2010 A Living Presence - Proceedings Draft

Cover Design: George J.
Martin
Cover Art: Andrea Pacciani
Livng
Presence
A
Extending and Transforming

the Tradition of Catholic
Sacred Architecture
2010 The Catholic University of America

Washington, DC
All Rights Reserved
A Living Presence: Proceedings of the Symposium
Table of Contents:
A Living Presence: The Symposium
Apostolic Blessing for the Symposium 3

An Introduction by Michael Patrick
4
Information and Sponsorship 12
Symposium Prayer 26
Program of Events 27
A Living Presence: Presented Papers

Symposium Keynote Address:

An Exalted Mission: A Unique and Irreplaceable Role
Cardinal Justin Rigali 37

Originality and Tradition: The Presence of the Past in Contemporary

Church Architecture
Duncan G. Stroik

53

The Right Abstraction: A Balanced Expression of Divinity and Humanity in

Catholic Architecture
Michael F. Tamara 68

Depicting the Question as Well as the Answer: What Can Medieval Art

Teach us about the Architecture and Decoration of Churches?
Sarah Carrig Bond 88
Symmetria, Order & Complexity, Definiteness

Erik Bootsma

Looking for a New Tradition: Transformations of the Spanish Religious

Architecture on the 20th Century
Eduardo Delgado-Orusco & Esteban Fernndez-Cobin
97
109

What Makes a Church Catholic?
Henry Hardinge Menzies 129

Abstraction and the Architectural Imagination
Joel Pidel 136

Quotidian Pilgrimage
Stephen P. Szutenbach 144

On the Edge of Turin (1965-1977): The Church is No Longer a Monument but

House among the Houses, Poor among the Poor
Carla Zito 160

Pedagogical Patronage: The Role of the Parish Saint in Sacred Architecture
Fr. Jamie Hottovy 171

Notes on Contemporary Architecture for Catholic Churches: Theological

Considerations for New Architectural Approaches
Luigi Bartolomei 181

The Doctrine of Imitation In Art and Faith
Andrea Pacciani 206

A Case for Diversity in the Design of Catholic Churches
David C. Kuhlman 210

Catholic Architecture Calls for a Common Language: Leon Battisti Alberti

and Ornament to Sacred Buildings
Thomas Stroka 224

Catholicism at the Eastern Border of Europe: Construction Works by the

Catholic Church in the Post-Communist Countries at the Turn of the Millennium
Zoran Vukoszavlyev 239

The Dual Dialectic of Incompleteness: Architectural Hermenuetic

of Gaudis Sagrada Familia
George Joseph Martin 251
A Living Presence: Design Competition

Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church
ADW Architects 273

A Hypothetical New Seminary in the American Midwest
Matthew Alderman 280

Divine Exuberance in the Napa Valley
Michael Arellenas 284

Saint Peters Church, Lemoore CA
Jonathan Bodway 290

Reconciliation through Sign and Image: The Suburban Parish Church
Daniel DeGreve 296

City of Saint John the Evangelist

Thomas Deitz 301

Saint John the Evangelist Church
Thomas Deitz 304

The Oratory of Saint Joseph Guardian of the Redeemer, Diocese of LaCrosse
Thomas Dietz 307

Chiesa dello Spirito Santo
Carlo Fantacci 312

The Wheatfield (John 12:24)
Tobias Klodwig 319

Saint Thomas More Church Renovation
George Knight 323

Mar Thoma Shleeha Cathedral
David Kuhlman 327

Stella Maris, Our Lady Star of the Sea, New Orleans
Jude LeBlanc 334

New Saint Joseph Church of the Bayou Teche, Cecilia
Jude LeBlanc 342

A New Monastery, Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
Duncan McRoberts 346

Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Parish
David Meleca 348

Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Parish
David Meleca 352

Chapel of the Annunciation
Mercado 356
Conicinnitas
Andrea Pacciani 360

Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist Motherhouse Chapel
Constantine George Pappas 365

Saints Ann and Joachim Church
Steven Schloeder 372
A Living Presence: Slide Presentations

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church
Steven Schloeder 378

The Law of the Church and the Design and Building of Churches:

Canon Law and Sacred Architecture
Rev. Donald J. Planty Jr. 413

Shrine of Our Mother of Fair Love
Thomas Stroka 381

The Need for Beauty, Catholic Art and the Church
Ami Badami 414

Hidden in Plain Sight - A Chapel
Ann Boyak 389

Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Citta del Vatican
Louis Astorino 420

A Model Church for the Third Millenium
Leslie Edwards 393

Sacred Design Now: Designing the Art of a Relationship
Marco Sammicheli 426

Instrument of Paraise
John Pergallo 397

Sacred Architecture: Thomas Gordon Smith Architects
Thomas Gordon Smith 429

Our Lady of Light Catholic Church
Dominic Spadafore 401

Illustrating Intrinsic: The Sacred Experience
Brian Spangler 405
Catholic Parish Church Complexes in the Maryland Suburbs 1945-70

Isabelle Gournay and Mary Corbin Sies
431
Apostolic Blessing
Introduction: Michael Patrick

by Michael Patrick
While the work of architects and artists is both a science and an art, it is first an exalted mission.
Beauty changes us.... It disposes us to the transformation of God. Everything related to the Eucharist should be
truly beautiful.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, Keynote Address
For the first time, two major Catholic universities, The Catholic University of America and The
University of Notre Dame, collaborated in presenting a symposium on Catholic church architecture. A Living Presence: Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred Architecture was held at The Catholic University of America (CUA) School of Architecture and Planning
on April 30 and May 1.
Apostolic blessing for the Symposium
The event was organized by the Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture, whose four directors
are Professor George Martin of Catholic University, Professor Duncan Stroik of Notre Dame, and
Michael Patrick and Eric Anderson of Patrick and Anderson Partners in Architecture. The symposium was the vision of Professor Martin, whose desire was that these great universities would
work together for the good of the Church in the important mission of creating beautiful sacred
architecture.
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More than 125 people from around the world attended the symposium. The schedule was tightly
packed with presentations of academic papers and professional work, including a keynote address by Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, workshops, and a tour of the Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception hosted by Curator Dr. Geraldine Rohling.
More than fifty presenters from across the United States and from Italy, Spain and Hungary
contributed, with a final panel discussion featuring presentations by Denis McNamara, Assistant
Director at The Liturgical Institute, Duncan Stroik of Notre Dame, and Craig Hartman, Design
Partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill and designer in charge of the recently completed Oakland Cathedral of Christ the Light.
Nearly forty church designs were submitted for the design competition, and included entries from
as far afield as Mexico and China. The jury comprised of Bishop Barry Knestout of the Archdiocese of Washington, Ed Keegan, editor of Architect Magazine, and James McCrery, architect
deliberated on Thursday morning before the symposium to choose the winners, who were
announced at the Saturday evening closing reception.
Inspiration for the Symposium

The symposium was envisioned by the organizers as a response to Pope Benedict XVIs call for
what he termed organic growth in the Church. His views of the importance of the role of art and
architecture in the nourishing of the faithful as in his homily in St. Patricks Cathedral in New
York City, and his recent meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel in Rome was an inspiration
for the event. In addition, Pope John Paul IIs Letter to Artists provided ample assurance that the
artistic tradition of the Church remains of great importance to its leaders to the successors of
Peter, the rock on which Christ founded the Church. The Partnership was very pleased that Pope
Benedict addressed a letter to Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, in which he extended to
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all taking part in the symposium an Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen
Lord. In particular, it seemed to the Partnership that the development of Catholic church design
since the Second Vatican Council had become unmoored from the Churchs history and tradition
a result almost certainly not envisioned or intended by the popes or the Second Vatican Council, as seems to be clear in its Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, for example,
in which liturgical development is assumed to be gradual and keeping in mind always a continuity
with what came before. The call for an
organic growth in church building design and construction therefore became the cornerstone for
development of the symposium, and would be its theme.
The event represented a growing wave of church design conferences around the country and an
increasingly articulate call by Catholics for improvement in Catholic church design. The potential
for the symposium to become a regular meeting and a known reference point for Catholic church
design and construction was recognized by many. We are beginning plans for the next Sacred
Architecture Symposium for 2012.
The Nature of the Symposium

It was essential to the organizers that the symposium be interdisciplinary in nature, including
among its contributors and participants artists, musicians, academics, practicing architects,
philosophers, theologians, liturgical consultants, and members of the clergy and religious life, to
bring together those with different gifts as well as with divergent views on tradition and modernity. Faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church and to Church doctrine, and an understanding
of the existing guidelines for church building design, was held to be central to the design of Catholic church buildings by the Partnership, but the symposium proposed that a fruitful dialogue
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could be held with those of differing views in the hope of creating a unified sense of mission and
service to the Church. The symposium sought to identify church design as a continuous response
to the living presence of Christ throughout history and today.
Speakers and Presenters

Great churches, beautiful churches, both large and small, can offer a glimpse of a world to
come....(Churches) are the windows which remind us that there is something something
beautiful outside the town, the village, the city, the world in which we live, said Dean Randall
Ott of the CUA School of Architecture, in his opening remarks in the Koubek Auditorium in the
Crough Center for Architectural Studies. The first symposium session, Case Studies, moderated
by Adnan Morshed of CUA, initiated a dynamic conversation about the nature of church design,
including the development of church design in Eastern Europe since Pope John Paul II and the
fall of the Soviet Union; understanding the varied development of church architecture in Spain;
and gaining a perspective on how to create new church architecture by looking at the unlikely
precedent of Calvinist church architecture in Venetian culture. This dynamic interplay of proposals characterized the entire symposium. Throughout the rest of Friday and Saturday sessions
such as Beauty and Abstraction, Tradition and Sacred Architecture Post-Vatican II, Theology,
Philosophy and the Law, The Image, Representation and Sacred Art, and The Parish Church
proposed fascinating analyses of and directions for Catholic sacred architecture. A full list of presenters may be found on the symposium web site and video of all sessions will soon be available.
Two workshops The Matter of Money Fundraising and Capital at the Service of the City of
God, and The Making of Sacred Buildings, Design and Construction of the Eternal City established the precedent for the symposium to have working groups to address real issues involved
in the renovation and construction of churches. We encourage everyone to consider these as a
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resource for the practical development of great church architecture in the United States. Principal
presentations at lunch on Friday and Saturday, by renowned sacred artist Anthony Visco and Dr.
Leo Nestor, Director of the Sacred Music program at CUA and advisor to the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops on sacred music, firmly established that church buildings are a collaborative effort of all the arts, and that great church architecture integrates itself with great art and music. The
speakers inspired symposium participants with their beautiful work, their practical knowledge
and their passion for the
liturgy and the Church. In his keynote address on Friday evening, Cardinal Justin Rigali established three principles for the architecture of Catholic churches: one, that Sacred Scripture
testifies that the role and mission of architects and artists arise from the very nature of the plan of
God, two, The Second Vatican Council and the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI affirm that the
work of architecture and art takes place in and through dialogue with the Church, and three, that
The mission of the architect and artist which is based in Sacred Scripture, and conducted in dialogue with the Church authentically develops only along the path of true beauty. Cardinal Rigalis
presence underscored our intent to be faithful and of service to the Church in our exploration of
an architecture or many kinds of architecture that can serve the modern
world in continuity with all of our history.
The symposium culminated in the panel discussion between Denis McNamara, Duncan Stroik,
and Craig Hartman. This event purposely brought together Professor Stroik, with his unabashed
extension of the classical tradition in churches such as Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, All
Saints Church, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe; Mr. Hartman, whose commitment to
modern design is beautifully evident in his recently completed Cathedral of Christ the Light in
Oakland, California; and Dr. McNamara, whose depth of theological insight was a tremendous
foundation for the discussion.
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Each of these principal speakers gave a short presentation, which was followed by a highly engaged discussion among the panelists and with symposium participants. Dr. McNamara shared
with us that a church building allows us to see heaven with our eyes. Art and architecture
can allow us to perceive otherwise invisible spiritual realities, and Duncan Stroik proposed that
Architecture is not about producing copies, but of producing children. [Architects should] learn
from the examples of the past. Mr. Hartman explained the process of designing and building
a modern cathedral, and shared his design process and the exploration of light as a symbol of
Christ.
The symposium was attended by many practitioners and theorists who have been among the
strongest voices in proposing a classical architectural language as an appropriate option for Catholic church design, notable among them Thomas Gordon Smith and Duncan Stroik and many
whom they educated in the architecture school at Notre Dame. Those with a desire or willingness
to use classical forms and principles of architecture are often marginalized in contemporary discussions of architecture dismissed as promoting an architecture disconnected from contemporary life and outmoded.
However, the compelling presentations of classical forms that respond in an original way to
current problems of church architecture, along with the fundamental beauty of the work, were a
welcome and significant presence throughout the two days of the symposium. As these forms respond to many faithful American Catholics ideas of an architecture that well expresses the glory
and majesty of God, the reverence appropriate to the setting for the Holy Mass, and a hierarchy
appropriate to the life of the Church as well as a sense of connection with the continuous history of the Church they deserve a serious hearing.
Many who attended the symposium, however, objected to this view. They found this approach to
extending the architectural tradition too literal. In their view, modern life including technology
and building techniques is so profoundly different from the Renaissance and Baroque periods
that an equally profound transformation of the architectural idiom is necessary to reflect and
express the developments that have occurred over the centuries.
Luigi Bartolomei from Italy and a number of his European colleagues expressed vocal disagreement with the proposals of classical architecture as an architecture for today.
In fact, this view predominates in most discussions of architecture; where the assumed baseline
for appropriate architecture is using forms, materials, design principles and methods of construction drawn primarily from our contemporary world. In its more radical form, this perspective
may result in architectural forms that are unrelated to Catholic history, or so abstracted and simplified as to be unsatisfying to many Catholics. In some cases these new forms are also indicative
of a challenge to the way the Church itself has developed that is to say, they sometimes embody
a proposal that the Church has become too hierarchical, the clergy too distant from the people,
church buildings imbued with too much significance and embellished too lavishly. In both the
presentations and the design competition entries, there were a significant number of symposium
participants who were clearly engaging in the challenge of defining a path that both engages the
tradition and makes something new, which not only extends what came before but transforms it
with full cognizance of the challenges and opportunities of contemporary culture. One example
is Steven Schloeder, whose writing and work exhibit a robust effort to create modern buildings
consonant with the tradition and theology of the Church. We wish to encourage those who attended this symposium with this task in mind, and to invite all those engaged in this endeavor to
attend the next symposium. We encourage those who are critical of the more literal extensions of
classical architecture to look seriously at the beauty and connection to the Communion of Saints
across time that these buildings provide. To those critical of new architecture we ask that they
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A Forum for Discussion
Information and Sponsorship
take the time to understand the nature of the attempts being made, any one of which may be a
breakthrough for an architecture that expresses the beauty, truth and goodness of Christ in a way
uniquely consonant with contemporary life.
A Living Presence, Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred

Architecture 2010 Symposium
Building for the Future
April 30th through May 1st, 2010

The Catholic University of America, School of Architecture and Planning
Washington, DC
The goal of this symposium and future ones is to be a dynamic meeting place in which a work of
discussion and collaboration can be undertaken, in which those who do beautiful classically
inspired churches can share their work and reconnect us to the tradition of the Catholic Church;
while those who are exploring ways for this tradition to be transformed by the facts of our own
historical moment are encouraged to explore how this transformation can best take place, and
for each to learn from the other. Many are working toward an architecture that is faithful to the
Church, connected to tradition, and located in the current culture in an expressive way. This is a
work with tremendous potential for fruitfulness and service to the Church.
The Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture planned this first symposium on sacred architecture in the hope of finding a path acknowledging and building upon what is good in
diverse approaches; unified by a love for God and a desire for service to the Church. Based on
comments by participants, it succeeded as a first small step in this large and profound task.
It is our hope that out of this symposium will emerge a stronger sense of where we have been, and
why, and a great enthusiasm for the possibilities that lie before us in making Catholic churches
that are worthy to take their place in the great architectural tradition of the Church.
Invitation
We invite all architects, theologians, philosophers, teachers, artists, liturgical consultants, clergy,
and those from all walks of life with an interest in the beauty, educative capacity and inspiration of
Catholic churches to assemble for this event.
The title of our Symposium is intended to convey many things, chief among them the continuing presence of the sacred, of God, in the midst of us as a people, and in the buildings we erect to
worship Him. It is also meant to express an interest in Pope Benedict XVIs continuing call for an
organic growth in every aspect of the life of the church, including its
architecture.
Growth and change come, as is only proper and in the nature of earthly things, but that growth
flows most profoundly out of the living experience of Catholics as the people of God, and it
should not involve the wholesale destruction of what came before. The human experience is also
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just that, a physical experience that demands a human scale, materiality that is beautiful, imagery that reminds us that we are part of a much larger family and a great unfolding story. In any
age, the church building must be built to reflect that it is a place for the unveiling of a love affair
between persons, God and Man.
It is our hope that out of this Symposium will emerge a stronger sense of where we have been, and
why, and a great enthusiasm for the possibilities that lie before us in making Catholic churches
that are worthy to take their place in the great architectural tradition of the
Church. We need your participation for this to occur: your vision, passion, wisdom, learning,
experience, and desire for what is good and beautiful and true are essential for this to be a success.
Please join us in April and play your part in making the world anew.
Michael Patrick, AIA
Chairman
Associate Professor George Martin
Steering Committee Member
Founding Sponsors
The early support of the following Founding Sponsors has made it possible to begin this undertaking.

The Catholic University of America School of Architecture

The Clarence Walton Fund for Catholic Architecture

The University of Notre Dame School of Architecture

The Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies
Keynote Speaker: Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali

The Catholic University of America and the Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture are honored that Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia will present the Keynote Address for the Living
Presence symposium. Cardinal Rigali feels deeply for the potential of sacred architecture to be a
living and integral part of the great prayer of the Church, and will speak to us about its importance and role in our lives.
Associate Professor Duncan Stroik, AIA

The following brief biographical sketch is excerpted from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia web site.
Eric Anderson, RA
Cardinal Rigali is the spiritual leader of almost 1.5 million Catholics in the City of Philadelphia
and surrounding counties. Two weeks after his installation as Archbishop of Philadelphia, he was
formally created a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in the Public Consistory in Saint Peters Square
on October 21, 2003. He was assigned the Titular Church of Saint Prisca in Rome . His Holiness
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14
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Rigali a member of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops
on September 26, 2007. He is also a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and a member of the Congregations Vox Clara Committee. In addition,
he is a member of the Administration of the
Patrimony of the Holy See.
Currently, Cardinal Rigali is currently the Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops Committee for Pro-Life Activities and is the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Aid
to the Catholic Church in Central and Eastern Europe . He is a member of the Committee on the
Liturgy, the Committee on the Relationship Between the Eastern and
Latin Catholic Churches , the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Scripture Translations and is
a member of the Board of Directors of the Black and Indian Mission Office. He was elected by the
United States bishops in 2006 to serve as the national delegate to the Plenary
Assembly of the 49 th International Eucharistic Congress, and in 2005 as a delegate to the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which celebrated the theme The
Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.
The Cardinal is on the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America. At the same time
he is Chair of the University Seminary Committee and member of the Administrative Committee. He is also on the Board of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception in Washington , D.C. and the Chair of the Iconography Committee. He is a member
of the Order of the Knights of Malta and the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Cardinal
Rigali is also a member of the Papal Foundation. On June 5, 2004 he became a Knight of Peter
Claver. The Cardinal is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and is Episcopal Advisor to Serra International.
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Principal Speakers
Following our Keynote Address by Cardinal Rigali, the heart of our program is embodied in our
Principal Speakers. We have assembled a panel of leaders in the design and understanding of
Catholic sacred space, whose experience and inspiration will transform the building of
Catholic churches as we move firmly into the 21st Century and the Third Millennium.
Our Speakers represent different points of view and different disciplines, with the anticipation
that by entering into a vigorous and collegial conversation with them we may all as participants in
the symposium and in the design of sacred space across the country use this event to deepen our
understanding of what is important and what is possible in
creating truly beautiful and reverent places for Catholic worship.
Duncan G. Stroik, AIA
Professor, Notre Dame School of Architecture

Professor Stroik is simultaneously a key figure in architectural education as a professor at the
School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame; a practicing architect and founder of
Duncan G. Stroik, LLC, a firm responsible for a number of completed Catholic church buildings
in the United States; and editor and founder of the biannual journal Sacred Architecture. In his
work as an educator, begun in 1990 at the University of Notre Dame, Prof. Stroik has consistently
been an unapologetic proponent of tradition itself as a great teacher. His interest lies in the classical tradition, and the principles of classical architecture and urbanism lie at the foundation of his
pedagogy. Please visit his Faculty Profile to learn more about Prof. Stroiks experience and goals as
a professor.
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In 1993, Prof. Stroik began his own architectural practice, which focuses on work for the Catholic
Church. Prof. Stroiks church designs are well known around the world or their beauty and reverential character. They are examples of the possibility in the modern age to worship God together
in a place that is dedicated to that purpose, that is beautiful, and that seeks to connect the present
with the past. Please visit http://www.stroik.com/ to see the work of Duncan G. Stroik, LLC. The
Sacred Architecture Journal is a magazine devoted exclusively to issues of church architecture
from a Catholic perspective . This journal is an invaluable resource for all interested in
Catholic sacred architecture. You may learn more here http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/
Craig Hartman, FAIA
click here to learn more about this, the newest Catholic Cathedral to be constructed in the United
States.
Mr. Hartman joined SOM in 1973 and served as design partner in the firms Houston and Washington, D.C. offices before coming to San Francisco, where he has established the West Coast
architecture group as one of the regions premier design practices. Mr. Hartmans work has been
recognized with over 100 awards for design, which, in addition to 8 national AIA Honor Awards,
includes two Gold LEED Certifications and AIA awards for environmental sustainability at Treasure Island and the University of California, Merced. He also received a Federal Design Achievement Award in the 2000 Presidential Design Awards Program.
Design Partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Mr. Hartman is a Design Partner based in the San Francisco office of the internationally renowned firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and is was in charge of the design of the newly
completed (2008) and much acclaimed Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland California,
which has received over 35 awards for design excellence nationally and internationally. Mr. Hartmans work, in the United States, Europe, and Asia, covers a very broad range of project types, in
all of which he consistently adheres to a rigorous modern vocabulary that acknowledges issues of
place involving climate, physical and cultural landscape, and historic precedent.
The Cathedral of Christ the Light resonates as a place of worship and conveys an inclusive statement of welcome and openness as the communitys symbolic soul. The glass, wood, and concrete
structure ennobles and inspires through the use of light, material, and form. During the dedication ceremony for The Cathedral of Christ the Light in September 2008, the Vaticans Knighthood
for Service to Society (St. Sylvester) was bestowed upon Hartman by Pope Benedictus XVI. Please
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Denis McNamara, M.Arch.H., Ph.D.

Assistant Director, The Liturgical Institute
Dr. Denis McNamara is assistant director and faculty member at the Liturgical Institute of the
University of Saint Mary of the Lake, a graduate program in Liturgical Studies founded by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago in the year 2000. He holds a BA in the History of Art from Yale
University and a PhD in Architectural History from the University of Virginia, where he concentrated his research on the study of ecclesiastical architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dr. McNamara makes a specialty of bridging the gap between the Churchs great artistic tradition
and the documents of the Second Vatican Council by understanding todays liturgical architecture
as sacramental buildings which shows the continuity of the Old Testament temple
tradition as well as a foretaste of the heavenly Jerusalem. He has also done groundbreaking re18
search on the sacramental meaning of the classical architectural tradition. He has served on the
Art and Architecture Commission of the Archdiocese of Chicago and works frequently with
architects and pastors in church renovations and new design. He has appeared on Catholic and
secular television and radio, and is a frequent presenter in academic as well as parish settings.
Dr. McNamara is the author of numerous articles on art and architecture in Communio, Rite,
Chicago Studies, Sacred Architecture, Environment and Art Letter, Assembly, The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Letter and Spirit, The Classicist and Arris: Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians. His book Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago (Liturgy Training Publications, 2005) appeared on the Catholic Bestseller
List and won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Booksellers Association as well
as two first place awards from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. His book Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy (Hillenbrand Books), appeared
in late 2009, and he is currently working on a new title, How to Read Churches (Ivy Group, UK).
ber Choir and University Chorus, teaches undergraduate conducting and guides the formation
of graduate students in choral music and musica sacra. Dr. Nestor is among the four founding
members (1984) and serves as advisor (1996) to the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral
Musicians. In 2001, Dr. Nestor was appointed musical advisor to the Secretariat for Liturgy of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Dr. Nestor has taught at Mt. St. Marys College, Los Angeles; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; he has served as professor of conducting at St. Johns University, Collegeville MN. He has
served as artistic advisor, member of the international jury and Comitato dOnore, conductor of
the Coro Internazionale of LAssociazione Internazionale Amici della Musica Sacra in Rome from
1991-1998. Dr. Nestor was music director at Washingtons Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception from January of 1984 through July of 2001.
Leo Nestor (B.A., Music-Composition, California State University, East Bay; M.M., D.M.A.,
Choral Music, University of Southern California), is the Justine Bayard Ward Professor of Music;
Director of Choral Activities, Director, Institute of Sacred Music; member of the conducting faculty, and co-operating member of the composition faculty at The Catholic University of America
Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, in Washington, DC. Dr. Nestor conducts the CUA Cham-
Performances of Professor Nestors works are frequent throughout the United States; he has been
fortunate to have works performed in London as well as Rome; commissions increasingly form
a significant part of his output. Larger works have been composed for The Catholic University of
America (In the Fullness of Time for chorus, soli and orchestra) and for the papal visits to Los
Angeles (People of God in the City of Our God) and St. Louis (Magnificat). Lord, You Give the
Great Commission for chorus, double brass quintet, organ and percussion was commissioned by
the Archdiocese of Washington for the April 2008 Apostolic Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington DC; Regina caeli, laetare for chorus, organ and trumpet for the Most Reverend Michael J.
Bransfield, Bishop of Wheeling- Charleston; I Sing of a Maiden (2008) for The Catholic University
of America Chorus and Symphony Orchestras 2008 Christmas concert; and a work for chorus
and organ to receive its premire performance at the 2010 American Guild of Organists National
Convention.
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Leo Nestor, D.M.A.
Director, Institute of Sacred Music

Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, The Catholic University of America
Call for Papers

This Call for Papers is an invitation to submit any material regarding the design of Catholic
church design that you would like to present or see addressed in this symposium. Academic
papers on a range of topics are warmly invited, as are presentations of built work or theoretical
design.
Please keep in mind two guidelines: 1) the symposium takes as its starting point that we should
build in a organic extension and transformation of the tradition of Catholic church architecture
and Catholic ideas; 2) the symposium is about the design of Catholic churches, such that submitted papers and presentations should always bear directly upon the challenges of designing and
building great Catholic church architecture today.
All submissions will be reviewed by a committee of The Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture. Selected submissions will be edited into a post-program published work. Selected authors of
submissions will be invited to serve in a special role in the symposium, possibly delivering their
presentations, acting as members of panel discussions, or in some other fashion playing a special
role in the proceedings.
how the continuity of tradition ensures that truth resonates through the beauty that constitutes
Catholicisms unique architectural patrimony. There is no detailed program or specific site for
this competition. However, projects submitted as competition entries must involve new Catholic
sacred buildings or spaces (examples: a new church building or a complete chapel interior). Submittals for both commissioned (i.e. real) buildings and un-commissioned (i.e. theoretical/academic) projects are welcome. Partial exterior and/or interior renovations are not eligible, though
a completely reconstructed interior space (such as a chapel interior) may be submitted. Provide
one or more images of the prior, before, condition for any complete interior renovation project.
Unbuilt projects that have been designed, and built works that have been completed, after January
1, 2000 are eligible for submittal. Projects will be judged on two primary criteria: 1) beauty; and 2)
the production of a coherent, compelling vision for how to extend and transform the tradition of
Catholic sacred architecture.
Winning design competition entries and other selected entries at the discretion of the Partnership
for Sacred Architecture will be displayed at The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center after the symposium is concluded.
Architectural students and professionals are invited to participate in an open design competition
that is being held in conjunction with the upcoming symposium, A Living Presence: Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred Architecture. This Competition explores
Submittal presentations must include a narrative of no more than 250 words explaining the
projects approach to the theme of the Competition. This narrative, along with all other images,
drawings, and photographs of the project, must be composed on two 30x40 sheets mounted on
thick gator board (oriented vertically) without any text or logos that might identify the designer
or architect. A copy of the completed registration form must be enclosed in an envelope affixed
to the back of each board and labeled with the applicable category, Student or Professional, on
the outside of the envelope. A 300 dpi, full-size PDF of the presentation
in a CD-ROM must be labeled with the name of the primary registrant and included with the
submittal package.
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Design Competition
First, Second and Third prizes will be awarded in the Student category. A single First prize will
be awarded in the Professional category. Winners will be announced at the closing session of the
Symposium and posted shortly thereafter on the A Living Presence website. Some or all of the entries may be included in report of the proceedings of the Symposium, on the associated website,
and/or in other associated publications. Submitted materials will not be
returned and become the property of the Competition organizers.
Competition Jury:
Prizes:

