St. Charles Borromeo, On Sacred Images - Instructions on Church Building (1577)

Chapter 17. Sacred Images or Pictures

According to the decree of the Council of Trent and the Provincial constitutions,(1) the bishop must take great care that the sacred images are piously and religiously depicted. Moreover a heavy punishment or fine for painters and sculptors who depart from the prescribed rules in the representations mentioned above has been provided for. A sanction has also been provided for the ecclesiastical rectors who allow an unusual image to be depicted or placed in their church, contrary to the rules prescribed by the Tridentine decree.(2)

What is to be avoided and what is to be observed in the sacred images 

First of all no sacred image containing a false dogma or that offers the uneducated an occasion for dangerous error, or that is at variance with the Sacred Scriptures or Church tradition, is to be depicted in the church or elsewhere. Conversely, the image must conform to the truths of the Scriptures, the traditions, ecclesiastical histories, customs and usages of the Mother Church.(3)

Moreover in painting or sculpting sacred images, just as nothing false, uncertain or apocryphal, superstitious, or unusual is to be depicted, so whatever is profane, base or obscene, dishonest or provocative will be strictly avoided. Likewise all that is outlandish, which does not incite men to piety, or which can offend the soul and eyes of the faithful is forbidden.

Furthermore, although attempts must be made to seek as accurate as possible a semblance of the saint, care will be taken not to purposefully reproduce the likeness of another person, living or dead.

Images of beasts of burden, dogs, fish and other brute animals are not to be shown in the church or other holy places, unless the depiction of the holy story, in accordance with the custom of the Mother Church, specifically requires it.(4)

The dignity of sacred images

The representation of the sacred images will correspond in all things to the dignity and holiness of the prototypes, fittingly and decorously, in the appearance, position and adornment of the person.

Distinguishing characteristics of the saints 

Those things that for their meaning as something sacred are painted on or attached to the images of the saints, must conform, in an adequate and decorous manner, to what is specified by the church. Examples are the nimbus or crown, similar to a round shield, placed around the heads of the saints, palms held by martyrs, the miter and crosier which are given to Bishops, and other like things, as well as the distinctive attribute of each saint.

Moreover, care must be taken that the representation corresponds to historical truth, to church practice, to the criteria prescribed by the Fathers. 

Care must be taken that the nimbus of Christ the Lord is distinguished from those of the saints by a cross. Finally care must be taken not to attribute the nimbus to anyone who has not been canonized by the Church.

Locations unsuitable for sacred pictures

No holy image is to be depicted on the ground, not even in the Church, nor in humid places, where with time the painting would be ruined and deteriorate; neither under windows, from which rain water could drip, nor in the proximity of points where nails [ubi clavialiquando figendi sunt ponerse clavos] are to be fixed at any time, nor, we repeat, on the ground or in dirty and muddy places.

In locations of this kind, not even the stories of the saints or depictions of symbols of the sacred mysteries will be represented.(5)

Rite for blessing the images

Not only must one pay attention to the location but also to the ancient Ecclesiastical rite. In other words, the images of the saints, once made, will be consecrated by solemn benediction and those specific prayers prescribed in the Pontifical or Ceremonial book.

The names of the saints that must sometimes be inscribed

It is not untoward that, in many of the sacred images depicted in a church, the names of the saints represented are written under the lesser known figures. This is an ancient practice, as confirmed by St. Paulinus in this line: "Martyribus mediam pia nomina signant." [Let the pious names be marked among the martyrs].(6)

Accessories and ornamental additions

The accessories, that is the elements the painters and sculptors usually add to the images for decoration, shall not be profane, nor sensual, nor solely for aesthetic delight, nor incompatible with the sacred picture, such as for example the deformed human heads commonly called "mascaroni," or the birds, or the sea, or the green fields painted to please and delight the eye and for decoration. [They may be used] only if they are an integral part of the sacred story represented, or unless they are ex-votos, in which human heads or other things, mentioned above, are painted to explain the meaning.

The ornaments and apparel painted onto the sacred images must have nothing unsuitable, or which, in other words, has little or nothing to do with sanctity.

Votive panels

Care must also be taken, as prescribed above, regarding the ex-votos, offerings, wax images and other objects habitually hung in the churches according to ancient practice and tradition, in remembrance of health recovered, or danger avoided, or a divine grace miraculously received, for frequently they are false, indecorous, indecent and superstitious depictions.

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Notes

1. During the first Provincial Council of 1565 Borromeo referred to the Tridentine Synod and reiterated the regulations that no one might display a sacred image in any place or church without Episcopal approval, and that nothing false, profane, tasteless, preposterous or inconsistent with ecclesiastical history and tradition was to be exhibited.

2. Another practical approach in this period of ecclesiastical reorganization under Borromeo was his suggestion to call a mass meeting of artists and inform them of their obligations. At the same time he also advised that "in order that bishops might more easily execute these and other like prescriptions of the Council of Trent, let them call together the painters and sculptors of their dioceses and inform all equally about things to be observed in producing sacred images; and that they [the bishops] were to see to it that no painter or sculptor publicly or privately produced any sacred image without consulting the parish priest."

Punishments, fines and penalties were frequently mentioned by Borromeo; for example, in concluding the above advice, he added that "if any transgress, let them be punished, the artists themselves as well as those at whose expense or by whose order the images are produced."

At the fourth Provincial Council (1576) eleven years later, and one year before the norms, the movement of Counter Reformation art was still at a point where the threat of punishment appeared to be an added impetus to obedience. Borromeo stated that "for painters and sculptors, let there be established by the authority of the bishop a heavy fine and punishment as well as ecclesiastical interdicts if, contrary to the decree of that same Tridentine Council, they paint or fashion anything that is excessively, unnaturally, or hurriedly done, anything that is profane or tasteless." As in the Instructiones, Borromeo follows with a warning to the pastors of churches "who have permitted the placing of any inaccurate sacred image that is contrary to the sanction of that Council [Trent], even through their churches be exempt, let there be established also the penalty of excommunication or fine at the bishop's discretion in assessing the degree of fault."

