The decline of Confession

Jean-Jacques Hauer 1751 - 1829

La confession de Louis XVI par l'abbé Edgeworth

1793

Oil on canvas

32.5 x 24.5 cm

Musée Lambinet, Versailles

There was a time when Catholics, even absolute monarchs, went to Confession regularly

Henry Essex Edgeworth (1745 – 22 May 1807), also known as L'Abbé Edgeworth de Firmont, was an Irish-born Catholic priest and confessor of Louis XVI

Here we see the final reconciliation before Louis XVI was taken out to the guillotine

Hauer was born in what we now call Germany but come to Paris where he resided until his death

During the French Revolution Hauer was a captain of the National Guard in the Section des Cordeliers. 

From his vantage point he witnessed many of the important events of the French Revolution and painted many of the historical scenes of those tumultuous times as part of the iconography of the "New Order"

But even in those turbulent times, the final confession before death was regarded as the last opportunity to become reconciled with God. Even vicious enemies would never deprive their victims of that opportunity. Only the most evil would

Such was the belief in sin, life after death and final Judgment

The controversial historian John Cornwell has recently written a book entitled The Dark Box - a history of Catholic confession

Professor Eamon Duffy, a much more distinguished and able historian wrote a review of the work in The Guardian

As usual Professor Duffy`s review is worth more and much more illuminating than the book which he reviews. Read the review.

Duffy  sets the scene:

"[I]n the years after the Second Vatican Council, those long queues dwindled to nothing, as Catholics in their millions simply stopped attending. Despite vehement attempts by John Paul II to promote its revival, frequent confession is now the custom of the few."

Both Cornwell and Duffy attempt to consider why there has been the  "exodus from the confessional queue"

Unfortunately Cornwell`s book focuses entirely on what Duffy describes as the use of the confessional for "dysfunctional sexuality"

While recognising that there is some truth in Cornwell`s claims, Cornwell`s thesis is utterly unbalanced:

"[H]is powerful, persuasive and disturbing book is not in fact a history of confession. 

It is instead an impassioned response to the crisis in the Catholic church over sexual abuse by clergy. Cornwell has a stark and challenging case to argue. 

Confession, he believes, has been on balance a malign institution, both religiously and psychologically. The obsessive emphasis of Catholic moral theology on sexual sin fostered joyless self-loathing among Catholics at large, while its rule-bound legalism propagated an infantile understanding of sin as mere contravention of external rules, rather than radical failure in virtue. 

The "dark box" itself was a well-intentioned innovation of the 16th century, designed to ensure that confessions were heard in church, not a priest's bedroom. 

Ironically, Cornwell argues, it provided an ideal environment – dark, intimate, where the priest sat judicially before the subjugated penitent – for clerical domination and the solicitation, seduction or sexual grooming of the young and vulnerable. 

And Cornwell sees Pope Pius X's decision in the early 20th century to extend the obligation to confess to children as young as seven as a moral disaster, putting them at the mercy of rogue clergy, teaching them to think badly of themselves, and to imagine God as "trivial, petulant" and "obsessed with cleanliness". ... 

Anyone who experienced a pre-conciliar Catholic upbringing will recognise the force of Cornwell's case. The exodus from the confessional queue speaks volumes for itself. 

Most clergy of course were neither prurient nor predators, but the institutional church has undoubtedly been far too interested in what the faithful do in bed. Yet Cornwell at times lays it on with a trowel. 

The fact is that, religious or otherwise, we are all far too interested in what people do in bed. Sex is a problem for the Catholic church because it is a problem for the human race. Human sexuality can be a source of life, joy and tenderness. But from the Trojan war to the poisonous antics of Jimmy Savileit is also the cause of some of the world's grossest ills, and in our society is routinely the locus of betrayal, infidelity and broken promises. "

Duffy criticises the one sided polemic of Cornwell. Cornwell ignores the matters other than sex which Confession was and is concerned about. He summarises his view thus:

"There are 10 commandments, and only two of them concern sex. 