Category A: $500 1st prize, $300 2nd prize, $200 3rd prize
Category B: $1000 1st prize
In addition, the jury may award Honorable Mentions to one or more additional projects in each
category at their discretion. Honorable Mentions do not carry monetary awards. The Competition
reserves the right not to name any prize winners if no entry is deemed worthy by the jury.
No partner, associate, family member or employee of any jury member may participate in this
competition, nor may jury members advise or assist a competitor in any way with the design or
submittal of any competition entry.
His Excellency Bishop Barry C. Knestout, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of

Washington, DC
Mr. James McCrery, AIA, Principal, McCrery Architects
The Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture
Mr. Ed Keegan, Editor at Large, Architect Magazine
Non-voting Competition Chairman: Mr. Eric Anderson, RA, Patrick and Anderson
Partners in Architecture
The 2010 Symposium: A Living Presence: Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic
Sacred Architecture is presented by The Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture, a collaborative effort between the Schools of Architecture of The Catholic University of America and the
University of Notre Dame, led by Michael Patrick of
CUA and including architect Eric Anderson. The Partnership has formed because of the shared
belief of its members that the crisis in contemporary Catholic sacred architecture must be addressed vigorously, and must be addressed through a deeper understanding and
development of the tradition of the Church, especially as expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in his
writings on the organic development of liturgy. The Partnership also believes that the time for a
renewal of beauty and the sacred in Catholic churches has come, indeed is underway, and that the
The Competition reserves the right to substitute alternative Jurors should any of the above jurors not be able to participate.
Category A: Students with valid ID

Category B: Licensed and Intern Architects
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momentum generated by the hard work of a small number of theorists and practitioners over the
last few decades is beginning to resonate with the desire of Catholics across the United States of
America to worship in churches that speak to them of God and their relationship with Him. This
symposium is intended to be a great meeting of the minds, to explore the tradition of the Church
in the design of her buildings, and how this tradition can be extended and transformed in profound and appropriate ways today. The members of the Partnership firmly trust that in concrete
ways this symposium will improve the quality of Catholic sacred architecture across the country.
The members of the Partnership are:

Michael Patrick, AIA, LEED AP

Chairman of the Symposium Steering Committee
Visiting Lecturer in The Catholic University School of Architecture
Prof. George J. Martin

Symposium Steering Committee Member and Initiator of the Symposium
Associate Professor in The Catholic University School of Architecture
Prof. Duncan Stroik, AIA

Symposium Steering Committee Member
Associate Professor in The University of Notre Dame School of Architecture
Founder, Duncan G. Stroik Architect LLC
Eric Anderson, RA, LEED AP

Symposium Steering Committee Member
Visiting Critic in The Catholic University School of Architecture
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Symposium Prayer
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask you to bless and guide the 2010 Symposium A Living Presence: Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred Architecture. It is for You that we do this
work and in You that we live, and breathe, and have our being. It is to honor the presence of
Your Son Jesus Christ here on earth and to make a place where in a special way we may come face
to face with You that we dedicate our resources to create churches in our cities and countryside.
We ask You to send Your Holy Spirit to set aflame the hearts of every person that participates in
this symposium. We thank You for the opportunity to love and serve You and each other in this
fashion, and we fervently hope that the work of this event will spread across our country a new
ability to see Your face in the beauty we see and fashion. We pray that You will help us discern
how best to extend and transform the tradition of Catholic sacred architecture in the United
States. We ask all these things through the one Your Son gave to us as our own mother, the Blessed
Virgin Mary.
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Program of Events
Program of Events:
Workshop 1: The Matter of Money - Fundraising and Capital at the Service of the City of God
Moderator: Michael Patrick
Friday, April 30th

Registration and Continental Breakfast - 8:00-9:30
David Gardiner Partner, Gardiner Hall International, Fine Residential, Contract and
Ecclesiastical Interiors
Fr. Dennis Kleinmann Pastor, St. Mary Catholic Church, Alexandria VA
Luke Driscoll Regional Vice President, Community Counseling Services
Lunch - 12:00-1:15
Opening Remarks Plenary Session - 9:30-10:15

Program of Events
Randy Ott Dean, CUA School of Architecture and Planning

Thomas Walton The Clarence Walton Fund for Catholic Architecture
Michael Patrick Chair of the Symposium
Lecture: Et Homo Factus Est

Moderator: Duncan Stroik

Anthony Visco Director and Founder, Atelier for the Sacred Arts
Concurrent Sessions - 10:30-11:15
Paper Session A: Case Studies

Moderator: Adnan Morshed
Tour 1: The Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Facilitator: Eric Anderson
Tour provided by: Dr. Geraldine Rohling - Archivist and Curator
Michel Dechert Calvinist Religious Architecture and the Venetian Tradition

Esteban Fernandez Cobian and Eduardo Delgado Orusco Looking for a New,
Tradition, Spanish Religious Architecture Transformations during the 20th Century
Zoran Vukoszavlyey Catholicism at the Eastern Border of Europe, Works in post-
Communist Countries
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Paper Session B: Beauty and Abstraction

Moderator: Andreea Mihalache

Michael Tamara The Right Abstraction: A Balanced Expression of Divinity and

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Program of Events
Humanity in Catholic Architecture

Joel Pidel The Story at the Heart of Faith, Can Abstraction Call a Person into the
Fullness of Faith?
Louis Astorino The Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Vatican City
Erik Bootsma Beauty and Harmony

Paper Session C: Tradition and Sacred Architecture Post-Vatican II
Moderator: Michael Gick

Steven Schloeder The Architecture of the Mystical Body

Thomas Gordon Smith - Reanimation of Classical and Romanesque Paradigms for New
Thomas Stroka Catholic Architecture Calls for a Common Language, Alberti and the
Ornament of Sacred Buildings
David Kuhlman A Case for Diversity in the Design of Catholic Churches
Program of Events
Keynote Address: 5:30-6:15

Introductory Remarks:

Fr. David OConnell, C.M., President, The Catholic University of America

James F. Brennan, Ph.D., Provost, The Catholic University of America
Randall Ott, AIA, Dean, School of Architecture and Planning, CUA
Keynote Address: Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali

Title: An Exalted Mission: A Unique and Irreplaceable Role
Reception - 6:30-8:30
Saturday, May 1st

Registration and Continental Breakfast - 8:00-9:00
Workshop 2: The Making of Sacred Buildings, Design and Construction of the Eternal City

Michael Carrigan President, Sacred Spaces

James McCrery Founder and President, McCrery Architects, LLC

Paper Session D: Theology, Philosophy and the Law
Moderator: George Martin

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Donald Planty The Law of the Church and the Design and Building of Churches
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Program of Events

Jamie Hottovy Pedagogical Patronage, The Role of the Parish Saint in Sacred
Architecture

John McCarthy The Incarnation - Acoustics, Light and Material
Paper Session E: The Image, Representation and Sacred Art
Moderator: Jem Sullivan

Sarah Carrig Bond Depicting the Question as well as the Answer: What Can
Medieval Art Teach us about the Architecture and Decoration of Churches?
Andrea Pacciani The Doctrine of Imitation in Art and in the Faith
Ami Badami - The Need for Beauty and Christian Art

Paper Session F: Tradition and Sacred Architecture Post-Vatican II

Marco Sammicheli Sacred Design Now

Stephen Szutenbach Quotidian Pilgrimage

Andreea Mihalache and Paul Emmons On the Role of Materials in Sacred
Architecture

Henry Menzies What Makes a Church Catholic?
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Program of Events
Paper Session G: The Parish Church

Moderator: Eric Anderson

Milton Grenfell The Parish Church as the Heart of a Community

Luigi Bartolomei Contemporary Design for Catholic Churches, Between Tradition
and New Architecture
Carla Zito Turins Periphery (1965-1977) The Church is no Longer a
Monument but a House among Houses
Isabelle Gournay and Mary Corbin Sies New Catholic Parish Complexes in the
Maryland Suburbs 1945-1970
Lunch - 12:00-1:15
Lecture: Sacred Music in the Liturgy
Moderator: George Martin

Leo Nestor, D.M.A. - Director, Institute of Sacred Music, Benjamin T. Rome

School of Music, CUA
Principal Speaker Presentations - 1:30-3:00

Presentation: Heavenly Origins: Biblical and Theological Typologies for Church Builders

Denis McNamara, M.Arch.H., Ph.D. Assistant Director, The Liturgical
Institute
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Program of Events
Presentation: Originality and Tradition: The Presence of the Past in Comtemporary Church Architecture.

Duncan Stroik, AIA Professor, Notre Dame School of Architecture
Presentation: Light and Shadow: The Cathedral of Christ the Light

Craig Hartman, FAIA - Design Partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Break for Preparation of Questions by Attendees - 3:00-3:30

Directed Questions to the Panel - 3:30-4:30
Moderator: Michael Patrick Chair of the Symposium
Discussion among the Assembly and Closing Remarks - 4:30-6:00
Participants
Program of Events
On Sunday, The Partnership for Sacred Architecture would like to offer the following activities for
symposium participants:
Tours - 1:30-2:15

The Pope John Paul Cultural Center

Tour Coordinated by: Dr. Hugh Dempsey - Director

Tour - 3:00-3:45
The Dominican House of Studies Chapel

Tour provided by: Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. - Prior
Panel and Symposium Attendees are invited to participate in an open discussion about the future
of Catholic church architecture.
Closing Reception and Announcement of Design Competition Winners - 6:30-8:30
Sunday, May 2nd: Optional Tours and Events
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Cardinal Justin Rigali
An Exalted Mission: a Unique and Irreplaceable Role

Introduction
The mystery which we gather to reflect upon today is at once timely and timeless. Timely, because
as Aim-Georges Martimort has noted, In our day the faithful have greater difficulty in achieving prayerful recollection and a sense of Gods presence. At the roots of this difficulty is a crisis, a
contemporary crisis that surrounds the sacred.
Our topic is also timeless, because God never ceases to call man to Himself. As God intervenes in
human history, He both conceals and reveals Himself. He veils and unveils the signs of his presence, that we might respond and offer pure worship to his greater glory.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the 2010 symposium, A Living Presence:
Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred Architecture, sponsored by the
Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture, which is an impressive collaborative effort between
the Schools of Architecture of the Catholic University of America and the University of Notre
Dame. I deeply appreciate the gracious invitation to explore with you the esteemed heritage and
promising direction of Sacred Architecture.
In the revelation of the divine economy of salvation, God never neglects time and space. As the
eternal, invisible and infinite God, whose dwelling place is in Heaven, reveals Himself, He allows
and encourages mortal, visible and finite human beings to call upon His name. As He makes
known the hidden purpose of His will , He summons us to a sacred space in an acceptable time.
There are three practical and grounded guiding principles I would like to reflect upon concerning
the vocation and mission of the architect and artist in the life of the Church.
How fitting that as we do so we gather here, at the distinguished School of Architecture and Planning on the campus of The Catholic University of America. I wish to thank the Very Reverend
David OConnell, C.M., President of The Catholic University of America, and Dean Randall Ott,
the Dean of the School of Architecture, for their support and encouragement of these proceedings.
First, from the very beginning, Sacred Scripture testifies that architecture and art are linked to the
very nature of the plan of God. We can therefore never reduce the service of architects and artists
to a mere function. Their important work is not simply an added enhancement to our relationship
with God, but it actually serves to express our response to God. From the opening pages of Sacred
Scripture, the gift and skill of the architect and artist occupy a recurrent and climactic place in the
plan of God.
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Second, we are reminded by the Second Vatican Council and the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI
that the work of architecture and art takes place in and through dialogue with the Church.
Third, the mission of the architect and artist, which is based in Sacred Scripture, and conducted in
dialogue with the Church, authentically develops only along the path of true beauty.
First Principle: Sacred Scripture testifies that the role and mission of architects and artists arise
from the very nature of the plan of God.
Let us consider the first principle before us: Sacred Scripture testifies that the role and mission
of architects and artists arise from the very nature of the plan of God. From the very beginning,
the talents of artists and architects have been formed, and we could even say forged, by a unique
relation to the plan of God.
As we know from Sacred Scripture, God is the divine Architect. Gods first act after creating man
was to establish a suitable place for man to dwell. The Book of Genesis tells us: Then the Lord
God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed.
God creates the sacred place where the inner state of man, his original innocence, is signified by
his external surroundings, the Garden of Eden. St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the east is the
right hand of heaven.
When man disobeyed and sinned against God, man lost Original Innocence and was driven from
this beautiful place, this sacred location. God banishes man from the Garden, and settles him in
a different place east of the garden of Eden. God places man in a penitential space outside of the
garden.
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The call of God always reflects his loving design. Under the effects of sin, in the penitential place
outside of paradise, the impulse for shelter arises from the human beings basic instinctive need
for safety and refuge from the elements. More wonderfully still, however, the human person
moves beyond the mere impulse of instinct to the light of intuition. And here we detect the tremendous value of the work of the artists and architects for the Church: Artists and architects open
themselves to the light of sacred intuition, and they direct its beam upward to construct and refine
the instincts of man so as to prepare a dwelling place that may become a fitting sanctuary.
Classical theology has always emphasized that reason makes the continuous and ongoing effort
to grasp what is held by faith so that we might be led to intellectual admiration of the mystery of
God and thus be more prepared to offer adoration to God. The light of faith inspires the intuition
of affection for a sacred place. Thus, while the work of architects and artists is both a science and
an art, it is first and foremost an exalted mission. In the mystery of Gods presence, mans intuition
is always to claim a sacred space, a sanctuary from which he worships God for the glory which
God has revealed.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form
corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God?the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who
reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, in whom the whole fullness of
deity dwells bodily. The learning, dedication, skill and work of the architect and the artist serve
to direct us deeper still to the One in whom we find shelter, the One who is our refuge and who
sanctifies us: the living and eternal God.
Throughout the Old Testament, God makes use of natural locations and events to signify His
presence: God appears on the mountain top, in the cloud, and in the storm. He also sanctifies
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those places made by human hands, the hands of architects: the tent, the Ark of the Covenant,
the tabernacle, the Temple, and the Holy of Holies. At these sacred locations, on the occasion of
specific feasts, time and place enter a holy alliance to dispose the people of God to offer fitting
worship and sacrifice.
Noah plans and constructs the ark in faithful obedience to the design and measure given by
God Himself. Immediately on stepping forth from the ark, Noah sets forth on another building
project: He constructs an altar. In fact, throughout salvation history, the people of God mark the
central places of their relationship with God by the building of an altar.
The Acts of the Apostles says of the early Christians in Jerusalem: Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. The early
Christians gathered frequently in house-churches to break bread, receive instruction and offer
prayers. When St. Peter was in prison, many people gathered in prayer at the house of Mary,
the mother of John who is called Mark. Upon their release from prison, we are told that St. Paul
and Silas go to the house of Lydia to encourage the brothers. In Troas, St. Paul gathers in an upstairs room with the brethren on the first day of the week to break bread. Again, we hear in
the First Letter to the Corinthians that St. Paul writes of the Church that is in the house of Priscilla
and Aquila.
Abraham builds an altar at Shechem and there he calls the Lord by name. After crossing the ford
of the Jabbock, and remaining there alone, Jacob wrestles with a messenger of the Lord until daybreak. Having persevered in the struggle, Jacob purchases the ground and establishes a memorial
stone on the sight. At Bethel, Jacob dreams of a stairway which reaches from earth to heaven, and
encounters God who promises to give him the land on which he sleeps. Jacob awakens and exclaims, Truly the Lord is in this spot although I did not know it! In solemn wonder he cries out:
How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to
heaven! Jacob then consecrates the stone he was lying on as a memorial stone and he makes a
vow of faithfulness to God.
When God created man he placed him in a sacred location. When God saves man, He again
places man in a sacred location and provides the design by which salvation is accomplished and
celebrated.
All that is foretold and foreshadowed in the Old Covenant is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Incarnate Word, whose first dwelling among us was the womb of the Virgin Mary. He who has no
place to lay His head purified the Temple, declared that He would rebuild the Temple, and suffered, died and rose again for our salvation.
Second Principle: The Second Vatican Council and the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI affirm
that the work of architecture and art takes place in and through dialogue with the Church
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As we consider this first principle, we come upon a clear truth: The people whom God called, the
patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and disciples, were also architects and artists. Not in addition to their call, but on account of their call. They established the places and built the early altars
from which God received worship.
This leads us to the second principle before us: The Second Vatican Council and the teaching of
Pope Benedict XVI affirm that the work of architecture and art takes place in and through dia42
logue with the Church. As the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, teaches, [A]fter speaking in many and varied ways through the prophets, now at last in these days
God has spoken to us in His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). And His Son speaks to us through His Church.
The Church has long engaged in dialogue and sought specialized and strategic collaboration with
artists and architects.
As the Second Vatican Council emphasized, Very rightly the fine arts are considered to rank
among the noblest activities of mans genius, and this applies especially to religious art and to
its highest achievement, which is sacred art. The Council Fathers continue, [The]Church has
therefore always been the friend of the fine arts and has ever sought their noble help, with the
special aim that all things set apart for use in divine worship should be truly worthy, becoming,
and beautiful, signs and symbols of the supernatural world, and for this purpose she has trained
artists.
The Holy Father points out that this dialogue has taken place throughout the ages, and is found
in the luminous beauty of the great works of art. He emphasizes that the Christian faith gave a
beginning to masterpieces of theological literature, thought and faith, but also to inspired artistic
creations, the most elevated of a whole civilization: the cathedrals which were a renewal, a rebirth
of religious architecture, an upward surge and an invitation to prayer. In Pope Benedict XVIs
words, the Christian faith inspired one of the loftiest expressions of universal civilization: the cathedral, the true glory of the Christian Middle Ages. The Holy Father explains that, All the great
works of art, cathedrals the Gothic cathedrals and the splendid Baroque churches they are all
a luminous sign of God and therefore truly a manifestation, an epiphany of God. The Venerable
Servant of God Pope John Paul II also spoke of this when he said, The cathedrals, the humble
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country churches, the religious music, architecture, sculpture and painting all radiate the mystery
of the verum Corpus, natum de Maria Virgine, towards which everything converges in a moment
of wonder.
The architect develops, coordinates and contours the natural elements of the visible physical world
so that man may be directed to a fundamental awareness of the grace-filled action of God. The
ultimate meaning and purpose of sacred architecture is to convey an experience of the mystery of
grace and salvation in Jesus Christ.
The revelation of Gods mysterious and awe-inspiring presence always evokes a response from
man. This response takes place in and through the Church. The Second Vatican Council teaches
that the sacred liturgy is above all things the worship of the divine Majesty. The Council makes
clear that in considering anything to do with the sacred liturgy, we must always return to this
foundation: that within the sacred liturgy we offer worship to the divine Majesty. This is both the
premise and the objective of the rich dialogue which continues to take place between the Church
and artists.
Pope Benedict XVI emphasizes the two central characteristics of the Gothic architecture of the
12th and 13th centuries: a soaring upward movement and luminosity. He refers to this as a
synthesis of faith and art harmoniously expressed in the fascinating universal language of beauty
which still elicits wonder today. He continues, By the introduction of vaults with pointed arches
supported by robust pillars, it was possible to increase their height considerably. The upward
thrust was intended as an invitation to prayer and at the same time was itself a prayer. Thus the
Gothic cathedral intended to express in its architectural lines the souls longing for God. The Holy
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Father is equally attentive to the furnishings of the sanctuary: Certainly an important element
of sacred art is church architecture, which should highlight the unity of the furnishings of the
sanctuary, such as the altar, the crucifix, the tabernacle, the ambo and the celebrants chair. Here
it is important to remember that the purpose of sacred architecture is to offer the Church a fitting
space for the celebration of the mysteries of faith, especially the Eucharist.
The teaching of the Holy Father leads us to understand that the mission of the architect and the
vocation of the artist bear a direct relationship to authentic liturgical theology founded upon
the classical Trinitarian, Christological, Pneumatological, Ecclesial and Sacramental themes.
Formation, education and study for service in the architectural or artistic disciplines arise from
and coalesce around a robust encounter with the authentic teaching of the Church. The Council
highlighted the important role of bishops in the dialogue with artists and architects: Bishops
should have a special concern for artists, so as to imbue them with the spirit of sacred art and of
the sacred liturgy. The Second Vatican Council called for every diocese, as far as possible, to have
a commission for sacred art, and to have dialogue and appeal to others who share this expertise.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reiterates, For this reason bishops, personally or through
delegates, should see to the promotion of sacred art, old and new, in all its forms and, with the
same religious care, remove from the liturgy and from places of worship everything which is not
in conformity with the truth of faith and the authentic beauty of sacred art. Priests, as principal
collaborators with the bishop, likewise have a special responsibility to have a vibrant awareness of
the gifts which artists and architects bring to the Church. Pope Benedict XVI affirms that it is essential that the education of seminarians and priests include the study of art history, with special
reference to sacred buildings and the corresponding liturgical norms.
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Beauty, in its inextricable connection to the true and the good, is the center of gravity of all the
liturgical sciences. And this is because the liturgy is foremost the work of the Most Holy Trinity,
in which we participate. Beauty changes us. It disposes us to the transforming action of God and
thus is one of the principal protagonists of advancing the universal call to holiness. Fascination
with the sacred frees us from fixation on the secular. Expressions founded upon purely secularist
influence do not refresh us. They exhaust us and fragment our perception. The static and abstract
expression of merely functional facades simply does not capture or articulate the brilliant and resplendent mystery of God. Architectural form is never incidental or expendable. Utilitarian styles
fail to inspire and so often leave a space barren and bland. We simply cannot tolerate indifference
to the healthy traditions. The separation of artists and architects from dialogue with the Church
leads to a fragmentation and subsequent breakdown of authentic liturgical renewal. Our starting
point in advancing the liturgical renewal is always dialogue, not polemics.
All effective dialogue in the Church continues in the spirit of what Pope Benedict referred to in
his Christmas Address to the Roman Curia in 2005 as, the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in
the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. The Holy Father continues, [The Church] is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the
same, the one subject of the journeying People of God.
Two architectural experts recently gave an example of fruitful and effective dialogue with the
Church. The Italian architect Paolo Portoghesi, in an article which appeared in LOsservatore Romano, emphasized that legitimate progress must always flow from and not be indifferent to the
sound tradition of the Church. Professor Portoghesi maintains correctly that we must assess the
design and model of Church buildings so as to preserve and restore architecture which is based
on the authentic tradition of the Church so that the sacred liturgy is celebrated in a fitting manner.
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The authentic tradition is our guide when we are faced with diverse interpretations of legitimate
progress associated with liturgical renewal.
Professor Portoghesi emphasizes, In recent years the fashion of so-called minimalism has revived
a kind of iconoclasm, to exclude the cross and sacred images and to strip the image, outside of
any residual analogy with the traditional churches. A style that lacks consistency with the central
mysteries of the faith necessarily puzzles us and drains us of our expectancy.
Maria Antonietta Crippa, Professor of History of Architecture at the Politecnico of Milan, has
noted that, because of the significant cultural changes in the years since the Second Vatican
Council, society has seen fluctuations between outcomes of radical secularism and the recovery
of lively religious sense.
Authentic dialogue is guided by reflection on the third and final principle before us today: The
mission of the architect and artist, which is based in Sacred Scripture and conducted in dialogue
with the Church, authentically develops only along the path of true beauty.
the 500th Anniversary of the Vatican Museums, Pope Benedict pointed out that the artistic treasures of the Church stand as a perennial witness to the Churchs unchanging faith in the triune
God who, in the memorable phrase of St. Augustine, is himself Beauty ever ancient, ever new.
In his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that, The
profound connection between beauty and the liturgy should make us attentive to every work of
art placed at the service of the celebration.
Those whose senses are trained for the via pulchritudinis can discern a stirring within the continuous sacred stream of history, an unceasing movement of sublime splendor arising from ancient
foundations and inherited in the detail of noble themes down through the ages.
In his Address to Artists last fall, the Holy Father stated, Indeed, an essential function of genuine
beauty, as emphasized by Plato, is that it gives man a healthy shock, it draws him out of himself,
wrenches him away from resignation and from being content with the humdrum it even makes
him suffer, piercing him like a dart, but in so doing it reawakens him, opening afresh the eyes of
his heart and mind, giving him wings, carrying him aloft.
Beauty is not simply one path among others. Pope Benedict XVI teaches, Everything related to
the Eucharist should be marked by beauty.
The Holy Father continued, Authentic beauty unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the
profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond. If we acknowledge that beauty touches us intimately, that it wounds us, that it opens our eyes, then we rediscover the joy of seeing, of being able to grasp the profound meaning of our existence, the Mystery of
which we are part; from this Mystery we can draw fullness, happiness, the passion to engage with
it every day.
The Holy Father spoke of a via pulchritudinis, a path of beauty which is at the same time an
artistic and aesthetic journey, a journey of faith, of theological enquiry. During the celebration of
Contemporary society believes at times that beauty can come from a product one buys in a store,
or can be won in a contest. Authentic beauty is immune to age, it is always young, and it can never
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Third Principle: The mission of the architect and artist which is based in Sacred Scripture, and
conducted in dialogue with the Church authentically develops only along the path of true beauty.
be contained by a mere title. Beauty attracts us as it charismatically aligns itself in symmetry

and proportion, congruent with its primary characteristics of authentic truth and goodness. The
durability and permanence of the structures which mark our solemn celebrations draw the eye to
hope and lead the heart to reflection. In 2004, then-Monsignor Bruno Forte, Professor of Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Naples, Italy, and consultant to the Pontifical
Council for Culture was called upon by Pope John Paul II to offer the annual retreat and spiritual
exercises to him and members of the Curia. In the midst of his reflections, Monsignor Forte noted, The God of Jesus Christ is anything but a God of total and tactless manifestation. In his
most recent published work, now-Archbishop Bruno Forte notes, [T]hrough beautys brightness
the splendor of the Whole bursts forth in the fragment, and lays hold of the believer. As great
depictions express the mysteries of the faith, they inspire and sustain devotion within the depths
of our hearts. In such a setting, the believer is led to gather impressions through a unity of perception and to grasp more fully an experience of the totality of the divine mysteries. As Pope Benedict noted less than one year ago in his homily for the Reopening of the Pauline Chapel, The
paintings and decorations adorning this chapel, particularly the two large frescoes [which depict
the conversion of St. Paul and the crucifixion of St. Peter] by Michelanglo Buonarotti, which were
the last works of his long life, are especially effective in encouraging meditation and prayer.
has admitted styles from every period according to the natural talents and circumstances of peoples, and the needs of the various rites. Thus, in the course of the centuries, she has brought into
being a treasury of art which must be very carefully preserved.
The creative intelligence of artists continually seeks to draw forth vibrant forms from the material
structures which surround us. Prayerful reflection, study of classical motifs, knowledge of the various schools of design, meditative architectural planning, extensive and specific development of a
systematic understanding of the importance and role of architecture nourishes faith. The thoughtful design and strategic placement of sculpture, painting, decoration along structural elements of
the body of the interior faade and exterior face are meant to evoke prayerfulness, foster meditation and aid reflection. The use of natural light, historic styles and noble design are meant to point
us deeper into the mystery of Jesus so that we contemplate the words of St. John with renewed
awareness: And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Conclusion
The revelation of the splendor of God is never ambiguous. It changes hearts and renews lives. The
many styles and forms from specific periods and regions are all part of the rich heritage of sacred
art and architecture. As Duncan Stroik has noted, Art from the past is a window onto the faith
and practice of a specific time, but it can also speak to all ages. To reject periods, other than our
favorites, as either primitive or decadent is to miss out on the rich tapestry of art and architecture that the Church has fostered. Beauty has an immediate and direct relation to culture. As the
Council explained, The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her very own; she
In preparation for the Great Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II wrote a Letter to Artists. Ten
years later, Pope Benedict XVI met with artists in the solemn setting of the Sistine Chapel on
November 21, 2009. The Holy Father took that opportunity to express and renew the Churchs
friendship with the world of art, noting that Christianity from its earliest days has recognized
the value of the arts and has made wise use of their varied language to express her unvarying
message of salvation. Today we fulfill in some measure the Holy Fathers invitation to friendship,
dialogue and cooperation between the Church and artists. Our conversation today serves, in the
words of Pope Paul VI, to render accessible and comprehensible to the minds and hearts of our
people the things of the spirit, the invisible, the ineffable, the things of God himself. And in this
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activity, you are masters. It is your task, your mission; and your art consists in grasping treasures
from the heavenly realm of the spirit and clothing them in words, colors, forms making them
accessible. Together we seek to cultivate a sense of wonder and anticipation and to pursue a strategy of recovery and renewal.
Artists and architects are composers who play a unique and irreplaceable role as the narrative
of salvation history unfolds. Their talents usher the senses into an experience of the mystery of
God. Through maximizing extraordinary gifts of their God-given genius, artists and architects are
called to construct and restore an avenue into the luminous depth of Gods revelation and convey
the continuing presence of the sacred in buildings meant for worship. The Church values deeply
your specialized education gained from the periods of apprenticeship and the long years of professional service in the expertise of your various disciplines.
We come together today from our various vocations and specialties of skill for fruitful and effective dialogue: architects, theologians, faculty of the various schools, artists, liturgical consultants,
engineers, students?clergy, religious and laity. As we gather to consider the role and mission of
those who serve the formation of sacred architecture, we ask the same question that St. Peter
and St. John asked the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of St. Luke, Where do you want us to make the
preparations? And we gather to listen to the answer of Jesus: When you go into the city, a man
will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house that he enters and say to the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover
with my disciples? He will show you a large upper room that is furnished. Make the preparations
there.
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Jesus sends us in the same life-giving direction, to the place that is furnished by the Holy Spirit
and prepared by the Church to receive the Word made flesh who dwells among us. Not only do
the beautiful creations of artists and architects lead us to contemplate the mysteries of the faith,
but the very manner in which these men and women pursue their most practical and sublime
science of architecture and art casts a more distinctive radiance on our path?the path of the
Church, and leads us to the One who has emptied himself for our salvation and has gone ahead
of us to prepare a place for us. St. Paul tells us in the First Letter to the Corinthians, Do you not
know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys
Gods temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. St. Paul
also tells us, So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with
the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held
together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are being built together into a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
As we await and prepare for that eternal moment in which the divine Architect will invite us to
meet Him, may we, in the words of St. Peter, become like living stones[and] be built into a
spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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Duncan G. Stroik
Originality and Tradition: The Presence of the Past in Contemporary

