Irish Jesuit Province

A Sermon in StoneAuthor(s): Edward FitzGeraldSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 71, No. 838 (Apr., 1943), pp. 140-146Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20515120 .

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140

A Sermon in Stone

By EDWARD FITZGERALD, S.J.

Hr-__HE beatytx, of nature, and that other beauty, whiclh is the work of the mind and hand of man, can preach to tus with a silent eloquence and teaclh us truths as profouind

as any that fall from human lips. Suchi a silent sermion I once leard in Paris, the true hone of sacred eloquence.

There are in that city two great chturches, both made sacred by the same Real Presence, and hallowed by the same Catholic worship. I was greatly surprised when I was told that one of them was a Catlolic chlutrch; stichl an edifice, beautiful and inm pressive as it wN-as, seemied neverthieless ill-suilted to shelter the Real Presence and be the scene of the great cereimonies of ouir Catholic worship. For La Mladeleilne, the Churehi of St. Mlary Macgdalen, was a strictly- classical, Dorie, Peristyle building

in every way the very antithlesits of the splendid Gothic cathedra.l of Notre Dame. At first siaht it seeims quite easy to explainl the difficulty I felt in thinking of La Madeleinie as a Catholic chiuirchi, by attribtuting it to the natural tendency one lhas to tassociate Greek Doric arclitecture with the wvorsliip of somie

Olympian deity. But that explanation is not wholly adequate, as I think. For when I reflected fuirtlher on the vast difference betwveen La Mladeleine and Notre Danme (as I looked at theni both in the m-iind's eye, long after I had left IParis), it occuirred to me that a miore f'undamental cause than that of mwental associa tion underlies the feeling of incongruitv arotused by the sight of a Catholic clhturel built on the m-iodel of a Greek Doric temple.

T'he source fromi whence this feeling springs becomes clear 'as we listen to the silent preaching of these twvo great achievements

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A SERMON IN STONE 141

of the human genius-the Doric temple and the Gothic cathedral. These two superb masterpieces of humian art preach

a sermon in stone, which makes known to us the very different spirit pervading the art of classical antiquity and that of the Catholic medieval period.

The Parthenon, although it has Ionic features, may yet be taken as the supreme examiple of Greek Doric architecture, and the

most perfect expression of the artistic spirit of that great age when the name of Athens was almost a synonym for wisdom and

art. As w:e gaze on those noble ruins that crown the hill of the Acropolis, what are the featuires of that still living beauty that

('ast a spell over us? There is nothing startling or vast about this

rulin; its beauty is ratlher that of quiiet order. What wins our admiration is the perfect symmetry, grace and proportion which

even the Vandal hand of Time has not been abld to oblitcrate, and which make the mutilated remains of Athena's house one of the world's treastured possessions after the lapse of more than

twventy centuries. rThe beauty of the Parthenon is restful. It is coldly fair.

like the Mona Ljisa, itseems to rest in perfect repose, at peace in the consciousness of its own natural and earthly charm. While ouir eyes rest upon it, our heart is not stirred by any deep or strong feeling; wve are conscious only of a calm pleasure in the contemplation of a beauty undisturbed by any sense of effort, and resting in the quiet repose of ideal perfection.

Fronm this tranquil vision of harmonious and ordered beauty, wve turn our gaze to one of the great Gothic cathedrals of

tmediatval Europe. How very different is the forml of beauty that one of these splendid churches embodies in stones that seem to throb with vital energy! This is no quiet beauty, no ordered harmony on which we can look without being stirred by a feel ing of religious awe. This leaping, soaring beautyt, " this Sursurn

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142 THE IRISII MONTHLY

Corda in stone ", is wondrous in its infinite variety, and pro foundly mysterious in its symbolism. No sooner has our eye rested on this divinely agitated image of beau-ty than we feel the glow of religious feeling warming our heart; we becomne con scious imnmediately that this is the dwelling-place of the Most

High, and our spirit ascends heavenwards above the loftiest cross crowned spire.

There was no mystery about the Greek temple. It was very beautiful, and that beauty was enmbodied in a very definite per fection of harmony and form-; it was very stately and serene, yet very simple in its direct appeal to our innate love for the ordered and symmetrical. Btut he who contemiplates a Gothic cathledral is conscious that in this miracle of htuman art there lies some hidden inspiration beyond the grasp of the merely human intelli gence; he is deeply moved by the heaven-reaching aspirsation that finds such wonderful expression in the daring upward reach of the

whole edifiec. The spell which now falls on our spirit is ?ot wrought by a serene and stately harmony vhich captivates us by its appeal to a natural human instinct; it is rather the powerful fascination of a deeply symbolic and mysterious beauty which clharms our spirit, and to which the profoundest enmotions of ouir hearts surrender. Here is no Mona Lisa smiling in the con

sciousness of her own irresistible human charm, but ratlher a

Mladonna, from the brush of some Byzantine artist, whose wholly spiritual beauty does not absorb the mind but sends it above to

the Author of all beauty. The words of one who was a great classical scholar and a deep

admirer of the Greek genius will help us to understand better the lesson of this silent sermon ve are listening to wvith the mental ear.

Greek art,"' writes Professor Jebb, lhad sprung froin a free, cheerfiul life, open to all the bright impressions of external nature,

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A SE RMON IAT STONE 143

a life warmed by frank human synmpathies, and lit up with fancy controlled by reason. The lawgivers of mediaeval art were vith drawn from communion with the outer world by the rapture of devotion at once half-mystic and intensely real; instead of flexible intelligence they had religious passion; instead of the Greek's clear outlook upon the facts of htumanity they had a faith which transfigured the actual world."

