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.