Church Architecture
Duncan G. Stroik
I would like to touch upon the topic of originality and traditionone of the inherent themes of
this conference. How does one extend and transform the tradition of Catholic church architecture
today? Pope Benedict XVI spoke to this exact question soon after he was elected:

Well, it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council [Vatican II]. The prob
lems in its implementation arose from the fact that two contrary hermeneutics came face
to face and quarreled with each other. One caused confusion, the other, silently but more
and more visibly, bore and is bearing fruit.
On the one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call a hermeneutic of discontinu-
ity and rupture; it has frequently availed itself of the sympathies of the mass media and
also one trend of modern theology. On the other, there is the hermeneutic of reform, of
renewal in the continuity of the one Church which the Lord has given to us. [1]
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Duncan G. Stroik
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (dedicated in 1959) and the
National Gallery of Art (dedicated in 1941) are two buildings in Washington D.C. that serve to
illustrate the war between these two hermeneutics.
When these two buildings were first built
they received great opprobrium. Not because
they were ugly, nor were they dysfunctional,
nor were they poorly built. They were criticized for a much more heinous crime for
being traditional. Why was being traditional
considered so terrible in the 1940s and 60s?
Because, it is argued, these two buildings
show no creativity and they do not reflect
their time period. They might as well be mere
copies, because they show no adventurousness, no minimalism or functionalism in
their aesthetic. Yet, half a century later, these
buildings have outlived their critics and most
other buildings built at the time. Today, the
National Gallery of Art is considered one of
the finest art galleries in the world and the
National Shrine is the symbol of Catholicism
in our nations capital, where a United Nations
of the faithful gather on every Sunday.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Now architects and artists naturally want to
Photo: Carol M. Smith, Library of Congress collection
invent or innovate. That is a healthy impulse
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Duncan G. Stroik
Duncan G. Stroik
and makes for a richer society. But what about the concern that tradition stifles originality? If this
is true it would be most unfortunate. The great masterpieces of architecture down through the
ages are put forward for their originality. We teach our students that the highest good in art and
architecture is to be original. Of course, not all buildings can be highly original. But our culture
has recognized brilliance and set up invention and innovation on a pedestal.
Some of the greatest geniuses of all time in the field of sacred architecture have displayed enormous inventive capability. Leon Battista Alberti in his design for Santa Andrea in Mantua was the
first to incorporate a triumphal arch and pediment into the front faade of a building.
Anyone who has seen bronze statues cast

today should be amazed at this work and the
highly precise quality of the sculpture and
the ornament. It was considered radical for
its time also because Bernini combined two
totally different ideas: the fabric canopy used
in processions such as for Corpus Christi,
and the ciborio with marble columns used
in churches to cover and give prominence to
a permanent marble altar. Thus, the baldacchino is original on a number of different
levels, including being the largest bronze cast
since antiquity. It was inspired by the spiral
columns donated by the Emperor, which reference the Temple of Solomon and were the
original monument over the tomb of St. Peter.
Berninis canopy of fabric appears capable of
blowing in the wind, supported by elongated
twisting columns and fine detailing all testify
to the delicacy of the workand yet it is all
made out of bronze. Bernini perfectly intertwines these two ideas of the processional
tent and the fixed ciborio. At the time it was
criticized for being too much of a hybrid,
but when it was finished its stunning beauty
Another project, Michelangelos design for Saint Peters

forms an important example of innovation, namely the
introduction of a portico entrance or temple front on a
church. Of course Michelangelo was one of the greatest
artists of all time in all three realms painting, sculpture
and architecture. It is hard to argue with either of these two
geniuses who displayed great originality. Their buildings
are also traditional to the extent that they reference ancient
architecture but they also sought to outdo the ancients.
Take, for example, the baldacchino by Bernini in St. Peters.
There is nothing like it in size, in the sixteenth century it
was considered a work of technical bravura. It is still a feet
of technical bravura: 34 feet wide, 30 feet deep and nine
stories tall (95). It was constructed from 93 tons of bronze.
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Baldacchino at St. Peters Basilica

Photo: Wikimedia.org
San Andrea Mantua
Photo: Wikimedia.org
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Duncan G. Stroik
defeated the naysayers. It is a work of radical

innovation but it also connects back to old St.
Peters and the famous columns of the Solomons Temple. The solomonic column became
a classic and has been used by architects since
then to articulate important churches, facades and interiors. It has inspired many great
baldacchini, especially in France, but we have
them in this country, each unique and many
beautiful.
Duncan G. Stroik
we believe the tautology that change in architecture is by definition the same as scientific
innovationa questionable premise to say
the least. What is the architectural equivalent
of the iphone? Anything in architecture that is
as successful as the iphone, successful enough
to be adopted by a majority of architects,
would at that point no longer be considered
original: only the first version demonstrates
originality and then one must constantly
throw out the best solutions in favor of the
innovative ones. As King Solomon wrote,
Church of the Most Holy Trinity Vienna, 1975
there is nothing new under the sun. The rePhoto: Wikipedia.com
ality is that Modernism, while often invoking
originality, is greatly indebted to historical
precedent both architectural and mechanical. The protagonists of the modern movement, such as
LeCorbusier, Gropius, Wright, Aalto and Mies were quite cognizant of history and claimed to be
the fulfillment of it. But they believed not so much in history as in historicism, which is the heresy
that assumes that change equals progress.
Berninis innovation is a gift to architecture

and the arts.

However, originality can be overrated. When
true originality of the order of Michelangelo
or Bernini is hard to find, we instead turn to
novelty, since it is always easier to look novel
or stylish than to do something truly original.
The Baldacchino at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity
Thomas Aquinas College
Santa Paula, California
Photo: usagranda.com
The cult of novelty means that anything goes

and makes architects think that our role is to
provide change for changes sake. One of the
reasons we buy the idea of novelty is because
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One of the primary ways modernism defines itself is by its break with the past, differentiating
itself from things that have come before: asymmetry replaces symmetry, dissonance replaces harmony, steel and concrete replace masonry, the machine-made replaces the human scale, industrial
production replaces hand craftsmanship, and the provocative replaces the beautiful. If you read
the leaders or the promoters of the modern movement it becomes clear that they view modern
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Duncan G. Stroik
man and the modern age as incommensurate with everything

that came before. One should also note that, similar to the Protestant reformation, modernism defines itself as against images,
ornament, history, tradition and architectural languagein
other words, it defines itself as iconoclastic. It is the architecture
of rupture, of discontinuity with the past. But is discontinuity an
appropriate goal for the Eternal Church? As a means of representing a Church that teaches the relevance of goodness, truth
and beauty, is not the idea of rupture problematic?
Duncan G. Stroik
the tradition and thus changes it. Most things

that one sees as traditional were once new:
an obvious point, but one that proponents of
perpetual innovation seem to have neglected.

For instance we can see a great continuity in design of parts of the church, such as, the idea of a
sanctuary. Both San Clemente in Rome and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Tampacertainly
disparate examplescontain a clearly defined sanctuary or holy place that is raised, with railings,
an apse and constructed out of high quality material. Yet within the tradition of sanctuary architecture there are wonderful and appropriate innovations, which, if successful, become employed
by later architects. Such imitation leads the original to become traditional; the innovation adds to
An analysis of the architectural elements of

a traditional church such as St. Jean Baptiste in New York illustrates the connection
between innovation and tradition. When
did bell towers originate?the Romanesque
period. How about pairing of towers?even
later. We have already seen the origins of the
temple pediment and portico which MiSacred Heart Catholic Church, Tampa Florida 1905.
chelangelo invented but which Palladio first
Photo: Floridamemory.com
actually employed in a built work about 1580.
And then, what about a church built all out of
stone?that was not the way the early Christians built their buildings. So many of these traditional elements were first innovations.
Another example of how innovation can be found in the most canonically traditional buildings
is Andrea Palladios church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. Palladio employs the cruciform
planyet this was not the classic solution for the first 800 years of church building. Palladio
placed the side chapel within a discrete area. The idea that a side altar, or shrine, et cetera would
have its own side chapel constitutes a much later development than early Christian architecture.
What about the font when was the baptistery moved inside the church from its own separate
building? Originally, the baptistery was always connected with the cathedral, and it stood out-
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Studying the history of sacred architecture through the lens of

originality one can discover much richness. Yet, one can also
study these same masterpieces through the lens of continuity and
find principles that are timeless and relevant today.
Church of the Risen Savior

Environment and Art in Catholic Worship
Duncan G. Stroik
side the cathedral. In fact, part of the ritual

included the processions from baptistery to
cathedral and vice versa. The change to the
baptistery as a chapel area of the nave appears
very late in the history of architecture.
Duncan G. Stroik
they are certainly not requirements and it should not be assumed that this formula was traditional
before the twentieth century.
What about the disposition of the tabernacle? Those of us that were schooled in liturgy know that
the tabernacle was not originally in the sanctuary and we were told by renovation eager liturgists that since it was not in the sanctuary we should dispense with it. I think that the post-Vatican
II Church has taken stock of its patrimony and we have moved past this sillinessafter all, legitimate developments do occur.
Next, within this architectural discussion of

innovation arises the issue of sacred art. I get
as frustrated as any modernist when I come
to a parish and I ask what art we need to
include and the response is that Mary must
be on the left, Joseph on the right, stations of
the cross down the side aisles and a crucifix
in the center. Why am I unhappy with this,
since after all it is traditional? Certainly it
is traditional, but it is not the only way that
it has been done and it is certainly not even
the way it was done in antiquity. The stations
come from the time of the rise of the Franciscans; the Mary and Joseph shrines are very
recent, probably introduced by German and
Irish immigrants to the United States. Even
the crucifix as the center of the sanctuary was
not the ancient solution. I employ all these
genuinely good elements in my own work but
All of these elements are seen as part of the repertoire of Catholic architecture, and as extremely
traditional today. We are most thankful for the artists and architects of the past who sought to
innovate or be original and passed on these wonderful solutions. These architects created new
motifs, plans or solutions without rejecting the basic ideas of wall and columnar architecture
inherited from antiquity. They may have pushed the edges of tradition or even transformed the
tradition yet did not seek a break with the past. Tradition is not the enemy of newness or originalityrather, true originality gives the tradition new life.
Image: Jean Baptiste, New York

Photo Wikimedia Commons
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Is not the rejection of tradition also a rejection of the originality of the past? Do we wish future
generations to reject todays innovations in the same way as the contemporary architect rejects his
forefathers? I think not. It is necessary to harness the architects drive to be original for the service
of the Church. Why not learn from the great architects of tradition who were each original? If
one compares and contrasts ones own work with these great architects one begins to see the true
quality of contemporary architecture.
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Duncan G. Stroik
The architecture of continuity and tradition is not interested in producing copies, but rather
children. Children look like and sometimes act like their parents, for good or ill, yet they remain
unique individuals. An architecture of continuity is delighted to learn from examples of the past,
to understand the styles and appreciate their consistency. In order to accomplish something as
good as or better than the past, one must know its architecture intimately. The traditional architect, if he is original, is not worried about being novel. But on the other hand, he is also not
interested in doing an exact archeological reconstruction. Though I do not believe that an archeological reconstruction is immoral, the architects goal is to do something greater than a copy or a
reconstructionto give birth to a child. In truth, if archeological reconstruction poses a danger,
one could argue that loose precedent studythe opposite of the copyis more dangerous still.
Ignoring the serious study of the Gothic tradition and its richness, an architect may throw some
pointed arches together, some buttresses, and some colonnettes and create an architectural concoction that does not hold together. And if the architect decides he would like to be the Frank
Gehry of Gothic architecture it becomes scary. How so? Because the architect does not know the
language well enough to build something competent, much less original.
One has to know the tradition in order to innovate, but to learn the tradition takes time, humility
and hard work; habits that seem rather antithetical to novelty. The vast majority of churches that
have been built or renovated recently in the United States are caught between the impetus for
novelty and the desire of the clients that it look like a church, resulting in neither innovative modernist masterpieces nor competent traditional buildings. In some cases they are just mediocre,
and in other cases they are actually schizophrenic. Is mediocrity acceptable? Perhaps for an office
building, for a house, for a hospital or even in a school but not for a church. For instance, how do
we get away from mediocrity? If one is designing a cruciform plan, one should not try to force the
seating into a theatre layout. If one is employing arches, it is necessary to understand how they are
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Duncan G. Stroik
constructed along with the ways they have been used in the past.
Continuity with the great tradition can be learned, but it takes hard work. For some architects it is
analogous to a conversion. Think about the agnostic or the non-Catholic who grows in knowledge
about the Church and eventually falls in love with her, realizing that in her one finds the truth. For
architects it is an analogous experience: to grow in love with the Church and her history is also to
fall in love with the art and architecture that she has produced down through the ages. And just as
in falling in love with a person, falling in love with the Churchs artistic tradition takes time and
commitment.
So how can architects participate in the great tradition with originality? Here I would like to
develop the ideas of the great poet T.S. Eliot in his essay, Tradition and the Individual Talent, [2]
written in the heat of Modernism during the
1920s.
First of all it is important to develop the
historical sense. This historical sense is not
only a perception of the pastness of the past,
but of its presence. The historical sense is the
sense of the timeless as well as the temporal. As Eliot notes, the past is present. This is
perhaps easier to see in architecture than for
the other arts since buildings last beyond one
generation. The historical sense compels the
architect to design not merely with his own
Image: The Professors Dream: C.R. Cockerell

Royal Academy of Arts, London
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Duncan G. Stroik
generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of architecture of Christendom, and
within it, the architecture of the United States has an existence. The historical sense is an ongoing
conversation, such as is dramatized by Paul Delaroche in the hemicycle in the Salle des Prix at the
Ecole des Beaux Arts in which 75 artists of all ages are in conversation.
In the center, on the topmost thrones are the creators of the Parthenon, architect Phidias, sculptor Ictinus and painter Apelles, symbolizing the unity of the arts. On the left Palladio talks to the
Gothic architect Robert de Luzarches, while another group from different countries listen to the
medieval designer of the Duomo in Florence, Arnolfo di Cambio. The different periods, countries and styles are seen here as related by common endeavor. The goal of todays church architect
should be to be part of this conversation. To appreciate an architect is to appreciate his relation
to the dead architects. One cannot judge him
alone, one must place him for contrast and
comparison among the dead.

Just as the present is directed by the past, so
the past is altered by the present. This means
the architect has a great responsibility to the
future and also to the past. We are judged,
though not amputated, by the standards of
the past. When I speak about comparison
with the masterpieces of the past I am talking
about a comparison in which both past and
Image: Hemicycle in the Salle de Prix, Ecole des Beaux Arts
by Paul Delaroche
present measure each other. This is good to
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Duncan G. Stroik
admit to ourselves because ultimately the future will judge

our work by the standard of the works of the past anyhow.
Each architect must be conscious of the main current of
art and architecture that flows variably through the most
distinguished reputations. There is development and refinement but not necessarily improvement or perpetual progress. It is a silly idea to believe that the Byzantine improved
on the Early Christian, and the Romanesque progressed
past the Byzantine, or that the Gothic took a great step
forward over the Romanesque, and then the Renaissance
capped the medieval, et cetera. We can appreciate all periods for their particular strengths, but also focus on their
continuities and similarities along with other styles. Consciousness of the past takes study. It takes a surrender of the
architect to something that is more valuable. The progress
of a person is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. The artist is being called to follow the
example of the saints.
To reach impersonality the architect must surrender himself to the work. He will only know what is to be done if he
lives not only in the present, but in the living presence of
the past.
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Image: Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez

By Neilson Carlin
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Duncan G. Stroik
Architects and artists exercise their gifts of creativity and originality for the benefit of the Church
and the glory of God. Originality does not have to be an enemy of tradition, but should be in service of tradition. If we are going to express the faith that is ever ancient, ever new we should seek
the wedding of originality and tradition not there divide. Thus we can create temples of the Lord
that are judged by and converse with great architecture that has gone before and will continue
long after we are gone.
Michael F. Tamara
The Right Abstraction: A Balanced Expression of Divinity and Humanity in

Michael F. Tamara
Endnotes:
1. Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Roman Curia Offering Them His Christmas Greetings, Thursday,
22 December 2005.
2. T. S. Eliot, Tradition and Individual Talent. In The Sacred Wood (London: Methuen & Co, 1920), 30.
Introduction
There seems to be a certain leeriness instinctively felt by many people at the mention of abstraction in the context of sacred art and architecture, which conjures thoughts of distortion or complete disregard for recognizable reality. The automatic equating of the word abstraction with
such an idea, however, places a handicap on the understanding and perpetuation of Christian
expression in the built environment, which has always relied on various degrees of abstraction in
order to convey the story at the heart of the faith.
When dealing with eternal reality, which is itself an abstract notion because it escapes full human
comprehension, the real question is not whether abstraction can call the person into fullness of
humanity, but what kind of abstraction best serves to bring the person ever deeper into the fullness of his or her true identity [Fig. 1].
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Michael F. Tamara
Michael F. Tamara
Humanity, Says the Church: Expression of Reality through Holistic Abstraction

In order to answer the question of the nature of proper abstraction, we must first establish an
accurate understanding of the relationship between the physical and spiritual dimensions of
the Christian reality, by asking and answering an even more fundamental question: What is the
fullness of humanity? When we say we believe in the resurrection of the body in the Apostles
Creed, we acknowledge that, not only do body and soul begin as a unified whole, but they are
also, though separated at death, destined to be reunited on the day of judgment, in imitation of
Christ. In this manner, the human and the divine are inseparably linked.
If this is true, then our understandings of the nature of humanity and divinity are codependent. If
we do not know ourselves, then we cannot fully know God, and if we do not know God, then we
cannot truly know ourselves and what it means to be fully human.
Fig. 1 Two abstract images, but each originating with a very different purpose. Byzantine Icon (left), and On
White II, Wassily Kandinsky, 1923 (right).
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From the very beginning, the Church has taught that each and every human person is a sacred
being, created in the image and likeness of the Creator. We may liken the Lords original intent
for humankind and the world - indeed, for reality in its totality - to a state of perpetual holism.
Holism, as defined herein, simply refers to all parts being aware of, and working together in free
obedience and acknowledgement of, the whole; living in harmony with God, each other, and all of
nature. Mans eventual desire to be equal with God, and subsequent misuse of free will, caused a
fragmentation of the whole, scattering the logic and simplicity of existence into scrambled incoherence. In simplest terms, the fullness of humanity was lost, and its void was filled by a broken
and incomplete version of humanity.
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Michael F. Tamara
Thus was put into motion salvation history, culminating in the coming of the Messiah. Whereas
creation entailed the wrapping of humanity in a mantle of godliness, we can say that salvation
was accomplished by the exact inverse: the gracious choice of God to be wrapped in a mantle of
humanness in order to wash away sin and open the gates of heaven. Through the mystery of the
hypostatic union - that is, the perfect union of both God and man in the person of Jesus Christ the fullness of humanity was restored. As the Son of Man, He is the complete human: the Resurrection and the Life. His Resurrection in a glorified body foreshadows the destiny of all of His
followers: body and soul reunited; the prevailing of holism once again.
The various effective ways in which this story at the heart of the faith has been, and continues to
be, conveyed in sacred art and architecture, all have a critical common starting point: they employ
architecture and the visual arts at the complete service of faith, as opposed to trying to force the
faith to submit to a predetermined and alien concept. The avenue by which this expression of
holism is accomplished, we may call, holistic abstraction. Holistic abstraction takes familiar physical and architectural forms - those which are recognizably human - and transforms them only
enough to allow them to become higher than themselves; to become glorified; to reach toward
the divine. Holistic abstraction is the way the built environment mimics human destiny, in that it
begins with the natural and stretches it into the supernatural.
As early as the fourth century, we see holistic abstraction already being employed. In the depiction of the bearded Christ in the Catacombs of Commodilla outside of Rome, incredibly limited
and primitive imagery is used to capture the entire essence of Jesus [Fig. 2]. The Alpha and the
Omega serve as bookends between the figure of Christ with a halo, causing His very human appearance to cross with the divine, and making for a concise representation of the hypostatic union
in fresco form. It may seem like a stretch to call this very elementary example abstract, but it
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Michael F. Tamara
goes beyond depicting Jesus simply as He appeared when He walked the earth, hence alluding to
the holistic understanding of who Jesus really is.
Later in the first millennium, we see the evolution of a style of holistic abstraction called
iconography. Icons illustrate particularly
well the timelessness of the faith, as many of
them bear a striking resemblance to certain
modern styles of sacred art [Fig. 3]. Icons
take basic human forms - those of Christ or
the saints - and show them not exactly as they
appeared in life, but in the glorified heavenly
state in which we believe they now dwell. In
a typical icon, only visible body parts such
as faces and hands are given depth, with all
other areas remaining flat, and drapery often
executed in a highly stylized fashion. One is
meant to focus on the heads and faces, which
is why light seems to emit from within the
holy person in an icon painting, rather than
being cast upon from without.
Fig. 2 Holistic abstraction at its simplest: the essence of the hypostatic union.
When we talk about a building, the bridge

between the human and divine should be
Bearded Christ, Catacombs of Commodilla, Rome, late 4th century.
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Michael F. Tamara
the Gothic style is an excellent place to look, because it emerged chiefly for the essentially holistic
purpose of conveying mans destiny for God.

When we look at the jamb figures at Chartres Cathedral [Fig. 4], we see sculpture having become
an organic part of the architecture in the form of various saints and angels welcoming all who
enter. These figures are not naturalistic, earthly people, but transformed heavenly beings, humanoid in appearance as in the icon tradition. In this case,
the primary method of holistic abstraction is to take the
body and actually stretch it, making the figure far too tall to
be believable as naturalistic reality. This, coupled with the
lightness of the drapery and the elevated placement of the
sculptures makes for a light, floating quality despite their
material composition of stone.
Fig. 3
Holistic abstraction providing a humanoid appearance with certain areas of the composition that are more literal, and others that are
more generalized. Our Lady of Perpetual Help in two and three dimensions: Eastern-style icon and twentieth-century statue.
just as much of a concern as if we were talking about an actual depiction of a holy person. Sacred
architecture should have human qualities that its beholders can subconsciously appreciate, and in
turn offer back to God in the form of praise and thanksgiving. To find a clear illustration of this,
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This idea of vertical elongation extends into the structural architecture of the cathedrals themselves [Fig. 5]. The
components of a column in the classical world - base, shaft,
and capital - were very respectful of human proportions and
sacred geometry based off of the human body. The Gothic
builders took the human-like qualities of the classical column, and transformed them like the jamb figures, growing
them ever higher and thinner in order to reach heaven.
Here, what matters most are lightness, tallness, and bright74
Fig. 4 Hybrids between human and heavenly

welcome the faithful. Jamb figures, Chartres
Cathedral, Chartres, France, completed 1260.
Michael F. Tamara
ness; taking the human and making it reach for the divine: holistic abstraction par excellence that
challenges previously held notions of a buildings limits by organically growing out of what was
already familiar.
Seventeenth century Baroque churches of the
Counter-reformation pushed limits in a different way. Architecture, painting, and sculpture
morphed together into a single seamless gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art in service of
a reinvigorated telling of the story at the heart
of the faith. Ceilings were ideal places for the
expression of the big picture of human destiny,
as can be seen in the Church of Il Gesu in Rome
[Fig. 6]. Here we see illustrated the epitome of
the characteristically Baroque blurring of art
and architecture, to the point where we cant tell
where the architecture ends and the painting
and sculpture begin. Thanks to a masterful use
of holistic abstraction, we are less concerned
with the actual shape of the ceiling as we are
with what is going on in the center where it
broke open to reveal heaven. Like the Gothic
cathedral, we are called to a higher reality, but
Fig. 5 Nineteenth century interpretation of medieval holistic
in a very different way, thus illustrating the great
abstraction. St. Patricks Cathedral, Manhattan, James Renwick,
diversity of expression afforded by the proper
completed 1879.
attitude of abstraction.
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Michael F. Tamara
Fig. 6 Holistic abstraction blending sculpture, painting, and architecture. The Triumph of the Name of Jesus, Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Church of
Il Gesu, Rome, 17th century.
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Michael F. Tamara
A large-scale model of modern holistic abstraction can be found in the Notre-Dame du Sacre-Coeur Chapel in the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Montreal, rebuilt after a devastating 1978 fire
[Fig. 7 & 8]. The bottom two levels, in keeping with the traditional style of the rest of the building,
give way to a very modern vaulting system that appears to be levitating over the rest of the architecture, completely unsupported by the columns below. Natural light cascades from around the
vault, and bathes a massive bronze relief altarpiece depicting the march of humanity toward God:
the theme of which is the very definition of a holistic understanding of the fullness and purpose of
humanity. The chapel at once lifts the person to God, and draws God down to the human level.
Michael F. Tamara
Humanity, Says the World: Expression of Reality through Fragmentary Abstraction

If eternal life is the destiny of humanity, then those of us in this earthly life are on a journey
toward the complete realization of the holism restored by the Paschal sacrifice, but not there yet.
When faith and reason are divorced, fragmentation easily eclipses holism once again. What all of
the major secular forces at work over the past few centuries have in common, be they philosophical, socioeconomic, or political, is a general tendency toward - if not outright profession of - atheism.
Divinity has been deleted; humanity is all there is. The irony in this is that, without God, there
really is no such thing as innate human value: fullness of humanity cannot come from humanity,
and therefore cannot exist in a godless vacuum. The utter helplessness, anxiety, and fragmentation bred by this disconnection with our true identity have translated into the saluting of depression, hopelessness and pointlessness by
putting them into artistic and built form [Fig.
9].
Fig. 7 & 8 Modern holistic abstraction: earth being drawn up to heaven, and heaven raining down on earth. Notre-Dame du Sacre-Coeur Chapel, Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, 1982. Sculpture by Charles Daudelin.
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If we call that abstraction which humanizes

and tells the story at the heart of the faith holistic, then that abstraction which dehumanizes and resists faith can be called fragmentary,
because it is fundamentally disengaged from
the larger understanding that human beings
are made in the image and likeness of God,
and are therefore destined to return to God.
Fig. 9 Encapsulating the subconscious uneasiness and insecurity

brought about by forgetting the fullness of humanity. The Scream
(1893) and Anxiety (1894), Edvard Munch.
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Michael F. Tamara
Michael F. Tamara
When man begins to sincerely believe he is his own highest authority, reality becomes arbitrary,
and those with power can rewrite the rules endlessly to suit their whim. An architectural answer
to a glaring twentieth century example of fragmentation and dehumanization is the Jewish Museum in Berlin [Fig. 10]. In this context, the fragmentary abstraction employed is suitable given
the terrible historical events it commemorates. The coldness, jaggedness and sharp lacerations
in the outer shell are evocative of the physical wounds and torture of the Jewish people under Nazi
rule, and all the metal faces on the floor represent humanity symbolically being trampled underfoot.
Here, fragmentary abstraction is not promoting dehumanization; but rather, is simply serving to
tell of a particular instance of acutely brutal dehumanization that occurred as the result of a massive forsaking of the fullness of humanity.
Elsewhere, though, fragmentary abstraction often occurs simply because its designers and proponents believe that it actually represents the extent of the human condition. Such a case is the
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain [Fig. 11]. In as charitable a way as possible, we simply ask:
where is God in this? If the answer is nowhere - we have no need for God, then we ask: where is
humanity?
Although there are many pieces of good modern secular architecture worthy of celebration,
much of it has become, first and foremost, about existing primarily for the purpose of itself and
its authors; with the function of the building and the people who daily use and inhabit it being of
secondary importance.
Fig. 10
Fragmentary abstraction being used to convey the horror of humanitys attempted extermination of a sizeable portion of itself. Jewish
Museum, Daniel Libeskind, Berlin, 2001.
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Michael F. Tamara
Michael F. Tamara
The puzzlement of many faithful at the appearance of much church architecture of the past
half-century cannot be dismissed as resistance to change or mere nostalgia alone, but perhaps is
due in part to the very pronounced difference between holistic and fragmentary abstraction being
played out in front of them. Fragmentary abstraction, let us recall, is skeptical of the revealed
relationship between God and humanity in Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and instead finds the
extent of reality in the minds of each individual.
Fig. 11
Fragmentary abstraction for its own sake. Guggenheim Museum, Frank Gehry, Bilbao, Spain, 1997.
Attempts to Apply Fragmentary Abstraction to Holistic Reality

