today.

Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon? Now a further question arises: if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other?

When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone.

The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse.

So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain.

In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too. As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well."

William Blake 1757-1827

The Ascent of the Mountain of Purgatory 1824-7

Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on paper

support: 528 x 372 mm

Tate Britain, London

The Great Anti-Vivisectionist

Walery,(active 1884-1898). published by Sampson Low & Co

Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892), Roman Catholic Cardinal-archbishop of Westminster. July 1889

Carbon print on card mount,

9 7/8 in. x 7 1/8 in. (250 mm x 181 mm)

The National Portrait Gallery, London

The question of vivisection - the use of live animals in scientific experimentation - was a hotly debated question in Victorian England in the years 1850 -1890.

Darwin, while opposing unnecessary vivisection- approved of it in limited circumstances where it could be adequately demonstrated that there was more than a possibility of scientific advance as a result of such proper experiments. Otherwise he was of the view that vivisection "deserved detestation and abhorrence"

For a recent interesting article on the controvery and Darwin`s views see The Dispersal of Darwin‘s Guest Post – Defending the Sensible: Charles Darwin and the Anti-Vivisection Controversy.

During this time one of the leaders of the Anti-Vivisection Movement who was implacably opposed to any form of vivisection and under any circumstances was Henry Cardinal Edward Manning (1808–1892), the English Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.

He was one of the founders of the leading lobby of the day, the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection (now known as the National Anti-Vivisection Society) whose leaders included Lord Shaftesbury, Wilberforce, Lord Coleridge (the Lord Chief-Justice) and many others of the Great and the Good

The organisation of which Manning was a part was extremely successful.See Geoffrey Rivett, History of the NHS: Defining problems and debating solutions - 1860 -1889

Manning`s speeches against Vivisection can be read on the website of Catholic Concern for Animals here

They are filled with genuine passion on the subject.

He regarded it as a quintessential moral issue.

HIs attempts to change the official Vatican line on the matter met with no success. On 13th November 1891 he wrote to an acquaintance:

"As to Italy and Rome, I hardly know to whom to turn. My old friends are dying off. Some years ago I tried toget them to understand vivisection ; but they were imposed upon by surgeons and empirics."

The "official" view was that Man owed no duties to animals as animals were not capable of having rights. Whilst accepting this view he saw it differently. In a letter to Miss Cobbe, one of the leaders of the English Anti-Vivisection Movement, he wrote:

"on Vivisection to say that man owed no duty directly to the brutes, but he owed it to God, whose creatures they are, to treat them mercifully. ...The highest counsel is always the safest and best, cost us what it may. We may take the cost as the test of its rectitude. I hope you will go on writing against this inflation of vainglory calling itself Science."

He proposed the following syllogism:

"Truth of Nature must be sought only by methods in harmony with the perfection of Nature`s God. Mercy is one of the perfections of God. Vivisection is not in harmony with perfect Mercy. Therefore Truth must not be sought by vivisection."

In The Zoophilist 1st April 1887 he expressed his view in this way:

"It is perfectly true that obligations and duties are between moral persons, and therefore the lower animals are not susceptible of the moral obligations which we owe to one another; but we owe a seven-fold obligation to the Creator of those animals.

Our obligation and moral duty is to Him who made them and if we wish to know the limit and the broad outline of our obligation, I say at once it is His nature and His perfections, and among these perfections one is, most profoundly, that of Eternal Mercy.

And therefore, although a poor mule or a poor horse is not, indeed, a moral person, yet the Lord and Maker of the mule is the highest Lawgiver, and His nature is a law unto Himself.

And in giving a dominion over His creatures to man, He gave it subject to the condition that it should be used in conformity to His perfections which is His own law, and therefore our law"

Since Manning, the Catholic position on the treatment of animals has advanced. It does not embrace Manning`s absolutist position. But it is accepted that Man does in effect have duties towards animals. This is clear from the Catechism :

"Respect for the integrity of creation

2415 The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.

2416 Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.

2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons"

See also Deborah M Jones Animal Rights: Another Perspective  in FAITH Magazine March-April 2004

Église Notre-Dame de Fives, Lille: Death, Purgatory and Heaven

Bruno Chérier(1817-1880)

La Communion en viatique / The Viaticum

Oil on canvas

Église Notre-Dame de Fives, Lille

Bruno Chérier(1817-1880)

Les Âmes du Purgatoire / The Souls of Purgatory

Oil on canvas

Église Notre-Dame de Fives, Lille

« Avec les prières de mon rosaire plein les mains, je nourris les âmes du purgatoire».