I think that in these words the two great motive-forecs which exerted suich a vital influence on classical and medwval art, respectively, are at least faintly indicated In Classical Antiquity this force was Ilhumanism, while in the great centuries of

MNleditval Catholicismn it was Faith. It is in the light of these great forces which contributed so nmuch to make the Doric tenple and the Gothic cathedral the suipreme masterpieces they are that we wvill best understand the full significance of thie vast difference there lies between them.

rimhe Greeks in the greatest period of their historY w%rere capti vated in mind and hieart by the ideals of Hunmanism. Even their religious aspirations did not reach out to any great spiritual

deity. Their gods were human in form and only too human in clhar.acter. They cotuld not conceive any higlher attributes for tihe-n than their own human gifts in perfection. For thenm *-man was the mieasure of all things" as one of their own thinkers expressed it.

For me it seems that this preoccupation witlh imianl aInd hulman perfection has had a profound influence on the arclhitecture as well as on the art of the Greeks. When we look at the Parthenon ve see in it an ideal beauty realised, but being a beauty inspired by Ilumanism alone, its appeal is wholly natural-its charm is

the charm of earth. And this is the reason why this glorious temple seems unworthy to be the abode of the Divinity.

Its makers had received no communication of the Divine

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144 THE IRISH MONTHLY

natuLre. God7s Spirit did not dwell in them, and thus the beauty they fashioned out of gleaming marble has no power to cast a spell over the -soul of nman to prepare it for communion wvith its

Maker. That oft-repeated m-laximi of the ancient Gy'reelks, nt8cqv ayv,

the golden nmean ", is buit another manifestation of their humanistic outlook. All their mnor al and artistic aspirations were

limited to what the human personality, relying on its own natural powers, could achieve. For them, artistic as wvell as moral per fection could only be realised by limiting their aspirations to

what unaided human natture could achieve. To this truily humlr-anistic principle can be traced the exquiisite

perfection of Greek art which is always a flawvless realisation of some concept of hunman beauty. The Greek artist and archlitect never failed in the realisation of his ideal of beauty, becauise he

wN-as ever mindful.of " mieasure ", and never strove to overcome the limitations imposed on his artistic aspirations by creative powvers whichl vere but human, and a mediutm afforded by imnper feet Nature. In the irreproachable perfection of the Partlhenon

we see this samiie hiumnanistic principle most eloqtuently expressed. Here is a human ideal of beauty superbly realised in stone. It

is a wonder (I cainnot say a miracle) of exquiisite lharmony and measure. Here we are not consciouis of any sense of effort-of any striving after somne beauty which is beyond the realisation of

mnan-but only of the calm repose which is given only to a flaw

less aelievement ofh human art.

Buit how verv differently has the spirit of Faitlh inspired the

builders of the great Gothic cathedrals. No merely huimianistic spirit, no sober doctrine of the golden mean couild have guided the conception and execution of that Sursum C'orda in stone, glorious with ethereal splendour-the Gothic cathedral. IHere we see the

spirit of man rising tip in artistic execution until it trarnscends

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A SERMON IN STONE 14a

all human ideas and values; we behold witlh deep awe the power of art reach out even unto the Infinite God. Look up to those lofty spires-how they soar bey7ond all human need or measure! If the builders of this glorious lhouse of God had been guided by the rule of the golden mean, what need would there have been of those flying buttresses to support the airn loftiness of its wall? -and yet even these do not only support buit also minister to ambitious beauty. The nminds that conceived and the hands that

w%vrought this great cathedral were engaged in a holy work. They knew, with the certain knowledge of Faith, that not man but God is the measure of all things, and in the service of that God they* would dare all, forgetting or rather, overconmina all human limitations; for Charity hopetlh all things, and thinks not anything impossible. They wvould set no limit to the beauty of the abode they were building for the source and founIt of all

beauty-God.

The Doric temple clung close to the breast of that earth which had begotten and nurttured its makers, but the Gothic cathedral reached lheavenwards wvhither Faitlh had directed the

gaze of those who reared it.

Building a home for a very humiiian deity, the Greeks strove to make it an embodiment in stone of the highest beauty which their hnuman spirit could conceive; the Christians of mediweval

France, offering to the Lord of HeLaven a dwelling-place Iin their

maidst, sotught to make it the expression in stone of the divine

Faith and Charity which filled their minds and lhearts.

For ouit of Thouightfs interior sphere These wonders rose to upper air."

These lines of a poet describing the Gothic cathedrals, could

be applied far nmore aptly to the Greek temple of antiquity.

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146 THE IRISH MONTHLY

For the Greek temple did in very truth rise out of Thought's interior sphere-and that thought was unaided human thought.

But the Gothic cathedral was born in all its heavenly splendour from the union of human thought wvith divine Faith, to become a fitting abode for the God of Heaven.

Such is the sermon in stone that is preached to uis by these two supreme architectural achievements of the mind of man.

And this is its lesson. The htuman spirit, when it relies wholly on its own nattiral powers can, and often does, aclhieve a beautv which is radiant with all the glory of earth, but not until it seeks the inspiration of a heavenly faith can it add to earthly charm that ethereal beautv xvhich has in it the image of God's handi

work.

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