Since the Church - though not of the world - lives in the world, it is only logical that fragmentary
thinking, if allowed, can enter through a crack in Gods temple, despite the holism of the faith
itself. For want of a more nuanced way of putting it, fragmentary abstraction simply seized upon
twentieth century opportunities to wedge its way into the Church: first in thought, and then - proceeding logically - in sacred art and architecture. It is not within the scope of this paper to analyze
why or exactly how such a thing happened, but simply to point out that it did, and to examine
some of the physical consequences.
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By nature, then, it is often highly subjective and ambiguous, as exemplified in the work of the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko [Fig. 12]. Brilliant colors and compositions aside, if one
were to ask twelve people what theyre looking at when they view a typical painting, one would
get twelve different answers. To see the result of such abstraction applied to sacred architecture,
we may look to the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas [Fig. 13].
Originally intended to be a Catholic sacred space, we have a prime example of the questions left
unanswered by the use of fragmentary abstraction where holistic abstraction is required. The
particular manipulation of natural lighting conveys a certain sense of the spiritual, but spirituality
alone, when divorced from theology, is an incredibly general and subjective thing. What is the
universal story - literally, the catholic story - this space tells? How are we taught about the fullness of humanity we possess as children of God?
What we see is complete spiritual otherworldliness at the ceiling level - that is, the disembodied
light - without that spirituality personifying itself in any universally understandable way. At the
lower level, where we might expect that personification to happen, we instead see large, imposing canvases of solid black. Does this work for the telling of the story of the hypostatic union, in
which the great I AM is personified? Do we see a balanced expression of divinity and humanity?
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Michael F. Tamara
Contrast this with Notre-Dame du Sacre-Coeur: both are modern churches with natural overhead
lighting, but with very different results.
Michael F. Tamara
there is little recognizably human dimension through the use of iconography, proportionality, or
significant material texture differentiation throughout.
Fig. 14 & 15 Broad daylight and sculptural forms as the main tools to convey the sacred. Jubilee Church of Dio Padre Misericordioso, Richard
Meier, Rome, 2003.
Fig. 12 Highly subjective nature of fragmentary

abstraction. Number 8, Mark Rothko, 1949.
Fig. 13
1970.
Spirituality detached from theology. Rothko Chapel, Houston, Texas,
An idea of conveying the sacred simply by light and shapes is a theme that repeats through many
other examples, one of which is the Jubilee Church in Rome [Fig. 14 & 15]. I happen to like this
building as a general piece of architecture, but our topic centers on its effectiveness as a church.
Although surfaces washed in light and the consequent shadows produced hint at the spiritual,
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Aside from the dark traditional crucifix that sharply contrasts with the vast sea of mostly
smooth whiteness, where do we see any other elements that call us into the appropriate frame
of mind for the celebration of the sacred mysteries? Without that crucifix, we could easily be
looking at the interior of a large greenhouse, an airport terminal or train station, or the atrium
of an upscale shopping mall.
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Michael F. Tamara
This certainly was not the effect intended

by the architect, but the people in the pews
shouldnt need to worry about verbal explanations if the building itself is didactically
strong: if symbolism is not universal - and is
therefore ambiguous - it can, and likely will,
be lost on the masses. For example, it may
not be immediately apparent that the three
large curved walls are intended to represent
the Trinity. This is because their allusion to
the Trinity is not necessarily obvious simply
because of their number. After all, we could
look at the Sydney Opera House [Fig. 16]
and see similar repetitions of three, but they
obviously have nothing to do with the Trinity
or any other theological idea.
Michael F. Tamara
SantIgnazio is certainly not one you would see in nature, but it uses natural and recognizable elements in a new and different way in order to express the supernatural. Upon entering the Jubilee
Church, we simply see the same thing we saw outside through glass and mullions.
Some would call this an unfair comparison, given the radical difference in styles and materials,
but it is not about style or material per se. The Baroque ceiling could be replaced with any number of other styles, including modern, that convey the completeness of the Christian story. The
comparison of these particular two churches is used simply because it epitomizes holistic abstraction versus fragmentary abstraction as defined herein: in one, we see the supernatural whole; in
the other - though the natural sky has an incredible beauty all its own - we nevertheless see only
the literally visible piece of that whole.
Conclusion
Inside the nave of the Jubilee Church, what

we see when we look up is worth comparing
to what we see when we look up in another
Roman church: SantIgnazio [Fig. 17 & 18].
Which one of these most clearly tells of humanitys new lease on life as a result of the
Incarnation and Gods sacrifice for us? As in
Il Gesu, the scene of the heavens opening in
Fig. 16 & 17 Which one of these more clearly puts us into the
frame of mind to contemplate the fullness of our humanity and
our destiny as children of God? Left: Trompe loeil ceiling, Andrea
Pozzo, Church of SantIgnazio, Rome, 17th century. Right: Jubilee
Church ceiling.
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The world is full of examples of both holistic and fragmentary abstraction in architecture, and our
purpose here has not been to do an exhaustive account, but simply to show that certain abstraction is good and necessary in Catholic architecture in order to perceive the relationship between
the seen and unseen. For all that we dont know about God, there is plenty that we do know, not
by virtue of our own senses or assumptions, but through the singular choice of that very God
to reveal Himself to us throughout the ages. Our vocation as designers of sacred places, then,
is finding the appropriate balance in visual and physical expression between the human and the
divine.
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Michael F. Tamara
Photo Credits:
Fig. 1: Personal collection; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky
Fig. 2: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_with_beard.jpg
Fig. 3: http://www.sanctuaryofhope.org/soh/images/olphelp.jpg ; Personal collection.
Fig. 4: http://alfalfapress.com/history/costume/images/1150_chartres.jpg
Fig. 5: Personal collection.
Fig. 6: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Church_gesu_ceiling_hdr.jpg
Fig. 7: http://www.basiliquenddm.org/en/basilica/pictures.aspx
Fig. 8: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1251/866976930_8fd888e226.jpg
Fig. 9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream; http://z.about.com/d/arthistory/1/0/Y/p/bem_aic_09_12.jpg
Fig. 10: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/images/berlin/jewish-museum/resized/IMG_4018p.jpg; http://upload.spottedbylocals.
com/Berlin/normal/jewish-museum-berlin-berlin-(by-herrmann-koenigs).jpg
Fig. 11: http://architectcom.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/frank-owen-gehry-guggenheim-museum-bilbao.jpg; http://farm3.static.flickr.
com/2029/1802895241_22a9165b10.jpg
Fig. 12: http://www.artsender.com/gallery/images/5ro.jpg
Fig. 13: http://www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org/default/images/Rothko%2002.tif%20for%20emailing.jpg
Fig. 14: http://eternallycool.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/church-2000-exterior.jpg
Fig. 15: http://image16.webshots.com/17/1/59/25/183315925AFRCnE_ph.jpg
Fig. 16: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Sydney_opera_house_side_view.jpg
Fig. 17: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Sant_ignazio_ceiling.jpg
Fig. 18: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2517/3886647292_9b1fc388cf.jpg
Sarah Carrig Bond
Depicting the Question as Well as the Answer: What Can Medieval Art
Teach us about the Architecture and Decoration of Churches?
Sarah Carrig Bond
This paper will look at the architectural sculpture of a French Romanesque church called SaintPierre de Mozac, or St. Peter of Mozac, in the region of Auvergne in south central France. The
interior of the church is decorated with a large number of sculpted capitals which are some of the
finest and most beautiful in French Romanesque art. I will discuss what themes were chosen for
the sculptures, where they were placed, and how the decoration relates to the overall meaning and
symbolism of the church building. I will conclude with some reflections on what medieval art
can teach us about church architecture and decoration.
The province of Auvergne is located in the southern half of France in an area of volcanic mountain chains. The capital and most well-known city of the region is Clermont-Ferrand, home of
Michelin tires. The province is also known for the healing waters of Vichy and other spas. In the
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Middle Ages, the Diocese of Clermont corresponded roughly to the modern province of Auvergne. Though somewhat remote, this diocese was quite significant historically. It was at Clermont-Ferrand in the year 1095 that Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade to the Holy Land.
Two sites still famous today were important stops on the pilgrimage routes to Santiago da Compostella in northern Spain, the most important medieval pilgrimage site apart from Jerusalem and
Rome. These two sites are Le Puy in the southeast and Conques, just over the border of southwest
Auvergne.
Auvergne, like many of the provinces of France, is also known for its Romanesque churches.
These churches are remarkable for their consistency of style, distinctive stonework, and fascinating sculpture. Henry Hobson Richardson was inspired by the stonework of Auvergne in designing the Romanesque-revival Trinity Church in Boston. The Romanesque sculpture of the region
is notable not only for its high quality and consistent themes, but especially for its depiction of
subjects from pagan antiquity. The church of Saint-Pierre of Mozac is the best and most representative example of the Romanesque sculpture of Auvergne. It is located north of Clermont-Ferrand, just outside the town of Riom.
In 1095, the same year that Pope Urban II began preaching about a crusade to the Holy Land, the
abbey of Mozac was made a dependency of the great Benedictine monastery of Cluny in Burgundy. It was in the next decades, during the first quarter of the 12th century, that the Romanesque
church was built. It was built on the site of two preceding churches, a Carolingian church in the
9th century and a Merovingian church in the 7th century. One can still see today the Carolingian
entrance tower, incorporated into the Romanesque building. Approaching from the north, one
notices immediately that the church has been damaged. A massive earthquake in the 15th century destroyed the entire east end of the church as well as the upper parts of the nave. The choir
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was rebuilt in the 15th century. With most of the original nave intact and with the remains of
the original crypt still accessible, one can envision the original Romanesque church. It probably
looked very much like the Romanesque churches in nearby Clermont and Orcival.
The main entrance to Mozac is through the north porch. While there is very little exterior decoration, there is a significant Latin inscription, dating from the 12th century, on the outer arch of
the doorway. It reads,

INGREDIENS TEMPLVM REFERAT AD SVBLIMIA VVLTVm

INTRATVRI AVLAM VENERANSQ[ue] LIMINA XP[ist]I
Entering the temple, turn your gaze to the heights;
Going to enter his forecourt, and venerating the threshold of Christ.
This inscription, addressed to all who enter, is a profound reminder of the meaning of the building. The church is referred to as a temple, evoking the Temple of Solomon, viewed in the Middle Ages as the prototype of the Christian church. The words aulam and limina suggest that
the entire church is Christs forecourt or threshold; the words limina Cristi refer to the portal
itself, which not only marks the entrance to Christs forecourt, but itself represents Christ, who
said, I am the door. The words of the inscription give a sense of movement and remind the worshiper that his passage through the church is like a journey, whose ultimate goal is Christ.
Entering the nave of the church, one is struck by the harmony and simplicity of the architecture,
with its repeating round arches and simple piers with attached half-columns. The sculptures,
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which consist of carved capitals atop the columns, are integral to the architecture, forming the
transition from column to arch above. Clearly visible today, they would originally have been
painted, and so would have been easy to see. The plants and figures depicted on the capitals
conform to the underlying Corinthian structure of the capital and express an architectonic role.
The capitals of the nave are sculpted on three sides because they rest on top of half-columns that
are attached to the large supporting piers of the church. The capitals from the former choir are
four-sided because they stood atop the free-standing columns which encircled the altar.
One of the most beautiful and well-known capitals from Mozac is that which depicts the Resurrection. This capital, sculpted on four sides, was originally placed atop one of the eight columns
of the hemicycle which surrounded the altar. It is currently placed on a pedestal at the west end
of the nave, allowing one to observe its beauty and detail at close proximity. The Resurrection of
Christ is portrayed through the story of the three women going to the tomb, as was common in
western medieval art. The scenes primarily follow the Gospel of Matthew, with some elements
from Mark. On one side we see the three holy women approaching the tomb, each one bearing
a perfume jar. The central woman, who looks straight at us and holds her hand up in a gesture
connoting amazement, is certainly Mary Magdalene, who was always singled out in the Easter
plays. In those plays, as on the capital, she directly addresses the congregation, saying, We came
mourning to the tomb of the Lord; we have seen an angel of God sitting and saying that he has
risen from death.
Sarah Carrig Bond
of the capital we see the sepulcher, depicted as a cross between the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
and a contemporary Romanesque church, suggesting both a tomb and a sanctuary. Adjacent to
the tomb and on the fourth side of the capital are the stricken guards, much taller than the holy
women, but rendered powerless by the cataclysmic event.
The meaning of the Resurrection capital coincides with its original location in the sanctuary.
This is true not merely because the central message of the Christian faith was placed at the center of the church, but more than that, the altar is the place where the Resurrection symbolically
takes place during the mass. In the Middle Ages, the sacrifice of the mass was understood as a
reenactment of the Passion and death of Christ and Holy Communion as a reenactment of the
Resurrection. The approach of believers to the altar was understood as signifying the approach to
the tomb. This Eucharistic meaning is implicit in the sculpture because of its location. Moreover,
the sculpture addresses the beholder through the gazes and gestures of the figures, much as the
players in the contemporary Easter plays addressed the assembly, drawing them into the narrative, suggesting that the Resurrection is an ongoing and present event. Its dramatic character
corresponds to the dramatic character of the liturgy, in which each time the believer experiences
the event anew.
The second face of the capital shows the angel seated on the edge of a sarcophagus, his feet resting on its lid. He gestures with one hand in greeting toward the women, while with the other he
points to the tomb behind him. The angel also looks out towards the beholder as if to tell us the
good news, again mirroring the role of the angel in contemporary Easter plays. On the third face
Like the Resurrection capital, the other capitals from the sanctuary focus on Christ, but in a less
direct manner. One shows the Four Evangelists, depicted unusually as four angels holding scrolls
inscribed with texts from each of the four gospels. The angel-evangelists are placed at the four
corners of the capital, displaying their scrolls to the viewer like banners. Like the angel on the
Resurrection capital, they are presenting us with the good news. The theme of the four evangelists was very common in medieval art. Whether depicted on a manuscript page or in the pendentives of the vault of a church, they always accompanied and supported the figure of Christ.
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Thus their placement in the sanctuary at Mozac suggests the presence of Christ, both in the
eucharist and probably in a painted image in the choir vault above, as was true at Cluny and many
other churches.
Another capital shows an unusual scene from the book of Revelation: the four angels holding
back the earths four winds in preparation for the Sealing of the Elect and the Adoration of the
Lamb (Rev 7:1-14). This capital was found in 1983 in the wall of the rebuilt choir of the church
when the choir stalls were removed for restoration. The four wind-angels stand at the four corners of the capital, three of them holding the horns that represent the blowing wind. Each angel
grasps the mouth of a crouching man, an unusual way of showing them stopping the winds from
blowing. Like the angel-evangelists capital, this scene normally accompanies a scene of Christ
in Majesty, either as the Lamb in Glory or the Resurrected Christ. Like the evangelists, the four
winds are one of the quaternities, or groups of four, that accompany the divine; thus both of these
sculptures imply the presence of Christ without showing him.
The last two capitals which remain from the original sanctuary are at first glance completely different in subject. They each show four figures usually referred to as atlantesmale load-bearing
figures, here grasping vines or fruit which dangle from the vines. The men are nude and the vines
grow from between their legs, covering their bodies like loincloths. These sculptures in a startling
way bring themes from pagan antiquity into the sanctuary with the Christological subjects. But
while it has no basis in Scripture, this type of figure is commonly shown supporting the heavens
in medieval depictions of Christ. In particular, atlantes are supporting figures in architectural settings, mediating between elements of the architecture and also between the human and the divine.
Thus, they too suggest the presence of Christ in the sanctuary.
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While the atlantes at first seem out of place near the altar, with its focus on Christ, they are closely linked to the sculptures in the nave of the church, which are almost exclusively derived from
pagan antiquity. There are 43 engaged capitals in the nave. Of these, 16 are purely foliate and 27
have figures or heads, often within a foliate setting. The subjects depicted include men astride
vines, genuflecting men grasping vines, masks in foliage, dragons, centaurs, birds with foliate tails,
winged victories bearing shields, griffins flanking a chalice, and men riding goats. These subjects
are beautifully carved, with great attention to detail. They are of the same level of quality as the
sculptures of the sanctuary and clearly made by the same workshop.
Notable features of the these capitals include deep carving, figures conforming to the underlying
structure of the Corinthian capital, an expressive use of symmetry and asymmetry, and a play
between realism and fantasy. But perhaps the most striking characteristic is what one scholar has
called the astonishing symbiosis between the animal and vegetal worlds. Not only are human
and animal figures placed in foliate settings, but they are intertwined with vines, grasping fruit, or
seated on leaves; tails become plants; beards merge with acanthus. An interesting combination of
man, animal, and plant is the goat-riding motif. The goats themselves have plant tails and beards;
one man riding the goat carries a flowering branch and the other grasps the goats flowering tail.
Man, goat, and plant are connected and even merged. On one of the capitals of genuflecting men
grasping vines, a hand emerges from the ground and grabs the ankle of one of the men.
What the sculptors seem to be expressing is a continuum within nature, between plant, animal,
and human being, all of which are interconnected in multiple ways. But these interconnections
do not appear static; rather it is as if the architecture of the capital is animated by living forms,
exemplified by the hand which emerges from the ground to grasp the mans ankle. In some cases,
the conception seems almost animistic, as when tiny heads emerge at the tips of plants. Whatever
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the underlying conception, the appearance is of living nature animating the architectural form of
the capital. The human figure stands out clearly, but is part of this continuum.
But why were these particular subjects chosen for the nave of Mozac? The themes come from the
repertoire of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, but close study of the capitals shows a more
specific link to imagery related to Dionysos, or Bacchus, the ancient god of the vine. This derivation is certainly true for subjects such as centaurs and men riding goats, which clearly have a
Dionysian character; but many details included with the other subjects indicate that they too have
a Dionysian cast. These details include the panther head between two birds, the masks in foliage,
the mask-idol between the two victories, the griffins flanking a chalice, and the child-king with
acanthus branch riding a goat. The abundant and precise references to Dionysian mythology
show clear purpose on the part of the designers of the church. The nave sculptures as an ensemble seem to show the pagan pastthe time before Christ. Together with one scene from the Old
Testament also in the nave, the sculptures represent humanity and nature awaiting the redemption
that came through Jesus Christ, the true vine, who gave new meaning to the old imagery. That
these subjects are so emphasized and even lovingly portrayed shows that Christianity was not seen
as negating or simply replacing what came before, but as fulfilling or redeeming it. The pagan imagery at Mozac takes on a deeper meaning because of its location with respect to the Christological imagery of the choir. With this understanding of the church, passage through space represents
the passage through history. Christs presence at the altar redeems all of history, as it redeems all
of nature.
Sarah Carrig Bond
meant to tell a story or instruct. Its first role is liturgical. Integral to the architecture, it expresses and participates in a living reality that is embodied in the sacred space of the church building.
Like the liturgy, the decoration expresses something happening in the present and addresses the
believer, calling forth a response. Through its beauty, its content, and its placement within the
building, the art of the church expresses and gives greater meaning to the sacred space.
The second observation is that medieval art did not leave anything out in its depiction of salvation. It depicted the question as fully as the answer. Images of the pagan, of sin, and of the
violence of man and nature were not only included, but made the presence of Christ in the church
more meaningful and thus more alive. The Dionysian imagery at Mozac, for example, gives
greater significance to Christ as the true vine. The human and the pagan past were not censored
but were viewed as part of the path towards Christ, who is the goal. This is interesting to consider
in light of modern church decoration, which tends to focus almost exclusively on the answer
Christ, Mary, and the saintswithout explicitly showing the questionhuman sin, nature, and
the need for Christ. Put another way, medieval art included that which Christ came to save. By
including this, medieval art expresses a certainty that Christ makes new all of the world and all of
history. This certainty, and the resulting breadth of imagery in medieval churches, is one of the
great lessons of medieval art.
I would like to conclude with some observations about what we can learn from medieval art
concerning the architecture and decoration of churches. First, medieval art is not primarily
didactic. While often referred to as the Bible in stone, medieval sculpture is only secondarily
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Symmetria, Order & Complexity, Definiteness

Erik Bootsma
Erik Bootsma
of what beauty is in the same way, and if we consent to the manner in which beauty acts upon
things, the understanding of how beauty operates within the realm of music will give us a fuller
understanding of how it also operates in the realm of architecture.
Now music, being an incredibly mathematical and logical art, had from the ancient Greek philosophers up until Albertis own time, a tremendous amount of theory written about it, from what
had traditionally been attributed to Pythagoras, to Boethius and the renaissance theorists. So
drawing upon what both the ancients said about music, on to even our own contemporaries today
will shed light on what beauty is in architecture and how we might be able to create such beauty
for the Church today.
In his work the Ten Books on Architecture, the renaissance architectural theorist Leon Batista
Alberti wrote that when one wants to compose a beautiful building that one can look to the composition of music as a guide. He wrote:

[I am] convinced of the truth of Pythagoras saying, that Nature is sure to act consistently
. . . I conclude that the same numbers by means of which the agreement of sounds affect
our ears with delight are the very same which please our eyes and our minds.
Alberti is making a statement about the nature of beauty, that as a natural thing (meaning the
nature of the universe), beauty acts in the same manner on similar things, and those things would
be music and architecture. Alberti is convinced that music and architecture partake in the essence
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The intent of this presentation today is to make clear the underlying common aesthetic principles that apply to both music and architecture that are the cause of deeming such arts beautiful.
Now I do not propose to provide a complete and comprehensive definition of beauty, but leaving
that discussion to more qualified philosophers, I intend rather to only look at the principles to be
found in this one particular manifestation of beauty.
First, we must start with a good definition, incomplete as it may be of that infinitely debatable and
elusively grasped word, beauty. We may learn from applying this definition and other things said
about beauty to our subjects of music and architecture.
Aristotle, writing in the second century BC wrote in his Metaphysics that The most important
kinds of the beautiful are order, symmetry, and definiteness. This definition of beauty, or rather
these three kinds of beauty, I will use for a basic discussion of how music and architecture are
related and how they are beautiful.
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Erik Bootsma
[It is worth mentioning that many of these terms are often times used interchangeably and in different senses often by the same authors. I will endeavor as much as possible to maintain a consistency of definition, nevertheless, due to the metaphysical nature of these concepts at times, some
overlap and mingling of ideas will occur]
Boethius says that:
Symmetria
To be commensurate, to have common measure then is a quality that makes a ratio, (a comparison of low and high), a consonant ratio. The consonant ratios that Boethius speaks of are indeed
the same ones that Alberti referred to when he spoke of the numbers by means of which the
agreement of sounds affect our ears. These ratios were discovered by Pythagoras to be the basic
building blocks of the musical scale, namely 2 to 1 (the octave), 3 to 2 (the perfect fifth), and 4 to 3
(the perfect fourth).
I would like to begin with the second of Aristotles terms, symmetry, as it is more foundational as
a concept to the others.
Vitruvius in his Ten Books of Architecture defines symmetry as the following:

Symmetry is the appropriate harmony arising out of the details of the work itself; the
correspondence of each given detail among the separate details to the form of the design
as a whole.
Symmetria, which literally translates as the same measure is identified as having a harmony of
the details of the complete work. Symmetria is not meant here to be simply the notion of bi-lateral correspondence of one side of a building to another (though it does not exclude it in any
way), but is rather a more general term for the fitting together of things. Another word used by
Vitruvius to speak of the same measure, is the Latin word commensus. Commensus, is a word
that Boethius, the Roman philosopher writing two centuries after Vitruvius, uses to define consonance, thus tying together this notion of symmetry to a concept often used in music.
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Consonances are necessarily to be found in those comparisons of low and high, which are
commensurable with each other, that is which have a known common measure, as
for example in multiples
These intervals which are identified by all of the ancients as the most consonant of ratios were
praised by the ancients as being the most pleasing. Boethius says consonant ratios fall on the ear
and are able to make in the mind a unity. That unity is possible because of their commensurability is comprehensible to our mind.
Boethius states that we praise the octave because of the simplicity of its understanding:

.. one has to pass judgment as in the ear, so also in the reason which among all conso
nances mentioned by us earlier ought to be deemed the best. For the ears are affected by
sounds and the eye by a sight in the same way in which the judgment of the mind
is affected by numbers or continuous quantity. For, given a number or a line, nothing is
easier than to contemplate its double with the eye or the mind.
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Erik Bootsma
It must be stated that ratios assigned to the musical intervals, (the same ones that are recommended by Alberti for architectural composition) are not simply an arbitrary notion, but are in
fact very real and present within the wave forms of musical notes, they are tangible and concrete.
On the other hand, consonant sounds, the constituent parts are not lost in the chaos, but rather
create an new pattern, different from both parts, but remaining internally consistent and creating
a unity.
Looking at the wave patterns of the musical ratios we can see what Boethius meant when he said
that consonance is a concord of different tones whose combination is a sort of unity. Consonant
sounds are able to combine with each other to create a new, different consistent wave form. The
new wave form is consonant because it has a common measure between the two parts.
This is the concept of symmetry,that each part fits together and is commensurate in such a way
that the human mind is able to count or grasp the concept as one single unity. In the musical
ratios, the octave, fifth and such, one finds such a unity, the symmetry, to be both pleasing to both
the eye and the ear.
The key here is that the mind is able to perceive this commensurability, although it is not by a
conscious counting that we perceive. As Leibniz says music is counting performed by the mind
without knowing it is counting. As one goes up through the different intervals towards a notion
of dissonance, the less one finds commensurability in the number of the common measure between the notes. In other words, the common measure between the notes becomes literally more
and more difficult for the ear to count the number of the interval.
Dissonant sounds, do not combine in any way, creating a pattern that is not at all discernable, and
one that takes a relatively immense period of time to repeat. The minor seventh, (the most dissonant interval) repeats the resultant pattern only after sixteen periods of the smallest constituent
and only repeats its pattern after 464 times the smallest common measure 1. Moreover, because
of the constituent parts of dissonant sounds in a very real way become lost in the chaos of the
resulting wave pattern, so rather than creating unity, the sounds confusedly mix with each other.
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Order and Complexity

Aristotles first criteria of beauty, is that of Order. Order is simply the arrangement of multiple
parts in a coherent arrangement. St. Thomas Aquinas and Vitruvius define this part of beauty
to be proportion. Proportion is the relationship of at least three things, whereas symmetry or
consonance can be thought of simply the relation of two magnitudes, or a simple ratio. Order or
proportion is best thought of as a ratio of ratios.
Vitruvius says that:

Beauty will be had, when the works will have a pleasing and elegant appearance, and the
commeasure of the parts have just proportions of symmetry.
The commeasure, the consonance of the parts, which themselves are symmetrical, will as well be
ordered towards the just proportions of symmetry. In other words the beauty exists where the
parts of the whole composition are ordered according to the principles of symmetry, consonance
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Erik Bootsma
and commensurability. It is not enough that something has symmetry, such as we might find in
a single element, a door, or window, but it rises to the level of beauty when the whole, when the
symmetrical parts are then arranged amongst each other in that same symmetry.
This is one of the most pleasing things about the music, that even when the complexity increases,
the intelligibility of the order does not diminish, but remains and is pleasing to the mind to recognize this order. Dr. Molly Gustin writes that
In a musical composition each note has a consonance not only with its immediate neighbors, but
also those consonances also have a relation to each other in an analogous way, giving each note a
relationship to the whole. In music, the keys, composed of the seven notes of a scale, are related
to another key in the same ratio that notes are to each other. In music this is the key change, and
in architecture we see this in the relation between minor and major orders.
The greater the quantity of different pitches of the composition which possess a single common
measure [consonance or commensus], the more tonal is the music.
In music it is clear that because each part is not only consonant with its parts surrounding it,
but also to a set of proportions in a particular set, but furthermore related to the composition
as a whole, this gives the entirety of the composition an intelligibility in the same way that each
individual consonance is intelligible. So each note, no matter how far from the beginning of the
piece, has a clearly defined and knowable relationship to the very first note of the composition.
Vitruvius recognizes this when he says that symmetry is the appropriate harmony arising out of
the details of the work itself, the correspondence of each given detail among the separate details
to the form of the design as a whole. Here we see that order builds upon the foundation principle
of symmetry..
A sign that this order is coherent and apparent is that when we listen to a piece of music, even
if we have never heard it before in our life, and a musician plays a wrong note, we immediately
know that it is wrong. It is a wrong note because it does not fit within the order of the whole, the
order established by consonance, carried throughout the whole piece and one that is recognizable
to the mind.
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And the more tonal the music, the more beautiful it is.
Definiteness
Definiteness is the quality of something that allows the thing to be grasped in its entirety in the
mind. Aristotle in the Poetics explains definiteness saying:

That which is beautiful, whether an animal or any other thing which is composed of a
number of parts, should have not only these parts [properly] ordered but also a magni
tude, and not any chance magnitude. Indeed, beauty exists in magnitude as well as
in order;
What he means is that the mind has a limit to its comprehension, which is the ability of the mind
to get itself around a subject. If something is too large them mind cannot possibly know it,