3. The language used by Borromeo is similar to that found in the Trent proceedings.

If any abuses shall have found their way into these holy and salutary observances, the holy Council desires earnestly that they be completely removed, so that no representation of false doctrines and such as might be the occasion of grave error to the uneducated be exhibited. (Trent, 216)

But now, if these things, either painted images or formed statues, by reason of the temerity or ignorance of the artists, or by chance of the kind that seem in no way tolerable, let the Bishops, when they have obtained the counsel for learned and skilled men, see to it that these works are completely removed or at least in some way corrected. (Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis, 37)

4. The warning that animals were not a part of religious iconography was clearly expressed by Borromeo in 1576 when he decreed that "representations of beasts of burden, dogs or other brute animals must not be made in church; since on the sanction of the Tridentine Council it is wrong for anything tasteless or profane to appear in church and this clearly was also forbidden at the seventh ecumenical Synod of Nicaea. But if the expression of sacred history after the practice of the Holy Mother Church demands that it occasionally be done in different ways, clearly this is not forbidden."

5. "If any sacred paintings or painted images are of unseemly appearance by reason of being all but effaced by age, decay, location or dirt, let the Bishop order them renovated by those whose concern is pious and religious painting, or if this is not possible, totally destroyed. Paintings of saints expressed in images which have been damaged by age must not be turned to any vile, sordid, or profane use; rather, as has been sanctioned by the decree of the blessed Clement, priest and martyr, in the case of altar curtains and hangings which have been consumed by time, they should be burned; then the ashes, moreover, lest they be stepped upon, should be placed beneath the pavement. Likewise sacred statues, if deformed, should be removed and placed under the pavement of the church or at least under the ground of the cemetery."

6. St. Paulinus was elected Bishop of Nola near Naples in 409. He chose his predecessor St. Felix as patron and built a basilica in his honor.

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Source: St. Charles Borromeo, "Chapter 17: Sacred Images or Pictures," in Instructions on Church Building (Instructiones Fabricae et Supellectilis Ecclesiasticae [1577]), trans. Evelyn Voelker.

Notes are also by Evelyn Voelker.

Pius XII, The Function of Art (April 8, 1952)

[3] An address by His Holiness Pope Pius XII to a group of Italian artists received in audience on April 8, 1952.

1. With deep satisfaction, beloved sons and daughters, promoters of the figurative arts, We welcome your devout homage and that of your families, by reason of your coming to Us on the occasion of the sixth Roman quadrennial meeting, and We express to you Our pleasure for the remembrance-gift which you are leaving with Us.

2. How delightful your presence is to Us is shown by the tradition itself of the Roman pontificate. As the heir of universal culture it has never ceased to appreciate art, to surround itself with works of art, to make art, within due limits, the collaborator of its divine mission, preserving and elevating its destiny, which is to guide the soul to God.

3. Upon crossing the threshold of this house of the common Father, you felt as though you were in your own world, perceiving yourselves and your ideals in the masterpieces gathered here throughout the centuries. Nothing is lacking therefore to make this meeting mutually delightful between the Successor, though unworthy, of those Pontiffs who shone as generous patrons of the arts, and you who continue the Italian artistic tradition.

4. It is needless to explain to you—who feel it within yourselves, often as a noble torment—one of the essential characteristics of art, which consists in a certain intrinsic 'affinity' of art with religion, which in certain ways renders artists interpreters of the infinite perfections of God, and particularly of the beauty and harmony of God's creation.

5. The function of all art lies in fact in breaking through the narrow and tortuous enclosure of the finite, in which man is immersed while living here below, and in providing a window to the infinite for his hungry soul.

[4] 6. Thus it follows that any effort—and it would be a vain one, indeed—aimed at denying or suppressing any relation between art and religion must impair art itself. Whatever artistic beauty one may wish to grasp in the world, in nature and in man, in order to express it in sound, in color, or in plays for the masses, such beauty cannot prescind from God. Whatever exists is bound to Him by an essential relationship. Hence, there is not, neither in life nor in art—be it intended as an expression of the subject or as an interpretation of the object—the exclusively "human," the exclusively "natural" or "immanent."

7. The greater the clarity with which art mirrors the infinite, the divine, the greater will be its possibility for success in striving toward its ideal and true, artistic accomplishment. Thus, the more an artist lives religion, the better prepared he will be to speak the language of art, to understand its harmonies, to communicate its emotions.

8. Naturally, We are far from thinking that in order to be interpreters of God in the sense just mentioned, artists must treat explicitly religious subjects. On the other hand, one cannot question the fact that never, perhaps, has art reached its highest peaks as it has in these subjects.

9. In this manner, the great masters of Christian arts became interpreters, not only of the beauty but also of the goodness of God, the revealer and Redeemer. Marvelous exchange of services between Christianity and art! From their Faith they drew sublime inspirations. They drew hearts to the Faith when for continuous centuries they communicated and spread the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures, truths inaccessible, at least directly, to the humble people.

10. In truth, artistic masterpieces were known as the "Bible of the people," to mention such noted examples as the windows of Chartres, the door of Ghiberti (by happy expression known as the Door of Paradise), the Roman and Ravenna mosaics and the facade of the Cathedral of Orvieto. These and other masterpieces not only translate into easy reading and universal language the Christian [5] truths, they also communicate the intimate sense and emotion of these truths with an effectiveness, lyricism and ardor that, perhaps, is not contained in even the most fervent preaching.

11. Souls ennobled, elevated and prepared by art, are thus better disposed to receive the religious truths and the grace of Jesus Christ. This is one of the reasons why the Sovereign Pontiffs, and the Church in general, honored and continue to honor art and to offer its works as a tribute of human beings to God's Majesty in His churches, which have always been abodes of art and religion at the same time.

