The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-01-31


Add 70 these, Lrini, Of Milan; Francin,
OF Bologna; Gentle and John Bellini, OF
Venice Fra Bart,lomeo, the Florentlne
monk, and friend OF Savonaroia; Perug NOS.
and finally, Rapheel--and we have the listI
of those who led the vanguard 10 the per-.
petuity of those heayen-toned jdealizations,
that yet greet the eye with their beauty
and animate the heart with emotions OF
grateful homage.
"Sacn art has left us, and can never again
be revived until artists believe and pray as did
those men of old; until they can see and feel
az they did ut all hours, amid their rejoicings
or q; they ssp holy snd
the symbolized faith for which they died.
Virtues, aud not graces; angels and not
muses.; types of spiritual truths, and not ex-
sion--these were their daily intellectual food.
Amid all thipgs-in church, shop, or bedroom;
ON the roadside and by the palace at every
the figures Of the Redesmsr and his holy
mother to direct their thoughts still higher
heavenward. Religion, at all events, in its ex-
ternal form, and rs believed, was confessed by
to rely on spiritual powers for their earthly
support and sole sustenanoe. Charity, faith,
the due subsection of the body to the develop
suooor Of the oppressed, the relief Of the un-
fortunate, dcroir, duty to all men-such were
tho doctrines of chivalry in the middle ages"
Art Hiats, BY JarUes ]
Apart from the palm and olive, we find
no mention in the New Testament of flow.
ere, save that exquisite simile of the lilies,
made by our Saviour himself and there
can be found no other instance wherein such
an illustration is rendered with more beauti-
full pathos and force. That he appreciated
these frail emblems is not only made ep-
parent in this, but is further proved by his
choice of the calm repose and soothing in
huence Of these silent sympathizers on
Gethsemane's night of woe. No human
ccmpanionship, no human eye or voice,
could aid him then, in that fearful contest
of humanity over divinity, as did natures
voiceless comforters-the flowers that were
bent down by the weight of their tears,
the great shifting sky above, with the elo-
quent calm of it's silver stars, through
which foated clear and luminous the angel
comforters. Our Saviour proved in all the
suffering episodes of his life that lovely
groves, and dim funereal forests speak more
forcibIy to heart in pain than do the
wilder and grander convulsions of nature.
at is in quiet and subdusd passages of nm
obtrusive majesty, the deep, the calm, and the
perpetual that which must be sought ere it can
be seen, and loved ere it is understood things
which the angels work out for as daily, and
yet vary eternally; which are never wanting,
and never repeated which are to be found al
ways,
these that her lesson Of devotion is chiefly
taught and the blessing of beauty given
Ruskim's Modern Painters.l
Nowhere have these beautiful accessories
in iife's pilgrimage been moro glowlingly
and successfully used, not only as an alb
stract religions emblem, but as divine
allegorical poem, than in the representa-
blessed Virgin. To this type of all that
was pure and noble in woman to the hu-
mainly which was link in the chain of
divinity, q partaker of all human woes,
and yet the chosen of the Godhead-to her
were specially dedicated these early Ia
bors in revived art, and of which she was
the inspiration. Herein, as elsewhere, we
find the historical, mystical, and devotional
treated with every conceivable adjunct
that can typify being SO elevated and be-
nign. The beauty and variety of the rose,
the purity and fragrance Of tho LILY, were
devoted to her special honor, wherever
her name was venerated and loved. Even
to make IN open profession Of faith, they
expressed their devotion to the mother
conformity with the Son, in the darkness
and solitude of the catacombs. Therein 1t
was, that the frat Christian artist dared
give life to his hearts belief; and therein it
it was, that her image with that of her
divine Son and the apostles were impressed
upon the walls and sarcophagi of that
great subteranean temple.
As the Annunciation was the door
through which all future blessings flowed,
so il became q most fruitful theme to the
faith and imagination of those great relig
ious artists whose work was labor of
love and we fiud it treated from the fifth
to the sixthteenth century by Byzantine,
Italian, Spanish, and German art with a
variety, beauty, and significance that only
an enshrined saint could inspire. In the
earliest representations of this subject, the
angel appeared holding a sceptre, but this
mark Of authority gradually gave way to
the more symbolic lily. This was intro
duced universally, either held in the hand
of the angel as he salutes her, or seen
growing in q pot placed in some part OF
the room. Others again, represented an
enclosed garden, upon which the Blessed
Virgin is looking from a window. In oil,
from the crndest to the most finished, some
floral adjunct gives beauty and Significance
to tho subject. Tho Assumption-that 1T
ting climacteric of a life whence sprung