For the visual grasp of it and of its parts does not take place simultaneously, so its unity
and wholeness are lost for the viewer.
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This definiteness, this comprehension, is important when he talks about the necessity of a poem
or any work of art to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Obviously this relates to order, but
moreover it relates to how the work has a beginning and end, such that the thing has limits. If a
thing has limits it is fundamentally understandable, the human mind can grasp it.
In philosophy we speak of a definition of a thing when we want to understand it, and to define
is to conceptually place a limit to the meaning of a thing. To define something is to comprehend
and understand that thing, and as I said before the comprehension of the underlying rationality of
symmetry and of the order are the reason why we call these things beautiful, so definiteness too is
a necessary condition for beauty.
What all of these properties of beauty have in common then is that in each of Aristotles components, the mind is able to acquire a certain sort of knowledge of the beautiful thing. Now knowledge is clearly the source of where we delight in the beautiful, as both St. Thomas Aquinas and
Aristotle confirm. Aristotle who states:
Man by his nature desires to know, and
Similarly, St. Thomas who says that

delight [pleasure being key to learning here] in things duly proportioned, as in what is like
them because the sense too is a sort of reason, as is every cognitive power.
In each of these qualities of beautiful things, symmetry, order and definiteness, a certain sort of
knowledge is gained of the beautiful thing,. However, beauty is not simply a knowledge that can
be learned from principles, but it is related to the manner in which we come to know the underlying principles of the beautiful. Certainly the composer or the architect knows the principles of
composing a beautiful sonata or building, but the common man, who has no skill in those principles can still derive enjoyment from the hearing or gazing upon such arts.
Aristotle confirms our suspicion that knowledge is the key to this pleasure saying:
Conclusion
Erik Bootsma
beauty relates to a cognitive power, for those things are said to be beautiful which
please when seen [or heard]. Hence beauty consists in due proportion, for the senses
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the reason for this enjoyment is that learning is pleasantindeed most pleasantnot
only for the philosophers, but similarly for other men also
So the manner of knowing the beautiful must be distinct from the way we come to know through
argument, bur instead it comes through the simple comprehension of the thing. Speaking of
simple consonance, the mind knows that the numbers of the pitches belong together, counting
without knowing it is counting and in the same manner it knows the order of the piece. The
mind, therefore, comes to know things simply through the senses. When St. Thomas stated that
beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, it is not that beauty is somehow subjective, but rather that in
the eye, the rational order of the beautiful is able to be comprehended and understood.
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The critical factor of beauty is that it is a way of knowing that all of mankind as rational beings
are able to comprehend. Man is able to comprehend the order, the knowledge of the hierarchy
of music and architecture in an infintitely simple way. St. Thomas in his Division and Method of
the Sciences says that this belongs to the faculty of the intellect.
Intellect first contemplates a truth one and undivided and in that truth comprehends a whole
multitude.
Erik Bootsma
A final thought about beauty is that beauty, and the way of knowing that it is, is a truly divine way
of knowing. I believe it is not a coincidence that Vitruvius uses the word venustatis for beauty.
Given that there are a number of other Latin words he could have used, (Formosa, species, pulchra) he uses the word that brings forth the image of the goddess Venus. He chooses this word to
evoke that image of a divine sort of desire for knowledge and beauty. So too, our word beauty is
also not coincidentally used for our Christian vision of that divine happiness that we have in the
beatific vision where we know God as he knows himself.
The mind through listening to the piece of music, or seeing the beautiful building sees and comprehends the ordering, the symmetry and is able to comprehend the fullness of the thing, all at
once. This does not mean that the music or the architecture are somehow heard or seen all at
once, but that the rational order of the thing is comprehended at once. Again, the example of the
sour note tells us that even before the music is finished we know where things should be. Perhaps this is why in so many modern buildings we have a hard time finding the front door, whereas as classical building the door is where we expect it to be!
St. Thomas again says:
St Thomas further states that intellect comprehends a multiplicity in unity, meaning that it at
once can see the causes of all the myriad effects through a simple cause. In the music and architecture as we have stated over and over, it is the rational ordering of the whole to the principles of
consonance. Here we may be able to define beauty as then related to intellect as such:
Beauty is the comprehension or understanding of complex things by a simple means.
Intellect first contemplates a truth one and undivided and in that truth comprehends a whole
multitude, as God, by knowing his essence knows all things.
Angelic minds have the power of intellect in that they understand truths in a unified way.
This is because the angels, as being closest to God, are closer in being to Him than we are, but we
as humans are not inferior in this way of knowing, because we too have this intellect and through
beauty see in this way because:
Beauty is in a sense a taste on this earth of heaven.
This is what makes the beautiful so delightful, it is that we come to know things in such a simple
way, and things which are indeed extremely complex. It is a great gift, to be able to see and comprehend and enjoy knowing with so little effort.
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Delgado-Orusco & Fernndez-Cobian
Looking for a New Tradition: Transformations of the Spanish Religious Architecture on the 20th Century
Eduardo Delgado-Orusco & Esteban Fernndez-Cobin
Entre el Dogma y el Espritu de los Tiempos
No cabe duda de que toda arquitectura es una reflexin del hombre sobre s mismo y sobre su
manera de estar en el mundo, y por lo tanto, un hecho cultural con unas consecuencias rastreables en la conciencia de los individuos y las sociedades. Por eso, cada sociedad se puede reconocer por su arquitectura. Pero las sociedades cambian y la arquitectura tambin.
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La idea de que los tiempos cambian arrastrndolo todo a su paso, es una idea tpicamente romntica vinculada a sentimientos de fatalidad y de destino, que tiene difcil acomodo en la concepcin cristiana del mundo. Y sin embargo, la invocacin al Zeitgeist, al espritu de los tiempos, ha
sido una constante en la justificacin de la arquitectura religiosa del siglo XX.
La Tendencia Espaola Hacia el Surrealismo

Juan Daniel Fullaondo ha sido uno de los crticos
que ms ha utilizado el surrealismo entendido
aqu genricamente como lo absurdo, lo extrao, lo
inslito, lo ridculo o lo extravagante como clave
hermenutica para la comprensin de la arquitectura espaola de la Modernidad. La fascinacin del
espaol por lo onrico que podra ilustrarse con el
inacabado templo expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia
de Antoni Gaud (Barcelona, 1886/ss) es heredera
de la inmensidad de la meseta castellana y del sol
inmisericorde que cae sobre ella, provocando alucinaciones y espejismos; del sentimiento trgico de la
vida que se refleja en las corridas de toros, la fiesta
nacional; pero tambin de un catolicismo formalmente muy arraigado en la sociedad y a menudo mal
entendido, o simplemente no comprendido en absoluto. De hecho, el proverbial anticlericalismo espaol,
el gusto por el requiebro que intenta equilibrar con
el humor las amarguras de la vida, o la suplantacin
provisional de la personalidad, tendran su mxima
expresin en el carnaval.
La constitucin apostlica Sacrosanctum Concilium se propuso establecer el marco adecuado

para adaptar mejor a las necesidades de nuestro tiempo las instituciones que estn sujetas a cambio la arquitectura, por ejemplo (...) y as unir nuestras voces al admirable concierto que los
grandes hombres entonaron a la fe catlica en los siglos pasados ( 1 y 123).
El problema para la arquitectura religiosa surge cuando las corrientes de pensamiento cambian
demasiado rpido o son poco menos que gratuitas. Porque la arquitectura religiosa, ms que cualquier otra, tiene una dimensin simblica, alude a unas creencias, y en el lmite, a unos dogmas.
As pues, nos podramos preguntar: Cmo armonizar las distintas tendencias culturales con los
elementos permanentes del dogma catlico sin desvirtuar los edificios de culto? Parece que esto es
lo que se quiere analizar en el presente congreso.
Sin duda el problema es complejo, pues abarca muchas disciplinas y sus ramificaciones nos llevaran demasiado lejos. Con esta comunicacin slo intentaremos explicar lo que ha sucedido en
Espaa durante el siglo XX. Explicar cmo la aspiracin a crear una nueva tradicin que se adecuara al espritu de los tiempos en el campo de la arquitectura religiosa, a menudo colision con la
terca realidad fsica de un territorio fuertemente determinado por la geografa y el clima, y con la
obstinada realidad psicolgica y cultural de sus habitantes. Para ello nos apoyaremos en algunos
ejemplos que nos permitirn aludir a otros tantos temas que trufaron el debate: el intenso debate
sobre la construccin del espacio sagrado en la Espaa del siglo XX. (1)
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Obsrvese, por ejemplo, el caso del Seminario Conciliar

de San Miguel (1931/36), construido por Vctor Eusa en
Pamplona en el momento de excepcional virulencia antirreligiosa que caracteriz la II Repblica espaola. Ante
la prohibicin de levantar cruces en los edificios, Eusa
dise toda la fachada en forma de cruz, hacindose eco
de un proyecto anterior de Casto Fernndez-Shaw, titulado Templo-rascacielos La Cruz Soada (1930).
Este surrealismo entendido como modus vivendi se explicita en la literatura, en la pintura o en el

cine, desde Francisco de Goya a Salvador Dal, (2) y tambin en la arquitectura religiosa.
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El surrealismo nos va a permitir

conectar los intentos de encontrar
una nueva tradicin, un camino
vlido por donde acometer, sin demasiado esfuerzo, una arquitectura
religiosa correcta y generalizable,
adecuada al espritu de los tiempos y que pudiera evolucionar con
aqul. En la Espaa del siglo XX se
pueden rastrear al menos tres intentos: el recurso ideal a la arquitectura
eterna; el recurso al arcasmo como
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nuevo punto de partida; y el recurso al contexto entendido como entorno natural y cultural. De
las tres tendencias, la primera es clsica, la segunda moderna y la tercera orgnica. Todas albergan
cierto grado de ruptura, y se podran organizar mediante el esquema dialctico hegeliano: tesis,
anttesis y sntesis. Comencemos por el principio.
Primera va: Idealismo
dotado, Moya reclam durante toda su vida unas pautas claras para construir la casa de Dios, pero
no las encontr. Una arquitectura de ese tipo no poda estar al albur de las modas, de los movimientos artsticos pensaba, al menos de manera absoluta. Obviamente debera poder incorporar los avances tecnolgicos, dar respuestas ajustadas a los mil problemas que la construccin
de los grandes espacios religiosos plantea en cada momento histrico, pero sin dejarse determinar
por ellos. Por ejemplo, Moya combati la inmediatez constructiva uno de los presupuestos
bsicos de la Modernidad contraponindola a la buena educacin, a la cortesa, que lleva a la
arquitectura a ofrecer una cierta variedad de registros segn sean las circunstancias.
Uno de los primeros proyectos de Luis Moya

el llamado Sueo arquitectnico para una
exaltacin nacional (1939) naci en las
trincheras de la guerra civil espaola. En l
se observa una iglesia dedicada a la memoria
del hroe desconocido, formalizada mediante
una arquitectura de difcil catalogacin, tal
vez surgida de un sueo febril, que mezcla elementos egipcios y romanos con otros
absolutamente modernos, y que anticipa el
movimiento metafsico italiano. Esta lnea de
trabajo no tendr continuidad en su trayectoria, aunque s se encontrarn retazos en su
produccin religiosa posterior.
Arquitecto erudito y extraordinariamente
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El determinismo formal de la tcnica moderna no le convenca, y menos an para la

arquitectura religiosa. Por eso, en la que tal
vez sea su obra maestra, la iglesia de San
Agustn (Madrid, 1945/59), Moya buscar
en la forma elptica una sntesis planimtrica
entre el espacio central perfecto y el espacio basilical direccional; y simultneamente,
vestir esa forma con una fachada complejsima, que presenta en sociedad el espacio que
se ha conseguido crear. Llega as a constituir
un corpus doctrinal ilustrado con siete u ocho
iglesias cada vez ms depuradas, con el que
suplir aqul cdigo que insistentemente reclam a la Santa Sede y a los obispos espaoles.
Pero Moya, a pesar de toda su influencia, no
consigui equilibrar la fuerza del espritu de
los tiempos en Espaa. Demasiado intelectual
para unos y demasiado aferrado a la tradicin
para otros, su legado slo sera recogido
muchos aos despus por un discpulo indirecto, Rafael Moneo.
La lectura que Moneo hace de la historia del
templo catlico en la catedral de Nuestra
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Seora de los ngeles (1996/2002), la docilidad con la que asume las indicaciones eclesisticas,
la manera de ajustarse al programa y de hacerlo evolucionar sin apenas violentarlo, todo eso ha
sido aprendido de Moya. Pero simultneamente, las huellas de la tradicin surrealista se pueden
rastrear all: una planta que superpone fachada y bside; un aparcamiento y un cementerio bajo
la nave que escapan al control del arquitecto lo mismo que los tres elementos litrgicos principales, altar, ambn y sede; y especialmente, la imagen que proyecta en la autopista, que remite
indudablemente a Fernndez-Shaw.
Segunda va: Arcasmo

Claro que Moneo prefiere vincular su obra a la baslica de
Nuestra Seora de Arantzazu (Oate, 1950/55), un edificio
que marc, sin duda, el inicio de una nueva arquitectura espaola. La Modernidad se entenda entonces como
arcasmo, como el grado cero de la cultura desde donde
podra fundamentar una nueva tradicin. Dejando aparte
la dimensin poltica de corte independentista que en su
momento se le quiso dar, el encanto del sitio, la potencia
de las formas y los reparos de la Santa Sede para aceptar
un programa iconogrfico ciertamente novedoso para la
poca, convirtieron el proceso de reconstruccin de este
antiguo santuario mariano en una suerte de itinerario
inicitico para la arquitectura espaola, un largo e intenso
ejercicio lleno de dramatismo romntico donde las fuerzas
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de la naturaleza se fundan con las energas de la violencia artstica

propias del informalismo abstracto. (3)
A travs del dinamismo doble

o de luz en fuga de color -cuyo
nico ejemplo fue la iglesia del
teologado de Alcobendas (Madrid, 1955/60), Fisac duplic este
efecto aadiendo una gradacin
cromtica en la luz. Pero el programa de este templo era demasiado especfico, y se necesitaba
una solucin ms generalizable.
Surgi as el concepto de muro
dinmico, es decir, la disposicin
ininterrumpida y envolvente de
un muro curvo y liso que produce un deslizamiento instintivo
de la mirada hacia el altar. Este
efecto se equilibraba con el muro
opuesto, de textura rugosa. El
mejor ejemplo de este sistema fue
la iglesia parroquial de La Coronacin de Nuestra Seora (Vitoria,
1957/60), sin duda, otra de las
obras maestras de la arquitectura
espaola contempornea.
Aparentemente, la obra de Arantzazu no tuvo seguidores en

Espaa. Decimos aparentemente porque hay una costumbre
ridcula pero muy arraigada entre los arquitectos espaoles
de no reconocer paternidad alguna. Miguel Fisac, por ejemplo,
nunca aludi a Arantzazu para referirse a su arquitectura religiosa.
Durante los aos cincuenta, este arquitecto provoc una autntica
revolucin.
Una revolucin que consisti en prescindir de cualquier imposicin formal preestablecida en la arquitectura
sagrada para empezar a reflexionar desde cero, de tal
manera que la forma de las iglesias sera una consecuencia directa del uso del espacio. Invent as un
nuevo concepto, el dinamismo, que desarroll con sus
tres variantes: la convergencia de muros, el dinamismo
doble por geometra y color, y el muro dinmico.
En la iglesia de Arcas Reales (Valladolid, 1952/54), el dinamismo se consegua mediante la inclinacin en planta
de los paramentos laterales desnudos, la elevacin del
techo y del suelo hacia el altar, y un aumento gradual
de la intensidad lumnica hasta llegar a un presbiterio
inundado por la luz.
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Tercera va: Contextualismo
La variante arcaica de Fisac tambin termin en un relativo fracaso.

Durante muchos aos su obra se
ley como la obra de un creador
muy personal que haba conseguido
interesantes hallazgos plsticos, pero
no como una va de profundizacin
en la tradicin arquitectnica cristiana. Sin embargo, ltimamente han
comenzado a aparecer arquitecturas
cuya filiacin parece clara y que prefiguran, si no una nueva tradicin, al
menos una va proyectual utilizada de
hecho, lo cual no es poco. Debido a la
popularidad que el arquitecto volvi a
disfrutar durante los ltimos aos de
su vida, la elementalidad de su obra
se ha convertido en un referente, y la
sencillez casi ingenuidad de su
planteamiento terico vuelve a resultar muy atractiva para los arquitectos jvenes, como Martn Lejrraga
y otros (Capilla de Los Camachos,
Cartagena, 1995/2002). (4)
Resulta incuestionable que tras el Concilio Vaticano II, los espacios de culto se hicieron en Espaa
ms modernos y polivalentes. Las relaciones entre los asistentes y el celebrante cambiaron, o al
menos as se quiso ver. El propio Fisac, despus de estudiar el tema con diversos liturgistas, sentenciara: Se acab el dinamismo: ahora
lo que hay que hacer es un corro. (5) Pero
tambin conviene sealar que, al desaparecer el modelo tradicional de iglesia por
considerarse anticuado, comenzaron a
surgir arquitecturas gratuitas y grotescas,
de dudosa adecuacin litrgica. Adems,
brot rpidamente un sentimiento de
euforia y un afn renovador global, que
se tradujo en el convencimiento de que
cualquier cosa era susceptible de ser cambiada. Por eso, en poco tiempo la renovacin de la arquitectura religiosa perdi
gran parte de su inters, y los esfuerzos
de modernizacin se aplicaron a campos
relacionados con la sociologa o la pastoral social, cuando no al propio dogma.
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Pero Torreciudad es ante todo, una iglesia tradicional, en el mejor sentido de la palabra. Su interior es una gruta, un espacio romnico, pero tambin un alarde estructural casi gtico. Y su retablo, puro barroco. El programa choc frontal e intencionadamente con muchos aspectos de una
renovacin litrgica convertida en moda: el sagrario situado en el centro del retablo, el presbiterio
muy elevado con respecto a la nave, la disposicin lineal de los fieles, el comulgatorio corrido...
Ante la incomprensin manifiesta de la Iglesia espaola, los promotores tuvieron que explicar la
disposicin interior como una evolucin de la arquitectura tradicional aragonesa. Pero durante
muchos aos Torreciudad fue una rareza, una excentricidad, un ejemplo extemporneo e impublicable, incluso en el mbito eclesistico. Hasta tal punto, que en algunas guas tursticas se lleg a
decir que la presa de la central hidroelctrica que se haba construido a sus pies, se haba alicatado
en azul para realzar el paisaje, por otra parte, verdaderamente magnfico.
La imagen de Torreciudad volvi
a aparecer veinticinco aos ms
tarde en la iglesia de Nuestra Seora de Can (Pozuelo de Alarcn,
1997/2000). Construida por Fernando Higueras Daz, un polmico
arquitecto de la misma generacin
que Dols, tal vez sea el ejemplo ms
consistente de lo que debera ser
hoy un nuevo templo, si se ha de
juzgar por la afluencia dominical
de fieles que registra. Aqu la voluntad inicial del arquitecto se someti
El santuario de Nuestra Seora de Los ngeles de Torreciudad (Heliodoro Dols Morell, El Grado, 1963/75), tal vez el ltimo templo moderno de cierta importancia realizado en Espaa, se
construy en ese momento. En una primera aproximacin, su caracterstica ms relevante parece
ser el notable eclecticismo del lenguaje empleado. En efecto, el patronato promotor se negaba a
asumir los excesos de la confusin formal imperante tras la crisis del Movimiento Moderno, pero
tampoco se deseaba una postal turstico-folklrica, sino una arquitectura nacida de la tierra, de la
cultura y de las costumbres locales. Por expreso deseo de Josemara Escriv, fundador del Opus
Dei e impulsor de la iniciativa, (6) Dols se dej empapar por la arquitectura popular de esta zona
montaosa, para posteriormente filtrarla en el caracterstico tamiz wrightiano-expresionista de
su generacin. Se trataba de materializar, a travs de una arquitectura moderna no excesivamente
datada, ese deseo de armona, de orden y de tradicin que poco despus, Kenneth Frampton popularizara bajo el ttulo de regionalismo crtico, pero que algunos aos antes ya se haba intuido
en diversas iglesias construidas para los Poblados de Colonizacin.
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a la del prroco, su sobrino, que le pidi una arquitectura que fuera claramente reconocible como
religiosa, poniendo expresamente a Torreciudad como referencia. Y as lo hizo. Sin embargo, se
podra objetar que en este caso el lenguaje no responde en absoluto al contexto Pozuelo es una
ciudad-dormitorio de la periferia de Madrid, sino que se persigue construir un monumento,
una imagen. Dnde est la lgica de todo ello? Estamos ante un nuevo caso del proverbial surrealismo espaol o asistiendo al nacimiento de una nueva tradicin constructiva?
Y por otro, la denominada catedral de la Virgen del Pilar en

Mejorada del Campo (Madrid), autoconstruda con material de
deshecho desde hace ms de cuarenta aos por el agricultor y
ex-monje Justo Gallego, y famosa, entre otras razones, por haber
protagonizado un spot de la bebida refrescante Aquarius. (7)
Todo ello se nos antoja poco menos que absurdo. Pero lo ms sorprendente del caso es que estas dos obras han sido las nicas piezas
de arquitectura religiosa espaola que se han expuesto ltimamente en el MoMA neoyorkino. (8)
Por eso, pensamos que es necesario que en Espaa, la Iglesia
catlica vuelva a plantearse con rigor y seriedad el fomento de una nueva tradicin arquitectnica.
Debera ser la arquitectura religiosa, entonces, una arquitectura ms de promotores que de arquitectos, como reivindicaba hace algunos aos el cardenal de Miln, Carlo Mara Martini? (9) Tal vez.
Eplogo
Quisiramos terminar nuestra intervencin citando dos arquitecturas inslitas que pondremos
como ejemplo de la desorientacin general de nuestro pas en la actualidad. Por un lado, la capilla
construida en su casa de campo por Manolo Sanchs, jugador de ftbol del Real Madrid (Juan
Carlos Sancho y Sol Madridejos, Valdeacern, 1997/2000), el espacio religioso espaol ms publicado durante los ltimos aos.
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Porque no podemos olvidar que la arquitectura es

un medio fundamental de evangelizacin en todos
sus niveles de uso, cultural y meditico, y que
su modernidad o su arqueologismo, su calidad o su
desidia constructiva, su proyeccin hacia el futuro
o su nostalgia del pasado, constituirn las seas de
identidad de cada comunidad de creyentes.
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Endnotes:
Pies de foto:
Fig. 01. Antoni Gaud, Templo expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, 1883 ss.
Fig. 02. Gustave Dor, Don Quijote de La Mancha, 1863.
Fig. 03. Salvador Dal, La ltima Cena, National Gallery (Washington DC, USA), 1955.
Fig. 04. Vctor Esa, Seminario Conciliar de San Miguel, Pamplona, 1931/36.
Fig. 05. Casto Fernndez-Shaw, Templo-rascacielos La Cruz Soada, 1930. Proyecto.
Fig. 06. Luis Moya, Sueo arquitectnico para una exaltacin nacional, 1939. Proyecto.
Fig. 07 y 08. Luis Moya, San Agustn, Madrid, 1945/59.
Fig. 09. Rafael Moneo, Catedral de Nuestra Seora de Los Angeles, Los Angeles (EEUU), 1995/2002.
Fig. 10 y 11. Luis Laorga y Francisco Javier Senz de Oza, Santuario de Nuestra Seora de Arantzazu, Oate,
1950/51.
Fig. 12. Miguel Fisac, Los tres estadios del dinamismo espacial, 1952/60.
Fig. 13. Miguel Fisac, Capilla del Colegio Apostlico de los PP. Dominicos, Valladolid, 1952/54.
Fig. 14. Miguel Fisac, Iglesia del Teologado de los PP. Dominicos, Alcobendas, 1955/60.
Fig. 15. Miguel Fisac, La Coronacin de Nuestra Seora, Vitoria, 1957/60.
Fig. 16. Martn Lejrraga, Capilla de Los Camachos, Cartagena, 1995/2002.
Fig. 17 y 18. Heliodoro Dols, Santuario de Nuestra Seora de Los ngeles, Torreciudad, 1963/75.
Fig. 19. Fernando Higueras, Nuestra Seora de Can, Pozuelo de Alarcn, 1997/2000.
Fig. 20. Juan Carlos Sancho y Soledad Madridejos, Capilla privada, Valdeacern, 1997/2000.
Fig. 21. Justo Gallego, Nuestra Seora del Pilar, Mejorada del Campo, 1961/ss.
Todas las imgenes estn libres de derechos de autor.
1. La arquitectura religiosa espaola del siglo XX ha sido insuficientemente difundida ms all de nuestras fronteras,
a pesar de su riqueza y su variedad. Arquitectos tan cruciales como Luis Moya o Miguel Fisac apenas son conocidos
fuera de nuestro pas. Ni tampoco personajes como fray Jos Manuel Aguilar o como Mons. Luis Almarcha. Los textos bsicos apenas citan nuestro pas, y las revistas LArt Sacr, Chiesa e Quartiere o Das Mnster hacen lo propio.
2. Precisamente, el cuadro de Salvador Dal La ltima cena (1955) se encuentra en la National Gallery de Washington DC.
3. Llova la primera y hasta hoy ltima vez que fui a Arantzazu () El paisaje se mostraba de un tono verde clsico
y la lluvia produca veladuras grises () Despus aparece en mi memoria la iglesia, brillante en un mundo hmedo,
mineralizada () Recordando hoy aquella experiencia y viendo las fotografas del edificio, se comprende que la arquitectura alcanza en ciertas ocasiones la categora de la intemporalidad y se desprende de los patrones del estilo o las
posibles taxinomias. Salvador Prez Arroyo, Los arquetipos de Senz de Oza, El Croquis, 32/33 (1988), pg. 203.
4. Tambin se podra citar a Antonio y Javier Ruiz Barbarn (capilla para de los padres jesuitas en Navas del Marqus,
1998/2000) y a Andrs Perea (iglesia parroquial de Santa Teresa de Jess, Tres Cantos, 1981/90), si bien en este ltimo
caso el primitivismo ya ha mutado hacia una cierta sofisticacin.
5. Miguel Fisac Serna, Mi arquitectura religiosa, Conferencia indita pronunciada en la Escuela Tcnica Superior de
Arquitectura de la Universidad de La Corua el 13 de enero de 1996, y transcrita por Esteban Fernndez Cobin.
6. Para agradecer a la Virgen su sorprendente y repentina curacin, una vez desahuciado por los mdicos cuando tan
slo contaba con dos aos de edad, desde 1956, promovera la restauracin de esa ermita perdida en las montaas.
Sin embargo, la idea inicial fue adquiriendo con el tiempo la forma de un amplio santuario, cuyo programa qued integrado por una iglesia, un centro cultural, un centro de formacin para la mujer, varias casas de formacin espiritual
y otros servicios complementarios.
7. Cf. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lklfXqZYLkc&feature=related. Video subtitulado en ingls.
8. Cf. OnSite: New Architecture in Spain (2006). Exposicin comisariada por Terence Riley (www.moma.org/
visit/calendar/exhibitions/86).
9. Cf. Giuseppe Arosio, Chiese nuove verso il terzo millenio. Diocesi di Milano 1985-2000, Electa, Milano, 2000;
pg. 152.
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Henry Hardinge Menzies
What Makes a Church Catholic?
The Protestant was not a believer but intellectually he understood : If that is Christ Himself there,
He deserves all our profound love, worship and adoration. His name is Immanuel....God-withus....and He is with us literally in His Church....not the Church in general.... but in every Catholic
Church where Mass is said and theres a tabernacle. And that is what makes a church Catholic and
different from other Christian churches. Other churches may have great music, great sermons,
great prayers, great art and architecture [and many certainly do] .....but they do not have Jesus
Christ really and truly present. They do not have the Eucharist. He is present in the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass...which is the re-enactment of Calvary....in Holy Communion and in the tabernacle.
For over two thousand years the Catholic Church has been a sacred place of worship for millions
of people. It has been a place of Sacrifice, of Presence and Glory where we Catholics go to worship Him, to attend Holy Mass, confess our sins and partake of the other sacraments....the most
personal acts a person can perform throughout life. And central to it all is the Eucharist. The late
Pope John Paul II reminded us that the Church has always felt the need to celebrate the Eucharist
in a setting worthy of so great a mystery.
Some years ago a Protestant was visiting for the first time a Catholic church with a Catholic
friend. After entering the front door, the Protestant expressed admiration for the beauty and
warmth of the decor and architecture. He noticed that at the far end there was a table that
appeared to be placed in a prominent position. Over the table was a crucifix and on the table was
a gold box with candles on each side. The box appeared to be the focal point of the decoration. He
turned to his Catholic friend and asked, Whats in that box down there on the table ? The Catholic answered, That box is called a tabernacle and we believe that Jesus Christ Himself is really,
truly present in that box. Stunned silence followed. Then the Protestant said, If I believed that, I
would go down that aisle on my knees !
Unfortunately over the past 30 years a number of churches, newly built or renovated, have not
been worthy settings for the Eucharist. Some have been down-graded and trashed to the point
where they are hardly recognized as Catholic at all. Today many Catholics who come to church
looking for God are disappointed and dismayed because He doesnt seem to be there anymore,
and they ask: What happened to the glory ? The mystery has been lost.
They find it difficult to find the tabernacle, disappointed in the bare, white walls and dearth of any
paintings or statues. They seem to be entering an auditorium, a commercial mall, or a warehouse
devoid of all devotion or sacred ambiance....anything but a Catholic church. And many are just
plain ugly, the word Mike Rose used in his book, Ugly as Sin.
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Along with other architects, I have been specializing in church design for many years in an
attempt to try to rescue the Eucharistic inspiration from this unfortunate trend in the design of
new and renovated churches. On a positive note, I have proposed four major causes for all this
down-grading along with a few simple but do-able architectural solutions:
1. The Lonely Table

2. The Wandering Tabernacle
3. The Blank Wall
4. The Lost Art
The Lonely Table.

After Vatican II when the altar was removed from the back wall, it stood alone and naked in a
large space without the support of any inspirational artwork on the back wall. It emerged as simply a three foot three inches high table with a few candles to keep it company. It could be made
of any material and of practically any size...but it was still just a table....a lonely table of not much
importance except when it comes alive at Holy Mass. Many old churches simply left the old
highly decorated altars against the back wall and put a wooden table out in front. The problem is
how do you give the lonely table the nobility it deserves since it is, comparatively, a small object,
dwarfed by its relationship to the large space surrounding it ? Of course you can always design
more beautiful altars. One historic solution is to place a covering or roof over the altar to
proclaim its importance. This can be done in two ways, either by using a tester [a canopy suspended from the ceiling above the altar] or a baldachin [a canopy supported by four columns].
Certainly there are other solutions but this one can add significantly to the grandeur of the Altar.
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The Wandering Tabernacle

In pre-Vatican II days, the tabernacle sat in splendor on top of the altar which was against the
back wall [or Reredos with all the artwork.] When the altar was pulled away from the wall, the
question became: where do you put the tabernacle ? This question has probably caused more
problems and confusions than anything else. The fact is that after being liberated from the altar
weve had the problem of the Wandering tabernacle looking for a place to settle. In some churches it has simply been left on the old altar and this is probably fine. However, in some its located
in a recess in a side wall or in a column. In others, you cant even see it, its out of sight. In others
its parked in a small closet, apparently out of the way. In others its still in the Sanctuary but in a
secondary location to the left or right. This apparent down-grading of the tabernacle goes completely against the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2003, no.314):

The Most Blessed Sacrament should be reserved in a tabernacle in a part of the church

that is truly noble, prominent, readily visible, beautifully decorated and suitable for
prayer.

