The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-01-05
SUBSTANCE OF GOTHIC

forces that made so sublime thing
as Gothic possible.
Mr.. Cram insists, with an emphasis
warranted by abundant corroborating
evidence, that art is an integral part
of life itself, the heritage of all, not
the possession of select, few; that
architecture is the index of peo-
pies civilization at any stage of its
career, and that Gothic architecture
is the most perfect form of construc-
ton devised by the mind of man. be-
ing the matured flower of Christian
civilization. Gothic, he tells us in grave
and stately phrases, owes it's rise to
Northern blood, monasticism, Catholic.
faith, the Sacramento, and Christian
commonwealth. The combination of
these five forces during the Middle
Ages made that period the most whole
somely organized, the most sanely
balanced, and the most spiritually slim
ulating in the entire history of the
world.
However, Mr. Cram is too deep in
history to claim perfection for med
ieval society; for he does maintain
with arguments both engaging and
convincing that it was a time when
the principles of Christianity were the
dominant and controlling forces in
human society, containing a greater
proportion of good than has been re-
corded in history, either before or
since, and hence he concludes that
there can be no genuine revival of
Gothic until society is organized on
a Christian basis.
Mr.. Grams finger is on the pulse
of history, and he has kept steady
count of its beats. He warns us that
the present world-war has traced
great cleft in history, cutting like a
giant crevasse the rolling plateau of
life. A world in arms hammers out
it's unknown future on bloody anvils
and in the shadow of unimaginable
conflict" Five centuries have we'll
night rolled since the Renaissance
set in, and no definite historical
epoch has ever lasted longer than
that. Our next step must be either
into five centuries of Dark Ages, or
into a new era of five centuries of a
restored Christian commonwealth.
Close upon 500 years ago men reject
ed Christian civilization for the New
Paganism, when the Renaissance car
ried them away on it's sensuous
bosom, and Mr.. Cram ends his highly
interesting volume with a brilliant
prayer of hope that Gothic art, which
gave immortal form to Christian civ
ilization, may come back as a visible
protest of the Church against the New
Paganism of modern times; that
Christian art in all it's forms may be
renewed and be a living thing, not
mere archaeological study; that we
may derive from the war a fresh I'M
pulse to go back into the past and
learn more of Christian life, out Of
which the substance of Gothic grew
and flourished, in order that we may
contribute something to the new civ
iliZation that must be erected labor
iously on the gaunt and smoking ruins
of great failure.
This newest contribution of Mr.
Cram to architectural and historical
literature is well worthy of being rank
ed with his previous works. He has
the ear of the thinking and reading
public, and his timely volume will
be permanent addition to the classic
treatises ON Gothic art and archi-
lecture. His language throughout is
frankly Catholic, and he has done the
Church and art-lovers generally real
service that will buttress this faith in
Christianity in spite of the rude blasts
of war in these catastrophe days of
the worlds agony.