(Paul Claudel, « La Maison fermée »)

Bruno Chérier (1817-1880)

La Cour céleste / The Celestial Court c 1873

Oil on canvas

Église Notre-Dame de Fives, Lille

From the 1850s until his death Bruno Chérier seems to have abandoned ambitions and modern life. He devoted himself to the decoration of churches in the North of France especially at Tourcoing, Lille and Loos

His works covered the whole gamut of Catholic religious art

He was one of the great number of religious artists who decorated Churches in France to a very high standard but nowadays he and his ilk are forgotten

Some of their works were destroyed in the First and Second World Wars, others through old age and yet others through renovations encouraged after the Second Vatican Council.

Now there is something of a comeback for Chérier and his fellow artists. There is a growing recognition of their great artistry and also the themes which they attempted to represent.

Interestingly the interest in these artists has started not with the Church authoritites but through art studies in the secular field which have highlighted the beauty and artistry of such works and has demanded the exhibition and conservation of such works.

Even more interestingly perhaps is the designation of such works as part of "la patrimonie" of France and in particular that of the region around Lille.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875)

Portrait de Bruno Chérier (1817-1880), peintre et ami de l'artiste (1874)

Oil on canvas

40.4 cm x 33 cm

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes

For more about Chérier see

Catherine Guillot, « L’exemple d’un décor religieux dans le nord de la France : Bruno CHERIER (1817-1880) et Notre-Dame-des-Anges de Tourcoing », In Situ, revue électronique de l’Inventaire, n° 1-2001. (Article in French)

Catherine Guillot, préface de François Rebichon, Bruno Chérier (1817-1880) Peintre du Nord, ami de Carpeaux, Septentrion Presses Universitaires, 2010, 112 p., 27 €. ISBN : 9782757401156.

Michèle Moyne, Catherine Guillot, Jacques Foucart, Du dessin au vitrail. Peintures et maîtres verriers du XIXe siècle au nord de la France, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, 2006, 80 p. 16 €. ISBN : 2-902092-19-9

Purgatory: Where Dante Meets Beatrice

Andrea Pierini 1798 - 1858

The Meeting of Dante and Beatrice in Purgatory 1853

Oil on canvas

141 x 179 cm

Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

In Canto 27 of Purgatory, Dante approaches the Garden of Eden with Virgil, his guide who has led him through Inferno and until now part of Purgatory.

The Garden of Eden lies at the summit of Mount Purgatory. It is the Earthly Paradise Allegorically, it represents the state of innocence that existed before Adam and Eve fell from grace – the state which Dante's journey up Mount Purgatory has been recapturing

But it is only the name and thought of Beatrice which inspires Dante to go through the flames of Purgatory

In Canto 30 of the Purgatory. Beatrice finally appeaars to Dante.

She is in a magnificant procession. It is the "climax" of his Divina commedia: Dante-pilgrim's long-awaited reunion with Beatrice.

She starts by rebuking and criticising Dante for what happened after her death.

She says to him,

“When I had risen from flesh to spirit and beauty and virtue had increased in me I was less dear to him and less welcome and he bent his steps in a way not true, following after false images of good… (Purgatorio 399).”

Beatrice takes on the role of guide and teacher for Dante in the last cantos of Purgatorio and then into Paradise.

"1 When the seven-starred Wain of highest Heaven--

2 which never sets and never rises

3 and never wore a veil of fog except for sin--

4 had made all in the procession mindful of their duty

5 (as lower down those seven stars direct

6 the helmsman making for his port)--

7 came to a stop, the chosen people

8 that first appeared between it and the griffin

9 turned toward the chariot as to their peace.

10 One of them, who seemed dispatched from Heaven,

11 sang out aloud three times: 'Veni, sponsa,

12 de Libano,' and all the others echoed him.

13 As quickly as from their graves at the last trumpet

14 the blessèd shall arise, their voices

15 rejoined to flesh in joyous Hallelujahs,

16 there, on the sacred chariot, rose up

17 ad vocem tanti senis, one hundred

18 ministers and messengers of life eternal.

19 All were chanting: 'Benedictus qui venis' and,

20 tossing flowers up into the air and all around them,

21 'Manibus, oh, date lilïa plenis!'

22 At break of day, I have seen the sky,

23 its eastern parts all rosy

24 and the rest serene and clear

25 even as the sun's face rose obscured

26 so that through tempering mist

27 the eye could bear it longer,

28 thus, within that cloud of blossoms

29 rising from angelic hands and fluttering

30 back down into the chariot and around it,

31 olive-crowned above a veil of white

32 appeared to me a lady, beneath a green mantle,

33 dressed in the color of living flame.

