The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-03-22

THE MORNING. STAR A
priesthood. Tho "rapeeityn Of churohmen n
an early lesson. We're they, in candor, to mako
the attempt, they would see the rapacity else-
where andethat, in times more irroveEenf thAn
hTs sSs
has been the nurss of art, OF knowledge, Of
science Let those who arc accustomed to see
light bTt little WY beyond them, and to
tion Of their own day, consider how monks and
churchmen were making plans for-the minis
tiers that We now gaze ct with % much aston
iss%ent.were t.anseribing, were illcminetine
l1iscoveraos in art, their I" secreti and ut the
same Hmo, weEe not unobservanto Of the highest
Office 70 watch and keep alive in their own and
trust, burns, and WIN burn more and morsss
aendin& forth iSs Light into surrounding dark
ness. The history Of the arts II tho history Of
originated in monAstic institutiOna. II the
monks were legislators, were physicians, were
architects, painters, eonlpsors, It was bseeuse
Al tho. learning Of tho Age was conferred in
Though the Duke Of Bavari. was poor
scribe, 10 was 1t least the founder of . convent
:s @ for nis tss ;n%s
fatigable traneeriber Of any ago. An amazing
list of her caligrAphio handicran il extAnt-
almost incredible, = We did not know the pc
who ere dssirous to obtain better information
than 10 commonly received on the suh5ect Of
the learning, 40 wen - tho piety Of tho middle
faRy rss'a " %hiss sSs ss.ol
ans arc refnted to their shame and the charge
Of Ignorance ID most fairly retorted. In his
this list Of
hgious works, which some of our historians
may have looked upon with prejudice, and IS
proofs Of the darkness of the times. Mr.. Matt
~A~~
'opinion, containing, as it does, 80 many proofs,
in original letters and discourses of eTudition,
perfect acquaintance with the sacred Scrip
Whatever books these Ignorant monks and
ecclesiastics possessed, there is one inve.:;;.sn
of time included by most censurers Of the
dark ages" in that invidious term, tbs alb
sence of which would have deprived this en-
ightened" age of half the books it possesses,
Of half the knowledge of the Reading public"
and of we know not how many other inven-
edged parent; we are grateful enough to ac-
knowledge that, without it, we should not now
be writing these remarks, and should certainly
lose many readers-the invention of spectacles.
There are notices of them in A. d. 1899. 1t is
said on monument in the church of Sta. Maria
Maggiore, at Florence, that Saivino degi Ar
matt, who died in 1917 invented them
spectacles to Padre Alesandro," "a Dominican
and miniature painter y "but the memorial of
him in the Chronicle of st. Katherine, at Pisa,
he had made them himself; and that, with q
cheerful and willing heart, he communicated
all he knew"
"The proof" says Mrs. Merrifeld Protest
ant,) that Europe is indebted to religious
communities for the preservation of the arts
during the dark ages, rests on the fact that the
most ancient examples Of Christian art consists
of the remains of mural pictures in churches, of
Nominations in sacred books, and Of vessels
for the use of the church and the altar, and
the absence of all Similar decorations on build
,%nA
the same periodic which may be added, that
many of the early treatises on painting were
the work of ecclesiastics, as well as the paint
made with regard to architecture, many of the
earliest professors of which were monks.n'We=
believe Mrs. Merri6eld here is short of the fact;
ers, they were in almost all instances the de-
signers. Their architecture, indeed, and all
that pertained to it, was q Christian book to
ths designs ao les
alone supply. Painting was essentially a re-
ligious occupation; the early professors of the
art believed that they had an especial mission
to the common people, who were unacquainted
with letters. Actuated by this sentiment. it is
not surprising that SO many. of the Italian
establishments. 1t has been observed that the
different religious orders selected some particu-
lar branch of the art, which they practised with
Orders. Thus the Gesuati and umiiiat attached
themselves to painting on glass and architec-
ture, the olivetani to tarsia work, the Benedic-
tines and Camaldolitas to painting generally;
and the monks of Monte Casino to miniature
painting; while the Dominicansappear to have
practised all the various branches of the fine
arts, with the exception of mosaic, and to have
produced artists who excelled in each" Their
devotion to the arts was, indeed, religious de-
.votion; their treatises commence with the most
earnest prayers, and solemn dedication of them
selves and their works to the Holy Trinity; and
n of Y1ufreunantlv with 1ouD ayorfiuu,
ducing the creation and fall of man, as we see
in the prefaces of Theophilus and Cennino Gem
mini.
centuries saw the erection Of magnificent cathe-
drals, (our own York, Salisbury, and Westmin-
ster were built in the thirteenth,) the manners