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The Flowers from the Feast of the Presentation on February 2nd

Christ.presentation.1After comments from Nancy F. on the last gardening article, who mentioned that snowdrops are the flower for the Feast of the Presentation, here are some snowdrops from the garden in England where I am at the moment. They are living up to their attribution: these photos were taken this past Monday, on February 2nd the day of the feast and they are at their peak. The other winter/early spring bulbs, in contrast are not yet there. As you you can see the crocuses are coming next but not yet in flower and the daffodils are just hard buds. My original intention was to post these photographs with a tongue-in-cheek caption aimed American readers in New England and the mid-West who are under feet of snow at the moment. I thought a comment such as, 'these are the only snow drops you will see in England' might be amusing...then we had some snow ourselves. It had just melted when I took these photos. Now, my wife tells me, the forecast is for more snow tomorrow. Serves me right I guess. And so much for global warming...if only it were so!

So here are the flowers in question. This is not a large garden. They are growing up out of a patch of lawn in the front that is perhaps 15ft square, but they add hugely to the enjoyment of going out in the  morning! The drawing of the icon for the Feast of the Presentation is mine and heads one of the chapters in the book, the  Little Oratory.

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The Work of Michael Matheson Miller

poverty-inc-poster-525x735I would like to draw your attention to what Michael Miller is doing and his blog at michaelmathesonmiller.com. I met Michael when I attended the Acton University the annual conference of the Acton Institute, which is devoted to promoting faith, freedom and prosperity through the free economy. Acton University is open to all and is taking place again this year and I would recommend it to all who are interested in how faith, freedom and the flourishing of the human person, including economic prosperity, are connected.

He is a research fellow at the Acton Institute and is an inspiring speaker. He is particularly interested in the interaction between capitalism and culture. He is aware of the accusation that is often made against the free market economy, that even if we allow for the fact that it promotes economic prosperity, it stultifies the culture. I do not believe this and Michael is someone who speaks eloquently to counter this. I have include a link to a video of a talk by him entitled Does Capitalism Destroy Culture. Listen particularly to his descriptions of the different types of capitalism and why some forms are bad, and some are good. It may surprise some to hear an advocate of the free market state that the United States does not represent a free market economy. The text is on is website here along with a list of longer articles he has published.

Michael is devoted to working towards the alleviation of poverty in the undeveloped world particularly by promoting entrepreneurial solutions. He has recently been a key part of a team that has made a film that is attracting a lot of attention called Poverty Inc. which has the strap line Fighting poverty is big business, but who profits most?. This is an award winning documentary that describes how the West's traditional approach to helping the developing world - foreign aid - has actually caused more problems than it has solved. The answer, it argues, it to promote entrepreneurial solutions. The trailer for this is here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrUIDu5SfKU

His talk at Acton on Capitalism is below here

http://youtu.be/e25PvN9c6Ik

Here is a radio interview by Bill Frezza on the Real Clear Radio Hour. In this is discusses the video. He also talks well about Catholic social teaching in relation to this and how we might interpret the recent statements by Pope Francis about capitalism. The link to the podcast is here.

Don't forget...the Way of Beauty online course, for credit, continuing ed. units or for audit. Read more on Online Courses page on this blog or sign up by going to Pontifex University's homepage, here, go to Catalog

Announcing the Way of Beauty Online Course for College Credit

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance. 

Have you ever wondered why this painting by Vermeer is still admired by so many centuries after it was painted...

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Or why Christ Crowned with Thorns by the 15th century Italian artist Fra Angelico can draw thousands of people to an exhibition in New York...

Fra Angelico

Yet they blew this building up less than 50 years after it was built?

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Why do you think this 18th-century mass housing has become a holiday destination...

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while few wanted even to walk close to this 20th century mass housing, let alone live there, even a decade after it was built?

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A significant reason, I suggest, is that the beauty in their forms, or the lack of it, makes them desirable or undesirable and this in turn affects their utility. Beauty and utility are inseparable. The form of these paintings and buildings are reflections of the worldview of those who created them, which are in turn a manifestation of the culture of the society they lived in. Although not all the were made for the liturgy, the forms are profoundly connected to how people in that society worship, as with the whole culture, for this is what shapes all that we believe most powerfully.

If you want to understand how all these things are connected, and how the forms of Western culture are connected to the way in which a society worships and most profoundly the Sacred Liturgy, then you you will find answers in the online course, the Way of Beauty, which can now be taken for college credit.

Sign up here, follow the link and go to the Catalog

The Way of Beauty online has been available since the Fall in reduced form for audit or continuing education units. Both courses have the 12-part TV series, the Way of Beauty, made with Catholic TV at the core. I have now expanded and enhanced the material for college credit, so that it is a much more thorough and deep investigation into the roots of Western culture. It  is accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts  and is available through www.Pontifex.University. Mine are the first courses for this new education platform which has been created to provide courses that guarantee fidelity to the teachings of the Church in every course it offers.

Have you ever wondered what exactly connects the cosmos to the liturgy and Western culture? Or how, precisely, the patterns of musical harmony, the cosmos and the liturgy are connected to the proportions of beautiful buildings and paintings?

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Would you like to know how to be formed, or to educate others, so as to apprehend and create beauty as great artists always were in the past; and why should this formation should be part of every education?

The photograph above is of a college chapel at Cambridge University. Do you know why they made a college chapel look more beautiful than a modern Catholic cathedral, and spent so much time making even the libraries of colleges beautiful in the past? It is not simply ostentatious display, as some might suggest, it is linked directly to a deep understanding of the nature of education.

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If these are the sorts of questions that you think about when you look at, for example, the contrast betwen modern and traditional cultures, then I think you are going to find this course fascinating. The course draws on the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Church Fathers from Boethius, Augustine and Aquinas through to Newman, John Paul II and Benedict XVI...and on the methods and practices of  those who have created objects of beauty through centuries.

For more information feel free to contact me through this website, go to the Online Courses page on this website or go direct to the Catalog at www.Pontifex.University.

This is so much more than an art history course...it does precisely what the Church tells us all education should: an 'integral formation through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance' (The Catholic School26; pub the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, 1977)

Sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

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The English Flower Garden in the Dead of Winter

Some readers may remember occasional bulletins with pictures of my parents' garden in Willaston in Cheshire in England. This is what it looked like in the summer. England 2013 - 3

You can see more photos of the garden in summer in a past posting called A Garden is a Lovesome Thing, God Wot. Now, visiting this past December it looks very different. Because this is an herbacious border planted predominantly with perennials, which die back in winter and then regrow from roots and tubas in the spring. I can remember when I was young seeing everything cut to the ground in the autumn. However, the garden in Willaston looks like this.

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When I asked my dad, if he was planning to cut everthing back at some time, he told me that he was in no hurry. He felt that the dead stalks and flower heads had a different sort of beauty and so would leave it until they start to shoot again in the early spring.

So even in winter there a beauty to this, and it can be enjoyed provided you can view it from the warmth of being indoors - in the conservatory with large glass windows.

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and here is the summer view

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and back to winter again....the sages retain some greenness even at this time of year.

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Scientific Evidence that Man is Made to Worship God?

Kneeling-and-PrayingI recently came across this article in Breitbart.com which describes how recent studies have shown that those who attend religious services regularly are happier than those who don't. Interestingly the study, as far as I can tell from the article, indicates that the practice of the religious aspects of the faith ie attending church, are critical. It is not just what you believe that is important, but also the practice of the faith and more than anything else the regular attendance at services as a contributory factor to happiness, as measured in this study. (I always wonder whether if these studies have any value, I must admit, wondering how accurately you can measure happiness, but for argument's sake, I will take the results at face value here.) The article, presumably reflecting thoughts of the scientists who made the study, goes on to the consideration of why people are happier if the go to services regularly and admitted they found it puzzling. They hypothesized about whether or not it is the fact that those who attend religious services are more likely to be involved in the community and so the additional social support makes people happier. But then point out that that this doesn't seem to be the reason because they found that those people with a similar level of community involvement reported lower levels of happiness if they did not attend religious services as well.