The Dark Box doesn't discuss the thousands of catechisms and devotional works produced down the ages to help lay-people examine their consciences, but by and large those works treat sex with notable reticence, devoting far more space to other kinds of sin. 

The clergy who promoted the confessional from the 16th century onwards were indeed negative about sex, but they confronted communities where people were at least as liable to steal each other's corn, to gossip or lie, to fiddle the scales in their shops, and to settle their arguments with knives or bottles. 

The role of confession in moderating these sins, cultivating civility and a sense of right and wrong, is also a necessary part of the story. 

The Dark Box is a major contribution to the Catholic church's examination of conscience about the roots and circumstances of sexual abuse. But for a rounded historical assessment of confession itself, we will need to look for a different kind of audit."

Unfortunately for Cornwell there is one major error in his thesis. He makes out that until the Pontificate of St Pope Pius X, children did not make confession until adolescence. This is wrong

St Teresa of Lisieux for instance made her first confession at the age of six in 1879 (Pope Pius X only became Pope in 1903). See Biography   Infant Confession was a very common practice before Pius X issued Quam Singulari in 1910

As to what Quam Singulari was about, please see Cardinal Wright`s discussion on Infant Confession and Communion on the Vatican website here

From the discussion one can see that even as an Anglican, Blessed Cardinal Newman was in favour of the approach eventually allowed by Pope Pius X and which at the time of Newman was already an established practice and norm

The One Thing Needful

Paul-Alexandre-Alfred Leroy (1860 - 1942)

Jesus with Martha and Mary

1882

Oil on canvas

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen

This was Leroy`s first public work exhibited at the Salon in 1882 to great acclaim

He was later to be famous for his Orientalist works and this early work exhibits features of that work for which he was to become celebrated in his time

There is a Venetian or Middle Eastern  feel to the work but he did not set out on his foreign travels until 1882 when he did the Grand Tour to Italy including Venice

He is of course drawing on that  "library" of motifs of largely imagined works which indulged Western preconceptions of exotic Eastern interiors.

The effect is all through props and subtle suggestion

But the figure of Christ is central and what we see is the human Christ with his good friends and not the divine Christ. 

It is the Christ who walked on the earth and attracted people as his followers, someone whom we could wish that we would get to know and talk to and be with and be like. Someone we feel comfortable with

It is an imaginative glimpse of that figure we can only barely see and envisage through the dark and fragmentary writings about him in Scripture which we have

Of course the divine Christ was and is the human Christ and what is depicted is a facet of a many faceted person

It is of course only one man`s conception and as Pope Benedict XVI said about the works of writers who attempt a portrait of "the historical Jesus", it is limited and  only a reflection of the personality of the artist himself.

It is a very important caveat

To meet Jesus we have to make the journey ourselves through the Word

As regards what the scene depicts there is probably no better summary of the episode than that given by Pope Benedict XVI in one of his Angelus talks in Summer 2010:

"Martha and Mary are two sisters; they also have a brother, Lazarus, but he does not appear on this occasion. Jesus is passing through their village and, the text says, Martha received him at her home (cf. 10: 38). This detail enables us to understand that Martha is the elder of the two, the one in charge of the house. Indeed, when Jesus has been made comfortable, Mary sits at his feet and listens to him while Martha is totally absorbed by her many tasks, certainly due to the special Guest.  

We seem to see the scene: one sister bustling about busily and the other, as it were, enraptured by the presence of the Teacher and by his words. 

A little later Martha, who is evidently resentful, can no longer resist and complains, even feeling that she has a right to criticize Jesus: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me". Martha would even like to teach the Teacher! 

Jesus on the other hand answers her very calmly: "Martha, Martha", and the repetition of her name expresses his affection, "you are anxious and troubled about many things; only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her" (10: 41-42). 

