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15. To Build in a Time of Plague

The Christian world is full of churches, chapels, and memorials thanking God for halting plagues and honoring the saints for their intercession. The stories are tremendous, as are the works themselves. It is salutary for us to learn about these plague churches built by our predecessors in the faith.

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Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

Speaking of salutary, Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, is usually just called La Salute, which means “health.” The plague of 1631-1632 killed one third of the population of Venice, which makes our current pandemic look comparatively less severe. The plague suddenly ceased on November 21, 1631, the day Doge Contarini and Patriarch Tiepola made a vow to dedicate a church to the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Health and Protectress of the Republic of Venice. The architect, Baldassare Longhena, conceived of the church as a crown to honor Mary as Queen. The Venetian Senate decreed the building of the church, and every year on November 21, two bridges of boats are built across the Grand Canal. The Senate of Venice attends Mass along with many Venetians and pilgrims. The vast, octagonal church has two domes and two picturesque bell-towers behind the smaller dome. Built on a platform made of 1,200,000 wooden piles, it is constructed of bricks coated with marble dust. If you have been to Venice you will have seen it located on the Grand Canal, or you may have seen it in famous paintings by Canaletto, J.M.W. Turner or John Singer Sergeant. Its interior holds priceless religious masterpieces by Tintoretto and Titian.

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“Santa Maria della Salute” by John Singer Sargent, 1904

Salute is one of five plague churches in Venice. The stories of the other plague churches are equally fascinating. I will mention only a few details here.

The La Chiesa di San Giobbe (St. Job), built in 1462-1471 near the Jewish ghetto, is named after the Old Testament saint who was so patient in suffering. La Scuola e Chiesa di San Rocco (The School and Church of San Rocco), built in 1485-1550 and decorated by Tintoretto, is one of the five “Guilds of the Charitable Brethren.” This guild’s particular duty was charity toward plague victims. La Chiesa di San Sebastiano (The Church of Saint Sebastian), built in 1506-1518 and decorated by Veronese, contains artwork depicting plague symbolism from the Bible such as the Pool of Bethesda. La Chiesa del Redentatore (The Church of the Redeemer) designed by Palladio and built after the plague of 1575. As with the Salute, a Doge and a Patriarch of the city made a vow to build a church if the plague would cease. It did, so they commissioned the great architect Andrea Palladio to design it on the island of Giaddecca, across the Grand Canal.

Church of the Redeemer, Venice

Venice was subject to the ravages of the plagues of Europe because it was the center of trade for the Eastern Mediterranean and the caravan routes of Asia. But European cities such as Cologne (whose name refers to perfumed waters thought to ward off the plague!), Munich, Bingen, Oberammergau, Vienna, and other cities have churches, chapels, monuments, memorials, and artworks thanking God for halting plagues and imploring the intercession of the saints.

So let us pray to the saints in Heaven for their intercession in this our time of plague that we might not to fall into the despondency, despair, or confusion. Let us makes vows as the Doges and Patriarchs of Venice did, to to build or beautify our churches, even if on a smaller scale. Like them, let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession, and God, who makes good come out of evil, will surely answer our prayers.

Sculpture in Santa Maria della Salute’s high altar, depicting the City of Venice (figure of young woman on the left) asking Our Lady to banish the plague (figure of old woman running away on right)

For more information on the plagues of Europe, and the plague churches, see The Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine: Avery, Harold (February 1966). “Plague churches, monuments and memorials”. Proc. R. Soc. Med. 59 (2): 110–116. PMC 1900794. PMID 5906745

Posted on by Laudate Sacred Art

13. The Stations of the Cross ~ A Short Meditation for Lent

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Jesus Takes Up His Cross, Our Lady of Peace Church, Stratford, CT

        When we enter any Catholic Church, we immediately focus our gaze on the end of our journey: Our Lord at the altar, and His victory over death. The architecture emphasizes the journey to the sanctuary, a journey we make in union with all the faithful across time and space. It is our common hope to enter the eternal banquet of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

        Before His  victory over death was accomplished, Our Lord made this journey carrying the wood on which He would be crucified. The Stations of the Cross illustrate the stages of Christ’s journey on the walls on either side of the nave. They are worthy of meditation along our life journey both as individuals and as a community.

        Depicting fourteen images from the day of His crucifixion, the Stations begin with his condemnation to death by Pilate and end with his entombment. In Latin they are called the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) or the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering). The tradition of following along the Via Crucis, meditating upon each station, began in Jerusalem and may have been started by Our Blessed Mother herself.