I haven't read the full study, only the newspaper article about it, so there may be aspects of this study missing, but based upon what I read, this is what is interesting to me about the analysis. There appears to be an assumption that the explanation must relate to the impact of human relationships. There appears to be no consideration of the possibility that what the religions themselves might have to say about why people are happier, is true. That is, that God exists and if we worship Him we are happier. Always, it seems, it is assumed that he doesn't and the explanation must be psychological.

There is an alternative hypothesis, that is probably the one the scientists would have been given if they had asked any one of the thousands whom they observed going to the religious ceremonies under consideration. That is that there is truth in what they believe about God. The religious ceremony is part of the expression of a relationship with God, and it is the flourishing of that relationship which causes greater happiness.

For Catholics, I suggest, it should be no surprise that this is what the study showed (other things being equal) for the Church says that the worship of God is 'summit'' of human life. In other words, the purpose of human existence, to which all other activities and goal ultimately conform if we want to be happy, is the worship of God. At first glance, this research is consistent with the idea.

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There may well be many other possible psychological reasons for the survey results and the properly scientific approach is to consider each one and investigate it. Anyone who is genuinely interested in the search for truth would have to consider, at least, in addition those hypotheses that rest upon an assumption that there is a God, just as much as those that rest upon an assumption that there isn't.

The difficulty with the God-hypothesis, if I can call it that, is that it is beyond the realm of what natural science can investigate. As soon we enter into consideration of that which is “beyond the physical” (from Greek we use for this the term “metaphysical”), we move out of the realm of physics and into that of philosophy as the word is used today. (In the past natural science would have just been a subdivision of philosophy). This causes problems for many. To acknowledge the possibility of a realm of existence beyond the physical challenges a dogma of the modern age  - scientism. Scientism is a philosophical viewpoint held by many people in the West, which says that only that which can be proved by natural science is true. That is, if you can’t prove it scientifically, it isn’t true. This philosophical viewpoint is not in itself scientifically provable, it is just an assumption, and so contains within it the logical contradiction that disproves it.

The other point that many, even scientists, do not know is that natural science can never prove the existence of God. Because of the underlying assumptions behind the scientific method - especially that it is investigating only those things that obey the natural order - natural science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God who by definition is not bound by the natural order. It cannot speak on the subject at all. Science assumes that the whole universe conforms to this order and does not take into account any other form of existence.

This is not to disparage the value of science, rather just to be aware of its limits. I for one am very glad that the scientific method, based upon these limiting assumptions, we developed. For this is part of what opened up the natural world to the great advances in science; and I enjoy the fruits of modern science in almost every area of my everyday life. Science, as we understand the term today, is a good thing. However, this will only be so provided that we are aware of the limitations that the assumptions that underlie the scientific method place on it's power as a tool for investigating truth; and do not depend on it to help us in areas that are beyond its scope.

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My Latest Liturgy of the Hours Travel Kit

The new Universalis app; Lumen Christ Hymnal; St Dunstan's Psalter plus the Way of Beauty psalm tones. I have recently travelled to England again and as usual had to decide what books I could pack into my suitcase. I couldn't put even one of the volumes of the British Liturgy of the Hours in - to cumbersome to be travelling with and likely to get damaged as I take it in and out of the suitcase seven times a day!

So I brought the following with me:

The Universalis app: just before travelling I discovered that Universalis now have an app, which means I could download it onto my smartphone and get an Office at any time and anywhere without accessing the internet. This didn't appear in the photo above because my smart phone is also my camera! Get it here.

The Lumen Christi Hymnal: this is a great resource, carefully compiled by Adam Bartlett. Elegant translations of the traditional Latin Office hymns that are translated so that they fit ancient modal tunes. Hymns for the four weekly cycle of the Office, for the main feasts of the calendar and for the commons. There is enough repetition that you get a chance to learn things, but enough variation so that you don't get bored. If you can't sight read (like me), then here's another use for the smart phone. I downloaded a keyboard app and use that to tap out the melodies when I am learning them. Get it here. My review of this book is here.

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 The St Dunstan's Psalter If you can squeeze this in it is well worth it. This is the translation of the psalms used by the Anglican Ordinariate and so is more poetic English, lovely to sing. Also, it is set out for singing with pointing and includes all the parts of the psalter missing from the Paul VI psalter - the cursing psalms (you can read about this in a past article - What Has Happened to all the *#@!-ing Psalms. I want my little daughter, who is just three, to hear me sing these psalms so that the higher level of language might make an impression on her. So if I have the time, I use this translation.

The Way of Beauty Psalm Tones I printed these off (as in the pdf you can get on this website) and put the print out in a grey folder. I sing the psalms to these each day. As a result I am constantly developing and, I hope, improving them, as I sing them. 

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How a Loss of Faith can Lead to the Reduction of Freedom and Economic Prosperity

Flag_of_Venezuela.svgWhy cultural transformation  - the Way of Beauty - can protect us against it happening here too How are faith, beauty and economic prosperity connected? Venezuela would be a country whose recent history would be worth studying in order to find an answer to the question.

I noticed this little news piece on Catholic World News recently. The Archbishop of Caracas was addressing the violence in the country following the shooting of a 14-year-old boy. In a couple of paragraphs he sums up the problem and the answer in Venezuela

The cause is a lack of faith and the answer lies in upholding Catholic social teaching. Notice that while he directs the condemnation of the violence to the agents of the government, his appeal for a transformation in faith goes beyond the government and is extended to the society as a whole. This I believe is what is necessary. We must ask the patron of Venezuela, the Virgin of Coromoto to pray for the Venezuelan people.

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What has happened in Venezuela?

In a very short time it has changed from a relatively prosperous and free democracy to an oppressive and very poor socialist state. The reasons for this decline are not a mystery and the plight of the Venezuelan people provides a sad lesson for us. Chile, incidentally, might be another country worthy of study for the opposite reasons - it has done the reverse journey moving from socialism towards a free market economy in which a large proportion of the population have been lifted out of poverty and has retained a culture of faith.

Because I have family connections Venezuelan I have some personal insights into what happened there. It is striking to hear my Venezuelan friends talk of their personal experiences of growing up and living in the country, and especially how the present situation compares with the period before about 15 years ago and the rise of the late and influential leader, Hugo Chavez.

 

The pattern of decline

It was certainly not the perfect society before Chavez, but from what I have been told it was far better than now: it was a democratic country with a well developed economy, large oil reserves, a large and highly educated middle and professional class and a strong entrepreneurial tradition. It's health and education systems were sophisticated and functioning well. As a country it looked to the culture of the US, in business, entertainment and even sport, and it saw itself as a place in which individual enterprise could flourish. Now it looks more like Cuba, (not a good thing!). Although they had elections within the last couple of years,  opposition leaders have been imprisoned. Despite close to the largest oil reserves in the world, the economy is so run down that basic provisions can be scarce. It has a great farming tradition yet as a country it now cannot even produce and distribute fresh milk. When I visited  a year ago, the supermarkets had only imported dried milk for sale. There is rampant inflation and in scenes that are reminiscent of the Eastern Bloc countries of Europe. there are sudden scarcities of everyday products, such as diapers; on rumor of a shipment of diapers or toilet paper or whatever is short at the time, people will line up for hours in order to get just some.

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Crime rates and especially violent crime and murder have skyrocketed. There is the beginning of civil unrest: street protests against what is going were met with violence from troops and government inspired thugs - marauding motorcycle gangs randomly roamed middle class suburbs and then just as randomly targeted houses for attack. They were hoping to terrorize people into staying indoors and stop protesting and for the most part it has worked. During one period when things flared up, when my wife was visiting this past year with our daughter, she was skyping from a town called Valencia. As she spoke to me she had to keep her head down below the level of the window in case random gunfire went through the glass. Later that night, in the small hours of the morning, the police raided the building next door and some student activists were dragged away for interrogation. Photographs of this going on were taken by people with overlooking windows and circulated via the internet. My wife sent me some so I saw them being bundled into a van, bound and gagged.

 

                The cause?

How could a prosperous country become a failing state in such a short time? The following analysis is based upon my impressions gained from anecdotes of Venezuelans and so I present it as a hypothesis.