Christ's words are quite clear: there is no contempt for active life, nor even less for generous hospitality; rather, a distinct reminder of the fact that the only really necessary thing is something else: listening to the word of the Lord; and the Lord is there at that moment, present in the Person of Jesus! 

All the rest will pass away and will be taken from us but the word of God is eternal and gives meaning to our daily actions."

There have been tomes written about this episode in the life of Christ

But it is a straightforward story simply told. 

There is a straightforward message

As Pope Benedict XVI said:

"[T]he human person must indeed work and be involved in domestic and professional occupations, but first and foremost needs God, who is the inner light of Love and Truth. 

Without love, even the most important activities lose their value and give no joy. Without a profound meaning, all our activities are reduced to sterile and unorganised activism. 

And who, if not Jesus Christ, gives us Love and Truth? "

And with his strokes and through his great talent and labour, Leroy says the same thing to us with apparent but deceptive ease

Lost Genius

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)

St Francis in prayer

c. 1655

Dark brown, grey and white oil paint on paper

34.5 x 22.7 cm

Royal Collection Trust  © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)

St Francis Embracing the Cross

c. 1655

Dark brown, red brown, grey and white oil paint on paper

39.8 x 28.3 cm

Royal Collection Trust  © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

Castiglione’s brother Paolo was a friar in the Franciscan Order

His series on the Franciscans has been described as the nearest thing to painting that is not painting

The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London presently have an exhibition of the works of the Italian Baroque Genoese artist  Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)

It is entitled Castiglione: Lost Genius.

Few have heard of him

He is called il Grechetto

Castiglione's great technical inventiveness and  his pioneering use of materials allowed him to create some of the most brilliant drawings and prints of the seventeenth century

He pioneered the oil sketch and invented the monotype

He has been called one of the most original draftsmen of the Baroque

His star fell after his death

In his time he was called The Second Rembrandt.

He trained in  Genoa, the influence of Rubens and Van Dyck, who had both worked there earlier in the century (and whose work is still very much present there) is visible in his work

Here are some of his other works in London:

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)

Preaching of Saint John the Baptist

Watercolour (red), oil (blue-grey) on paper

40 cm x 28.5 cm

The Courtauld Gallery, London

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)

God the Father watching over the new born Child

Ink, wash on paper

29.5 cm (sheet) x  20.2 cm (sheet)

The Courtauld Gallery, London

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)

Tobit burying the dead

Watercolour (brown), earth (red) on paper

39 cm x 51.6 cm

The Courtauld Gallery, London

Poverty

Jean Bourdichon (1457-1521)

Les quatre états de la société : l'homme misérable ou l'état de pauvreté

The four states of society: the man or the state of miserable poverty.

Paint and gilt on vellum parchment

17.4 x 13 cm

Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris

A pupil of the great  Jean Fouquet, Bourdichon served  four French monarchs:  Louis XI, Charles VIII, Louis XII and  François I

The depiction of poverty in art reflects how poverty is seen in society

There have been many studies on how different societies at different times have reacted to the poor in its midst

In 19th century France and Britain, the poor were criminalised. One sees this in the novels of Dickens as well as paintings such as this which depicts the operation of the Poor Law in France in the nineteenth century

Alfred Stevens 1823 - 1906

Ce qu'on appelle le vagabondage

1855

Oil on canvas

172 cm x  205 cm

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The background to this picture can be read here 

The poverty of Christ is the theme of the Pope`s Lenten message this year

He wrote:

"By making himself poor, Jesus did not seek poverty for its own sake but, as Saint Paul says “that by his poverty you might become rich”. This is no mere play on words or a catch phrase. 

Rather, it sums up God’s logic, the logic of love, the logic of the incarnation and the cross. 

God did not let our salvation drop down from heaven, like someone who gives alms from their abundance out of a sense of altruism and piety. 

Christ’s love is different! When Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan and was baptized by John the Baptist, he did so not because he was in need of repentance, or conversion; he did it to be among people who need forgiveness, among us sinners, and to take upon himself the burden of our sins. 