        Promoted by the Franciscan Friars, the stations were popularized throughout Christian lands in the 15th century because they allowed the faithful to make a mini-pilgrimage to Jerusalem within their own local churches, since it was difficult and often dangerous to visit the Holy Land

Case study: Our Lady of Peace Church, Stratford, CT:

        In Our Lady of Peace Church, the stations are austere in style to match the style of the Normandy-inspired church. Like the large wooden crucifix hanging in the sanctuary, the stations are hand-carved from oak. The Stations of the Cross may be made of other materials such as plaster or stone, but here, in Our Lady of Peace Church, their “native” material, wood, is used: the material Jesus Himself carried, and upon which he died. The renovation of Our Lady of Peace Church involved bringing these original Stations of the Cross back to life by cleaning, protecting, and embellishing them.

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Jesus Falls for the Third Time, Our Lady of Peace Church, Stratford, CT

        The cross on Christ’s halo is painted with red pigment symbolizing His Passion, and the blood He shed for our sins. The halo is gilded in 23 K gold leaf, a precious metal that never tarnishes, representing Heaven, our desired destination.

Station IV with Blessed Mother
Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother, Our Lady of Peace Church, Stratford, CT

        Meditation upon the Stations of the Cross is an integral part of our Lenten journey with Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”  Making the journey to Jerusalem in spirit, we accompany Our Lord while reflecting upon and responding to, His tremendous love for us.

Note: We are indebted to Margaret Visser’s excellent book, The Geometry of Love: Space, Time, Mystery and Meaning in an Ordinary Church. [New York: North Point Press (a division of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), 2000].

Posted 2019 by Karen D’Anselmi

    Posted on by Laudate Sacred Art

    12. Start Small

    On Pentecost the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to found the Church. On that day, over three thousand were baptized: an impressive increase for Day One. However, in terms of architecture, you could argue that the Church was born in Bethlehem.

    Bethlehem is small.  Most good, even great, things start that way.  Here we find the newborn Jesus. A few animals, a few visitors.  Under a simple structure to protect a small family.

    All great saints started small.  Their great projects started small. In the case of St. Francis, the tiny Portiuncula chapel was the third church that he restored after receiving his mandate from Christ: “Rebuild My Church.”  Here he came to understand his vocation more clearly in 1209, and to found the Order of Friars Minor. The basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli was built over the Portiuncula in 1679.

    Portiuncula, inside Santa Maria degli Angeli Church, Assisi, Italy

    At the Portiuncula, which was and is the center of the Franciscan Order, Saint Francis gathered his friars in Chapters (general meetings) each year, to discuss the Rule, to rediscover their fervor and then set off again to proclaim the Gospel.  Millions have visited this tiny chapel to receive the Portiuncula indulgence (or have traveled to receive the indulgence at designated affiliates) and many copies of this tiny church have been built throughout the world.

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    Portiuncola at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Steubenville, Ohio

    A few centuries later another tiny church was built in the city of Rome. On the spot where St. Peter was crucified, in the outer cloister of a much larger church, stands a tiny chapel called “the Tempietto,” or little temple.

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    Bramante’s Tempietto, Rome, Italy

     

    Commissioned by King Ferdinand of Spain, it was built around 1510 by Donato Bramante, a visionary who took his inspiration from ancient buildings such as the Temple of Vesta and the Roman Pantheon.  This tiny church has a hemispherical, concrete dome on the top and perfectly spaced niches and pilasters on the main body. A ring of doric style columns completes the outside. Contemporary critics such as Georgio Vasari considered it one of Bramante’s masterpieces, and it became an inspiration for the “rebirth” of architecture in the Renaissance and beyond.

    The Tempietto has an intimacy in scale, yet it dares to be a House of God.  It has a mini-grandeur within the wild grandeur of the universe.  Large buildings, in order to feel intimate, need to have human scale. Small buildings, by contrast, dare to do big things, and point towards infinity with the humility of their proportions.

    One of our favorite projects at Laudate Sacred Art is Our Lady of the Way Chapel in Hyde Park, New York.  This historic wayside chapel is presently being restored using funds raised by a small but dedicated congregation consisting of Catholic students at the Culinary Institute of America and friends of the chapel.  The more grandiose buildings of the rest of the former Jesuit Seminary now house an internationally famous cooking school, but the chapel is still administered by the Archdiocese of New York. Smaller than most living rooms and seating about twenty- four congregants, it is a gem of sacred architecture and a model for the “small church” movement of our times.

    Our Lady of the Way Chapel outside view
    Our Lady of the Way Chapel, Hyde Park, New York

    The final point of this short article, is “Do not be afraid to start small.”  Do not be afraid to stay small. For even great architects, no project is too small.  For all architects, designers, lovers of architecture and design, and anyone who wants to experience the Divine, small is beautiful.  Small is Bethlehem.

    Nativity Walnut Shell - 203-3-137