 

First and this is crucial, there was a decline in a lived out faith. One consequence of this was that the middle and upper classes neglected their responsibilities towards the poor at a personal level - so to the poor they seemed uncaring, haughty and self satisfied. Although nearly all Venezuelans are nominally Catholic a genuine faith of constant personal transformation that is manifested a love of God and neighbor is not so obvious as it might have been in the past. There will always be arrogant wealth and there will always be envy, but if there is no check on either, which I think only the Faith can provide, and it grows, then it stokes the fires of unrest. This was ostentatious and conspicuous consumerism.

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Things were made worse by a lack of social mobility because of 'crony' capitalism in which politicians and business interests colluded to keep out new entrants to any market. This is a restriction on freedom that favors those who are already in business and politics, but it acts against the common good as everyone else suffers to some degree as opportunity for enterprise is diminished, the overall generation of wealth goes down, prices go up and the choice is reduced. This affects most the poor -  who are at the level of simply seeking the basics of life. And there are more poor because those businesses not involved in the collusion suffer and their opportunity to employ people and pay higher wages is reduced.

 

Second, this great envy was stoked up by those seeking to manipulate things for their own political ends. A charismatic populist Hugo Chavez was skilled at this. Chavez himself was from a poor background who had risen through the army ranks. From a different social background to the upper classes he did not mix easily with them and was resentful of them. He attracted the votes of the poor with the promise of socialist policies that gave them handouts. He was voted in originally because  not only the poor, but also quite a proportion of the middle and upper classes voted for him. Many of them felt uneasy too about the disparity of wealth and, mistakenly, thought that it was the government's role to sort it out by a misguided form of the redistribution of wealth.

 

Chavez, from what I can tell, fulfilled some, at least of, his promises, and these policies although they do ameliorate want in the short term, cause more in the long term. The short term fix is always more obvious than the cause of the long term problems that follow. The response to the problems that his policies created was not to reverse them, but to double down on them and seek more short term fixes.

 

The result of this is more of the same. Price fixing, for example, whether by direct intervention or subsidization (which Chavez was able to do because of oil revenue) does not sidestep the laws of supply and demand. Whatever short term effects there might be for the good, there will be consequences on supply. To use a simple example,  if prices are fixed low, suppliers can't get enough return on investment to make it worth while and so they cease to trade. By all accounts, the policies of Chavez and his successor after he died, Maduro, have been particularly clumsy and inept, even by the standards of socialist economics.

As things got worse, the government started to seize businesses and farms (motivated also by personal greed and moral corruption in some cases) because they won't set the prices etc they want. This exacerbates the problems further because all confidence in private property goes and the motivation to invest disappears. Investors not involved in the collusion, and especially foreign investors start to pull out. This contributed, for example, to the lack of fresh milk: people had stopped farming because farms were being expropriated and so farmers just got out of the business and tried to sell their farms if they could.

 

Here is another example of how misguided the government was in regard to both economics and enforcing the rule of just law: at one point people started looting televisions and high-end electrical appliances. The response of President Maduro, Chavez's successor and the President for the last two years, was to say that this was justified because the prices of these goods were too high and businesses should supply them at affordable prices. The result was, as anyone else could have predicted, an increase of looting. And the consequence of this was that businesses, some of which were household names that had been in existence for generations, went bust within a week. Now these items are even scarcer. The well being of a society does not depend on its capacity to deliver affordable flat screen TVs of course, but this example of how the economy is run shows us why they cannot deliver basic foodstuffs either.

As frustration increased, people started to protest. The government suppressed the protests with force, freedom was restricted even further. The population was intimidated into silence by gangs of government inspired vigilantes exercising random violence outside the rule of law and ignored by the police and army. Those who oppose the government are imprisoned or just disappear. If they are lucky to reappear later they do so bearing the marks and pain of torture. The result is an oppressive, centrally organized society that cannot deliver basic human material requirements and stifles the human spirit.

 

                The solution?

The story of Venezuela tells me that the Faith and Catholic social teaching are the greatest safeguards against totalitarianism, poverty and the greatest catalysts for the flourishing of a society (part of which is prosperity in the usual sense of the word - material wealth). What  is always needed is a continual transformation of society by which its people, as baptized Christians are personally transformed in Christ (for more information on this read Jean Corbon's the Wellspring of Worship, or the opening chapter of my book, the Little Oratory).

 

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It is baptized Christians, the people who are part of the transfigured mystical body of Christ, the Church, who partake of the divine nature who will create the culture of beauty and love by which society as a whole is influenced and which is necessary for a free and prosperous society.

A culture that emphasizes the great responsibility of wealth and love for fellow man will reduce the vulnerability of manipulation by demagogues such as Chavez. It is also the one that is most likely to introduce or preserve in a stable way the free economy described as the ideal by John Paul II in Centesimus annus.

 

I am not saying that only a Catholic society can have the features that allow for a culture of beauty or of prosperity. Rather that to the degree that a society conforms to those ideals of Catholic social teaching, it is free and will prosper, in accordance with God's will. Similarly, it is quite possible for a non-Catholic country to be more prosperous than a Catholic one, which may even have a high level of faith but not the economic policies in place that reflect fully Catholic social teaching. Another point in this regard, Catholic social teaching is an ideal that will promote the flourishing of the society and the people in it as people. This provides all those elements that human person needs to flourish including, but not restricted to the necessary economic prosperity.

 

Back to solutions: beyond consideration of the evangelization of the culture, what is needed from leaders is an awareness of Catholic social teaching and how it is applied to economics and political institutions, as well as a population that supports and at some general level recognises that this is the route to a true prosperity. While education can have an effect, and all ways of changing things for the good should be followed, the greatest chance of this happening on a large scale is first an evangelization of the culture and of society so that more of its people are interested in looking at Catholic social teaching. I do not imagine for a moment that you are ever going to have huge numbers of people studying Church encyclicals on Catholic social teaching. But it is not unreasonable to hope for a level of understanding that matches the level of awareness and acceptance that the population has now of the flawed Marxist and atheist/materialist assumptions about man, society and economics. These ideas are prevalent in the intelligentsia across the Western world in much of the general population, most of whom would not think of themselves as Marxist. Many would even see themselves as believing Catholics, capitalists and conservatives yet they are not aware of the contradiction in the beliefs that they hold. The way in which these ideas were spread primarily is through an aggressive attack on the culture. Modern Western culture propagates these ideas at every level. We must now do the same and pushback culturally.

There are few great misconceptions to overcome: but these can be replaced with truth, in just the way that the false ideas were transmitted.

One is the exaggerated conception of the power of the government to solve problems. So many people who care about the plight of the poor have ingrained in them - as I once did - the idea that if you care for the poor you must automatically support socialism and centralized economies because this is the only answer. Another assumption is that in a free market economy, those who succeed do so at the expense of the those who do not. So the very presence of any inequality of wealth is seen as evidence that exploitation is going on - people are poor because others are rich. At the root of this is an assumption that the basic economic transaction in which a good or service is exchanged for money for profit is intrinsically exploitative. That the profit is a transfer of wealth from the person who buys to the person who sells.

These are profoundly false assumptions. It is true that all of these things can happen when freedom is compromised in market transactions, but they are not intrinsic to the free economy. The best way of lifting the poor out of poverty is to create the conditions in which more people can create wealth, including the poor.

 

How do we transform society?

That society, I suggest, will be created first by us. We look to ourselves first so that we become the people who are transformed in Christ and show him to others by our actions and interactions. Only God's grace can do this for us, and it is by prayer, or more precisely, by worship of God that we encounter Christ in such a way that it can happen. When we can be one of those people, then people will be drawn to the Church through us and join us. To the degree that anyone is participating in the divine nature and showing people the transfigured Christ in their daily lives, he is someone who, by grace, will relate to others in properly ordered love. This is what attracts to the faith, and in the sphere of economics this is how the principle of superabundance is invoked that creates prosperity for society.

 

Benedict XVI describes this ideal for personal interactions in economic activity in his encyclical, Caritas in veritate. It is a network of such personal interactions that in aggregate form a free society and the free economy described by John Paul II in Centesimus annus.