12. Beloved children, crown your artistic ideals with those of religion, which revitalize and integrate them. The artist is of himself a privileged person among men, but the Christian artist is, in a certain sense, a chosen one, because it is proper to those chosen to contemplate, to enjoy and to express God's perfections. 

13. Seek God here below in nature and in man, but above all within yourselves. Do not vainly try to give the human without the divine, nor nature without its Creator. Harmonize instead the finite with the infinite, the temporal with the eternal, man with God, and thus you will give the truth of art and the true art.

14. Even without making it a specific aim, endeavor to educate men's hearts—so easily inclined toward materialism—toward kindness and a spiritual feeling; you to whom it is given to speak a language which all peoples can understand. Strive to bring men closer to one another. May the artist's vocation, for which you are indebted to God, lead you to this mission: a mission so noble and worthy that it is sufficient in itself to give to your daily life—often harsh and arduous—its fullness and a courageous faith.

15. In order that these Our wishes may be fulfilled and God glorified in your art, We invoke upon you and your families an abundance of heavenly favors and may the Apostolic Blessing which We impart upon you from the fulness of Our heart be a promise of them.

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Source: Pius XII, "The Function of Art," address, The Function of Art: Address of Pope Pius XII; On Sacred Art—Instruction of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office (Washington, D.C.: National Catholic Welfare Conference, 1952), 3-5.

Pius XII, The Art of Fra Angelico: Window into Heaven (April 20, 1955)

 [125] Address of Pope Pius XII at Opening of Exhibition of Paintings of Fra Angelico at the Vatican

In welcoming into Our dwelling so many masterpieces of Fra Giovanni of Fiesole it is Our intention not only to pay a special tribute of admiration to his genius, which reached the highest pinnacle of art by drawing inspiration from the mysteries of faith. It is also Our desire to revive the deeply religious and human message his paintings have preached to his own and succeeding generations, which have never tired of contemplating his symbolic images where beauty and harmony seem to transcend the summit of the purely human and to open as it were a window into Heaven.

Above all, We wish to express Our great pleasure at the extensive study inspired by the 5th centenary of his death. It has stimulated outstanding critics and authors to deepen and spread knowledge of the personality and work of Fra Angelico in noteworthy publications. Some of these have presented in a new and truer light the period and currents of thought and art which marked the first half of the 15th century. They are publications which redound to the honor not only of the arts but of culture in general and of religion itself.

Perennial witness

We wish also to express Our heartfelt gratitude toward each and all of those distinguished persons who responded with filial solicitude to Our desires and arranged that the works of Fra Angelico, cherished as incomparable treasures in the museums and galleries of various nations, be entrusted to U s for a while on this happy occasion. This has secured Us the pleasure of viewing them and at the same time the joy of being able to show them to Our beloved sons from all over the world who will be visiting Rome at this time. 

The present Exhibition is the first important collection of Angelico's works in one place, and fittingly enough in this Apostolic Palace, whose threshold the eminent man of genius crossed many times. The humble and pious Fra [126] Giovanni of Fiesole, as is well known, came here at the peak of his artistic maturity at the request of Our predecessors, first of Eugene IV, and later of the great patron of the arts Nicholas V, to whom the Renaissance owes much of its early beginnings. And here ono these walls Angelico immortalized some of the most vigorous creations of his artistic imagination, an honor and adornment of this Apostolic residence, and a perennial witness of the perfect accord between Religion and art. 

The homage rendered today, after five centuries, to this holy monk and consummate artist, gives added meaning to the well deserved tribute We gladly pay him, because, among other things, his memory and his work seem somehow associated with Our own laborious Pontificate. It is a pleasures to recall Our visit fifteen years ago to the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva where his mortal remains are cherished with pious devotion. But in a special way, Fra Angelico, who may be called the ecstatic painter of Mary Queen of Heaven, recalls the extraordinary favor Divine providence granted Our lowliness, that of honoring the Mother of God in singular ways. Among these was crowning with Our own hand the image of the Virgin, as he did so often in the ecstasy of art in masterpieces which throughout the centuries have remained models of celestial beauty.

Acclaimed in every age

And now Our high esteem for Fra Angelico, so many of whose works are here before us, would lead Us to make some analytical comment on his art. However, Our present condition permits Us only to touch briefly upon a few of its most characteristic aspects. We shall leave to the eminent critics the function and pleasure of going deeply into some of the questions which have always interested lovers of art since the age in which he flourished and especially since the science of the history and the criticism of art developed with its own methodology. It is inf act one of the great honors of Fra Angelico that in every age he has claimed the admiring attention of scholars. [127] Nor in fact could he have been overlooked by anyone attempting to trace the main avenues along which Western culture advanced; he is unquestionably one of the pillars of this culture, as a successful promoter of its progress and development as well as an interpreter of his own era.

While in the past and the present critical judgments have been divided in his regard, these judgments have been concerned only with secondary aspects of his personality or of the genesis of his art, or else have differed only in its interpretation. But no honest critic has ever questioned his essential attributes, which are universally recognized, namely, that he was a very great painter, of deep spirituality, a felicitous innovator, an effective, sincere and perfect artist. Although with the passage of time tastes and fashions change in the field of art, too, and although the search for new forms of expression often leads to a certain forgetfulness or disdain of the old, Fra Angelico, like all great and true geniuses, has never in any age suffered a lessening of the admiration he evoked both in the scholar and in the popular mind. His art is bound, it is true, to one time; it belongs to a specific era, succeeded by many, many others. But later developments are not to be considered as improving on or surpassing his art, as if it had lacked perfection or failed to attain its goal. The most modern scholars concur in this basic judgment, and have also resolved in his favor the long debated question as to whether he was a disciple of the Gothic tradition or a precursor of the humanistic renaissance. Fra Angelico was ready and prompt to assimilate the new revivifying currents of art, but he always strove to preserve for it the traditional religious character of its didactic and ethical aims. There is no doubt that he was one of the most representative links in the labor of transition from one period to the next.

