The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-06-12
THE MONTH OF THE SACRED
HEART.

ment of theological belief according
to the necessities of modern times,
writes Eliza Allen Starr in Mt. Angel
Magazine. At present, we may say,
there is no devotion which is so uni
versally practiced sacramentally: j. e.;
by drawing crowds to the partaking
of that Bread of Life which nourishes
all the virtues of the individual and
brings a supernatural element into
social life.
Like the devotion itself, the art
which illustrates it is of modem devel
opment. There are none of those fam
GUS names attached to the pictures of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus which in
sure. respect, and books on art have
not yet adopted these pictures or given
them anything but a cold recognition
But this is only the usual course of
human affairs to which art is no eX-
Ception. 1t is not until after a canon.
ization, that the pictures of a saint
made during his lifetime, assume any
special value; and by that time an
ideal element comes into the minds
of the artists called upon to reproduce
them which is shared by their patrons.
All at once, the plain, emaciated face
and figure, perhaps even awkward,
either of itself or by the fault of the
original sketch, comes forth, resur
rected, as it were, in all the bloom of
an eternal beauty. Innumerable in
stances of this ideal transformation,
never, however, losing the individual
identity-are known in art and we
class these instances under the same
rules which compelled three hundred
years to elapse after the siege of Troy,
before a Homer could give his Iliad
to the world. Wait" we sometimes
say to person impatient at the
crude representations of the Blessed
Margaret Mary and the revelations of
our Lord to this His beloved hand
maiden, wait three hundred years,
perhaps less, and you will find these
events given with halo of beauty
which will vie with the story of Saint
Catherine in the hands of Sodoma."
When all this has been accomplished,
there will be retrospective glance,
an eager search for the true effigy,
and under the awkward drawing and
the unskilled delineation of the saint
ly countenance and figure, will be
found the precious legacy of sancti-
fed soul shining through an enfeebled
body which has kindled the ideality
of the artist into glorified visions, be-
fore which the world stands entranced.
The traditions of Paray-leMonial, the
10 fho &c NUhn
) the Blessed IN Margaret Mary received
her supernatural Examinations con-
corning the Sacred Heart, are all weav-
ing the mystical atmosphere from
which the fully canonized saint will
come forth, with her devotion, to a
coming age. For ourselves, we care
fully treasure every souvenir of this
favored monastic sanctuary, and pre-
dict an actual revival of art" under
the influence of the devotion and the
saint through whom it has been given
to the world.
OF the pictures representing oul
Lord as giving us His Heart and ask
ing for our own, the favorite has been
that painted for the Gesu, Rome; and
the tradition runs that the artist, hav
ing been given this commission saw
beggar holding out his hand sc
pleadingly to the passers by, that the
action touched his imagination as il
our Lord stood there asking for the
hearts of His creatures. There must
have been in the whole attitude of the
beggar a certain noble pathos which
one really sees, at times, in these
Roman beggars; reminding one of 6
Saint Frances of Rome who stood
from Ave to Ave at the portals Of
San Lorenzo's basilica begging aims
for her poor when her own place hat
been laid waste; for while a finger
of the left hand of the Lover of souls
touches His own Heart, we are melted
and transported by the pleading look
of the eyes, the gesture of the pierced
hand which says: Son, give me thy
heart; give it to me to console the
sorrows of my own Heart neglected
forgotten"
Although only a half length, this
picture has been hitherto unrivaled
and it is to be keenly regretted thai
the ideal grace of the figure and ges
ture and the intensely pleading lool
in the divine eyes, have not been re
membered by those who have thrown
out so many reproductions of it. We
sometimes wonder what has happened
to the consciences of publishers O.
religious pictures! Have they no spir
itual discernment or has deafness al
to their responsibility in these matters
come over them? Be this as it may
when there is one picture which speaks
to the heart of Christendom as tina
picture surely does, it is not too mucf
to ask to have it reproduced will
pious care.
Another picture still, is by Piducas
tell, in the Duke Salviati's Church
near Pisa in Italy, and represents ,oul
Lord inviting all men to the full foun
tains of His Sacred Heart. The out
spread arms and open hands, the
bending forward of the head and won
derfully living figure, the irresistible
fervor of the eyes whose sight pieree'
to the ends of the universe and t.
the heights of heaven, cannot fai
we say as we look at it, to draw al
men unto Him." Like the Devotion
to the Sacred Heart now so univer
sal, it seems to gather in the nations
to its embrace.
!.