 

Benedict describes how Christians are transformed in Christ in this life by degrees and by grace - transfigured and participating in the divine nature - through a personal encounter with God in the Eucharist. To the degree that human relationships are driven by concern for the other person, they are in accordance with the Trinitarian dynamic of love that is the model for the loving component of personal relationships. When this Love is present it is always superabundant. Love is superabundant  - fruitfulness without measure - because of the generosity of God who can give beyond all limitations and creates out of nothing. It is by this principle that wealth is generated in properly ordered economic transactions.

 

Though we may not think of it as such, the ordinary exchange of goods for money that we are daily engaged in does not redistribute wealth, it creates wealth. By this simple exchange both parties have something they value more than before and so wealth has been created (otherwise they would not both choose to make the exchange). There is a caveat. This is true provided that there is personal freedom (understood not simply as lack of constraint, but also full knowledge of the practicable best).

 

One of the beauties of the free market is that if I am dealing with someone in such a transaction who is genuinely free to choose whether or not he trades with me, then even if I am driven by selfish ends I am forced to consider his needs and what is good from his point of view. If I don't then the chances are that he will choose not to trade with me because he is free not to do so. So provided that freedom is present, even the selfish like me are forced to some degree at least into loving action. Even in this minimal form of love there is superabundance. In practice, rarely is someone wholly driven by selfish interests, just as rarely is someone wholly loving in action and thought. Superabundance is maximized to the degree that both parties are genuinely interested in the well being of the other as they engage in the transaction. This is when all the aspects for which a price cannot be paid - at a simple level a genuine care and attention, for example are given freely too. To the degree that the loving component grows then people relate to each other so that the other flourishes. When the conditions exist that allow for this to happen, people will naturally seek out others who interact in this way and the complexion of the economy gradually changes. Economic prosperity is maximized to the extent that the activity that creates it is in harmony with a flourishing of the society of human persons. When people are transformed in Christ, then they are more naturally inclined to consider the other in what they do and go beyond the simple contractual elements of trade, and create an economy that is rooted in a love which goes beyond the minimum requirement of justice.

One might refer to this as a covanental economy, one that is ordered to mutual giving, rather than one that is purely contractual and relies on the alignment of self-interest alone.

 

John Paul II pointed out in Centesimus annus that the market is the most efficient and best way to distribute goods for which a price can be paid. He then stated that this also defines the limitations of the market, it cannot distribute those things for which a price cannot be paid which are also vital in life and the flourishing of the human person. Benedict in Caritas in Veritate connects the two much more directly in each economic transaction and says that unless those aspects for which money is not paid are present there too, he calls this additional element one of gratuitousness - then there is no superabundance. In fact he goes on to say that gratuitousness must be present if wealth is to be created.

 

When freedom is lacking - as it would be even in an otherwise free society in the case of an addict buying illegal drugs for example, the result is not the superabundant creation of wealth, but an enforced redistribution of wealth that favors one party more than the other inequitably. The party that gains is not just taking advantage of the other person in the exchange, but is parasitical upon society as a whole , drawing from it, rather than contributing to it; one only needs to look at a neighborhood in which drug dealing is rife to see the effects. Similarly, government taxation directed towards paying for activities that go beyond the natural role of government (which  should be limited to the regulating for and protecting personal freedom) are also acts against the common good that go against freedom, are contrary to what a government's role should be and will have the stultifying effects on society as whole that we see in Venezuela today and saw in the Eastern bloc countries of the past so markedly.

 

                How is the person transformed?

Benedict describes how the personal transformation, by which a person is capable and inclined to interact lovingly with his neighbors, will occur. It is through prayer: a liturgically centered piety (his was the model for our book on prayer, the Little Oratory). As I mentioned, not all prosperous societies are Catholic societies (whatever we mean by that) and not all Catholic societies are prosperous. But it is to the degree that any earthly city and its people participate in those ideals of the City of God, Catholic or not, that it is prosperous and stable.

 

It is the beauty of the culture, and especially the culture of Faith that will inspire Christians to pray well, and non-believers to pray at all. This is important. So when, for example, we see even our cathedrals, which should be the absolute pinnacle of beauty in architecture that have no greater beauty than a public mall or lavatory, it matters. Consider the cathedral that the locals in San Francisco call 'Our Lady of Maytag' due to is similarity to a washing machine component, see below: this ugliness is not just a matter for precious aesthetes to whinge about. Whatever forms our worship forms our culture and whatever forms our culture shapes the whole society. Our cathedrals influence profoundly the pattern of worship in a whole diocese, for good or ill. If these are ugly and bear the forms of an aggressively anti-Christian, secular culture, we gain no respect from our foes for ourselves and it tells them nothing of the beauty that worship ought to be. Rather, it tells them that we are giving up the fight and adopting their values and is actively promoting them.

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As important a battle ground, perhaps even more important than our cathedrals and churches, is the family. This is primarily where the battle for faith, freedom and society as whole takes place. When the prayer life of the home is one of a liturgically oriented piety then, despite ourselves, we are formed as Knights of the New Evangelization who wear the armour of the superabundant love of the Trinity and who are armed with the creative sword of the radiance of God's love, which is beauty. Through our interactions with others, we build up this new culture and maintain it. This is a crucial part of the the model of the New Evangelization described by Benedict in his little paper on the subject published in 2000.

 

                The importance of the domestic church to cultural transformation and so economic prosperity

When thought of in this way, the New Evangelization is not just new in that it belongs to the present day, but it is new in a greater sense in that it belongs the new covenant, ushered in by Christ. The very first martyr historically, and the first saint celebrated in sacred time after the birth of Christ on December 26th is St Stephen. He is described as shining with that light of Christ and having the face of an angel that even his oppressors, who included Saul - the man to become St Paul one of the greatest evangelists himself - could see. The passage in the Acts of the Apostles which describes the death of one of the earliest New Evangelists is in the Office of Readings for that day. There is also a commentary written by St Fulgentius of Ruspe. In this he says: 'Our king...brought his soldiers a great gift that not only enriched them but also made them unconquerable in battle for it was the gift of love, which was to bring men to share in his divinity. ..Shown first in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen's weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbor made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven.'

So the battle for a prosperous society (in the broadest sense) will be won first, I believe in the domestic church. This is our home of prayer where we learn to participate, like Stephen, in the Light of Christ. Pope Emeritus Benedict said as much when speaking to the Pontifical Council for the Family: 'The new evangelization depends largely on the Domestic Church. The Christian Family to the extent it succeeds in living love as communion and service as a reciprocal gift open to all, as a journey of permanent conversion supported by the grace of God, reflects the splendor of Christ in the world and the beauty of the divine Trinity. St Augustine has a famous phrase: “immo vero vides Trinitatem, si caritatem vides” — “Well, if you see charity, yes indeed you see the Trinity” (De Trinitate, VIII, 8).' [1]

Seeing the family as the source of regeneration of a society is one thing that provides a source of hope for Venezuela even as it is now. My wife tells me how despite all that is gone on one thing remains strong is loyalty to and love families. Venezuelan society is still strongly family oriented and as long as this remains so it provides the possibility for transformation. The government of Venezuela seems to be aware of this because there is discussion of indoctrination programs being introduced into the schools that undermine the family and override, for example Catholic schools.

We must look with hope to God and rely on the prayers of the saints and Our Lady for a transformation and the continued strength of families in Venezuela and in our society too.

 

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The image shown is my suggestion as a model of chivalry and courage for today. The Knight of the New Evangelization, 2014, based upon a 13th century English gothic illumination.

 

                The special role of Mary in the new evangelization for a flourishing of the Faith and society

The role of Mary is crucial in this, I believe. First Mary is the New Evangelist par excellence. To evangelize, Benedict tells us, is to show people Christ. We show people who Christ is by the way we love, rather than telling them about Him. All that the Mother of God does is showing us her son. If you look at so many images of Our Lady, that is precisely what she is doing. Addressing us, and showing us her son. We should look to ourselves first and ask if we are one of the transfigured Knights of the New Evangelization; and we should look to Our Lady for inspiration. It is no coincidence that the traditional layout of an image corner which is the visual focus of the domestic church always has an image of Mary. Such an icon corner will aid our prayer profoundly and promote that transformation if we allow her to guide us. Again, the principle for the creation of an image corner are described in the Little Oratory.