In this way he chose to comfort us, to save us, to free us from our misery. 

It is striking that the Apostle states that we were set free, not by Christ’s riches but by his poverty. Yet Saint Paul is well aware of the “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8), that he is “heir of all things” (Heb 1:2). 

So what is this poverty by which Christ frees us and enriches us? It is his way of loving us, his way of being our neighbour, just as the Good Samaritan was neighbour to the man left half dead by the side of the road (cf. Lk 10:25ff). What gives us true freedom, true salvation and true happiness is the compassion, tenderness and solidarity of his love ... 

In imitation of our Master, we Christians are called to confront the poverty of our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it."

The Apostles Creed

The Apostles Creed

1300

Illuminated Manuscript

Paris - Bibl. Mazarine - ms. 0924, f 150v

Mazarine Library, Paris

The rubric states: 'Duodecim articuli fidei editi a duodecim apostolis'; "Twelve articles of faith set out by twelve apostles"

Imitator of Maître Honoré 

The Apostles Creed

From "Somme le Roi"

1295

Illuminated manuscript

Paris - Bibl. Mazarine - ms. 0870, f. 005

Mazarine Library, Paris

The rubric states: "Comment li apostre font la credo"

The illustration in the book in the picture has the words of the Creed; "Credo in deum"

The Apostles Creed from Compost et calendrier des bergers

1493

Illuminated manuscript

Angers - BM - SA 3390, f. 039v-040

Public Library, Angers

In his Motu proprio Porta Fidei declaring The Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI explained the importance of the Creed, the profession of faith and the handing over or down of the faith, the creed:

"Not without reason, Christians in the early centuries were required to learn the creed from memory. It served them as a daily prayer not to forget the commitment they had undertaken in baptism.  

With words rich in meaning, Saint Augustine speaks of this in a homily on the redditio symboli, the handing over of the creed: 

“the symbol of the holy mystery that you have all received together and that today you have recited one by one, are the words on which the faith of Mother Church is firmly built above the stable foundation that is Christ the Lord. You have received it and recited it, but in your minds and hearts you must keep it ever present, you must repeat it in your beds, recall it in the public squares and not forget it during meals: even when your body is asleep, you must watch over it with your hearts.”[Sermo 215:1] ...

Confessing with the lips indicates in turn that faith implies public testimony and commitment.  

A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him. This “standing with him” points towards an understanding of the reasons for believing.  

Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes.  

The Church on the day of Pentecost demonstrates with utter clarity this public dimension of believing and proclaiming one’s faith fearlessly to every person. 

It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us fit for mission and strengthens our witness, making it frank and courageous. 

Profession of faith is an act both personal and communitarian. It is the Church that is the primary subject of faith. "

St Agatha, Martyr

Mariano Rossi (1731-1807)

The Martyrdom of St Agnes

Oil on canvas

61 x 36 cm

Musée du Louvre, Paris

Rossi was born in Sicily and trained in Naples and in Rome, eventually returning home

He had many religious art commissions in Sicily and from Rome

He died in Rome and is buried in the Church of Santa Susanna, the American Catholic church in Rome

St. Agatha was born in Catania, Sicily in the 3rd century A.D

During the persecution of the Roman Emperor Trajanus Decus (AD 249- 251), she rejected the love of the Roman governor Quintianus and like Saint Agnes, was thrown into a brothel. She was subjected to violent tortures before dying a martyr`s death

Patron of Catania, her devotion is very strong in Sicily

Giovanni e Battista Baschenis

Martirio di Sant’Agata,

1488

Fresco

Church of St Agatha, Commezzadura

Her story prompted many depictions of her fate throughout Europe

Jean Bellegambe (c 1470- c 1534)