Sermon and prayer

Similarly, his personality has been set in its true light, extricated from the popular and pious legend which depicted the fervent friar painting his Saints while absorbed in unconscious ecstasy, his brush guided by superterrestrial beings. This does not mean, however, that his profound religious sense, his serene and austere asceticism, nourished by solid virtue, contemplation and prayer, did not exercise a determining influence on his artistic expression, giving it the potency and immediacy with which it spoke to the minds of others and, as has frequently been noted, transmuting it into prayer, just as he was int h e habit of repeating "he who makes the things of Christ ought always to be with Christ" (G. Vasari, Vite dei piu eccell. Pittori, Scult. ed. Arch., Florence, 1878, t. II, p. 520).

As for whether or not he derives in certain respects from Giotto; what influence Masaccia had on him; with what criteria he resolved the new and difficult problems then debated around the theories of space and light; how he understood the return to classicism; whether he sided with Cennini, who considered that the function of painting was to discover the invisible, [128] and not with Alberti, who restricted the realm of art to the visible alone; whether he intended an explicit polemical stand against the neoplatonic current, which he unquestionably rejected — these questions are still objects of studies and research which do honor to those who conduct them. 

Thomistic in content and technique

The candid piety of Fra Angelico is rightly considered an essential basis for his efficacy as a painter. But still another basis is to be sought in his cultural formation, that is in the doctrine of the universe he learned in the school of the philosophia perennis and to which he adhered with clear and tranquil certitude. Not a few critics have rightly pointed out how Thomistic doctrine is reflected not only in the content of his paintings but also in his style and technique. Fra Angelico takes nature as his point of departure, one might say, like the great Doctor in his exposition of the "five ways." And he loves nature passionately as the work and the reflection of God. However, he insists on highlighting the aesthetic aspects of nature; he seems in fact to be striving boldly to fix upon it his own ideal of beauty, sought in devout contemplation of his supernatural world. The vision of creation in his aesthetic form is neither stunted nor incomplete, for he identifies the beautiful with the true, the good, the holy, the perfect, the chaste, almost in the same way that the Divine perfections, of which creatures are the reflection, are not really distinct in God but only more or less explicitly so because of the innate weakness of the created intellect.

The Alpha and the Omega

Likewise he has learned from the teachings of St. Thomas the great synthesis of the universe, which, varied as it is in the elements which compose it, takes its origin from God and returns to Him after having run its course in the form of an orbit radiant with harmony, beauty, truth and holiness. This synthesis seems reflected in those famous compositions in which delightful figures of angels, saints, friars and virgins form a crown for the throne of the Redeemer and his Mother.

Celestial light

Certainly Fra Angelico's painting is always religious, both in subject matter and in style and method of treatment. Accustomed to the tranquility of monastic discipline, and striving always for perfection in intention, in word, and in action, it is natural he should seek to attain it also in the techniques of his art, which, as a result, is always cleanly bright and serene. In his life, as in his paintings, there are no moments of exterior drama, but inner struggles, fought in complete resignation to the Divine Will and with calm confidence in the victory of good. The very light which he pours over his figures and through his backgrounds is measurable not so much in quantity as by its quality of purity; it is in so far as possible, a celestial light.

Spiritual lyricism

His themes are simple and [129] linear, patterned as it were on the style of the Evangelists. His figures always reveal an intense interior life. Their countenances, their gestures, their movements are all transfigured by it. As he narrates or expounds the divine mysteries to his audience, Fra Angelico is ever the skillful [sic] "preacher," seeking to elicit an immediate response with descriptive and decorative elements in order to speak more quietly to the inmost soul. When, on the other hand, his aim is to offer a subject for contemplation to his brother monks, practised [sic] in the meditation of supernatural truths, he is careful to eliminate any element of distraction, such as strong tones of light and color or the busy converse of too many figures and gestures, and his emphasis then is on the purely internal. The figures are sublimated in an ethereal, other-worldly lightness, the background is empty, the canvas is smaller, and the decorative elements so dear to him, like the gentle landscapes of his native Tuscany and the architectural forms created by Brunelleschi, disappear. The result is a spiritual lyricism, bursting from pure interior harmony, which still hovers in the cells and corridors of the convent of San Marco in Florence, whose walls alone would be sufficient to celebrate an artist's immortal glory.

On occasion, as in this "study" of Nicholas V and in other large altar pieces, he uses a monumental style but always within the measure allowed by his artistic purpose, become by now his unalterable canon of expression, namely, to speak of things divine in accents which are true and understandable but at the same time worthy of God and of his Saints.

Religion, a transhumanizing force

But what is substantially the aim of the picture language which Fra Angelico addresses to the children of his own and succeeding centuries? On the one hand, his purpose is to teach the truths of faith, convincing men's minds by the very force of their beauty. On the other, he aims to draw the faithful to the practice of the Christian virtues by setting before them beautiful and attractive examples. Because of this second purpose, his work becomes a perennial message of living Christianity, and, in a certain sense a sublimely human message based on the principle of the transhumanizing force of religion, by virtue of which everyone who comes in direct contact with God and his mysteries becomes like Him in holiness, in beauty and in bliss; becomes, that is, a creature according to the original design of his Creator. 