 

Mary declares this special role for herself when she describes herself in the Magnificat as the one whose 'soul glorifies the Lord' - increases our perception of his glory. And when we praise God with her canticle at Vespers, contemplating the image of her showing us the Lord, her song of praise becomes our song of praise and we share in her mission. Our souls glorify the Lord and our spirits rejoice.

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Our Lady has a special significance for the three countries with which I have had a strong connection in my life, England, the USA and Venezuela, and this fact emphasizes even more strongly for me her role in evangelization by the Church. As Our Lady of Walsingham she is a special patroness of England. The patron of the United States is the Mary Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception. The patron of Venezuela, the country which I am connected to through my wife, is the Virgin of Coromoto (in a story similar to that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the original conversion of the people of Venezuela occured through a vision of Mary at Coromoto).

So I say: ''Follow your spirit and upon this charge, cry: 'God for Venezuela and Mary, Virgin of Coromoto! God for England and Mary, Lady of Walsingham! God for America and for Mary, Immaculate Conception! ' ''.

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Holy Theotokos, Mary Mother of Beauty, pray for us! Holy Theotokos, Mary Virgin of Coromoto, pray for us! Holy Theotokos, Mary Lady of Walsingham, pray for us! Holy Theotokos, Mary Immaculate Conception, pray for us!

 

[1] Benedict XVI, Address to Paricipants at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Clementine Hall, 2011

 

Four Last Songs

MI0003611305Here is some music by Richard Strauss. Four Last Songs are the last pieces that he wrote; when he was in his eighties in 1948. I have no interest in the text, I will admit, but love the sound of the music and voice together and the melodies. I always feel as though I should like Richard Strauss's music in general more than I do. He is a composer who resisted the over employment of dissonance that you hear from his contemporaries in the first half of the 20th century. But although the overall sound is always atmospheric and moody and seems to promise much when you start to listen, generally there is too little obvious melody for me to grab hold. I usually find myself getting bored part way into a piece and then stop listening.

He is perhaps most well known for the powerful opening section of Also Sprach Zarathustra, which many will recognize as the theme tune for the film A Space Odyssey and many TV programs about space ever since  (if you are British and of a certain age, then you will remember that all the BBC TV coverage of the Apollo space missions presented by James Burke used this tune too). This is spectacular and powerful and I love it. When I first realised that in the original piece there was another half hour or so to follow enthusiastically bought the CD and started to listen. To my disappointment, after that fantastic opening section, he just reverts to the usual gushing strings laced with boredom.

For me, the exceptions to this pattern of dullness (aside from the one minute of Also Sprach already mentioned) are his Horn Concertos and his orchestral songs, especially this set of four (they were put together as a set by the publisher, not the composer, and were first performed after he died).

I find that to have a single voice supported by the orchestra suits his style far better. So whether it is a French horn, or a powerful soprano, it seems to force the composer into giving the piece a more structured development and, to put it simply, a more obvious tune that I can latch onto and enjoy.

Anyway, here are recording of the songs on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVy8qqgcT94

A Book for Anyone Interested in the Evangelization of the Culture

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The Spiritual History of English by Andrew Thornton-Norris

What makes a piece of literature or art Christian? Some would say just the content, that is what is said. Some on the other hand would say both the content and the structure, that the way in which those truths are conveyed can communicate more fully the truths. In other words its not just what you say that's important, but also how you say it. If this is the case then it means that the style of prose or poetry can be Christian (or un Christian) as much as the meaning of the words considered apart from that style.

Any regular reader of this blog will know that I have long maintained that the style of art is every bit as important as the content, and that since the Enlightenment that style has declined because artists have rejected the traditional Catholic forms.

In this slim volume, the English Catholic poet Andrew Thornton-Norris does for poetry and prose what I have been trying to do with art. He relates the actual structure of the writing and the vocabulary used to the worldview of the time. See he shows us, for example, how even if the poet or novelist is sincerely Catholic and trying to express truths that are consistent with the Faith, he is at a great disadvantage if he is seeking to express those truths with the vocabulary and poetic form that reflect a post-Enlightenment culture.

I am not an expert in literary or poetic form and, to be honest, not interested enough in either to seek to become one. So I had to take what what Mr Thornton-Norris's descriptions of form at face value. However, I agree with his analysis of modernity, which he sees, right down to the present day as ever greater degrees of the protestant heresy. Chapter by chapter he analyses and critiques the worldview of the Englightenment and through to the present day. So the philosophies behind neo-classicism, Romanticism, Modernism and Post Modernism are each presented as differing reactions against Christianity and ultimately the authority of the Catholic Church. He then connects each with the cultural forms.

Because he is dealing with the English language, he first describes the rise of the language as a distinct vernacular and connects this with the Faith. He argues that the very idea of the English as a nation comes from the Church through Pope Gregory the Great and his emissary St Augustine of Canterbury. He then describes how the language and literature developed in the light of this through the influence of figures such as Bede, Alcuin of York and King Alfred the Great.

Then after the great heights of  writers such as Chaucer and finally Shakespeare, he argues it was all downhill. As he puts it in the beginning of his concluding chapter: 'This book has argued that English literature has declined, almost to the point of non-existence. In this and previous chapters we have examined what remains: the entrails, the shipwrecks so to speak. It has argued that this decline has been concurrent with that of English Christianity, and it has examined the relationship between these two phenomena'.

This means that he is much more suspicious of the Romantic poets, for example, than many other Catholic commentators. I like the idea of this, firstly because it makes me feel less of a philistine for finding them really dull in the first place, but also because this parallels exactly my analysis of painting, in the Romantics and all thereafter are, in my opinion inferior to earlier Christian forms (along with neo-Classicism, Modernism and Post-modernism).

He is discussing general trends, and is not inclined to dismiss all examples of English literature in these periods. But rather points out the great disadvantage that those poets and novelists who were trying to express something that is consistent with the Faith had. The were restricted, generally, to the vocabulary and structural forms of the language at the time in which they lived and because these were affected by one form or another of a post-Enlightenment anti-Catholic worldview always struggled to escape their time.

Furthermore, Mr Thornton-Norris clearly believes that through the prism of literature, you can point to problems with the whole culture, which are at root related to the rejection of the Faith and its forms of worship. This again is very similar to myself in regard to visual art and so the idea appeals to me.

This is a short read but it contains a lot of ideas that need time to be considered carefully. One of the reasons that the writer has managed to condense so much into just over 150 pages it is that he assumes that the reader is already aware of the broad trends in history in England since the time of Pope Gregory the Great, of the philosophical developments that took place in parallel with the historical events, and of what the literary forms that he describes are. As mentioned, I fell short particularly in the last of these areas. If he had written this for an intelligent but less well informed audience, he would have had to spend a long time defining his terms and explaining their meaning. He chose not to do this and as a result this is unlikely to be accessible to a mass readership. However, I think that the ideas that it contains should be considered and perhaps those whose mission it is to popularize ideas might look at it and if they believe that they have merit, might apply their skills to those contained in A Spiritual History of English.

 

— ♦—

My book the Way of Beauty is available from Angelico Press and Amazon.

JAY W. RICHARDS, Editor of the Stream and Lecturer at the Business School fo the Catholic University of America said about it: “In The Way of Beauty, David Clayton offers us a mini-liberal arts education. The book is a counter-offensive against a culture that so often seems to have capitulated to a ‘will to ugliness.’ He shows us the power in beauty not just where we might expect it — in the visual arts and music — but in domains as diverse as math, theology, morality, physics, astronomy, cosmology, and liturgy. But more than that, his study of beauty makes clear the connection between liturgy, culture, and evangelization, and offers a way to reinvigorate our commitment to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the twenty-first century. I am grateful for this book and hope many will take its lessons to heart.”