However, in many churches the tabernacle is not placed in a prominent location, much less
beautifully decorated. Some are frankly quite ugly. This random placement gives the impression
that it is of no more importance than the ambo, the baptismal font or the organ. Is it any wonder,
then, that many people are unaware of Christs presence in the tabernacle? Many pass in front of
it without any sign of recognition (a simple bow or genuflection). This general loss of devotion
to the Eucharist has been noticed by many. One bishop is quoted as saying: We have all experi132
enced a lessening of devotion to the Eucharist, a loss of the sense of the Real Presence; the sense
of the sacred has suffered. I cant help believing that placing the Eucharist in a separate chapel,
often hidden and often small, is part of the reason we have a crisis in belief in the Real Presence.....
out of sight, out of mind is what has happened.
in the most conspicuous place in the church. Everything was together, all eyes were fixed right
there. But when the altar moved forward, the tabernacle relocated and the wedding cake ripped
up...nothing was left except a white, blank wall and just maybe, a lone single cross, or if lucky, a
crucifix.
It is true that one solution is a separate chapel. This is a good solution for cathedrals or large
churches. However, in most churches there is not enough room and consequently the tabernacle
must be located in the Sanctuary. If it is to be conspicuous, I think the best solution is to locate
it on the axis of, and directly behind, the free-standing altar [as is done when it is left on the old
back altar] since it stands to reason that anything located on the axis is important, and conversely,
anything off the axis is of lesser importance. If the tabernacle is off the axis (on the right or left),
what object do you place on the opposite side (assuming the laws of symmetry) for balance?....the
lectern, the font, a flag, a potted palm? Certainly nothing in the church (besides the altar) is more
important and to place it off-center is to downgrade it.
The barrenness of this dominant blank wall...which used to contain inspirational artwork no
matter the style....mitigates against any sense of the sacred. Most people, I think, sense that something should be there. This is affirmed by the fact that flags, banners, organ pipes, potted palms or
posters are installed to relieve the bleakness. Obviously none of these is capable of producing a
sense of the sacred. The story is told that in the early days of the liturgical renewal in Germany, a
new church as built in which all the walls were painted dead white. When asked about this treatment, the architect replied that the white showed the immensity of God. Unfortunately today
many people are forced to gaze at blank walls which are much more likely to serve as TV screens
on which to project images from wandering minds bored with the ceremony rather than raising
those minds to God.
The Blank Wall
The Lost Art
When youre at Mass, youre facing a back wall behind the altar. In pre-Vatican II, this back
wall, sometimes referred to as the Reredos or ornamental screen, being a highly visible area, was
ordinarily filled with all kinds of art work [oil paintings, Crucifix, marble statues of Our Lady and
the saints, light fixtures, candles]....depending on the style of the church. In many Gothic churches they had enormous marble, wedding-cake structures which dominated the entire wall. All this
served the useful purpose of unifying altar, tabernacle and reredos and placing everything
When all those statues, paintings and artwork were removed, practically all other artistic works
followed and were also removed. Many churches were left with little or no art except maybe a crucifix. Some had only a bare cross. Most artistic representations of the passion of Our Lord disappeared. Statues of saints, with devotional candles in front, were removed. At the same time modern art came in and what did come in was so abstract that it fails to inspire any kind of devotion.
Bereft of any inspirational art in the church or saints to pray to, it follows that the private devotion
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Joel Pidel
of believers is bound to suffer. This is not to say that all old art was good art or inspirational.
Much was sentimental, candy-cane, schlock art to some but it did demonstrate the deep devotion
of the faithful....a devotion which they are now denied. On the other hand, not all new art is bad
just because its new or modern...but so much of it is so abstract or banal or so secularized to the
point of being ugly and morally offensive. [As an aside, I certainly consider myself a modern
architect whos approach to new materials and innovations is certainly modern but I also have a
great appreciation and affection for the rich architectural heritage of the past which we ignore at
our peril.] As far back as 1977, Pope Paul VI :
Abstraction and the Architectural Imagination
The Story at the Heart of Faith Can abstraction call the person into the fullness of humanity?
As for those who, in the name of misunderstood creative freedom, have caused so much
damage to the church with their improvisations, banalities and frivolities.....we strongly
call upon them to keep to the established norms...
The solution is that we need good art in our churches as Pope John Paul II told us in his Letter to
Artists: ....the Church needs Art. Art must make perceptible...and as far as possible...attractive,
the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms
that which is in itself ineffable. Beautiful art requires talented artists and certainly there are many
talented artists in this country capable of doing excellent work. They should be paid a normal,
professional fee, and their personal devotion should not be exploited. Some of our best artists
seem to be employed to produce for the Internet, Mac Mansions and Disney Worlds and our
churches are left with barren walls and mediocrity.
These are only four areas of concern...of course there are many others.....but if we architects push
ahead on these, we should be able to produce Catholic churches which are, in the words of John
Paul II, settings worthy for such a great mystery.....the Eucharist.
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Joel Pidel
Working Definitions:
Contemplation/Contemplative Imagination: The total imagination involving all of our faculties
thinking, feeling, remembering, hoping, believing, perceiving, abstracting, conceiving and interpreting. It is the conditional ground for our reception of reality, and hence truth, thereby leading
us into the fullness of our humanity.
Analogical: Proceeding according to a proper proportion or measure. It is the principle of unity
in difference between the part and the whole, the particular and the universal, essentia and esse,
becoming and being, the finite and the infinite, where the contraries are so integrated and mutually dependent and informing that to preference one to the expense of the other is to distort the
way we contemplate, create, and live in the world.
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Joel Pidel
Response:
The titular question as it relates to architecture, specifically sacred architecture, possesses a rather enigmatic character because architecture is an essentially abstract art, at least in any strict
use or iconic sense of the term. In fact, abstraction in a certain sense is precisely the power
of the imagination that renders the entire creative artistic enterprise possible. Thus, defining its
usage and meaning as it is more narrowly evidenced in architecture will constitute the first part of
this presentation, highlighting examples of the types of architectural abstraction realized in built
works. Following this, I will suggest that abstraction thus defined, in light of the Christological
form given to the world and the specific purpose of sacred architecture in realizing this form, is
too limited and narrow to call the person into the fullness of humanity, at least if the invitation
is understood to be a definite, concrete one (imitation of Christ) in which the voice doing the
calling adequately represents the fullness of life which it is drawing the person into. Instead, I will
submit that contemplation as exemplified in the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, is in fact
the proper noia of the architectural imagination, and that this noia is typified by the analogical
imagination manifest in the dramatic event-structure of traditional architectural forms.
Joel Pidel
At the risk of oversimplifying and generalizing traditional abstraction for the sake of being succinct, I would suggest that traditional forms of abstraction remain predominantly inspired
by, and expressive of, natural forms and causes; that is, they are representative of the analogical
imagination. Thus they share many broad similarities reflecting their common dependency on
the human form, natural scales, harmonies and proportions, and a belief in a divinely ordered
cosmos made intelligible in and through creation. In short, all these traditional forms demonstrate architecture as the art whereby man-- as a relational-rational being-- manifests, orients, and
transforms his relationships with God, his neighbor, and creation through the built world. Here
the source of their similarities or unities also becomes the summit of notable differences, namely by the result of divergent understandings of human nature, the nature and representability of
God, or the human person in relation to the Divine and natural forms of the world. Its degree of
abstraction is proportioned to the entire contemplative imagination. Hence its abstraction is subsumed within and reliant upon a total contemplative receptivity to analogical forms of creation
and inspiration from the divine muse(s). It is a world, as CS Lewis states, where contemplation of
nature gives meaning and context to our understanding of God, and thus one where art imitates
nature teleologically and analogically, not simply mimetically.
Abstraction is not the exclusive province of modern art in general or architecture in particular.
It enjoys its proper place in both the eastern and western traditions. However, there are essential differences within these traditional forms of abstraction, and furthermore between modern
abstraction and traditional abstraction. These distinctions depend on differing worldviews, either
implicitly or explicitly, more than mere stylistic preference, and hence the aesthetic concern is
actually one of theological provenance. In Balthasarian terms, it is a question of theological aesthetics.
Modern abstraction manifests a paradigmatic shift from the traditional emphasis on analogical
forms and images to abstracted mental concepts as the locus and terminus of the architectural
imagination. Here I believe the modern transition in abstraction demonstrates a rational reductionism on the part of the architectural imagination analogous to that which was pointedly assessed and analyzed by Fr. William Lynch, SJ, in his book Christ and Apollo. This reductionism
comes in three forms: the indefinite imagination (my term), the univocal imagination and the
equivocal imagination, none of which correspond with or reinforce our experience of the real
world.
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Joel Pidel
The indefinite imagination is usually characterized by simplified forms which preference an

atmosphere that hints at but never fully develops a formal grammar of ornament, detail, scale,
or refined proportional relationships that properly contextualize the whole. In many cases the
indefinite imagination implies a purposeful blurring or simplification of traditional architectural forms in an attempt to give an aesthetic impression. It is concretized metaphor, as opposed
to true analogy. By this, I mean that the indefinite imagination represents like-ness, a derivative image that can never stand as representative of any seminal form itself. Since the general or
universal is only found instantiated in particulars from which they are then abstracted, not the
converse, it is only the actual precedent from which these forms are being abstracted that give rise
to the impression which the abstracted forms are attempting to replicate or allude to; hence, for
example, an attempt to realize general gothicness will only end in failure unless it is an attempt
to be truly gothic in all of its particularity. Example: Ave Maria Oratory (images) vs. traditional
gothic churches.
The univocal imagination is not plagued by the same generalization or vagueness of imagination
endemic to the indefinite. In fact, it is absolutized unity, as old as the philosophy of Parmenides.
The univocal imagination arises from the rational impulse for abstracting, organizing, and unifying, which can be a powerful logical tool for the architectural imagination in creating points
of mental coherence that become intelligible in the architectural experience. The power of the
univocal imagination reduces the whole to a singularly essential but ultimately narrow point of
reference as the seminal idea from which the whole is originated, resolved, and measured. The
parts are externalized and instrumentalized in relation to the whole, admitting of no apparent
integration except as unrelated features. The whole work is thereby able to be viewed from a
single point whose reference and meaning actually lie just outside of the architectural image, as
if imposed from above, as opposed to embedded within it and revealed by a process of unfolding
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Joel Pidel
through time and space. Hence the architectural experience is reduced to a rational grasping of a
concept, symbol or a meeting of the minds of the viewer and the architect from a vantage point
of an idea that is above/behind/around the architecture itself. In so doing it precisely delimits
the nature of the vision and admits of no further vision. It can only and ever be a sign rather
than a symbol, a signature key but never the whole symphony. As Lynch states, while its forms
are certainly the clearest or the most defined representations of human cognition, as images or
points of identification with the real, they are the most distant, the most shadowy of all human
modes of intelligence. Example: St. Josemaria Escriva Shrine, Mexico.
The equivocal imagination, as the converse of the univocal imagination, evinces the opposite
tendencies to emphasize differentiation or separation to the exclusion of unification. It is absolutized difference, or the equivalent of serial music. To its credit, its emphasis on the absolute
particularity and individuation of elements grants the forms a powerful autonomy whereby any
attempt to reduce the architectural experience to a particular instance or moment or some essential point outside of the present is thwarted. Every experience thus becomes unique and unrepeatable. However, in its attempt to avoid any visible unifying factor, the result is a created world
in which discrete parts never amount to an intelligible whole, a creative equation written only
with variables, and no constants. It posits a universe without unified meaning, or rather whose
meaning is precisely that there is no final meaning, only localized subjective meanings, because
it lacks a center through which its gyrated forms hold together, no unifying feature to resolve the
points of dissimilarity into an ordered or teleological pattern of experience. It is an imagination
haunted by the ghosts of Descartes, Darwin and Schoenberg. Example: Any Gehry building, or
potentially Los Angeles Cathedral.
At the heart of these modern abstractions is the worldview that opposes contraries as contradicto140
Joel Pidel
ries, that sees the world of ideas, signs, and concepts rather than concrete forms and images as the
source for transcending the finite, where the rationalizing aspect of the imagination is preferenced
over the total contemplative imagination, of which abstraction is only a part. As such, abstraction
can only reveal or appeal to a partial reality. In every attempt to resolve these tensions of existence
into either of the two poles of beingessentia or esse, unity or difference-- the proper relationship
between the finite and infinite in the architectural image is distorted-- hence, the actual theological nature of what is often seen as merely an aesthetic concern. The resulting forms which are
given for our imaginative consumption are signs, rather than symbols, which are closed to the
reality they are meant to signify, either delimited by the concept of the mind that conceived them,
or unable to find the whole that would bind their disparate, unrelated meanings into a meaningful
unity.
The analogical imagination accepts that the paradoxical tension at the heart of our existential
condition is not a problem to be resolved but is the very source of our creativity whose tension
must be maintained so as to avoid a reductionism into the extremes of abstraction just delineated.
It reinforces our natural experience of the world as constitutive of images and patterns that cannot
be reduced into an either/or: either an absolute unity or multiplicity. In traditional architecture,
what are known as the orders are in fact the realization of this analogical imagination, a conceiving of architecture, like existence and life itself, as proceeding according to a pattern whose unity
emerges from a series of individual parts with their own measure, scale, and proportion even as
they provide the same to the whole. The whole and the part interpenetrate so completely that one
cannot be conceived or understood without reference to the other except to the distortion of both,
and it is contemplation, rather than abstraction, which by its very nature avoids this dichotomy.
Here space and time become the locus for the unfolding of the relationship between the finite and
the infinite. Musically, it is symphonic.
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It is the unique contribution of Christianity that this precise response to any attempt at a reductionist abstraction is analogized at the very heart of faith. For the scandal of the Incarnation
demonstrates the choice between the universal and the particular, the abstract and the concrete,
the finite and the infinite, action and contemplation, essentia and esse, to be a false or illusory
one. Theologically speaking, this is evidenced in that any reductionism of what von Balthasar
terms the concrete universal Christological form results in heresy, for it cannot be abstracted except to its distortion. The Christological form is not primarily an appeal to our rational faculty
(ratio) as in abstraction, but rather to our entire imagination (intellectus). Recognizing this, the
reception of the Christological form by our imagination, and subsequent imitation, constitutes
the heart of St. Ignatius Loyolas spiritual exercises, as we are called to put on the noia of Christ.
This is achieved through grace by calling the imagination to proceed according to a proportion
(analogically) through the entire procession of Christs life words, silences, deeds, images-- as it
is presented in the gospels. This contemplative procession ultimately reminds us that every point
of the finite is open to the infinite. And if the two can and do fully interpenetrate, then the old
maxim that art imitates nature (in the analogical sense) can be more profoundly understood and
restated as art imitates grace perfecting nature. The role of art thus becomes a visual safeguard of
gratuity over-against every functionalism or reductionism or essentialism, a continual reminder
that everything is gift, and that our every response should be one of gratitude (for art is essentially
a response of gratitude for creation arising from a love of beauty). It is here that sacred art and
architecture are to called to bear specific witness by calling the individual and the community to a
universal act of gratitude in the imitation of the Christological form through the highly personal,
specific, ritualized form of the liturgy.
For sacred architecture, the analogical imagination reveals that the premise of our gratitude
and the ground of our liturgical action is our creaturely-ness, and the recognition that it is only
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through this finitude that we come to the infinite. All theology, all imagination, all prayer, for
which the liturgy is the source and summit, must begin with that simple realization: I am not
God, I am not my own creator, I did not create the world. Proceeding according to the analogical
mind, the scholastic dictum called the analogia entis, formally defined by the 4th Lateran Council, posits that no matter the similarity between creator and creature, the dissimilarity remains
greater. Thus, there must be a balance between unity and difference expressed in sacred architecture, and yet a difference which is overcome not by a unity that destroys our nature, but one that
elevates and perfects it while allowing each to remain other. Because this unity does not destroy
our nature or work outside of it, only an architecture whose forms reinforce and imitate the
way we experience reality according to our nature as a unified pattern of diverse relationships, or
a proper event structure, can draw us into that which their forms are attempting to express. It is
only here that we can fully participate in the continuation of creation that makes us at home in the
world because it is a world created according to the nature of man as Gods image and likeness.
This balance is finally, intelligibly achieved when the architecture leads us not into conceptual
truths and abstracted ideas, but rather into a state of simultaneous intimacy and distance proportionate to the relationship between creator and creature which is experienced as reverential awe-when we are not grasping God, but being grasped by Him.
Stephen P. Szutenbach
Quotidian Pilgrimage

For architecture, and by extension for the fine arts, this means that abstraction by itself cannot
fully manifest the Christological form given to the world. In the end, such abstraction represents
either an escape into, or a limited correspondence with, the top of the head, and thus it can only
give the world half a Christ the half without His Heart. In the tradition of St. Ignatius Loyola, it
is the analogical imagination typified in contemplation rather than abstraction which should
guide the architectural imagination if such an imagination seeks to extend and transform the
Church in the image of Christ and the world rather than their abstraction.
The thought of rising before the sun never much appealed to me. The rector at the seminary,
however, never saw fit to ask my thoughts on the house schedule; so it was that I spent four years
of my life willing myself out of bed for pre-dawn Morning Prayer. The more ambitious (read
older) brothers of the community set the example, getting up an hour or more early so they could
rightly (technically) and prayerfully reflect on the office of readings prior to the mornings communal rites. Other, less disciplined (read younger) brothers, such as myself, emerged from our
rooms just minutes before the invitatory intonation. The dormitory at the seminary took the form
of a long, thin wing that connected perpendicularly to the chapel at the tower, which, in turn,
acted as a joint. As each of us groggily surfaced from our rooms, hair still shining from frantic
wet downs under sink faucets and cassocks half unbuttoned, we dazedly began our quotidian
pilgrimage: the hallway, our own Camino de Compostela, serving as our spiritual journey, and
the Chapel our Shrine, where, in one voice, our common entreaty rang out: O God come to my
assistance. Lord, make haste to help me.
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The quotidian pilgrimage is the consequence of lifes relentless search for meaning and purpose
lifes search for the sacred. In the seminary or a similar monastic environment this search takes
the form of obedience an act of surrender to a will larger than yours in the hope of synchronizing the patterns and rhythms of your life with those of the transcendent. This milieu quite
naturally lends itself to the realization of life as a daily pilgrimage, as almost every action, every
space, and even the mere act of moving through the day is ritualized. The comparison in the
secular world is not quite as fluid or direct, but this does nothing to diminish the pursuit. While
the lived experience is quite different, the motivation of both the lay person and the monastic is
much the same: a yearning for a place that holds within itself inexhaustible funds of otherness.
Essentially, we are seekers, seeking to belong, seeking to love and be loved, seeking our place in
this beleaguered existence. In this seeking, our hunger and thirst for that which transcends the
quotidian bursts forth, dependably finding fault with our daily tedium. It is this seeking that has
led and still leads people to leave their homes and journey to far off places with the hope that they
will find that which eludes them. It is a seeking for a place within the ubiquitous placelessness of
the world.
Historical pilgrimages sought to pay homage, worship, or seek forgiveness, healing or favor from
God; the modern pilgrimage, however, exhibits not only a yearning for the transcendent, but also
a dissatisfaction with the complete spaces in which we often find ourselves, propelling us toward
perpetual departure. (2) Michel de Certeau speaks of modern life as a perpetual pilgrimage(3)
in which we all, with the certainty of what is lacking, knows of every place and object that is not
that; one cannot stay there or be content with that. This signals a crisis of place in which even in
the environments we create for ourselves fail to become particular, individual, or meaningful. If
it is our houses, offices, gyms, grocery stores and churches that define our spaces, then it is these
same spaces that fail to define our place. The dearth of place in modern life is the source of our
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restlessness, for it is the source of the relentless urge to displace ourselves and the inescapable
personal impression of displacement.
Even in the daily journey so common to the modern man, the commute, are found traces of the
pilgrimage. In looking at the definition of the word commute, we find a transformational element; as a transitive verb it connotes a change, an altering, or a conversion as can be seen from its
latin root mutare, (meaning to change), and from which we also derive words such as mutate,
immutable and mutual.(4) Yet the very idea of commuting is one that carries with it an inherent dissatisfaction with place, and perhaps also an inverted notion of pilgrimage. As a modern
phenomenon, commuting implies a desire to be somewhere other than where we toil to make
our lifes work. The suburb is a daily escape from one place to another. In a very real sense, the
home becomes an attempt at an approximation of the shrine of this daily pilgrimage. It is poor
substitute, for in attempting to escape from the homogeneity and tedium of the everyday and
the non-places of our menial lives, we run to tract homes strewn along arbitrary lines drawn on
a map. We find ourselves to be pilgrims sojourning daily from non-places toward non-places,
and back toward that which continuously leaves us wanting and yearning for not this. This absence of an axis mundi, of grounding empties the quotidian pilgrimage of its ontic efficacy.
What lacks is a place of transcendent permanence places of repose. In primitive times, these
were found through the sublime views from mountain tops, the womb-like enclosure offered by
the cave and the grotto, the natural expanse and shelter of the forest, or the sheer monumentality
of monolithic geologic objects such as Devils Rock. In the absence of such natural phenomena,
we recreated them: the artificial mountains at Giza and the man made caverns held within them;
the womb-like crypts of early Christian constructions; the towering tree-inspired columns of
Gothic cathedrals; and countless steeples and minarets that serve to orient the quotidian pilgrim.
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In the past, prior to the industrial revolution, the archetypal agrarian town was grounded by the
stereotypical town square, which, in turn, was anchored by the local parish church the axis
mundi; all other activity revolved both physically and symbolically around the sacred space. So,
in going about the daily activities of life beneath the steeple, each person within the community
was at least visually and/or aurally reminded of the transcendent through the churchs towering
presence and the bells regular gongs. The church acted as the axis mundi that tethered each individual to the sacramental, interior life of the Church - essentially acting as a spatial sacramental.
It was the shrine for the daily pilgrimage of the faithful .
Yet today, examples of such axes of transcendence within our daily lives are sadly rare. Even in
those spaces purpose built for worship, mediocrity and the mundane tend to be the rule rather
than the exception, and even if these spaces do succeed in breaking the typical homogeneity of
space to allow for the eruption of the sacred, they are generally removed from the daily experience
of the average person. The modern pilgrims yearning for place for the sacred remains unsatisfied.
So the question remains: how does one superimpose or insert the sacred in the midst of an abject
poverty of place? What is called for is the creation of a generous sacred architecture an architecture that is at once the expression[s] and the source[s] of the transcendent, an architecture
that arise[s] as human creations, butpersist[s] as transforming, life-altering environments.
An architecture that first manifests and then transforms human aspirations and intentions. An
architecture that makes visible the sacred within the paths of the everyday pilgrim.
Pragmatically, this means that I believe it to be critical to break the current dogmatic, traditionalist trend in American Catholic church architecture. In an attempt to recreate the sacred places of
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past epochs, we instead create caricatures - structures that stand not as monuments and authentic expressions of faith, but rather, monuments that point to our own spiritual poverty and creative impotence. Further, it is critical, especially in this time of needed self-reflection, that we as
Church reconsider how we relate with the world around us institutionally, but also formally
shifting away from traditional forms that emphasize hierarchy and separation toward those that
engender transparency, humility, generosity, receptivity and communion. It is only an architecture borne of our own time and culture, of our own struggles and sins that can truly be an authentic expression of our faith. I do not advocate severing ties to our western architectural patrimony,
but if we are to create transcendent places, we must learn from our history rather than copy it.(5)
Let me return, just for a moment, to the archetypal agrarian town of the past; in this idealized
place, what we now call traditional architecture served well, for it was an architecture borne of
that time, culture and scale. But in seeking to reinsert the sacred into the paths of the contemporary quotidian pilgrim, we must begin to examine the patterns, the needs and structures of our
own time and culture. Our streets, traversed by automobile, not foot, are lined by commerce, food
and fortunes ever the proximate and transient, rarely the transcendent. Even if there were a
church, such as that from our agrarian town, its steeple and bells, which once might have served
as a tether to the sacred, cease to be relevant, for now they are merely seen and heard, not encountered or heeded. Or obscured altogether.
What I propose is not so much a practical solution, but rather conjecture as to what it might
mean to reinsert the sacred back into the paths of the daily pilgrim. Inspired by the ubiquity of
the roadside shrines in Bavaria and the street shrines of Hong Kong, this intervention takes the
form of seven shrines placed in the most unexpected or profane places, those places that are the
daily haunts of modern life. Each shrine draws inspiration from one of the seven sacraments to
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explore the spatial, phenomenal and ritual qualities of sacred space. In so doing, I am not advocating the replacement of the parish, but rather the creation of spatial sacramentals, tethering the
modern pilgrim to the sacramental life of the larger Church community.
The shrines presented here are personal expressions of my own quotidian pilgrimage, as well as
persistent, elemental spaces that transcend the individual to encapsulate the aspirations and dissatisfaction of the larger human condition. By embracing and existing within the profane boundaries of our daily existence, they give a means by which we can transform even the most menial of
daily tasks into acts of transcendence and holiness.
In setting out to discover my own quotidian pilgrimage, I gave myself an assignment to discover
the well-trod paths of my life. The assignment was three-fold: first, to become more aware of all
aspects of my life; second, to journal throughout each day noting, sketching and writing about
experiences as they happened; and third, at the end of each day, I was to compile all the days disparate wanderings into a basic diagram. After a week, I synthesized all of the daily diagrams into
a larger map, in which the paths, rhythms and spaces of my life became visually discernible. And
from this map, I chose the 7 sites for my 7 shrines.
1. A place for baptism at the Finley Park Spring
In beginning and ending the pilgrimage in

the same place, the pilgrimage takes on a
certain circularity, revealing the continuous,
repetitious nature of our daily lives.
The plan of the shrine itself emphasizes the
tripartite nature of both the ritual and the
trinity, while remaining a single whole. Each
individual branch, and the unique condition into which it opens signifies one of the
members of the Trinity. Entry is through the
Father. The Son allows access to that which is above, and the Holy Spirit inspires us with strength.
The central basin of water signifies the unity of the three disparate branches, but, more importantly, it acts as a spatial joint between the horizontal plane and the vertical - the ground and the sky.
The inside of the shrine, the place of encounter with water, presses in from above, pushing the pilgrim towards the water. Designed as an analog to the traditional baptismal celebration, the shrine
simulates the experience of the triple submerging and subsequent emergence through the intense
compression of the interior, contrasted with the utter openness of the platforms.
The spring presented a fortuitous find; I had already envisioned Finley Woods as an ideal place
for the anointing intervention, and once in the spring, the corollaries between baptism and the
space were striking. Most importantly and most obviously is the presence of water, which makes
the whole space possible. Because of the constant flow, it is always brimming with vibrancy, even
amidst the death of winter.
The roof channels rain and light, pouring both into a central basin, which also doubles as the
main structural support. The oculus serves as the medium of transcendence, conveying both the
beauty of light and the purifying value of the water.
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2. A place to confess on the interstate