Model man—balanced, serene, perfect

Fra Angelico's brush, therefore, gives life to a kind of model man, not unlike the angels, in whom all is balanced, serene, perfect: a model man and Christian, rarely found perhaps in the circumstances of earthly life but still to be offered for imitation by the people. Look carefully at the Saints who surround Christ and the Virgin, or even the anonymous figures in his picture stories. They betray no intellectual uncertainties or torments; each of them enjoys the [130] calm possession of the truth, which he has attained by natural knowledge or by supernatural faith. Their will is oriented toward the good; the passions, reactions, emotions to which they are subject because they are human creatures, are always tempered by the inner control of the soul. The tears for the dead Redeemer represent indeed a bitter grief but not desperate anguish. The joy of the blessed is not yet abandonment to uncontainable exultation. The austerity of the penitents has no shadow of torment. The contemplative concentration of St. Dominic is quite different from the ecstatic abstraction which would erase his human personality. The vehemence of John the Baptist is controlled by the strong temper of his soul. This moderation in the passions and emotions is what Fra Angelico wished to preach to Christian souls. 

Positive goodness

A positive goodness, besides, clothes every one of his figures, be they angels, or saintly religious, or humble folk. His Madonnas breathe a material goodness even when seated in majestic grandeur on a throne. The angel who has received from God the tremendous duty of driving the first parents from Eden manages to lay a sword-free hand on Adam's shoulder, as if to give him courage and hope. Even the wicked judges and executioners of the martyrs have a certain air of goodness about them, as if they were conscious of being the instruments of God's glory.

It might be said, in fact, that the artist himself declares his inability to portray what is turbid or evil. Constrained at times to include in his world the darker elements of human reality, he avoids as much as possible their direct portrayal, as can be noted in the "Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian" and in the "Last Judgment." The group of the damned in the latter painting is attributed by some to disciples of his school.

Man, in Fra Angelico's world, which is the world of truth, is naturally neither good nor holy. But he can and must become so, for holiness is easy and beautiful, since Christ, whose ultimate sacrifice he painted so often, died for this very purpose, His most holy Mother is the supreme example of it, the Saints rejoice because they have attained it and the Angels take delight in conversing with the Saints.

Reward of virtue

To win souls to the virtues he sets before them, he highlights not so much the effort of achieving them as the bliss that comes from possessing them and the nobility of those adorned by them. Thus the profound humility of the Virgin listening to Gabriel is expressed in her face with the same queenliness that illumines it as she is crowned by her Son. Thus both portraits of the Virgin bespeak the same queenliness, except for the slight hint of perturbation in the one, transformed into a delicate smile of joyousness in the other. In the condemnation of St. Stephen, virtue and passion confront each other in the persons of the accused and the judge respectively. But the accused humiliates the man of power, though seated on his throne, by the [131] sheer fearless strength of his faith. Fra Angelico is unsurpassed in weaving praises of other Christian virtues. This praise becomes perhaps a poem in the wonderful fresco here which might be called the apotheosis of poverty and misfortune endured with a Christian spirit. The blind man, the paralytic, the man covered with sores, the widow and the other poor who cluster about the holy deacon Lawrence draw from the Christian faith that fills them a shining dignity which their pitiful miseries cannot obscure. Perhaps one of the many delightful angels who grace his other pictures would not be out of place in this group of human creatures, who may be poor but whose soul is rich with serenity and hope.

World of peace and holiness

The world of Fra Angelico's paintings is indeed the ideal world, radiant with the aura of peace, holiness, harmony and joy; its reality lies int he future when ultimate justice will triumph over a new earth and new heavens (cf. 2 Pet. 3, 13). Yet, this gentle and blessed world can even now come to life in the recesses of men's souls, and it is to them he offers it, inviting them to enter in. It is this invitation which seems to Us to be the message Fra Angelico entrusts to his art, confident that it will thus be effectively spread. 

Art and religion

It is true that an explicit religious or ethical function is not demanded of art as art. If, as the aesthetic expression of the human spirit, it reflects that spirit in its complete verity or at least does not positively distort it, art is in itself sacred and religious, that is, in so far as it is the interpreter of a work of God. But if its content and aim are such as Fra Angelico gave his painting, then art rises to the dignity almost of a minister of God, reflecting a greater number of perfections.

Sublime possibility

We should like to point out to artists, who are ever dear to Us, this sublime possibility of art. For if instead the words and cadences of artistic expression were fitted to minds which are false, empty and confused, that is, unlike the Creator's plan, if, instead of lifting the mind and heart to noble sentiments, art excited the baser passions, it would indeed encounter some response and welcome, if only because of its novelty, which is not always a virtue, and because of the slim fraction of reality reflected in all human expression. But such art would be a degradation of itself; it would be a negation of its primary and essential character. Nor would it be universal and eternal, like the human spirit to which it speaks.

A message religious and human

In paying homage to the greatness of the artist and in inviting Our beloved sons to accept, almost as if disposed by Providence, the religious and human message of Fra Giovanni of Fiesole, Our mind cannot escape the anxious consideration of the present world in which we live, so different form that portrayed in these wonderful [132] paintings, win which the loftiest and truest human aspirations are sealed with exquisite artistry.

Ardently therefore do We hope that the breath of Christian goodness, serenity and Divine harmony that escapes from the works of Fra Angelico may pervade the hearts of all, while in pledge of more abundant grace from heaven, We impart with all Our heart Our paternal Apostolic Blessing.

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Source: Pius XII, "The Art of Fra Angelico: Window into Heaven," address, The Pope Speaks 2, no. 2 (summer 1955): 125-132.

Pius XII, Address to the First International Congress of Catholic Artists (September 3, 1950)

 [3] You have undertaken a thing both timely and useful, dearly beloved sons, in promoting and organizing among yourselves the First International Congress of Catholic Artists, the distinguished representatives of which we are happy to greet on this occasion.

So much has already been said about art — that inexhaustible subject! Your present undertaken moves us to outline — very briefly — art's part in the task of Peace [sic]. Pax Romana!

The tremors of a world shaken to its foundation, misunderstandings between the minds of men, opposing interests, and shadows cast by hypersensitive individualism — all these, despite the new abundance of contacts and assimilation in material matters, have sharpened the sense of separateness, broadened and deepened the moral distances. The very excess of this evil has bit by bit made clearer the need for uniting in common action all the scattered strength of the nations and peoples anxious for peace. 