 

Proportion Adds Value to Property in Boston

We can make a Beacon Hill anywhere This past weekend I drove down to Boston from southern New Hampshire to meet a friend who was visiting for the weekend.  As we walked around town we wandered into the Beacon Hill area. This is the old heart of the town and full of elegant 18th-century terraced homes. They are built in a variation of the style that in England we would call Georgian. I’m not sure what it is called here, perhaps ‘colonial’ style? These are right at the top end of the price range for property in Boston. Why are they so sought after? Well location will have a lot to do with it certainly. You would probably pay a fortune for the ugliest shoebox here if it could take a bed. But I would say also that their beauty is a big factor too. Beauty adds value because it stimulates greater demand and pushes the price tag up. And why are they beautiuful? Two hundred years of New England weather softening the edges on the red-brick or cobblestone forms probably adds something. But it is more than this. The main reason, I suggest, is their harmonious proportions.

What struck me about these houses is how simple and reproducible their design is. They have a simple symmetrical arrangement of windows, one above the other, and a pointy roof.  There is some decorative work around the doors and the windows, but it could never be called flamboyant. If I knew about building materials then I reckon I could design one myself. Yet despite their simplicity they look good and it is as a result of the traditional proportionality.

Given this simplicity and the value that beauty adds to buildings, I am surprised that it hasn't occurred to more developers and architects to study traditional proportion and use it, if only for economic reasons.

Look at the photos in this article. Notice how in every case the window size varies, storey to storey, so that the first is to the second as the second is the third and so on. When this rhythmical progression corresponds to the traditional pattern then the result is elegance. Sometimes the order changed around slightly so that it is not always the largest at the bottom. The dimensions of the first and second might be changed so the biggest storey is always the main living area. These architects didn't play tricks - they put things where you expected them to be, so that the outward signs give an indication of the internal purpose. Similarly, the main door is always more prominent than the servants' entrance. (You can't count on this now. I was at an art gallery recently, which was a modern building made completely of reflective glass and the doorway was indistinguishable from any other panel. There was no indication through the external design where the door was. In fact it was placed offset to one side in a counter-intuitive position, presumably deliberately. I had to wait until I saw someone coming out before I knew where I could get in!)

Coming back to Beacon Hill, I am convinced that these houses  looked just about as good the day they were built and if anyone chose to conform to these basic patterns today, then it would look good and sell at a high price. This has to be the simplest way for an architect to add greatest value for minimal investment of time and money. There is no need for pastiche – we are not bound slavishly to follow the decorative style of the period in every way, but provided the principles are adhered to, then here is way for modern architect to stand out from the crowd. The mathematics is relatively simple but largely unknown.

So come on architects and town developers. Here’s your chance to make a killing. So let’s see a new Beacon Hill in the US!

Incidentally, the Prince of Wales built an experimental new town on the outskirts of Dorchester in England that conformed to traditional proportions, called Poundbury (right, click to enlarge). The experience there was that although they were slightly more expensive to build, their beauty made demand so high that their price on the open market made the modest extra investment more than worthwhile. You can see more of Poundbury here.

Way of Beauty Psalm Tones Updated. Download Latest Version Now

Improved versions of Mode II, V and VIII  Those who use the psalm tones (the score of which can be downloaded from the Psalm Tones page on this this site) may be interested to know that I have added some modifications that allow for the singing of these modes in  a form that is slightly closer to the Latin. You will see that they have been added as additional options in so tones, and so I have not deleted the older, slightly more simple forms.

The most difficult to adapt to English is the very common Mode VIII tone. The melody  is so intimately tied to the rhythm of the Latin language that it has taken a long time and a lot of trial and error to find a version that can be transferred to the vernacular without jarring. Give it a try, Mode VII tone 2.

Because Modes II and Mode V have the same first bar as Mode VIII, these have been modified as well. I thought I might as well give you the choice of something slightly different, although I felt that these were working well before. Again, I have not removed the original tones, so this just gives you additional choice.

I hope very much that as you use these, you start to modify and develop them too, so that this become a living, developing and improving tradition. In the end someone will come up with some inspired forms that through their ease of singing and noble beauty will become the standard for English. I don't think we are quite there yet, but we are getting there!

You can see them at the Psalm Tones page...or here: All tones in eight modes and tonus peregrinus.Jan.2.2015

 

A New Image of Mary for Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God by Philippe Lefebre

I received this Christmas card from Philippe Lefebvre, whom I met first when I was living in Oxford several years ago. He was interested in learning how to paint icons and went to train with the Russian teacher based in Belgium, Irina Gorbunova-Lomax. He has now completed his training and we can see in this simple card how well Irina (whom I do not know personally at all) has taught him, and how well Philippe has learnt from her. I suggest to you on the evidence of this that first, Philippe should be considered for commissions in your church or home; and second, Irina is very good teacher whom anyone seeking to learn iconography should consider as a possible teacher. unnamed (3) cropped

First of all, his style as it is now is similar to his teacher's (you can see her work if you go through the link above). This is as it should be at this stage, just emerging from the school. We train by following the path of past master in our chosen style, copying with understanding under the direction of the teacher. In time, while this will always be at the heart of what he does, I have no doubt that Philippe will start to develop gradually and organically, his own voice in such a way that it magnifies, rather than undermines, the holiness of the images he produces.

Notice how much in this one image we see how the skill of representing of form in line is crucial to icon painting. There is a grace and flow that gives it beauty. The variation in thickness of each line is used adeptly so that each fold of cloth is clearly readable. Many poor icon painters try to hide a lack of drawing ability behind overly exaggerated stylistic flourishes (a bit like the way that many landscape painters might try to hide a lack of skill behind pseudo-impressionistic flourishes in an oil painting). In fact, every good icon painter is a good draughtsman as well. Eech image must read visually so that the cloth looks as though it is draping naturally around a human form. This means that we need to have an acute observation of nature, which is represented in the image and then transformed into the iconographic style without comprising on naturalistic accuracy.

This is a simple image for a Christmas greeting and so Philippe has painted it on card. It is an characteristic stylistic feature of this school to use a coloured base and then let then speak through the painting. The image is simple in form. It relies on a very well drawn line image, that is then skillfully painted so that each line is given a width and slope that is in accord with what is represented. The majority of lines in this painting portray the tonally darkest areas of the form.

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Once you have this, then he uses simple, flat and transparent washes to colour in chosen areas. It looks from the photograph that perhaps in the coloration for the Our Lady's robe has a couple of different colours (there is a darker bluish earth colour shining through, I think - certainly it is what I would do if I were painting this). This use of slightly differing tones and colours as transparent glazes, subtly creates a greater luminescence and visual interest  than two washes of identical colours, which looks even but dull and sterile.

For the image of Our Lord  he adds the third element of white highlights, which are simple but skillfully applied with both line and graded tonal work.

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The graded tonal work is minimal altogether, other than the highlights I see only the subtlest application of a reddish or purplish tone in the shadows of flesh areas.

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The combined effect is one of restraint and sophistication (using the word in a positive sense). Philippe has pared the elements of tonal and colour variation down to the basic constituents - the darks (which are his lines), the mid-tones (which are his flat washes) and the highlights (which are a combination of lights and graded tone in white). All icon images, even those that have far more complex colour schemes and modelling, break down to these three essential elements. Unless you understand how to simplify in this way, I suggest, you won't be able to do the more complicated well.

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For those who might struggle to read the detail in his card, Philippe's website is epiphanie-creation.fr

Award Winning Catholic Architecture Student Describes His Inspiration

scan912Incorporating the values of the liturgy into architecture I was delighted to hear again recently from Geoff Yovanovic. I first met Geoff about 4 summers ago when he attended the Way of Beauty summer school. He wanted to learn about classical proportion and design methods and we had an enjoyable time swapping ideas. We have stayed in touch ever since. He went on to study at Notre Dame School of Architecture for his graduate studies and has now graduated from there. I was delighted to learn that he had just won an prestigious award for one of his designs for a plot next to the river at South Bend Indiana. He wrote the following article in which he describes how he tried to make the liturgy the source of inspiration for his design, which I happily reproduce along with pictures of his design, and the award itself.! You can see them all at the link to his website above.