In my weekly pilgrimage within a pilgrimage, every weekend I made the two hour trek from
Gainesville to Orlando. During the drive, I observed my own mesmerization, partly from my enrapt attention to the radio show I was listening to, but also from the general sameness of the road.
With the exception of Paynes Prairie, the view outside the window is fundamentally the same
from Gainesville until Ocoee, just north of Orlando.
Like in the sacrament of reconciliation, when the penitent undertakes an examination of conscience in order to become more aware of their interior life, it seemed that the highway offered an
opportunity for an examination of consciousness - an opportunity to reawaken travelers both to
that which surrounds them, but also to that which resides inside.
This is a shrine of disruption. Intended to shake the pilgrim out of his highway induced stupor, it
makes use of intervention at the scale of the landscape as well as the landscape itself. The shrine
consists of three main components: the hill, the prairie and the tower, each serving a distinct
purpose in the ritual procession: the hill acts as the disruptive element, raising the pilgrim from
the ground and realigning the view; the prairie serves as the normalizing component, that which
brings all back into balance - a return to an altered ordinariness; and, the tower marks place and
time in as fashion similar to that of the Cathedral of the Plains on I-70 in Victoria, Kansas or
the Church of the Autostrada in Florence, Italy. Taken together, the moving vista of the hill, the
normalization of the prairie, and the retrospection of the tower all work to bring about a catharsis
or a reawakening among those sojourning along the road.
3. A place for eucharist in Wal-Mart
Wal-mart is simply the conflation of an entire downtown under a single roof. It peddles clothes,
groceries, hardware, auto repair services, sporting goods, jewelry, has a barber, a bank, a pharmacy, a nursery, a bakery, a deli, and restaurants. The only component lacking is the spiritual; it
removes the community from the heart of the city and places it in a new soulless location without
any meaningful means of spiritual sustenance. This shrine inserts a space of community - a place
of communion - within this perpetual bazaar.
On the main retail floor of the store, the shrine manifests itself through its light-well cum steeple
the axis mundi. Once there, the shrines subterranean presence becomes more apparent: the
narthex skylights push out of the floor in a forest of slender cylinders; the light scoop rises in a
long slender table like mass, foreshadowing the ritual of the shrine, and directly above the main
supper table, the aisles usual opaqueness gives way to a glass floor, permitting communion between those above and below.
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Once in the light well, one descends from the

light into a darkened, compressed space lit
by blue and yellow light cannons. This is the
narthex - the place of gathering - the place
to meet your neighbor, to have a conversation about your children, or complain about
the price of gas. It is the place of encounter.
Entering the ritual precinct is marked by the
passing around a large font of water illuminated by a red light well, representing the
salvation of the Israelites from Pharaoh across
the Red Sea. This opens into ritual purification - or simply - a place for washing your
hands. Moving from the light of the purification space into a dark, tight corridor, the pilgrim is led into the main communal space - the dining
room. The table is situated axially beneath a main path of travel above. Light filters down from
the transparent floor, constantly changing with the movements of the shoppers. The pilgrims
share a meal, converse, and commune before returning back into the main volume of the upper
level, retrieving their carts, and finishing their shopping.
pilgrimage as the journey to the shrine. In the

context of the quotidian pilgrimage, the home
is the shrine that gives context to everything
else. It is the place that grounds, the place
that stabilizes, the place that reminds the
pilgrim who he is. It is the place that changes with the pilgrim. It is the one shrine that
depends wholly on the pilgrim, changing with
him. It is the place that holds, cocoons, and
comforts - in its furnishing, scale, and trappings. Through my act of creating home (my
axis mundi), I affirm my existence.
4. A place for confirmation at home
The chair is unique among the shrines on the quotidian way; it is only one that is not publicly
accessible, and it is also the only one that is not a permanent fixture. Yet, in a sense, it is the only
permanent fixture in my quotidian pilgrimage. As I write this, I am preparing to move away from
Gainesville, after which, the pilgrimage outlined in this paper will cease to exist. Nobody will
This is the heart of it all. It is the center of the pilgrimage. It is the place where it starts. It is the
place where it ends. Even in the most traditional pilgrimage, the journey back home is as much a
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As the heart of the quotidian pilgrimage, the

humility of this shrine perhaps comes as a surprise, but it is precisely in its humility and simplicity
that it gathers its importance. It is a chair that holds me and my books. Nothing more. Nothing
less.
The chair is that which holds me as I read, reflect, ruminate and write; it is that which holds me as
I talk to my partner before I go to bed. It is that which is an integral part of my days ritual.
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ever repeat it. This chair is the only thing that I will carry with me. It will become a fixture in a
different home, and it will become the genesis of a new daily pilgrimage, defined by other places
and other people. In my new home, however, the chair will remain the center of my pilgrimage,
providing a familiar, comforting place amidst the new and the foreign. Each night, I will again
sit in my chair, I will write, I will read, and I create my pilgrimage anew. So, in a sense, the chair,
so humble, is the genesis of my life.
5. A place for marriage at studio
It is not good for man to design alone. Studio is a singular social experience. It is a place devised
solely on the notion of critique - stone sharpening stone. Such it is in the union of marriage: two
people choosing to bind themselves, ostensibly for the sake of companionship, but resulting is
much more than mere companionship. In the joining, each begins to take on the other - their
habits, their likes, their dislikes, their way of folding clothes, and their personalities subtly begin to
grow. The vices, though not eradicated, are dulled even as the virtues are sharpened.
The ritual narrative for the marriage shrine takes up the idea of the stages of relationship, allowing
them to play out in the language of light, compression, and view. Upon entering the first pavilion,
the darkness envelops the pilgrim as he spirals around the core until a single, pure beam of light
pierces the darkness. This is the first stage: romance. One can only see the good and the beautiful. Exiting the first pavilion, the pilgrim enters the second, this one lit with a soft indirect light.
Sitting on the hard, one person seat, the pilgrim can see, but only the hard concrete wall in front
of him. This is the reality stage; this is the stage when the disappointments and loneliness surface,
when the cracks in the wall become apparent in the soft light. The whole of the third pavilion is
awash in light. Looking up, the top of the structure frames a view of the intricate tree above. This
is the transformation stage, in which both light and view are exposed, success resulting from utter
transparency.
6. A place for ordination at the gym
The gym is an insecure place - a place filled with people seeking to become thinner, healthier,
leaner, stronger, faster - people seeking to become better versions of themselves. Outwardly, it is
an exterior vision, but scraping slightly deeper, one finds that these longings are mere manifestations of inward insecurities - of comparisons - of not living up to societal paradigms of beauty
While documenting the gym, I saw a woman lying face down on a mat, reminiscent of the powerful moment of prostration in the ritual of ordination. During the prostration, the newly ordained
priests lay face down on the ground as the choir chants the litany of saints. This too is a moment
of comparisons - one where the near impossible feats of holiness as exemplified by the saints are
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7. A place for anointing at the park
laid out as the paradigm toward which to strive. I suppose that in both situations (the gym and
in life), it is not the achieving that ultimately matters - it is the attempt.
The gym also embodies the freneticism of contemporary culture: the movement of the cardio machines, the clanking weights, the canned musics beat pounding from over head, personal music
tracks streaming through ear buds, the bank of televisions, each on a different channel, and the
corporeal, concupiscent component all vying for our over stimulated senses attentions. This all
seems somewhat antithetical to the ultimate goal of the gym, which is health.
Thirty minutes of prostration and silence would do more to further the cause of health for the
modern person than thirty minutes on an elliptical machine. To that end, the shrine at the gym
effects a procession that addresses the needs of the both the body and soul in an attempt achieve
more than mere physical well-being, but rather a holistic union of the physical and the spiritual.
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Anointing - the sacrament that portends the

end of life - rightly finds its place in a wood
- a place that so visibly celebrates the cycles
of life and death. The ground, covered by the
remains of last years life, supports the trunks,
which, in turn, hold the branches denuded
by winters toil, which reach to the sky, ever
seeking to escape the gravity of life on earth.
Spring will come, and so too will new life, and
autumn will soon follow, bringing death once
again. But, as the woods teach us, with death
does not come an end, but merely a new
beginning.
This shrine exists as a permanent fixture
among a continuously changing world.
Leaves bloom, die and fall. Trees rise to the
sky, then collapse to the ground. The shrine
ages, gaining a patina, but it stands as a testament, as a witness to the permanence of the
cycle of life and death.
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The shrine presents itself to the pilgrim as the culmination of all the others:
a place for initiation
a place for confession
a place for communion
a place for affirmation
a place for relation
a place for decision
A place to sit, to reconnect to the firmness of the ground.
A place of surrender - to let go of that which hurts, haunts, and harasses in the depths of our souls
A place to rise like the trees - off the ground, into the sky.
A place to ascend.
The quotidian pilgrimage, above all else, is a call for the expansion of what and where we consider sacred. It is a call for authenticity in sacred place making and a rejection of a false aesthetic
orthodoxy within Catholic architecture. It is a call for the liberation of sacred space, releasing it
from the confining, traditional bounds of churches, so that it might exist in a radical receptivity
toward the quotidian pilgrim.
Endnotes:
1. Lindsay Jones, The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 22.
2. Michel de Certeau, The Mystic Fable, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 299.
3. de Certeau, 299.
4. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Merriam-Webster Online.
5. Jones, 22
6. Montgomery Schuyler. Modern Architecture. Architectural Record, July-Sept 1894. Originally delivered as a Butterfield lecture at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., March 9, 1894.
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Carla Zito
On the Edge of Turin (1965-1977): The Church is No Longer a Monument but

House among the Houses, Poor among the Poor
Carla Zito
The history of the construction of new parish churches in the city of Turin after the Second Vatican Council represents a little studied chapter of sacred architecture in Italy, even if it is crucial
in the history of Italian architecture of the second half of the twentieth century due to the presence of Cardinal Michele Pellegrino(1965-1977), active initiator of change within the diocese.
Professor of Ancient Christian Literature in the Public universities since 1948, he was appointed
archbishop of Turin on October 14, 1965. He participated as an expert and advisor on religious/
building strategies in the Second Vatican Council on two issues. In 1966 he became a member
of the Consilium ad Exsequendam costitutionem de sacra liturgia. In June 1967 he was create a
cardinal and remained in office until 1977, when he resigned prematurely.
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Cardinal Michele Pellegrino

Archbishop of Turin (1965-77)
Carla Zito
During the years of Father Michele Pellegrinos episcopate a

great number of parish churches were built in the city of Turin
and on it outskirts. The city was already partially involved in a
process of urban development which also included examples of
sacred architecture. In fact, during the episcopate of Cardinal
Maurilio Fossati, from 1930 to 1965, there were a great number
of innovative models, both structurally and liturgically. For
example, we can see the church of St. Teresa of architects Gian
Franco Fasana, Carla Lenti, Giuseppe Varaldo and Gian Pio
Zuccotti which is proposed as a preconciliar model, where the
first project (1958-1961) has a centripetal arrangement of the
plan, totally inspired by the Modern Movement.
Another example is the parish church of St. Pio X in the district of

Falchera, which was designed by Nello Renacco who also designed
the parish facilities in 1955. Equally interesting is the church Ges
Redentore in the Fiat Mirafiori district, it was designed by architects Nicola and Leonardo Mosso from 1953 and opened in 1957.
With the episcopate of Father Michele Pellegrino a new chapter
opens. He tried to negotiate between the Councils reforming
impulse and the social and cultural changes that characterized the
60s and 70s in Italy. For this reason the places of worship had a
key role in the liturgy, infact the bishop established the Diocesan
Liturgical Office in Turin, on September 15, 1966: the first in Italy
to be the executive body of the new liturgy.
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According to article number 44 of Sacrosantum Concilium, this autority directs the Diocesan
Liturgical Commission, which has an advisory status with the task of studyng and promoting
diocesan liturgy, and is divided into three sections: one for pastoral liturgy, one for sacred music
and one for sacred art.
In the city of Turin, from 1965 to 1977 twenty-two parish churches were built, all located in the
industrial suburbs, where they were most urgently needed. They were very different from the
usual religious architecture, because they rose among rows of high buildings and they had no
worship elements. We can see some examples:
The church of Maria Madre della Chiesa, dated 1971-74. Designed by architects Luciano Re and
Aldo Vacca Arleri.
To understand the complex relationship
between church and houses there are two
emblematic cases:
The Church of St. Luca Evangelista built as
part of the city plan for the Mirafiori sud district. The project is by architect Mario Federico Roggero and it is dated 1967-70.
Church of San Pio X Falchera, 1955

Architect: Nello Renacco
The Church of Maria Regina delle Missioni,

dated 1970-1973 and designed by archi-
Church of San Luca Evangelista, 1967-70

Architect: Mario Federico Roggero
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tect Domenico Mattia and Ugo Mesturino which is in an area

bounded by two high blocks of eight-and ten- storey flats.
Church of Maria della Missioni, 1970-73

Architects: Mattia and Mesturino
The planning of new churches was carried out by a technical

department called Turin-Churches.This department proposed
the detailed plans for financial and technical operations, land
acquisition and relations with the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Art in Italy and other public Institutions. Research carried
out at Turins Diocese and the Vatican Secret Archives shows
that this planning was developed in accordance with the Italian
Law.
These parish churches, hold some interest

in social history but have little architectural
quality. However, they are emblematic for at
least two reasons:
The liturgical renewal, which was ratified by
the Second Vatican Council, found its own
space here. These churches were built between
of a thousand difficulties for communities that
suffered from a lack of places of worship and
a distance from the catholic hierarchy. On the
other hand, the growth of Turin in the sixties
Church of S. Ermenegildo Re e Martire, 1967-78

Architect: Mario Bianco
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and its development forced the City Council and the Church to reconsider the terms of its the
presence of the latter in the city for the construction of a new idea of community space at neighborhood-level.
Turins urban situation determined not only
the peripheral location of the new-built
churches, but also their large number, as well
as the urgent planning that characterized that
architectural model of buildings of worship:
religious facilities were some of the social
services deemed to be indispensable in the
new residential areas. The need for a large
number of parish churches highlights two key
issues for the city: lack of a social aggregation,
crucial in the residential districts;
the drastic reduction of religious practice
caused by a mass detachment from Catholic
tradition.
Church of Santi Apostoli, 1975-76

Architect: Silvio Ferrero
The so-called plan 167, adopted and approved by the city of Turin in 1963, provided for the
construction of low-cost housing and additional municipal and social services. For that reason
the city bought or expropriated land, including areas originally allocated to religious centers. The
plan included 24 areas, whose total surface area amounted to about 6,000,000 square meters.
But the population grew more than expected and the implementation of the plan partially failed,
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as original intentions were not met.

In the suburbs, the absence of a church meant that there was nothing there to promote social aggregation, which was especially needed by the population immigrated from the south of Italy, and
it also meant a drastic reduction in religious practice. The parish churches had to meet the urgent
needs of the community, lending themselves to many uses during the week except for Sundays,
when they only acted as churches.
Roberto Gabetti, a famous Italian architect,
after thirty years from this building process,
in his book Churches for our time. How
to build them, how to renew them wrote:
in the sixties and seventies the building of
new churches was not included in the city
planning. Place of worship continue to exist
in shops, derelict buildings, in basements
- generally called Sottochiesa - awaiting
the costruction of new churches [...]. These
Church of Pentecoste, 1970-77
emergency solutions represent a strong mark
Architect: Mario Bianco
of religious and social experience. Suburban
churches, poor churches for the unemployed and the immigrants are all marks of a deep social
and economic crisis.
For this reason, the design of the buildings of worship became secondary; technological innovation and prefabrication helped to build the churches quickly. This unknown history of a building
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process that was repeated for more

than twenty times in the suburbs
of Turin fitted well with both the
reform of church liturgy and the
evolution of the secular world.
Why were these churches similar
to warehouses or garages? Because
these religious buildings were born
as parish facilities for new areas
where there were no churches and
which were far away from the parish
church. Two national laws, n. 2522
of 1952 and n.168 of 1962, made it
possible to build a church or parish
facilites with public funding. If a
new church was not scheduled to be
built, but was necessary, a prefabricated building could be built. As
a consequence, there were a lot of
multifunction halls for the celebration of Mass which were typical of
Turin in this period.
Church of Ascensione del Signore, 1980

Architect: Mario Canavesio
Church of Natale del Signore, 1971-74

Architect: Armando Campagnoli
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They were characterized by an ideology:

Rather than consider the church as a monumental building, today more than ever it is
important that it comply to the needs of todays faithful. Once the construction area has
been identified, a maximum versatility in the use of space must be combined with
the building in a way that allows a simple and cheap construction.
Here anti-monumentality, multifunctionality, the choice of areas where to build and

the architectural project are all a part of the
same problem. There are two reasons why we
have a simplistic adherence to spiritual poverty in these buildings: the immorality of a
rich and monumental church in a poor area
the economic problems which favour provisional buildings. The design of the building
of worship became insignificant, therefore
technological innovations contribute, through
prefabrication, to building quickly. These parish facilities use a modular scheme which is
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the houses for the Christian community; poor among the poor. This poverty which is often
confused with degradation; it can be in many cases an expression of simplicity and a good relationship with the local community.
The new Christian communities, composed of a heterogeneous population from different parts
of Italy, were looking for a place to gather. They often found place of worship in warehouses or
garages where the sense of the sacred, was only made of folklorish symbols of worship: flowers,
pictures and statues of saints and Madonnas just like in the parishes of their hometown. These
symbols were placed in the building to make beautiful spaces which were necessarily poor and
flaunted degradation and misery.
In 1971, Cardinal Michele Pellegrino in paragraph 11 of his Walking Together explained
the meaning of poverty in church facilities
and said that it means giving exact weight to
pastoral activity and to the community, and
not seekingassets that are disproportionate to
their aim.
Church of Gesu Salvatore, 1975-78

Engineer: Giancarlo Zanoni Architect: Gualtiero Sibona
The analysis of individual cases has stressed

the importance of giving due weight to the
situation of useful services and social organizations present or absent in each area.
Church of Immacolata Concezione and San Giovanni Baptista

Architect: Silvio Ferrero
often repeated in Turin. They are characterized by prefabricated reinforced concrete beams resting
on two outer extremes which are in turn supported by reinforced concrete pillars.
These structures became churches and were no longer a monument but rather the House among
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These realities, of marginal interest, grew with the communities, often becoming the pride of
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those who helped build them and still contribute to their development. Their foundation was often characterized by an insecurity
which is still tangible, because these projects
are on land not owned by the parish churches
not by Turin Diocese.
Thirty years later, most of the parish complexes rise in areas in which they were construction rights with a expiry date of 99 years.
Nevertheless, both from a perspective of
urban planning and from liturgical point of
view, these parish churches have played a key
role in the process of community building in
the industrial suburbs, independently of their
religious character. The development of these
facilities did not stop the day of consecration
but continued over the years showing that,
although they were born as multipurpose
halls, they have evolved over time without
considering the possibility of moving to more
conventional premises.
Church of S. Ambrogio, 1976-93

Engineer: Giancarlo Zanoni
Church of Maria di Misericordia, 1971-74

Architects: Luciano Re and Aldo Vacca Arleri
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Pedagogical Patronage: The Role of the Parish Saint in Sacred Architecture

Fr. Jamie Hottovy
Fr. Jamie Hottovy
the particular saint. It seems that there has been a distinct break with this potent spiritual tradition or sometimes an oversimplification of the connection and importance of the patron saint.
Yet there are many possible ways in which this effective and efficacious practice could be reintroduced in church renovations and new design.
The Church directs that all Catholic churches must have a titular. The introduction to the official
Rite of Dedication of a Church and an Altar states that the title of a church may be: the Blessed
Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ invoked according to a mystery of his life or a title already accepted
in the liturgy; the Holy Spirit; the Blessed Virgin Mary, likewise invoked according to some appellation already accepted in the liturgy; one of the angels; or finally, a saint inscribed in the Roman
Martyrology or in a duly approved Appendix (1977).
In the past, a spiritual connection was fostered between the patron saint of a parish and its parishioners to promote an understanding and appreciation of their patron saints life and way of sanctity. This connection was often communicated and conveyed in church architecture and iconography. Many saints were often depicted with particular well-known symbols. For example, St. Peter
is commonly holding the keys of Christs kingdom that represent papal authority; St. Lawrence
is usually portrayed with the instrument of his martyrdom, a gridiron on which he was roasted;
St. Joseph often totes the wares of his livelihood: tools of a carpenter. It would not be uncommon
for there to be quotes from the Bible related to the saint and their life of holiness in various places
within the church building. Very often there would be a specific chapel or shrine designated to
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So what is the spiritual function of the titular of a church? It serves the practical purpose of
distinguishing parishes from one another but the namesake of the parish also provides a very real
spiritual identity, specific protection and solace through that particular identification. This parish
identity can be creatively and effectively depicted in architecture and art and be a catalyst of deepening the faith of its parishioners.
Looking at St. Peters Basilica in Rome (as well as many other churches throughout the Eternal
City) one sees the underlying principle of St. Peter and his role as the first pope informing the
architecture and iconographic program throughout the basilica. The connection with St. Peter,
through his life and martyrdom, that took place within what are now the confines of the basilica,
is palpable. The fact that this church houses the precious relics of St. Peter is signaled by Berninis
famous baldachino, Christs words giving authority to St. Peter inscribed within the dome: Tu es
Petrus, the beloved statue of St. Peter with its foot worn away by the hands and lips of the faithful
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throughout the centuries, the mosaic copy

of Raphaels Transfiguration and St. Peters
witness to this pivotal Christological event,
Berninis great sculptural masterpiece of the
Chair of St. Peter pointing to his authority
and many other architectural and artistic
elements point to the significance of St. Peter
and his role in salvation history. These
creative elements powerfully convey the story
of St. Peter to all who visit this majestic site of
pilgrimage.
Fr. Jamie Hottovy
Our churches need sacred imagery to teach us and engage our imagination with authentic Catholic imagery, history and culture. Parish churches can incorporate images, scripture, symbols and
details that edify and inform about the titular of the parish.
When a renovation or new design for a church is considered, an in-depth study and investigation
of the life of the patron saint is helpful to see if there are elements from their life that can be incorporated into the overall design. The patron saint is meant to be a bridge to a deeper spiritual life
and this can be done effectively by tapping into the theology, devotion and focus of the particular
patron saint effectively presented through architecture, imagery and symbol. When traditional
images of particular saints commonly depict a saint holding a rosary (such as St. John Vianney or
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton), this is not some sentimental or nostalgic add-on. This intentional inclusion is meant to be a reminder to the faithful that the saint had a strong Marian devotion and that
they may learn from this holy example.
Even though we are a literate society, we are

still very much a visual society: look at the
internet, advertising, entertainment. Indeed
we are bombarded by the most visual stimuli
in the history of humanity. It is necessary to
compete visually in order to engage peoples
modern sensibilities and experiences. Pope
Benedict XVI explains,
The complete absence of images [in churches] is incompatible with faith in the Incarnation of
God. God has acted in history and entered into our sensible world, so that it may become transparent to him. Images of beauty, in which the mystery of the invisible God becomes visible, are
an essential part of Christian worship.
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With modern church design and construction, sometimes churches were built and a token statue
of the patron saint was put into a niche somewhere in the church and it was called good. This is
what happened in St. John the Apostles Church when it was constructed in the early 1980s in Lincoln, Nebraska. Unfortunately this wasnt a scenario unique to Lincoln. To make matters worse,
the statue of St. John that was used in the sanctuary was not even proportionate to the space and
was totally lost in the overall design. A visitor to the church would have a difficult time deciphering who the church was dedicated to unless they noticed the sign designating the name of the
parish outside.
In a recent interior renovation of St. John the Apostle Church one of the major considerations
of the design process was: How should we more effectively make a connection with our parish
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Fr. Jamie Hottovy
patron saint? The perspective of the design committee and architect for the project was that
St. John was an incredible saint, who spent three years of his life with Jesus and wrote one of the
most significant books of the Bible. We asked: How can St. John bring us to Christ and how can
we effectively communicate that in our renovation?
For the sanctuary we wanted a focal point to be a new and dramatic crucifixion scene with Jesus
on the cross flanked by Mary and St. John. We purchased the hand-carved, original set of statues
from Italy. The scene as the backdrop to the Mass and above the new central tabernacle is Eucharistic: Christ giving his body and blood as He does at every Mass. It is Ecclesial: from the pierced
side of Christ flow the foundational sacramental symbols of water and blood (for Baptism and the
Eucharist). It is Marian: Christ says from the cross, behold your mother, entrusting the Church
to the maternal care of Mary. It is Scriptural: it is witnessed and written by St. John, the patron of
the parish, and its passed on from him to all the world.
A scripture band of quotes, taken from the Gospel of St. John wrapping around the nave, was
added to the church. Seven quotes were chosen that pointed to each of the Sacraments and they
were placed proximate to where each sacrament was administered (the quote referring to Confession was above the confessionals, the quote referring to Baptism was above the baptismal font,
etc.) These were alternated with the seven I am statements of Christ (I am the resurrection and
the life, I am the way, the truth and the life, I am the vine, etc.) that are found exclusively in St.
Johns Gospel and are some of the most significant Christological titles found in the Bible. When
these elements and several others were incorporated into the renovation of St. Johns Church, it
brought a whole new level of sophistication and complexity to the overall design that today is now
more sacramental, scriptural, Christological and is inherently more connected with St. John the
Apostle, the patron of the parish.
In a recent restoration of Holy Trinity Church in rural Nebraska of a gothic, 100-year-old church,
this principle of tying in the namesake of the parish throughout the design was incorporated as
well. In a renovation done in the 1970s, the high gothic altars were torn out and the distinct Holy
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Fr. Jamie Hottovy
Trinity statue that was above a central tabernacle for decades was now relegated to a side alcove.
That same alcove had become a collecting area for what had become extra statues.
In the restoration of Holy Trinity the high altars were reinstalled, the unique statue of the Holy
Trinity was placed once again above a central tabernacle and design elements and subtle symbols throughout the church that referred to the Holy Trinity were incorporated. A side alcove
was made into a baptismal area and on the wall was inscribed the words from the Gospel of St.
Matthew: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. All of these details intentionally remind the faithful of the grace,
guidance and trust they are to place in the Holy Trinity, the titular of that particular church.
Fr. Jamie Hottovy
flowed from the side of Christ and from the nailmarks and scourging. The red is also connected
with the blood of martyrs, many of whom are represented on the side walls of the nave. All of
these visible reminders of blood are now glorified and that is communicated by the red ceiling
embellished with gold detail.
Colors have long had theological and liturgical significance in the Catholic Church and can be effectively utilized in church design. For example to paint a ceiling blue and adorn it with gold stars
evokes the celestial and heavenly (where the Mass brings heaven to earth), Creation and Mary.
One of Marys traditional titles is Stella Maris, Star of the Sea. Our Lady of Guadalupe is depicted
enshrouded in a blue mantle adorned with the constellations.
For St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, a new church that is being built in Nebraska, a blue ceiling
with stars is being proposed for all of the above reasons and because she had a deep devotion to
Mary throughout her life. In the vestibule next to the statue of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton holding
the rosary we are going to incorporate a quote she frequently said: Take all of your cares to Mary.
Throughout the church, stained-glass windows depicting the Mysteries of the Rosary including
the new Luminous Mysteries will be incorporated.
In a recent renovation completed at Sacred

Heart Church in inner-city Peoria, Illinois
the identification with Christ in his Sacred
Heart is conveyed in many inventive ways.
In the new marble flooring down the central
and side aisle are four symbols, which spread
across the floor of the church, form a large
cross and represent the four wounds of Christ
from the nails: his two hands and feet. In the
middle of this intersection is a larger marble
image of Christs pierced heart. The ceiling is
painted a dramatic, rich red meant to remind
the faithful of the Blood of Christ, the Precious Blood of the Eucharist, the blood that
The Catholic Church has a vast and established treasury of signs, symbols and iconographic language that she has used in her churches throughout the ages. The organic extension and transformation of sacred architecture also applies to imagery and symbols. The Luminous Mysteries
are a perfect example. When Pope John Paul II gave to the world this organic development of this
long-revered Marian devotion it was met both with joy and shock but now we can see these new
mysteries being incorporated into Catholic churches around the world.
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In two of the most significant international Marian shrines, Fatima, Portugal and Lourdes,
France; the prayer of the rosary is central to the experience of these great places of pilgrimage. Both have recently incorporated prominent representations of the Luminous Mysteries. In
Fatima the Church of the Most Holy Trinity designed by architect Alexandros Tombazis, built
between 2004 and 2007, is the fourth largest church in the world with a seating capacity of 8,500
people. The Portuguese artist Pedro Calaper created bronze panels on the exterior of the church
that have symbols of all twenty mysteries of the rosary.
Fr. Marko Rupnik, a Slovenian priest, created mosaics
of the Luminous Mysteries that are on the exterior of
the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes. They serve as an introduction to the rest of the mosaics found inside this
church that depict all of the other mysteries of the rosary. In these scenes, Fr. Rupnik ingeniously combines
traditional imagery with new twists and interrelationships with other parts of the scriptures. These are powerful examples of developing and organically expanding
the Churchs iconographic language, and at the same
time making them relevant to our modern age.
Fr. Jamie Hottovy
the saints and further contemplation and incorporation of their observations would be fruitful. In
a proposal for a new side chapel dedicated to St. Joseph for the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in
Lincoln, I was looking at the possibility of incorporating the title of Pope John Paul IIs apostolic
exhortation on St. Joseph entitled Redemptoris Custos, Guardian of the Redeemer, into the design
as well as other powerful images that the pope paints of St. Joseph in this reflection.
When a renovation or new design for a church is considered, an in-depth study on the life of the
titular is helpful to see if there are elements from their life that can be effectively incorporated
into the overall design. The patron saint is meant to be a bridge to a deeper spiritual life for the
faithful. This spirituality can be stimulated by tapping into the theology, devotion and focus of the
particular saint and incorporating these ideas into the architecture, imagery and symbols with a
renovation or new church building.
So what are the sources and resources for the further authentic development of the Churchs
symbols and imagery? The Bible, the writings and lives of the saints and the writings of the popes
are all fertile places to start for architects, artists, designers and parish design committees. Pope
John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have written extensively on God the Father, Christ, Mary and
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Notes on Contemporary Architecture for Catholic Churches: Theological