The Martyrdom of St Agatha

Oil on wooden panel

60 x 44 cm

Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai

Jean Bellegambe was active in the Franco-Netherlandish border town of Douai, now part of Northern France but earlier under the rule of the counts of Flanders. He was influenced by both French and Flemish art 

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 - 1770

Martyrdom of Saint Agatha

1734

Oil on canvas

48.9 cm x 30 cm

The Courtauld Gallery, London

Guglielmo Caccia (1568 - 1625)

St Agatha

Oil on canvas

113,5 cm x 230 cm

Chiesa di S. Maria Annunciata, Milan

Blessed Pope John Paul II said in a homily on 1st October 1999:

"From her very origins, the Church, although conditioned by the cultures surrounding her, has always recognized the full spiritual dignity of women, beginning with the unique vocation and mission of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer.  

From the very start, Christians have turned to women such as Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia - as the Roman Canon attests - with no less fervour than that reserved for saintly men."

Some Scottish Saints

Stewart Carmichael (1867-1950)

The Meeting of Saint Kentigern and Saint Fergus

1940

Oil on canvas

134 x 101 cm

The Orchar Collection,  Dundee Art Galleries and Museums, Dundee

Stewart Carmichael (1867-1950)

A Scottish Saint Praying at the Feet of Christ

1922

Oil on canvas

62 x 51 cm

University of Dundee Fine Art Collections, Dundee 

Robert Inerarity Herdman (1829-1888)

Saint Columba Rescuing a Captive

1883

Oil on canvas

177.8 x 269.2 cm

Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland

Nicolas de Largillière (1656 – March 20, 1746)

Saint Margaret (c.1045–1093), Queen of Scotland

1692 

Oil on canvas

135 x 103 cm

The National Trust, Sizergh Castle, near Kendal, England

Between 1888 and 1891 Carmichael travelled and studied in Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and Siena before returning to Dundee. 

He was intensely interested in Scottish literature and history.

Herdman was born at Rattray, Perthshire. He came under the influence of Robert Scott Lauder (1803-1869). Between 1855 and 1856 he spent the best part of the year in Italy, painting Italian peasant scenes in both oil and watercolour.

The French Roccoco artist Nicolas de Largillière trained in Antwerp and London, where he admired the work of Rubens

He was at the court of Charles II and of James II in England before returning to France after the Glorious Revolution. He established a great reputation as a painter of historical scenes and of portraits and was a favourite of Louis XIV

For St Kentigern (St Mungo) see here

For St Columba see here

For St Fergus see here

For St Margaret of Scotland see here and also here

Church as Boat

Fragment of a Sarcophagus with a Mystical Boat

c  AD 300

Marble, from the wall of Spoleto

20 x 46 x 7.5 cm

Pius Christian Museum, Vatican Museums, Vatican City

The photograph is from the website of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums

Of this small insignificant work, the Vatican Museums have written a meditation on the Church as a ship or boat, an image or metaphor which goes back to the earliest times of the Christian Church

"This small fragment on the top of the sarcophagus, from the beginning of the IV century, can be linked to the many maritime images that can often be found in ancient Greco-Roman art, and often used in the decoration of sarcophagi.  

One can see a boat with a slim prow and a low hull, navigated by a pilot with a full head of hair and rich clothing, while three rowers covered only with loincloths follow his orders. The ship moves over a choppy sea, while on the right one can just make out the remains of the base of a lighthouse.  

Inscriptions placed as captions next to the figures clarify the men’s identities: the pilot on the right is Iesus, Jesus - which can be guessed at from the iconography of the Apollinian face, even if vague - and the rowers who are instead, from left to right, Marcus, Lucas and Iojannes, the names of the three Evangelists, which leads us to expect for the sake of coherence, past the fracture, the presence of the fourth Evangelist, Matthew. 