Before we have Geoff's article, here is a view of the site by the river that he was tasked to fill.

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Geoff writes:

In the spring of 2012, David Clayton wrote an entry on his The Way of Beauty blog which introduced me to Fr. Jean Corbon’s modern classic The Wellspring of Worship.  This mystical account of the Sacred Liturgy explores beyond the rubrics, and reveals to the reader the Liturgy as the outpouring Love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the Church.  This “Cosmic Liturgy”, is the essence of life and worship.  Mr. Clayton first provided me with a fuller understanding of the Liturgy in 2011 when I attended his two week Way of Beauty Atelier at Thomas More College.  During the seminars, we explored how Liturgy was the source of inspiration for art, especially in the secular world, and how art aided us in our participation of the Liturgy.  As a recent graduate from architecture school, this new found truth reinvigorated my passion for design.  The Wellspring of Worship delved even deeper and unveiled even more truths about the Liturgy, and in the end provided the inspiration for an award winning design project.

scan917Shortly after reading Mr. Clayton’s article, I began graduate studies in architecture at the University of Notre Dame.  Almost immediately upon arriving, I took advantage of one of the greatest pleasures on a university campus: the library.  After reading The Wellspring of Worship, I have to admit that while I found some parts captivating, other parts would become more apparent only following a subsequent reading.  Nevertheless, the wealth of imagery throughout the book provided unexpected design inspiration.

In the following spring semester, I had the honor of studying with Thomas Gordon Smith.  Professor Smith is a passionate and gifted architect who has designed many buildings including Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska as well as Annunciation Monastery in Clear Creek, Oklahoma.  He is also responsible for transforming the curriculum at Notre Dame which has subsequently produced hundreds of young architects with a renewed appreciation for tradition.  In his studio that Spring, Professor Smith presented to the class a theoretical design assignment for a Franciscan novitiate on a small lot along the St. Joseph River in downtown South Bend.  The trapezoidal site sat eighteen feet below street level, and then plummeted an additional thirty-five feet to the river below.  The proposed novitiate was to house and form fifteen novices.  Among other ancillary spaces, the chapel, the refectory, and the cloister were given significant importance.

Because the site for the novitiate was situated along the river, Corbon’s emphasis on “the river of life,” the mysterious divine communion between the Trinity, brought new vigor to my project.  My imagination was still saturated with the water imagery that Corbon had used throughout his book.  He began his book by introducing “the river of life” found in the final chapter of the book of Revelation:

“Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure for the nations.”  (Rev 22:1-2)

scan915Building upon this passage and reinforcing it through additional scripture which referenced water, Corbon explains the symbolism of the ever refreshing waters of the Liturgy, this Trinitarian communion which is the river of life.   This river of life entered our world through the Incarnation and sprung from Christ through the Cross and Resurrection.  

In addition to Corbon’s writing, the Church more directly connects water symbolism and the physical church building through its cycle of readings.  The first reading on the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome and one of the four Constantinian churches, is taken from Ezekiel:

“Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east….This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.  Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.”  

These passages poetically present the refreshing waters from the Love of the Trinity found in the Liturgy.   As water can bring about new life in the spiritual sense, it is without argument that it has done so throughout human history.  It is no surprise that, in both spiritual and historical matters,men have continually forsaken God, who is “the source of living waters; [and] they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” (Jer 2:13)  Throughout man’s history, we find the fall of Rome and the consequentsevering of the ancient aqueducts.  Following centuries saw Rome languish from the once great city into oneoverrun by pastures and grazing animals with a merefraction of the population. Foreshadowing the Renaissance, Pope Nicholas V began what would become a series of public works reconnecting the fountains throughout the city.  But where our water is delivered to us through a series of hidden pipes buried in the dark below the ground, Nicholas celebrated the arrival of water into the city through architecture.  Great monumental fountains sprung up throughout Rome, and  would rush forward with revitalizing waters at the same time that the Renaissance saw the rebirth of Rome from its ancient ruins into the city known today.

scan913As the inspiration for the design of the novitiate drew from scripture’s water imagery and was complemented by man’s history, the architectural design of the project was built upon the historical precedent of the Roman fountain.  Two such fountains, the Aqua Felice and the Aqua Paolo,  were inspired by the ancient Roman Trofei di Mario based upon the three arched triumphal arch motif.  The use of this motif celebrating the arrival of water into the city is easily understood when drawing comparisons to the ancient triumphal arches which were built to celebrate a conquering Roman general’s entry into the city.  Since the legalization of Christianity, the triumphal arch motif has been widely used in the design of churches to represent Christ’s triumph over death.  Few uses have been as successful as Leon Battista Alberti’s design for S. Andrea in Mantua where the triumphal arch is not only prominent on the facade, but is also carried through the interior by the walls of the nave.  The inscription above the three arches in the Renaissance fountains loudly proclaimed the Pontiff responsible for bringing water to Rome.  In the novitiate design, this pompous billboard is replaced with the aforementioned passage from Revelation trumpeting the river of life, the true giver of all refreshing waters.

While the Aqua Paolo inspired the novitiate’s entrance, the architecture of the novitiate worked within the traditions and lessons of great masters of architecture such as Raphael, Francesco Borromini, and Guarino Guarini.  From studying the domes of Raphael at the Chigi Chapel and at Saint Eligio of Orefici, to studying the movement as well as proportions and room sizes of Borromini, and finally the spatial manipulation of Guarini, the design was strongly influenced through many of the ideas evident in the Baroque.

Architecture has always had the ability to communicate to man.  Even today where much of art is intentionally meaningless, it still provides a glimpse of ourselves. We still recognize the strength and solidity of a stone building, the soaring aspirations of a Gothic spire, and even the emptiness and temporality of shocking contemporary structures.  The South Bend novitiate design project was an opportunity to explore the design possibilities within the idea of the “river of life.”  One exploration was through the use of the Renaissance fountain.   As Corbon explains, the river of life is the  Liturgy which wells forth into our world and flesh through Jesus Christ.  He is a “fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness.” (Zech 13:1)

And finally, In October, I received an award from the Florida Chapter of the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture for this design project.  The Addison Mizner Medal, whose namesake was a Palm Beach architect in the early half of the 20th Century, is presented each year in a variety of different categories ranging from Residential projects over 4,000 square feet to landscape architecture.  The South Bend Novitiate was awarded with the Emerging Classicist medal for a project completed by a student.

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The Landscapes of John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925) may well be the last great artist in the academic tradition. He was an American, born in Florence in Italy and who spent much of his life in Europe. He was prolific, painting hundreds of oil paintings and thousands of watercolours and sketches. Painting alongside the Impressionists (and sometimes referred to as one) he has clearly incorporated their sense of shimmering light. He copes well with sunlight and shadow and the balance between general impression and focus on particular detail (especially in regard to foliage). His compositional style is affected, again like the Impressionists, by Japanese landscape prints, and so he generally provides a focus in the foreground, large and near to the viewer. Although, as I mentioned, he is often grouped with the Impressionists, in my opinion he is superior because he retains that balance of focus and soft edge that one associates with a baroque style (the Impressionist tending towards an even blurr). The spontaneity of his watercolours is wonderful and because the medium forces him to summarise far more, it gives us an insight into how he looked at what was in front of him.

Interestingly, Sargent had no faith at all, to my knowledge. He is one of those people who just seems to have been naturally open to inspiration in his painting. God inspires whomsoever He pleases!

Sargent was a very popular society portrait painter and his focus on the personalities of those he paints always comes through. His more conventional portraits, incidentally are wonderful too, and you can see why he was in demand, but that’s for another day.