Neither to-day nor yet yesterday have first seen tenacious and skilful [sic] efforts everywhere aimed at bringing about joint action or cooperation with other lands. Contemporary events have stressed, not the futility and uselessness, but rather the inadequacy and shallow-rootedness of such efforts. Hence, with laudable eagerness, and faced with difficulties of every kind, men have set about establishing international associations on the political, juridical, economic, and social levels. it was promptly realized that there was still need for something more intimate, more human, and associations — at least partial associations — have begun to take shape in the technical, scientific, and cultural realms.

On this intellectual level, the Congress of Catholic Artists, now holding its first general meeting, ranks among the most estimable activities. This is self-evident, given first of all that art is, in certain respects, the most living, the most all-inclusive expression of human thought and feeling, and, moreover, the most broadly understandable, because art, speaking directly to the senses, knows not the diversity of tongues, but only the highly stimulating diversity of temperaments and mentalities. What is more, thanks to its subtlety and refinement, art — whether heard or seen — reaches depths in the mind and heart of him who beholds or listens, which words, either spoken or written, with their insufficiently shaded analytical precision, cannot attain.

For these two reasons, art helps men — regardless of all differences in character, education, or civilization — to know themselves, to understand themselves, at least mutually to comprehend each other and, consequently, to make common store of their respective resources with a view to rounding themselves out, one complementing the other. 

A first condition is required for art to be able to produce so desirable a result: namely, its expressive value, lacking [4] which it ceases to be a true art. To say as much is not superfluous in our day when all too often, among certain groups, the work of art is not sufficient in itself to render the thought, to externalize the feelings, to lay bare the soul of its author. Yet the moment it needs to be explained in verbal terms, it loses its value as a sign and serves only to afford the senses a physical joy rising no higher than their own level, or else it affords the mind merely the pleasure of subtle and useless play. Another condition exists if art is to accomplish fruitfully and worthily its glorious mission of understanding, of concord, and of peace; this is that through art the senses, far from burdening the soul and anchoring it to earth, should indeed supply the soul with wings, with which it may lift itself above passing trifles and meannesses toward the eternal, toward the true, toward the beautiful, toward the only true good, toward the only centre [sic] where union takes place, where unity is achieved, toward God. Is it not here that we may literally apply the resplendent utterance of the Apostle? "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen — His everlasting power also and Divinity — being understood through the things that are made." (Rom. i. 20.)

Hence all the schools of thought which cause art to forfeit its sublime role profane it and make it sterile. "Art for art's sake": as though it could serve itself as it sown end, sentenced to bestir itself, to drag itself about close to sensible and material things; as though through art man's senses do not obey a vocation higher than that of the simple apprehension of material nature, the vocation to awaken in the mind and soul of man, thanks to the transparency of that nature, the desire for "things that the eye has not seen or ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man." (I Cor. ii. 9.)

We shall say nothing here about an immoral art, which professedly lowers and enslaves the soul's spiritual powers to the passions of the flesh. After all, the words "art" and "immoral" are in flagrant contradiction, and your programme [sic] nowhere suggests their union. Congratulations, then, Gentlemen, for having understood the task incumbent upon you and for having desired, in the face of a "culture without hope" to regard art as "the source of a new hope." Make then to smile upon the earth, upon mankind, the reflection of the divine beauty and the divine light, and you shall, as you help man to love all things which are true, pure, just, holy, and worthy of love, have greatly contributed to the task of peace, and the "God of peace will be with you." (Cf. Phil. iv. 8-9.) May the immaculate Virgin, mirror of God's justice and splendor, Queen of peace, and whom we may well call the Queen of the arts, inspire and help you, may she cause to descend upon you, whose .lovingly contemplated ideal she is, her Son's graces, in pledge of which we give you — you and the whole body of Catholic artists and all those who are dear to you — our apostolic benediction.

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Source: Pius XII, "The Sovereign Pontiff's Address to the First International Congress of Catholic Artists" (September 3, 1950), address, Liturgical Arts 19, no. 1 (1950): 3-4.

Summary of Moralists on Organ Playing Non-Catholic Services and Communicatio in Sacris

[3] Some authors do not give formal communication so wide an extent; they do not consider every active participation in a non-Catholic religious service as a formal communication. Vermeersch, for example, looks upon playing the organ as a form of proximate material co-operation [sic].[16] Since the majority of the moralists,[17] however, consider that action as a formal communication in non-Catholic worship, and since the Holy See has said it is never allowed,[18] there seems to be justification for including it under the general heading of formal communication. By reason of its part in the function, playing the organ at a religious service is to be classed as a specifically religious action.

This attitude of Vermeersch follows from a difference he notes between communication and participation. Both consist in taking part in the action of another, whether merely internally by intention [4] and desire, or externally, too. To his mind external communication is considered as formal, while external participation is reduced rather to co-operation, which in some matters can be formal or merely material, according to the intention.[19] There seems, however, to be no practical reason for this distinction in regard to our matter. To participate actively, even only externally, in a non-Catholic religious ceremony is  a formal communication. Therefore, communication and participation are used interchangeably in this study. [...]

[36] Per accidens intention and moral circumstances can become the primary sources of the morality of an human act.[3] When an act is indifferent morally from both its object and its circumstances, the only source of the morality of that act will be the intention for which it is done. For a person in every human act must act with some intention, which must be either morally good or morally bad. An act, which is morally indifferent by reason of its object, can also become good or bad by reason of one or more of the moral circumstances. In that case the circumstances assume the character of moral objects, and become accidentally the primary sources of the goodness or badness of the individual act. Thus, although the playing of an organ is morally indifferent in itself, when it is done as a part of a non-Catholic religious service, it becomes bad by reason of the circumstances making it an active participation in the non-Catholic religious service. [...]