34 And in my spirit, which for so long a time

35 had not been overcome with awe

36 that used to make me tremble in her presence--

37 even though I could not see her with my eyes--

38 through the hidden force that came from her I felt

39 the overwhelming power of that ancient love.

40 As soon as that majestic force,

41 which had already pierced me once

42 before I had outgrown my childhood, struck my eyes,

43 I turned to my left with the confidence

44 a child has running to his mamma

45 when he is afraid or in distress

46 to say to Virgil: 'Not a single drop of blood

47 remains in me that does not tremble--

48 I know the signs of the ancient flame.'

49 But Virgil had departed, leaving us bereft:

50 Virgil, sweetest of fathers,

51 Virgil, to whom I gave myself for my salvation.

52 And not all our ancient mother lost

53 could save my cheeks, washed in the dew,

54 from being stained again with tears.

55 'Dante, because Virgil has departed,

56 do not weep, do not weep yet--

57 there is another sword to make you weep.'

58 Just like an admiral who moves from stern to prow

59 to see the men that serve the other ships

60 and urge them on to better work,

61 so on the left side of the chariot--

62 as I turned when I heard her call my name,

63 which of necessity is here recorded--

64 I saw the lady, who had just appeared

65 veiled beneath the angels' celebration,

66 fix her eyes on me from across the stream.

67 Although the veil, encircled with Minerva's leaves

68 and descending from her head,

69 did not allow me unrestricted sight,

70 regally, with scorn still in her bearing,

71 she continued like one who, even as he speaks,

72 holds back his hottest words:

73 'Look over here! I am, I truly am Beatrice.

74 How did you dare approach the mountain?

75 Do you not know that here man lives in joy?'

76 I lowered my eyes to the clear water.

77 But when I saw myself reflected, I drew them back

78 toward the grass, such shame weighed on my brow.

79 As a mother may seem overbearing to her child,

80 so she seemed to me, for the taste

81 of such stern pity is a bitter taste.

82 Then she fell silent and at once

83 the angels sang: 'In te, Domine, speravi,'

84 but did not sing past 'pedes meos.'

85 Even as the snow among those living beams

86 that grow along the spine of Italy is frozen

87 when blown and packed by the Slavonian winds

88 but then, dissolving, melts into itself

89 if the land that casts no shadow merely breathes,

90 acting like a flame that makes a candle melt,

91 just so was I with neither tears nor sighs

92 before they sang who always are in tune

93 with notes set down in the eternal spheres,

94 but, when their lovely harmonies revealed

95 their sympathy for me, more than if they'd said:

96 'Lady, why do you torment him so?'

97 the ice that had confined my heart

98 was turned to breath and water and in anguish

99 flowed from my breast through eyes and mouth.

100 As yet she stood, motionless,

101 on the same side of the chariot,

102 then turned her words to the pitying angels:

103 'You keep your watch in the eternal day

104 so neither night nor sleep deprives you

105 of a single step that time takes in its course.

106 'Therefore my response is made with greater care

107 that he who is weeping over there should listen,

108 so that his sin and sorrow be of equal measure.

109 'Not only by the working of the wheels above

110 that urge each seed to a certain end

111 according to the stars that cluster with them,

112 'but by grace, abundant and divine,

113 which rains from clouds so high above

114 our sight cannot come near them,

115 'this man in his new life potentially was such

116 that each good disposition in him

117 would have come to marvelous conclusion,

118 'but the richer and more vigorous the soil,

119 when planted ill and left to go to seed,

120 the wilder and more noxious it becomes.

121 'For a time I let my countenance sustain him.

122 Guiding him with my youthful eyes,

123 I drew him with me in the right direction.

124 'Once I had reached the threshold of my second age,

125 when I changed lives, he took himself from me

126 and gave himself to others.

127 'When I had risen to spirit from my flesh,

128 as beauty and virtue in me became more rich,

129 to him I was less dear and less than pleasing.

130 'He set his steps upon an untrue way,

131 pursuing those false images of good

132 that bring no promise to fulfillment--

133 'useless the inspiration I sought and won for him,

134 as both with dreams and other means

135 I called him back, so little did he heed them.

136 'He sank so low that every instrument

137 for his salvation now fell short

138 except to make him see souls in perdition.

139 'And so I visited the threshold of the dead

140 and, weeping, offered up my prayers

141 to the one who has conducted him this far.

142 'Broken would be the high decree of God

143 should Lethe be crossed and its sustenance

144 be tasted without payment of some fee:

145 his penitence that shows itself in tears.'

See

John Laskin The Entrance of Beatrice in Dante's Purgatorio: Revelation, Duality and Identity>; Carte Italiane, Department of Italian, UCLA, UC Los Angeles (1994)