Corfu

Graveyard

Venice

Vespers

Interview With Catholic Composer George Sarah

Here is an interview with composer George Sarah, someone I have written about before on this site. It is a fascinating account of his conversion from atheism after a near death experience in a car crash in which Our Lady played a great part. He also talks about his devotion to the Latin Mass and his work in promoting it in Hollywood. George really is a figure who is engaging with contemporary culture in an unusual way. He is aware of the Catholic cultural tradition and incorporates this into what he does, and he is reaching many many people with his music. He has released 10 albums and is part of the Hollywood establishment, writing many TV and film scores. He thinks very carefully about the form of his music and how his faith might inform it. He is not composing music for the liturgy, but is aware of how contemporary culture ought in some way to be derived from it and point to it. He cites numerous influences and if I were to characterize what he does it is a sort of mixture of baroque, Erik Satie and 80s drum 'n' bass. To give you a sense of it, when he performs his music he will set up the electronic instruments and rhythm generators and hire a string quartet to play with him to whom he hands the score.. It's an eclectic mix that produces something original ...drums n bass n violins

This interview is in Regina Magazine which is interested as well in his devotion to the Latin Mass. You can read the interview here, and hear music at his FB page here.

http://reginamag.com/hollywood-traditional-latin-mass/

https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeSarahMusic

Composer on composer - Roman Hurko reviews Paul Jernberg's Mass of St Philip Neri

When listening to, and singing Paul Jernberg's music for the liturgy, I am excited by a number of things. This music is accessible to the ear - it has beauty and dignity appropriate to the Mass in my opinion, so without compromising on traditional principles I have noticed that even congregations who are not schooled in traditional chant and polyphony enjoy it.

It is also, I discovered, accessible for the singer - I would say that most parish choirs could sing this well (although not all perhaps as beautifully as the professional choir on the CD). I could also hear different influences in his style, especially liturgical music for the Eastern rite. Nevertheless it seems wholly appropriate for the Roman rite for which this is written. I was curious therefore to know of the opinion of an established composer in the Eastern rite, Roman Hurko, so I asked him what he thought about it and, if he liked it, would he write a review of it for us.

Roman writes for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic liturgy. I have put a recording of his music at the bottom of this article along with some of Paul's music. You can hear more at www.romanhurko.com and if you want to purchase his music on iTunes, then the link is here.

Roman wrote as follows:

'Composer Paul Jernberg has composed a new setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for a cappella choir. It was recorded this past summer with the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle in Chicago under the direction of Maestro J. Michael Thompson, and is now available for purchase at: www.pauljernberg.com

'I find this Mass setting very beautiful; very contemplative. As a composer from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church tradition, I feel very much at home in its aesthetic, one that I would characterize as eschewing the harshness of electric light in favor of the soft glow emanating from candlelight.

'As in the Eastern church tradition, this Mass setting is sung completely from A – Z by priest, choir, and readers. Mr. Jernberg’s musical transitions between priest and choir are stylistically coherent and seamless. I would recommend that all young composers study Mr. Jernberg’s organic setting, as I have often found it jarring when a priest sings chant and is then responded to by the choir in a completely different musical style.

'Another eastern rite similarity is the use of a melody over an ison, or drone. This essentially monophonic device is complemented in this setting by polyphonic consonant harmonies, with a judicious use of suspensions and appoggiaturas, often ending with stern, medieval sounding open fifth chords. However, no matter the harmonic texture, the text of the prayers is always clear to the listener (kudos to Maestro Thompson and his choir!), and is always served beautifully by the music. Clearly, Mr. Jernberg was guided in his compositional process by the principle of Noble Simplicity, and although there are similarities to the Eastern polyphonic style in this setting, it is clearly grounded in the greatness of the Western tradition.

'Finally, in a mere forty years, the year 2054 will mark the millennium of the Great Schism between the ‘two lungs’ of the church: Eastern and Western. To my mind, Mr. Jernberg’s setting helps bring these two traditions closer together. Kudos to Mr. Jernberg and kudos to the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle under the direction of Maestro Thompson!'

A couple of notes: when Mr Hurko refers to the 'polyphony' of Paul's music I understand that he is using the word in the broadest sense ie 'many sounds' rather than the narrower meaning some will be used to, which refers to the form of music dominated by counterpoint as in for example, the polyphony of the High Renaissance. Some might use the word 'h0mophony' to apply to Paul's music instead.

Also, if anyone like me didn't know, an appoggiatura is a non-harmonic tone that happens on a strong beat or strong emphasis in the melody and ultimately resolves into the main note. Paul uses these judiciously, but in way that adds greatly to the beauty of the overall piece. Without knowing the technical word, I could hear that he was momentarily 'stepping out', so to speak, in order add to the sense of resolution when he steps back in again at the end of a phrase.

Below we have the Our Father from Paul Jernberg's Mass and below that Holy God from Roman Hurko's Liturgy No.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-0r5glY104

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdyGJUinKGE

New Coloring Book for Children on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

P1010269New book highlights the importance of devotions in a liturgically centered piety? This is a book intended to help teach about this great Catholic devotion. One hopes also that it might reawaken an interest in a few of the grown up parents as well as their children! It is written by Dr William Fahey, president of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts and who has dedicated the college to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Illustrations are by myself.

Devotions are very important in the Catholic lexicon of prayer and they play a large part in forming the culture of faith which is the springboard of all culture. A well balanced prayer life has liturgical piety at its heart, but has also-liturgical prayer, devotional prayer and personal prayer. The non-liturgical elements should be ordered so that in the prayer life of the person, each relates to the other and each is derived from and points to this liturgical center. In this way they act as another part of that spiritual bridge between Sacred Liturgy and those aspects of liturgy, considered in its broadest meaning - completing the work of God, which involve love of God through love of neighbor.

The book costs only $7 and is available from the Sophia Institute Press website here.

9781622822249

 

The Real Eden Project - Liturgy and Ecology

Here is an article taken from the Orthodox Arts Journal which appears to be consistent with the ideas that I have proposed about the connection of the garden to the liturgy

This was sent to me by reader James Morgan (thank you James!). It is one of a series of called An Icon of the Kingdom of God - the Integrated Expression of all the Liturgical Arts (h/t James Morgan). It is written by Andrew Gould the architect (and it seems garden designer).

This is right in line also with my own thoughts on the importance cultivating for beauty; that a proper ecology is one in which man, by God's grace, manages the environment by working harmoniously with it. As a result he builds it up to what it ought to be which, as a general rule, is greater and more beautiful than it is as untouched wilderness. Accordingly gardening is in some way recreating Eden, or even the paradise of the redeemed world (which perhaps some might consider to be very similar but perhaps not exactly the same thing).

There is a hierarchy. Well farmed land is more beautiful than the wilderness it replaced. And then a garden cultivated for the contemplation of its beauty is more elevated still. So in my mind, it is more noble thing to grow flowers in your back garden than to grow vegetables...or keep chickens.

Read the article here...

The pictures below are taken from the article:

The flower garden of the Stretensky Monastery, Moscow

Western European style with the cross-in-square archetype of paradise in the Alcazar, Cordoba, Spain

Byzantine courtyard athe Kaisariani Monastery, Greece

St Anthony's Monastery, Egypt

Medieval style garden designed by the author in South Carolina

 

The following photographs are of the gardens of the Alhambra palace in Granada in southern Spain.

 

 

Recently Commissioned Relief Carving of St Vincent de Paul

Another heartening example of parishioners and priest working together to commission sacred art

Thank you to Fr Riley Williams who recently contacted me to tell me of the commissioning of a triptych of the patron of his church in Attleboro, Massachusetts. This relief carving of St Vincent de Paul has just been installed. It is fine piece carved by Jonathan Pageau (who will very likely be known to NLM readers). Once again this is a great example of priest and congregation working together constructively to commission good quality sacred art. Fr Williams has written a detailed explanation of the contents on the parish newsletter which I encourage you to read, here. The work is the focal point of a shrine to St Vincent in the church itself.

When St Pope John Paul II called for a dialogue between artists and the Church in his Letter for Artists, in 1999, one could have interpreted that as a call for conferences in the Vatican attended by prominent clerics and world famous artists, from which policy statements and newspaper articles might ensue. Well, that may be so, but if those events have any value, it is to the degree that they inspire the sort of dialogue that really produce results: right down at the grassroots and comprising personal conversations between an artist, priest and people, all pulling together to a common goal.

When each works together to produce something worthwhile for themselves and future generations then I am heartened that we are starting to see the beginning of a cultural renewal.