[51] There is clearly a formal co-operation when there is question of a participation in what is essential in the service, as to receive the eucharist of heretics. An active participation in what is accidental in such worship, as singing, even though the hymns be orthodox in their content, or playing the organ in a religious service, is also a formal co-operation.[54] Such activity implies an approval of the cult, for it is intended to add beauty, attractiveness, and appeal to the service; this implication is inseparable from any subjective attitude of the one actively participating in accidentals. In other words, all accidental activity of a religious nature is as wrong, by reason of the circumstances, as that which is essentially a part of the service. Whatever activity in a non-Catholic service has a specifically religious character, whether by its nature, or by reason of the circumstances, is intrinsically wrong, as a profession of the belief of a false sect.[55] Since such activity in the exercise of idolatrous or false worship is intrinsically wrong, it cannot be reduced to merely material co-operation.[56] An objection cannot be made on the score that the sin of irreligion on the part of the non-Catholic is only material. Even if that is true, co-operation in it in a formal way is not licit. For one is never allowed to co-operate formally in something which is intrinsically wrong objectively. Although the other person may not be subjectively guilty of sin, the formal co-operator incurs the guilt of the virtues violated, for he does something he knows to be intrinsically wrong. [...]

[72] B. Singing or Playing Musical Instruments

Singing or playing musical instruments in non-Catholic religious services is an active participation, and, therefore, a formal communication. Concerning this point La Croix says that it is not licit to sing psalms together with non-Catholics in their churches or meetings, nor is it licit to play the organ or other musical instruments in their temples, because such things seem to be a public approbation of, or a scandalous communication in, sacred things.[53] The author of the Appendix to the article Fides in the Bibliotheca of Ferraris says that they ratify a false rite and cult, who play the organ or exercise the musical art in another way in churches of schismatics and heretics.[54] Kenrick holds that in this country those who sing hymns or play the organ in the churches of heretics become participants in the cult, and, therefore, betray their faith in some way.[55] [73] Konings states that to perform the office of organist, even only one or the other time, in the churches of heretics in their religious gatherings would be illicit, for it involves a communication in their religious rites or a formal co-operation.[56] Noldin-Schmitt,[57] Marc-Gestermann,[58] Prümmer,[59] Merkelbach,[60] and Aertnys-Damen[61] agree that singing or playing the organ in religious services is wrong, because each involves a participation in the cult. Noldin-Schmitt expressly call these actions formal communications in the worship.[62] Wouters makes the same judgment about playing the organ, but does not mention singing.[63] Lehmkuhl[64] and Augustine[65] call singing and playing the organ formal co-operations. Sabetti-Barrett consider singing in a non-Catholic religious service as an active part in the cult, and, therefore, intrinsically wrong.[66] In 1889 the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith stated, with the approbation of Pope Leo XIII, that it is illicit to play the organ in the churches of heretics when they are exercising false cult there; the seriousness of this matter is made clear when it is remembered that this was a reply to a petition for permission to play the organ in Protestant churches on feast days so that the organist could provide for himself.[67]

Davis allows a Catholic organist to continue in his position in a non-Catholic church so long as he is in grave necessity, provided there is no serious scandal.[68] This opinion indicates that he looks upon this action as a form of proximate material co-operation. Vermeersch expressly states that he considers organ playing as a proximate [p. 74] material co-operation.[69] These opinions are too mild. In licit material co-operation there is required an action which is at least indifferent. Playing the organ in a non-Catholic service adds beauty, solemnity, and appeal to the worship, and as such is inseparable from the religious rite. Therefore in that circumstance it is intrinsically bad, and is a formal co-operation. Because of the strength of the intrinsic arguments for this opinion, and of the great weight of extrinsic authority favoring it, the view of Davis and Vermeersch is somewhat singular and exceptional, to say the least.

Sabetti-Barrett cite, without approval, an opinion that a Catholic may sing in non-Catholic services in a very rare case, when the following conditions are verified: (1) there is nothing contrary to the faith in the hymns; (2) there is no scandal or danger of perversion; (3) there is a most grave necessity. The reason given is that in these circumstances the malice seems to be, not on the part of the action, but on the part of other persons, and hence the co-operation is only material, and can be permitted for a just cause. On the other hand, Sabetti-Barrett believe that singing must be considered as an active part in non-Catholic worship, and intrinsically wrong. Hence it involves a formal co-operation, and the intention, or the grave necessity, of the singer cannot change the nature of the act placed in such circumstances.[70] It is difficult to see how singing in the religious services of non-Catholics can be viewed in any other way.

Regarding the singing in non-Catholic services, it makes no difference whether the hymns are orthodox or not.[71] Even if they are orthodox, they are used as a part of non-Catholic worship. Non-Catholic worship, even when it contains nothing false, is conducted in defiance of the Catholic Church, the only organization authorized by God to establish public worship. Vermeersch says that for Catholics to sing the Te Deum together with non-Catholics in a non-Catholic church as an expression of common joy, even when it has a religious signification, is not intrinsically wrong, although Catholics should not do it.[72]

[p. 75] It seems, however, that an action of this kind always has a religious signification, and hence it implies an approval of non-Catholic worship, and is an expression of religious indifference. It seems, therefore, to be wrong. The Holy See has allowed Catholic civil officials to assist only passively at non-Catholic religious celebrations commanded by the state at which the doxology was sung.[73] The mind of the Church is that Catholics have their religious celebrations separately in their own churches.[74]

Playing the organ, or other musical instruments in the course of a non-Catholic religious service, but not as a part, or as an ornament of it, will not constitute a religious participation, for example, to do so in honor of a non-Catholic king who is present.[75] Similarly, it contains no religious communication to play the organ or other musical instruments, or to sing hymns which are orthodox, for profane purposes in non-Catholic churches outside all occasion of cult.[76] The use of the church, however, brings in some co-operation, and there must be a proportionate reason present to justify such activity. For a Catholic to sing hymns containing errors in faith, even outside the occasion of a religious function, is a formal religious communication, as an external expression of wrong doctrine. This could apply to some negro spirituals. On the part of a Catholic organist accompanying such hymns there is a formal co-operation, because in the circumstance the music makes the external expression of wrong doctrine more appealing.