The generic boat which appears on many sarcophagi and on ancient inscriptions thus receives, on this fragment, its truest identity: in fact it represents the Church, who, like the ship in the calm after the storm (cf. Mt 8:23-27 et seq), “she is disquieted "in the sea," that is, in the world, "by the waves," that is, by persecutions and temptations; the Lord, through patience, sleeping as it were, until, roused in their last extremities by the prayers of the saints, He checks the world, and restores tranquillity to His own” (Tertullian, De Baptismo, 12, 8).  

In the Letter addressed to James (14:1), at the beginning of his Homeliae (1, 14), the author of the Pseudo-Clementines also states that “the entire body of the Church looks like a great ship, which transports men from faraway places in a violent storm”. He points out also that Christ is this ship’s pilot - as our fragment clearly shows - the bishop is the look-out, while the deacons, the priests and the catechists are the rowers.  

Even Hippolytus of Rome picks up (De antichristo, 59) the same analogy, restating that “the sea is the world; the Church, like a ship, is rocked by the currents, but not submerged: in fact it has an expert pilot, Christ”, while “it has the two Testaments as its rudders”. 

Other Fathers underline the meaning of the various parts of this ship, in particular referring to the main mast, which symbolizes by its shape the Cross, however we would like to underline here the reference to the Scriptures proposed by Hippolytus and the importance given by Clement, about the composition of the crew of the ship, to the catechists: these in fact teach the faith to the faithful, and primarily based on the Scripture and the Gospels, and are the true protagonists in the work of spreading and understanding the “good news” of salvation.  

The evangelists who push the boat guided by Christ, can not but refer to the invitation that Jesus addresses to His followers at the end of the evangelical story: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:15); “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). 

The boat rowed by the evangelists and guided by Christ to the port of salvation is also, in conclusion, an effective image of the unstoppable spreading of the Christian message (the kérygma, using a Greek word), of that evanghélion, the good news, which, when embraced leads to salvation (baptism, as the beginning of a new life), and which, thanks to the capillary spreading of the evangelical texts, was carried - truly by the ways of the sea - to the banks of the ancient world."

Here is a Baroque rendering of the theme from Herman Saftleven illustrating a particular episode from Scripture: Jesus used Andrew and Peter's boat to preach to the crowds, and then led the fishermen to a miraculous catch of fish. Luke 5: 1-10 After this he called on them to be fishers of men.

In Mark 1, and Matthew 4 there is a different version but Jesus` call to Simon Peter  and Andrew is “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Herman Saftleven 1609 - 1685

Christ Teaching from Saint Peter's Boat on the Lake of Gennesaret

1667

Oil on oak

46.7 x 62.8 cm

The National Gallery, London

Mystici Corporis Christi

Jules Breton 1827 - 1906

Bénédiction des blés en Artois

1857

Oil on canvas

130 x 320 cm

Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Arras, Arras

In the nineteenth century, despite or because of the drive from rural agriculture to urban industrialisation, there was a revival of the Doctrine of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ

Pictures show as these illustrated the close connection between rural areas and Catholicism especially in Brittany and Normandy, areas which had resisted the French Revolution at great cost

It was a popular Catholicism with very deep roots

In the towns and cities with greater change and movement, things proceeded at a different pace and in a different way

Metropolitans and intellectuals from an outside point of view could only look at such processions and try to explain them in anthropological terms

It was the view point of the scientist looking at specimens under a microscope

By its very nature there had to be separation between examiner and examinee and a certain attitude of mind of the examiner towards the examinee

In Mystici Corporis Christi (1943), Pope Pius XII  rejected absolutely a rationalistic or purely sociological understanding of the Church: simply a human organization with structures and activities. The Church is more: it is guided by the Holy Spirit

He also rejected an  exclusively mystical understanding of the Church because a mystical “Christ in us” union would deify its members and mean that the acts of Christians are simultaneously the acts of Christ

He emphasised the comparison of the Church as the "mystical body of Christ" was a metaphor, an important metaphor, but subject to limitations

This view came to be superseded by the image of the Church as "The People of God" in and during and after  the Second Vatican Council

Later came the concept of Church as "Communion"

