The Washington herald., 1922-09-10
Franc iscan Monastery Has
Remarkable Art Treasures
Catacombs Furnish Interesting Sights fol
-. Washington Lovers of Painting and
s Sculpture.

Raising Lazarus" All these pic
lures are by American artists and
the copy of Hoffman's Burial Is
made by an American.
The altar piece gives a French
artists conception of Purgatory in
sharp relief. Flames surround
these souls from below and they are
yearning upward toward the Virgin
Mary. who Is interceding for them.
She has sent angels to comfort
them. The skull and crossbones
form the decorations on the altar
and on the capitals Of the pilasters.
Going out of this chapel we come
to paintings OF Christian martyrs
being thrown to the wild beasts in
the arena. These are along the
statrways. Then we come to two
larger chapels, Of which there are
quite a few in the original cata-
catacombs, called cubicula.
The left-hand cubiculum is that
OF st. Cecilia. The statue beneath
the altar is a copy of that by Ma
derno at Rome, at the place of her
martyrdom, in the Church of st.
Cecilia. The story of her martyr
dom Is that they heated her bath
too hot. to try to destroy her life.
But. though they made It several
times as hot as II should be, this
had no effect upon her. They then
ordered her executed, and the exc
cutioner cut three times, but failed
to do anything more than make
small cuts. The story goes that
long afterward they found her body.
as she had bled to death fromGt
three cuts.
Early Christian Art.
The reproductions of the early
Christian art in this chapel and that
of Saint Sebastian. opposite it, are
very exact and faithful reproduc-
tions of the originals. Even the
broken plaster and the holes in the
wall are shown. BY means of these
pictures the Bible stories were kept
In mind, and they were also used
for the instruction of the children.
So these catacombs were In some
sense a school.
The English titles for the pic
lures have been supplied. Some of
the scenes represented are the ark,
Moses striking the rock, the fish
devouring Jonah. etc. The art is
crude, but not bad as art, consId-
ering that these people had little
access to forms of arts already cre-
ated, and it was largely original
with them. The decoration was al
most all symbolic.
OF all the art along these cata-
combs. every bit is reproduced from
originals in the Roman catacombs,
with the exception of the scenes of
throwing the Christians to the wild
beasts, which are by American art
lists, and related to the catacomb
art only in that they depict scenes
of the time when these labyrin-
thine corridors were being built
and decorated.
II we take the right hand exit.
We come to the Grotto of Bethle-
hem. This is also called the Grotto
of the Nativity. The altar has the
inscription, Gloria in excelsis Dec"
above the image, GLORY to God in
the Highest" Below Is the image
Of the Child. with angel-heads in
the clouds above. This is a true re-
production OF the Altar of the Ma
tivity in Bethlehem. The Place of
the Manger Is also an altar which
gives plenary indulgence. The man
ger was in reality a rock-hewn shell
ter into which the shepherds could
drive their focks in bad weather.
The Altar of the Magi commence
rated the place where the Three
Wise Men knelt to adore Christ. the
newborn King.
The picture on the wall opposite
the Altar OF the Nativity shows the
angels announcing the good tidings
to the shepherds. who were abid-
ing in the fields. keeping watch
over their nocks by night"
If. on the other hand, we take the
left exit from the catacombs, we
come to the Grotto of Nazareth.
This is a faithful reproduction OF
the humble home IN Nazareth which
has been identified as the Home of
Mary. 1t consists of one room with
a sort of inner chamber formed by
a cave in the rock. The painting on
the wall just in from the entrance is
good reproduction Of Lucca Della
Robbia's THE Annunciation." In the
Chapel Of the Angel are two affairs.
Above the one to st. Joseph Is a
painting showing st. Joseph instruct
Ing the Infant Jesus, and above the
one to st. Anne Is that saint, the
mother Of the Virgin Mary. instruct
ing the child Mary. The original
house is now near Ancona, in Italy.
At some later time we NAV visit
the shrines in the church itself, some
Of which are faithful reproductions OF
celebrated shrines across the ocean.
In studying this art. we must bear
in mind. above all things. that it Is
primarily assembled and preserved for
its religious interest, and the art inter
est comes in incidentally. We have to
be very careful not to strip these
shrines Of their meaning to the pious
IN separating tire art for study.