The morning news., 1892-01-02
WHEN FAITH MEANT ART.
The Religion OF the Middle Ages Full
of Marvels, Terrors and Love.
From Hqrper's R1znr

of Marvels, Terrors and Love.
From HGrper's Basar.
In order to appreciate medieval art and
the art of the fifteenth and sixteenth CEN
turies in its religious manifestations we
must shape our minds 70 the faith that pre-
vailed in those days. and persisted intact
for ages afterward in the souls of the
humble and OF the poets, says Theodore
Child. We must represent to oursel YES the
universe as a vast theater wherein is being
played an immense drama full of tears and
Joy, the actors of which are dispersed be-
tween heaven and earth-a drama whose
denouement is foreseen, and the incidents
OF which are directed by God, but where
each scene offers the richest and most varied
complications
Divine persons, the angels and the saints,
are constantly miugling with humanity to
help and TO guide, while Satan and his
darksome legions incesSently tempt and
trouble. Man, solicited diversely By ce-
lestlsl grace and Internal seductions, but
free ana master of his destiny, has this
earthly life wherein to choose between the
two attractions, and, accordingly as he
yields to one or to the other his soul when
he dies is waited away to the blissful re-
gions of eternal joy, or falls into the abyss
of despair.
81 am poor woman, weak and DID,"
Francois Villon makes his mother say in an
admirable prayer TO the virgin; II know
nothing, and never did read single letter.
10 the church of which am parishioner /
see beautiful paintings. on the one side par
adise, where are the herps of gold; on the
other side hell, where the damned burn.
The one frightens me, the other dazzles me.
Lady Of heaven, queen of the earth, em-
press Of the internal abysses, grant that |
may have the joyous paradise"
An erudite student and exponent Of med
laval literature, CASTOR Paris has justly
remarked that the poor, the humble, and
the ignorant, have their share of poetry,
both in the mysticism and ia the supersti-
tion of the middle ages. The DOCTORS it is
true, refine upon dogma and pursue in schol-
estic casustry the dream of harmoniznR
Aristotle ard ST. John; but the masses re-
main in happy ignorance of these subtleties.
They know merely that good and pure beings
reign ia heaven; that thay love these beings
and are loved by them; that they call upon
them with confidence in their troubles and
that these good beings, whether saints or
angels, perform miracles in answer to sim
cere prayer, and often appear to those
whom they cherish.
No sins are beyond expiauion to the medi-
Rval mind; no ctimos are so atrocious that
| remorse and repentance cannot efface them
his iniqulties, preserved feeling Of pious
tenderness toward the virgin, that flower
Of purity and mercy that none has loved in
vain, the gentle quean Of heaven, whose
history and whose exquisite personality
have inspired the old painters with their
most beautiful aud touching visions of sub
lime femiuinity. The thief invokes the
virgin az the moment Of his execution, and,
according to the medieval legend, she sus-
tains him miraculously on the gallows for
! three days, SO that he may have time 20 re.
! pent and to escape irrsvecable damnation.
Thus in the mldiasval mind redemption is
the prize of love. Thus God watches over
each one of us and performs prodigies to
save US. But the evil one also. like roar.
ing lion, is incessantly rowing around men.
The medieval imagination sees the evil
one everywhere provoking man to sin with
ever varied rise, or else torturing him In
hell with hideons ferocity Therefore the
imagination takes refuge in the arms of the
saints and the angels, who defend the fsith-
full against the attacks Of hell. Such was
the religion Of the middle ages, full of mar
vcls, of terrors. and Of love.