The picture above really illustrates all three visions to a certain extent

There is also that most important element in the work - empathy - which is absent in a purely so called "scientific study"

Before his retirement in February 2013, Pope Benedict XVI talked about these three concepts: metaphors and visions of the Church, how they developed  and how they are all linked

"We know that the First Vatican Council was interrupted because of the Franco-Prussian War, and so it remained somewhat one-sided, incomplete, because the doctrine on the primacy – defined, thanks be to God, in that historical moment for the Church, and very necessary for the period that followed – was just a single element in a broader ecclesiology, already envisaged and prepared. 

So we were left with a fragment. And one might say: as long as it remains a fragment, we tend towards a one-sided vision where the Church would be just the primacy. So all along, the intention was to complete the ecclesiology of Vatican I, at a date to be determined, for the sake of a complete ecclesiology. 

Here too the time seemed ripe because, after the First World War, the sense of the Church was reborn in a new way. As Romano Guardini said: "The Church is starting to reawaken in people’s souls", and a Protestant bishop spoke of the "era of the Church". 

Above all, there was a rediscovery of the concept that Vatican I had also envisaged, namely that of the Mystical Body of Christ. People were beginning to realize that the Church is not simply an organization, something structured, juridical, institutional – it is that too – but rather an organism, a living reality that penetrates my soul, in such a way that I myself, with my own believing soul, am a building block of the Church as such. 

In this sense, Pius XII wrote the Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi as a step towards completing the ecclesiology of Vatican I. 

I would say that theological discussion in the 1930’s and 1940’s, even in the 1920’s, was entirely conducted under the heading Mystici Corporis. It was a discovery that brought so much joy at that time, and within this context emerged the formula: We are the Church, the Church is not a structure; we Christians, all together, we are all the living body of the Church. 

And naturally, this obtains in the sense that we, the true "we" of believers, together with the "I" of Christ, are the Church; every single one of us, not a particular "we", a single group that calls itself Church. No: this "we are Church" requires me to take my place within the great "we" of believers of all times and places. 

Therefore, the primary idea was to complete ecclesiology in a theological way, but also in a structural way, that is to say: besides the succession of Peter, and his unique function, to define more clearly also the function of the bishops, the corpus of bishops. And in order to do this, the word "collegiality" was adopted, a word that has been much discussed, sometimes acrimoniously, I would say, and also in somewhat exaggerated terms. 

But this word – maybe another could have been found, but this one worked – expressed the fact that the bishops collectively are the continuation of the Twelve, of the corpus of Apostles. We said: only one bishop, the Bishop of Rome, is the successor of a particular Apostle, namely Peter. All the others become successors of the Apostles by entering into the corpus that continues the corpus of the Apostles. Hence it is the corpus of bishops, the college, that is the continuation of the corpus of the Twelve, and thus it has its intrinsic necessity, its function, its rights and duties. 

To many this seemed like a power struggle, and maybe some were thinking of their power, but substantially it was not about power, but about the complementarity of the different elements and about the completeness of the corpus of the Church with the bishops, the successors of the Apostles, as structural elements; and each of them is a structural element of the Church within this great corpus. 

These, let us say, were the two basic elements – and in the meantime, in the quest for a complete theological vision of ecclesiology, a certain amount of criticism arose after the 1940’s, in the 1950’s, concerning the concept of the Body of Christ: the word "mystical" was thought to be too spiritual, too exclusive; the concept "People of God" then began to come into play. 

The Council rightly accepted this element, which in the Fathers is regarded as an expression of the continuity between the Old and the New Testaments. In the text of the New Testament, the phrase Laos tou Theou, corresponding to the Old Testament texts, means – with only two exceptions, I believe – the ancient People of God, the Jews, who among the world’s peoples, goim, are "the" People of God. 

The others, we pagans, are not per se God’s People: we become sons of Abraham and thus the People of God by entering into communion with Christ, the one seed of Abraham. 