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Footnotes:

16. Op. cit., [Vermeersch, Theologiae Moralis Principia, Responsa, Concilia] Tom. II, n. 50, p. 41; n. 8, p. 124. Cf. Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology, Vol. I, p. 286.

17. Noldin-Schmitt, op. cit., [Summa Theologiae Moralis] Tom. II, n. 39, 4, c, p. 40; Aertnys-Damen, Theologia Moralis, Tom. I, n. 314, II, Qu. 4, p. 236; Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis, Tom. I, n. 526, d), p. 372; DeMeester, op. cit., n. 1253, note 4, p. 154; Kenrick, Theologia Moralis, Tom. II, Tract. XIII, n. 37, p. 48; Konings, Theologia Moralis S. Alphonsi in Compendium Redacta, Vol. I, n. 313, 1, p. 142.

18. Col. S.C.P.F., Vol. II, n. 1713, p. 240.

19. Loc. cit., p. 41.

3. Aertnys-Damen, op. cit., Tom. I, n. 54, p. 50. Cf. I-II, q. 18, a. 9 and a. 11.

54. Cf. Augustine, A Commentary on Canon Law, Vol. VI, p. 197.

55. De Meester, op. cit., [Iuris Canonici et Iuris Canonica-civilis Compendium] Lib. III, Pars I, n. 1252, 2, pp. 153–154.

56. Konings, op. cit., Vol. I, n. 313, 1), p. 142. Cf. Genicot-Salsmans, Institutiones Theologiae Moralis, Tom. I, n. 198, p. 149.

53. Theologia Moralis, Tom. I, Lib. II, Tract. I, Cap. III, n. 68, p. 170.

54. Prompta Bibliotheca, art. Fides, Appendix, n. 57, Tom. III, col. 1137.

55. Op. cit., Tom. II, Tract. XIII, n. 37, p. 48.

56. Op. cit., Vol. I, n. 313, (1), p. 142.

57. Op. cit., Tom. II, n. 39, 4, c, p. 40.

58. Op. cit., Tom. I, n. 449, 6, p. 288.

59. Op. cit., Tom. I, n. 526, d, p. 372.

60. Op. cit., Tom. I, n. 758, (3), p. 586.

61. Op. cit., Tom. I, n. 314, I, Quaer. 4, p. 236.

62. Op. cit., Tom. II, n. 38, 2, p. 38.

63. Op. cit., Tom. I, n. 557, 5, p. 391.

64. Op. cit., Vol. I, n. 813, p. 450.

65. Op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 197.

66. Op. cit., n. 154, 10, pp. 159–160.

67. Epistola S. C. de Prop. Fide, July 8, 1889, Coll. S.C.P.F., Vol. II, n. 1713, p. 240.

68. Op. cit., Vol. I, p. 286.

69. Op. cit., Tom. II, n. 147, 8, p. 124.

70. Op. cit., n. 154, 10, pp. 159–160.

71. Prümmer, loc. cit.

72. Loc. cit., n. 147, 9, pp. 124–125.

73. Instructio S. C. S. Officii, May 12, 1841, Coll. S.C.P.F., Vol. I, n. 921, p. 519.

74. Cf. Littera Encyclica S. C. de Prop. Fide, April 25, 1902, Coll. S.C.P.F., Vol. II, n. 2136, p. 425.

75. Lehmkuhl, op. cit., Vol. I, n. 813, p. 450; Merkelbach, op. cit., Tom. I, n. 758, (3), note 2, p. 586.

76. Konings, op. cit., Vol. I, n. 313, (1), p. 142.

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Source: John R. Bancroft, "Communication in Religious Worship with Non-Catholics," PhD diss., (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1943), 3–4, 36, 51, 72–75.

Dom Augustine on Playing Organ in Non-Catholic Services (1921)

 [197] Difficulties may arise concerning coöperation [sic] in the divine services of Catholics who are employed by non-Catholics as singers or organists. Although we could find no specific decision with regard to Catholic singers at non-Catholic services, it is evident that the Church cannot tolerate such a formal coöperation, for to that it would certainly amount. Besides, if it is forbidden for a Catholic to play the organ at non-Catholic services—which has been formally decided[34]—it naturally follows that Catholics may not sing at such functions. The Church has been more lenient lately with regard to admitting non-Catholics as singers and organists at Catholic services. Thus, in 1889, the Holy Office wished the abuse to be eliminated as soon as possible, in 1906 it made a concession for Bulgaria, in favor of sisterhoods whose non-Catholic pupils were admitted to sing in their chapels.[35]

The present canon [c. 1258] only forbids active assistance at, or participation in, the religious services of non-Catholics. 

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Footnotes:

34. S. C. P. F., July 8, 1889 (n. 1713): "Cum ibi falsum cultum exercent." Exception might be made for school exercises or purely civil celebrations held in non-Catholic churches, provided they have no religious feature attached; for in that case there would be no "exercise of false worship."

35. S. O., May 1, 1889; Jan. 24, 1906 (Coll. P. F., n. 1703, 2227).

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Source: P. Charles Augustine, A Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1921), 6:197.

Henry Davis on Organ Playing in Non-Catholic Services (1943)

 [286] Organ Playing

It is wrong to play the organ in a non-Catholic church as a help to the religious service (S.O., Jan. 19, 1889), or to be a member of the choir during services, but it is not wrong, scandal apart, to take part in musical festivals in such places. A Catholic organist might continue in his post so long as he was in grave necessity, apart from serious scandal.

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Source: Henry Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1943), 1:286.