By entering into communion with him, by being one with him, we too become God’s People. 

In a word: the concept of "the People of God" implies the continuity of the Testaments, continuity in God’s history with the world, with mankind, but it also implies the Christological element. Only through Christology do we become the People of God, and thus the two concepts are combined. 

The Council chose to elaborate a Trinitarian ecclesiology: People of God the Father, Body of Christ, Temple of the Holy Spirit. 

Yet only after the Council did an element come to light – which can also be found, albeit in a hidden way, in the Council itself – namely this: the link between People of God and Body of Christ is precisely communion with Christ in Eucharistic fellowship. This is where we become the Body of Christ: the relationship between People of God and Body of Christ creates a new reality – communion. 

After the Council it became clear, I would say, that the Council really discovered and pointed to this concept: communion as the central concept. I would say that, philologically, it is not yet fully developed in the Council, yet it is as a result of the Council that the concept of communion came more and more to be the expression of the Church’s essence, communion in its different dimensions: communion with the Trinitarian God – who is himself communion between Father, Son and Holy Spirit – sacramental communion, and concrete communion in the episcopate and in the life of the Church."

The Good Samaritan in Rome

Martin van Heemskerck (1498-1574)

View of Rome with the Good Samaritan

c.  1550

Oil on panel

71,5 x 97 cm

Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem

Heemskerck presents an unusual rendition of the parable in Luke 10:29–37

A traveller is beaten and robbed by bandits who leave him for dead on the road. A priest and a Levite pass by without stopping. 

Only a Samaritan, a people the Jews regarded as ungodly, came to help him.

But the setting is not the Jericho-Jerusalem highway, it is on the outskirts of Rome in the sixteenth century

Heemskerck was a pupil or assistant of Jan van Scorel,  from whom he learnt an Italianate style. 

His understanding of Italian and ancient art was intensified by a visit to Rome in 1532-6, when he recorded the monuments of the city in a series of famous drawings.

He used these drawings many times in his works when he returned to Haarlem and in his later career

The context of his visit to Rome is important. It was after the Sack of Rome in 1527 when the Emperor`s troops had ransacked the city slaughtering thousands. 

Clement VII was in the last years of his reign which had been a disaster for the Papal States as well as the Catholic Church. He was a broken reed

Law and order had broken down.

Pope Paul III became Pope on 13 October 1534 until  his death in 1549. 

He was to convene the Council of Trent in 1545

The imperative was peace between the Emperor and the King of France. There was a 10 year truce. Religious reform was also required

In his reign he was to encourage and support the Capuchins, Barnabites, Theatines, Jesuits, Ursulines, and many religious orders

It seemed to be a religious renaissance

However Paul III was followed by Julius III (reigned 7 February 1550 to his death in 1555), a compromise candidate who was weak and pusillanimous and whose administration was racked by scandal

In this work Rome is seen as the new Jerusalem but one where the word of God requires to be preached and put into effect

But there is perhaps a more general message applicable to all places and all times

This was seen in the Holy Father`s recent message for World Communications Day:

"What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord, to encounter others in the light of the Gospel?  In spite of our own limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another?   

These questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbour?” (Lk 10:29).  This question can help us to see communication in terms of “neighbourliness”.   

We might paraphrase the question in this way: How can we be “neighbourly” in our use of the communications media and in the new environment created by digital technology?  

I find an answer in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication.  Those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours.   

The Good Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead on the side of the road; he takes responsibility for him.  Jesus shifts our understanding: it is not just about seeing the other as someone like myself, but of the ability to make myself like the other.   

Communication is really about realizing that we are all human beings, children of God.  I like seeing this power of communication as “neighbourliness”. 

Whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable, who was beaten by robbers and left abandoned on the road.  The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbour, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance.  

In those days, it was rules of ritual purity which conditioned their response.  Nowadays there is a danger that certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real neighbour. 

It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters. "