Considerations for New Architectural Approaches
Luigi Bartolomei
Translated with the substantial contribution of Zo Corino
Luigi Bartolomei
The goal of this project has been to involve students of Engineering and Architecture, as they approach the end of their studies, in the design of contemporary churches. A prior series of lectures
would ensure that the students have the minimum knowledge necessary to understand with a
greater awareness the characteristics of this difficult subject.
This article highlights the main analyses and results of our research within the Department of
Architecture of Bologna University, and also shows some of the more noteworthy designs for new
churches which were developed in various graduate theses.
Social and Ecclesial Examination ofthe Various Types of Architectural Shapes Utilized by Contemporary Churches
Five years ago, at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Bologna, Professor Giorgio Praderio and I embarked upon an interdisciplinary research and teaching
project dedicated to the study and design of sacred spaces. Specifically, Catholic churches, chapels and graveyards were studied as sacred spaces , relative to the misleading overlap which is still
dominant in Italian everyday language, despite the spread of religious indifference, agnosticism
and secularization.
The Theological Department of Emilia Romagna (FTER) soon became involved in this initiative,
thus creating a formal cooperation which I should like to note is one of the few instances of formal cooperation between an authoritative public educational center and the Catholic Church as
no Department of Theology exists in the Italian system of public universities.
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The Italian scenario of religion is necessarily unique due to the presence of the Papacy in its midst.
This fact is never negligible in any significant historical event of the Italian peninsula. One can
hardly consider Italys historical evolution without considering the effects of the presence of the
Church on its essential features. One may consider for example, that after the Roman Age the
Church promoted the drainage of swampland in most of the Italian plains, turning many tracts of
land into dry land. The end result of this activity thus contributed to the construction of simple
chapels on the newly reclaimed land. One could attempt to demonstrate the relevance of the
Church in all aspects of Italian culture and society but this exercise is beyond the scope of this
paper if not beyond a lifetime of study.
Out of a population of 60,350,000 inhabitants [ISTAT,2010], the Catholic Church in Italy counts
51,000,000 as self-professed believers [dossier caritas / migrantes 2008]. This figure also includes
a large number of the so-called non praticanti (non churchgoers) for whom Catholicism is sim182
Luigi Bartolomei
ply a cultural reference without any implication in the ecclesial and sacramental life. Nevertheless,
the germination in a soil shaped by a Christian ethos, leads to the logical recognition that the existence of common Christian rootsis self-evident, even to those who do not consider themselves
members of the Catholic Church or of any other religion.
The most important phenomenon today on the Italian religious landscape is its growing secularization. This also has a deep influence on the migrant population, made up for the most part by
Muslims and Christian Orthodox (31% and 28% respectively of regular immigrants) [Dossier
Caritas/Migrantes, 2008] while the numbers for other religions are minor and less visible.
Swift changes have occurred in the Italian social structure. The sudden breach of its maritime
boundaries by illegal aliens and the recent phenomenon of immigration - which was totally
non-existent before the second half of the 1980s - are both very important factors which have
had multiple consequences on Church architecture. These social changes are, however, often
exploited for various political purposes and thus the relevant debate required to address them is
constantly obscured and removed from the centers of scientific and sociological reflection. In a
country that has experienced a sudden and traumatic opening to the world, this sensationalistic
approach exacerbates an already sensitive issue.
Sacred Spaces and Urban Appearances: Facades and Visibility Issues

Architecture absorbs the tensions of its social context and thus exacerbates any aesthetic uncertainty derived from any current uncertain boundaries of the art world. Faced with the task of
erecting a Church for our time, architecture can not avoid summing up the debates on multiculturalism and religious pluralism as well as the dynamism of the social scene, consequently complicating the architectural form where it relates to the urban environment. It is on the outer skin,
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the facade, the border with the profane, where the architectural form announces what happens
within the Church, yet simultaneously it permits through specifically targeted and sorted points,
the approach, the penetration, the entrance into the Church.
The debate on the importance of the signs and architectural impressiveness of the new churches
in an urban context is derived not so much from a sensitivity towards foreigners, but rather from
the more or less conscious perception of a paradox in which the contemporary European city
continues to develop itself. The new European city (cultural, dynamic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious) continues to develop its cultural identity upon the urban meshes of the historical one and,
therefore, on a forma urbis precise image of what the contemporary city has lost, namely: a system of shared values demonstrated in the Cathedral by a complete overlap of all civil and religious
centralities.
It is this incongruity that the contemporary city experiences. The Cathedral remains at the heart
of the town as part of the iconic city system and as a civic seal of membership of every inhabitant
but it stands without any relation to its original liturgical and Christian function. The Cathedral
codifies the urban membership only as a historical monument, no longer relative to its original
and liturgical meaning. It binds its subjects to its image, but not to its Christian intimate origin.
The place of faith, morphed into a museum and converted into a simple storage of cultural values,
promotes the city but it can no longer establish a community of its citizens.
The ongoing phenomenon in the cities of old Europe is thus the dissolution of the classical and
historical idea of the urban center. An increasing schism has been developing between the physical and historical center of the urban aggregate and the spiritual center of the community of
citizens which invariably results in a final divorce between the two. The attendant disintegration
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between the physical / spiritual centers now stands in stark contrast to the uniqueness of the
historical and identifiable center of a town. Additionally, the plurality of spiritual and religious
centers which identifies the contemporary forma urbis as a substantially polycentric model and
which consists of an overlap of distinct layers may be seen as places in which different citizens
communities insist on the same territory with specific landmarks with almost a total absence of
the transversal contacts.
The perspective that seems to emerge - that the Church is becoming both politically and socially weaker - may provide an extraordinary opportunity for architecture to be linked again to the
simple signs of the youth of Christianity. During such period the graffiti or frescos of a fish or of
a moscophoros were unambiguous codes for the recognition of special places. These codes were
invisible to the Gentiles, but for the faithful they were discernable signs of common houses available for prayer and Christian life.
This significant discrepancy between center and centers is further emphasized by the intersection
between global and local which is now possible everywhere through the internet. The internet
enables each user to keep his/her feet in any remote corner of the world and yet simultaneously
to enjoy global connections, thus generating multiple affiliations within scattered communities
which find constant contacts in the virtual world and only intermittent and temporarily meetings
in the real one.
The syntax of such signs would, therefore, be a much more proper Christological icon than the
ones we have seen in the relatively more recent past, such as the pinnacles of cathedrals, baroque
scrolls, or even the columns of the Constantinian basilica. The characteristics of these spaces and
objects speak a language of majesty and grandeur, they speak of an image of the royalty of Christ.
At times, however, they are too closely allied to the typical forms of the kingships of this world,
due to their physical similarities of such.
It is thus possible to reside absent-mindedly in a physical context and to inhabit actually another one, the center of which may ultimately be no more than an @-address, including for example: a virtual place, an evolved chat room, a prayer group through Skype, or a virtual sanctuary
where one can even light votive candles. The Spiritualization of the Web, a phenomenon that
could make one smile, increases the polycentric character of contemporary dwelling.
The Church and Its Self-consciousness: The Design of Its Interior Space
In the multiplicity and diversity of the spaces for religion - real and virtual - more and more
Catholic Churches will be recognized as urban centers only by the communities of their faithful,
thus strengthening the link between its disciples and the church itself. This, situation is similar
in some respects to that of the Pre-Constantinian Church which quickly changed in the period
between the Edict of Milan and one of Thessalonica.
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If the relationship between the Church and the laic world intervenes to complicate the architecture of the churches at the borders of their physical spaces where they face the contemporary city,
then the historical development of the Church and its progressive increase of self-consciousness,
identity and mission (along with its troubles, debates and contradictions) further complicates the
design of its interior spaces, its inner architectural character and the distribution and location of
the liturgical polarities.
The slow metamorphosis of the forms used by the Church, which are in perfect alignment with
the acquired new mobility and the mediality of its users, seems to favor no longer the territorial
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distribution of the old Church system (parishes and the most ancient plebes) but a more detailed
specification of groups, associations and catholic movements which are one of the new emerging
features of the Church of the twenty-first century. [cfr. Christifideles laici, 29]
These new ecclesiastic realities specialize their celebrations in order to root more liturgically their
membership to the universal Church and to emphasize the traits of its charisma with the specific
gestures of the worship. In some cases the rite modifies the architectural space for liturgical celebrations through a certain number of characteristic behaviors. In other cases the opposite occurs
and new architectural solutions are invoked to modify the worship, configuring it around precise
geometries - at times even provisionally - in liturgical spaces normally ordered otherwise.
The first case is reminiscent of the Catholic Association of Charismatic Renewal. The second case
is reminiscent of the Neocatechumenal Way (The Way) whose members transform the liturgical
space prior to each celebration, centering it around an enlarged Eucharistic table. This transformation imitates the churches of The Way, such as those in Porto San Giorgio (Ascoli Piceno), San
Bartolomeo in Scandicci (Florence), and the one inside the Domus Galilaeae, [www.domusgalilaeae.org] in Jerusalem. The Domus Galilaeae, the International House of the Neocatechumenal
Way, on which work began in 1999, is the only work in which we see real architectural attention.
In the Italian Churches of The Way, the only architecture considered is the architecture of the
trademarks of the group. This encompasses: a large central table (no longer representative or
evocative of the memorial of the Old Testament sacrificial altar), vibrantly colored and geometrically represented icons, a baptismal immersion font and an assembly area enveloping the place for
the Table and that for the Word. Architecture per se is the irrelevant character of the container,
be it cement and steel or be it wood and stone, either container is irrelevant.
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The recent debates about the nature and character of the liturgy also influence and add uncertainty to the design approach for contemporary churches. In addition to the multifaceted changes
required by the Catholic Churchs development, the design is also influenced by the different ways
in which the celebration of the Eucharist is allowed. This is particularly evident after the Motu
Proprio Summorum Pontificum which has greatly liberalized the celebration of the Divine Liturgy according to the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIIIrd
in 1962 and never abrogated. [Litterae Apostolicae Motu Proprio Datae Summorum Pontificum,
art. 1]
One may leave aside the debate on the desirability or advisability of this pastoral choice to those
who have the authority and responsibility. Regardless, it must be emphasized from the viewpoint
of the designer that the shape of the space is both suggested by and determined by the action that
takes place inside it, specifically by both the orientation and the character of the action. Different
lex orandi inevitably correspond to different modi aedificandi.
The design of contemporary churches is thus subject to a double complexity. The first is on the
external urban front where the dialogue with the environment is inevitably influenced by the rapid changes in the social scene and by the new mobility of urban life. It is also influenced by a new
kind of dwelling which increasingly involves the virtual sphere, along with a multi-membership
and lastly by the confused and widespread debates on the relationship between civil society and
Church. The second complexity is on the interior design front. The ambiguities that arise also
depend on the many facets of the Church, which is currently experiencing both the excitement
of diversity and the multiplication of charisms. This may be evidenced in the words of St. Paul: I
accommodated myself to people in all kinds of Different situations, so by all possible means clustering I Might Bring Some to Salvation. [I Cor. 9: 22]
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Issues of Space Found in the Preaching of Christ

The possibility of a debate on the forms and on the places for Catholic Liturgy is made possible
by Christs demonstrable and prevailing lack of interest on this specific theme. When the question
on the existence of a privileged place for prayer is directly addressed to Him (in John 4: 20), Jesus
firmly takes the opportunity to repudiate any preoccupation about the space for worship and to
reaffirm strongly God as the only place for prayer: God is spirit and those who worship must
worship in spirit and truth.
This answer, which fully grafts Christ to the bosom of the Jewish tradition, must be related to the
Gospel Pericope of the Temple which is set in the Synoptics immediately before the Passion. Only
John, at the beginning of his Gospel, directly after the episode of the wedding at Cana, recounts
this. It is as though he desires to inaugurate the new economy of salvation with the presentation
of his only and new place for worship - Jesus, the Christ - Who really being the Son of God and
thus connaturated in the Trinitarian life, becomes Himself the new Temple. Destroy this Temple
and in three days I will raise it up [...] He was speaking of the Temple of His body. (John 2: 1821), evidences this thought.
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The destitution of the sacredness of the ancient Temple passes through the paradoxical announcement of the ephemeral nature of its architecture of stones. The geometries of rocks that hold the
front of the Temple and capture the ecstatic admiration of the disciple, are merely temporary aggregations, dust and questions of men, of which not a single stone will be left on another, everything will be pulled down.
The news of the destruction of the Temple was so contrary to common sense, that even the disciples bound it specifically to the upheavals of the last days; and indeed immediately thereafter the
Conversation quickly changed to the eschatological issues (Chap.13) which lead to the Passion of
Christ.
The announcement of the destruction of the Temple is, therefore, the introduction to the days that
would renew the Alliance between God and Man. The destruction of the temple is a striking and
signal representation of the termination of the time of the ancient alliance of the priesthood in
the order of Aaron, and simultaneously the announcement of a new era. The new era of the new
Alliance is one in which Christ Himself is the new Mediator, Christ Himself is the first and only
Pontifex, Christ Himself is the new Living Temple.
The Gospel of Mark seems to pursue the same meaning in the long section of the Temple which
opens immediately after Jesus messianic entrance into Jerusalem. In Marks Gospel the narrative
proximity and parallelism between the announcement of the destruction of the temple and the
sacrifice of the cross seems to reinforce the sense of a definitive replacement of the ancient Temple
with a new one, not made by human hands.
The symbolic importance of this image, already revealed by Augustine, prevails over its literal
sense and thus should be taken into consideration for its obvious disagreement with the use of the
Temple. The episodes that run between chapters 11 to 13 can also be read in a theological manner,
namely in opposition to idolatry. The implied warning is that one should not to confuse the container with the content, one should not trust the eternity of stones. The only allowable reference of
stone is the one the builders rejected, Which has become the Cornerstone, that is: Jesus Himself.
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Thus, placing ourselves in the shoes of the disciple, we are responding to the invitation of the Lord
that we should look away from the Temple and its architecture - falsely eternal - to contemplate
Christ alone.
While the preaching of Cristus Docens was thus to substitute the Temple and to dismiss each
sacred place in order to create a global purification against idolatry, the historical Jesus, Cristus
Agens, deliberately chose to be connected with the physical space starting with His Incarnation.
It is extremely noteworthy to study the movements of Jesus, the places he traveled through and
those where he lived. A result of this research has been to discover that Jesus never had a fixed
place, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to
lay His head. Nevertheless, if one were to define the typical space of Christs public life, it would
certainly be the house not the Temple. The house is the place where Christ lives as a guest. The
house is where He establishes friendships and where He heals the wounded. The house is ultimately where He reveals Himself not as a guest, but as the Host.
The house at Bethany is where Jesus chose to spend the last days of His earthly life. The Book
of Acts in the New Testament clearly shows that the central place of the Risen religion is neither
a Temple nor cult designated area, but rather it is the domestic place of the House. It is in the
House where Jesus appears after His Resurrection, and where the turning point of Pentecost occurs, which actually opens the actual mission of the Church, and establishes the missionary to the
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word bait and in both instances the word does not indicate a Temple, but rather a Home.
In full agreement with the archaeological findings, the house already appears in the New Testament texts as the typical place of the New Covenant: [Paul] Spent the whole of the two years in
his own rented lodging. He welcomed all who came to visit HIM, proclaiming the kingdom of
God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ ... The house, therefore, is the place to
preach the Gospel; the new religions sphere is everyday life and the house becomes its quasi symbol. This reference to a dimension of common life opens and delivers the Christian message as a
universal calling.
These considerations have a broader significance to the fundamental features of the new religion
than to the spatial and architectural aspects of the new religion. In particular, the transition from
the Temple to the Home radically marks the termination of the dichotomy between sacred and
profane verified in every traditional religion and ab origine structured in the common human
religious nature. Christ frees humanity not only from the slavery of totems and taboos presumed
to be intrinsic qualities of human condition but also from the precepts and prohibitions related to
immanent sacredness.
Even when Jesus rails against the temple vendors to remove them from the temple (the only act of
violence and anger ever made by Christ that is related in the Gospels), he says: My House Will Be
Called a House of Prayer for All People. Jesus uses the Greek word oikos to translate the Hebrew
Such a radical assertion of monotheism is conducive to a full human freedom; only one Lord
exists and in Him alone the whole human existence is saved and sanctified. The release of weekday realities from any idolatrous perspectives reinforces the believer to the adherence to Christ.
This is symbolically represented by the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom;
thus the difference between the sacred and profane has been eliminated. Everything is profane
apart from Christ and everything is sanctified only because of the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciple
is a new man who is brought to a greater freedom only because of his loyalty to Christ and Christ
alone.
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These considerations which identify aspects of the originality and subversive strength of Christianity in relation to the archetypal forms of religious life are at the same time significant in relation to the limited theme of architecture for the Christian liturgy. They lead to the preference for
anti-monumental spaces where the Community may pray together and also live in the fraternity
of the common faith. The Church of living stones (i.e. people) must always prevail over the one
built with rocks thus indicating a certain irrelevance for the final architectural shape.
If the house is the preferred place for preaching and for the public ministry of Christ, the heart of
the house - its more intimate room - is the privileged place for the personal prayer. It is here in
your private room, in which one may go and pray the to Father where the Father who sees in
the secret place will reward you. The place to meet God is hence the most intimate room of ones
home, or by metonymy, of ones own soul; this is expressed by the words of Augustin, interior
intimo meo et superior summo meo. The place for personal prayer is the room enveloped by silence. It must be noted, however, that this is relative to a spiritual condition rather than a physical
phenomenon determined by its architectural space. Such condition of profound silence may be
realized in the Garden of Olives, in the desert, or even in an area where pigs graze...
It may thus be inferred from the quoted passages that a general and significant preference exists
for common-life environments, for anti-monumental spaces, for weekdays, and for places of
everyday life which may be seen as images of an alliance that is both embodied in the common
life and forever lasting. Apart from these general remarks it is impossible to note any canon for
specific places of worship or for specific places for personal prayer from the Gospels.
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The site, the holy place, already mentioned in the Old Testament is only God Himself. Every other
place is a common place. If we must stay somewhere it is in His love and not in a physical place:
Remain in Me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the
vine, neither can you unless you remain in Me. Whoever remains in Me, with Me in him, bears
fruit in plenty.
Inadequacy of Any Space to Catholic Liturgy

The symbolic value of the spaces in which Christ chose to preach and their intrinsic meanings
cannot be considered irrelevant in the understanding of the Gospel. If the analysis of routes taken
and places lived in by Christ is essential to increase the comprehension of His Life, then the multiple spaces which Jesus walked through and lived in supports the disassociation of His presence to
any one place.
Christian life is a pilgrimage. It is in imitation of the Master, as related in the Gospels, Who does
not stop moving and Who never occupies a place for much time. He does not live in a permanent
way. Even the tomb, which is the definitive dwelling place in the human experience, soon becomes
empty. It would appear that the sacred places are removed from the Christians devotions because
Christ proves Himself to be disaffiliated to any specific place or space.
If the study of the spaces in which the Life of Jesus took place is essential to understand His
preaching, then no place will ever be adequate to His worship by mere reason of its architectural
or spatial features. The Word that became flesh is irreducible to any material construction that
is not His own Body (not made by human hands), and every material construction proves to be
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inadequate to the Word that lived among usin Christ. The Word of God cannot be made concrete.
The inadequacy of any man-made constructions for Christs church is well understood by the
Church. November 9 recalls the Dedication of San Giovanni in Laterano Basilica which paradoxically celebrates the Basilica urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput with the full awareness of
its inadequacy for our Salvation. As St. Caesarius of Arles proclaimed: If we reflect a bit more
carefully about the salvation of our soul, we will not have difficulties to understand that we are
the true and living temple of God, additionally it is written, God does not dwell in temples built
by human hands (Acts 17, 24) or in houses built with wood and stone; rather God dwells above
all in the soul created in His image by the hands of the same author of all things.The great apostle
Paul said, Gods temple is holy; and you are that temple (1 Cor 3, 17). Hence the dedication of
the Lateran Basilica becomes a time to celebrate the living Church and the church-building itself
results only in an imperfect image because the Word and its Message cannot be reduced to any
comparability with the creature and, a fortiori, to its works.
The quotation that Caesarius of Arles takes from Saint Pauls speech at the Areopagus expresses
what Stephen had already pronounced in an anti idolatrous sense before his stoning: that is, to
urge the conversion of the pagans with arguments of which Judaism was also aware from at least
the time of the controversial issue on the construction of the Temple. He said, it was Salomon
who actually built a house for God. Even so the Most High does not live in a house that human
hands have built... The work of the creature is totally inadequate to that of the Creator.
Likewise, since there can never be a container commensurate with such a Content, neither can we
ever have a definitive shape as a final canon for this disproportion which is and always will be the
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inextinguishable source of the inexhaustible attempts to interpret the infinite with the finite, the
Creator inside the creation, the God Whom no one has ever seen in delimited and contemplable
forms.
The radical inadequacy of the sanctuary to the Saint is not only substantial but also hermeneutical. Not only is it not possible that any architecture could be adequate in and of itself either
for the Church or for Christ, but neither can it ever be possible to build even a temple which by
means of its significant structure could interpret the whole Gospel.
In this sense, any true interpretation of liturgical spaces while recognizing the attempts of more
evident and provocatively ostentatious originality or the occasional slavish remaking of past styles
- should consider such architectural space merely as a concrete image representative of the historical process of the progressive self-consciousness of the Church, which includes a sensitivity to
both the troubles of the world and its own inner dynamics.
The disproportion between the inevitability of dwelling - to which the Churchs living body is
necessarily subject - and the spatial irreducibility of the Christian message, both as theological
and hermeneutical, inevitably leads to an attempt to compensate for the constitutive inadequacy
of each artifact by means of symbolic significance.
Considering the inability to exhaust by means of a man-made product the infinite variations of
ones encounter with God, the Church via the example of Christ Himself, began to speak in parables. Using a language of symbols and art the Church began to take advantage of the imperfect
adhesion between meant and meaning to grope for a glimpse through this opening and see
the particular polysemic richness of the Christian message.
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The Church, therefore, is constitutively favorable to art, and indeed has in art a privileged path to
know the God absconditus in many ways. John Paul II recalled:
An approach to an Artwork is an experience which shows any similarities with the approach to
the Christian mystery, and in the same way, animated by the theological virtues Faith, Love and
Hope, the christian faithful finds in Art a new dimension and an extraordinary means of expression for his spiritual experience.[...] Every genuine work of art interprets reality beyond what
the senses perceive: it comes from the silence of awe, or from the statements of a sincere heart.
It strives to bring the mystery of reality. The essence of art lies in the depths of man, where the
desire to give meaning to his life is accompanied by the intuition of the fleeting beauty and of the
mysterious unity of things.[...]And the deeper reality of things is beyond. But our artistic works
act on this beyond as signs. If our knowledge and our language are fragmentary, sometimes we
have the possibility to understand the greatness and unity of beings.[...]Each authentic work of
art is, in its own way, a gateway to the most profound reality that faith putts in full light. A world
without art hardly would open up to faith. It it would risk to be alien to God, as in front of an
unknown God.
This relationship between art and religion, because of the universal and original synthetic and
cognitive value of the artistic work, is not typical only of Christianity. Indeed paleoanthropology
notes that ancient artifacts which led to works of art - evidence the presence of burials or sacred
sites.
In primitive contexts art was the image of the mysterious network of connections and mutual
dependencies between things and events that early man knew instinctively to be the structure
of reality. The fact that such dependencies and relationships were encapsulated in an artifact, is
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evidence on the one hand of an attempt for a first dissection and articulation of the individualities
and mysterious relations between things, and on the other hand of the willingness to interact with
them, to become part of the game of life, and to monitor their crude power through ritual systems and forms of religious participation. At the intersection between a rational form of knowledge and a mystical and spiritual participation to reality we find artistic production: a provisional
synthesis of the full awareness concerning the relations between the powers that govern the world.
These are complex issues that can be touched upon only briefly here. It is sufficient to note that
every sign and every symbol - even when substantially re-signified in light of Christian tradition
- carries within itself the deep and ineradicable inheritance of its whole evolution. Likewise they
also carry the prehistoric stages of their developments from that time during which they were
images of a network of meanings of sacred unknown practices, perhaps shamanic, through which
man dreamed to control the magical and tremendous forces which he believed to be the foundation of his reality. Some symbolic forms, such as the shape of the cross are so deeply rooted in the
human psyche that they assume deep and quite common meanings. They are the background of
the most entrenched structures of our psyche; and the more deep and abyssal they are, the more
they lose their individual features.
Accordingly, it is totally impossible to eradicate the signs which express the archetypal structures
of the primitive and proto-historical sacredness from the forms of Christian sacredness. These
signs are, moreover, the palpable traces of the fundamental religious structure of man: that is, the
essence of human kind and its cognitive investigation which is simultaneously rational and sacred.
Moving beyond the anthropological analysis to the theological research, it may be demonstrated
by the previous considerations that the evolution of mankind predisposed mankind to the Coming of Christ as the fulfillment of mankind.
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The legitimacy of the use of archetypal symbols in Christian art and architecture is supported
by Christ himself; He decides to receive the baptism given by John. He accepts the purification
by water prior to this very act becoming - by virtue of His Passion, Death and Resurrection - the
main door to faith and the real alliance with Christ, and thus the generation of the whole Church.
Christ then legitimizes the symbolic structures of the historical human tradition and assumes
their shapes and designs in order to translate them into facts which substantially structure the life
of the disciple, thus inserting him into that of God himself.
To support the idea that the Christian form of relationship with God is determined essentially by
the memory of Christ in opposition to the archetypes of the deepest part of our psyche, is equivalent to support the idea of the partiality of the redemption accomplished by Christ. It would be
as if the redemption would require the severance and separation of man from his fundamental
expressive and cognitive structures.
On the contrary, the Coming of Christ sheds light not only on the history of salvation, but also on
human history. It should now be evident at the conclusion of these brief remarks that all things
were created through Him and for Him. It is as though the entire human history and the very
basic structures of mankinds psyche had been prearranged for the encounter with Jesus Christ.
IV_DECUS as the Measure of Christian Aesthetic: Applications to Contemporary Architecture.
Despite the inadequacy of any space to represent the Divine, it is Christ Himself who gives instructions for a place to celebrate Easter (Mark 14: 12-16, Mt 26: 17-19, Luke 22: 7-13). The same
episode is also shown with great detail by Mark and Luke and treated more succinctly by Matthew. The Gospel identifies, as noted, a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared.
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In an old Jewish and urban context life and hospitality were typically held on the upper floors of
buildings, thus leaving the ground floor to businesses and shops. Yet the specification of the Gospel may be taken in a metaphorical sense: as if the room situated between heaven and earth would
be the image of the intersection between divine catabasis and human anabasis. This symbolic
interpretation, however, is allowed only in retrospect as a result of the founding liturgical action
that such place has hosted, namely the establishment of the Eucharist.
A priori, before the Lords Supper, the description of Christ does not identify a sacred place but
simply a functional and decent space. The space for God which is always inadequate should,
however, always be decorous and always faithful to the Latin definition of the word decus, which
means: simply what suits. This is the measure of beauty proper of the spaces for catholic celebration.
The beauty of the architecture for Christian worship will be the beauty of a substantial equilibrium between the eternal time in which the Sacrament of the Eucharist came true, and the singular
present time in which the local community celebrates It.
If every space and every architecture that is built will be always inadequate to God and His Gospel, this decus is then the measure of adequacy that we should request of the Christian space for
worship of any time. It should be the balance between the celebrated Sacrament and the man who
receives It. It should be the balance between the eternity of the eternal present of God and the
fleeting moment in which a single Christian community can celebrate His Resurrection.
The place for the architecture of the Church is thus the intersection between divine catabasis and
human anabasis. The Church must put this balance into concrete forms, trying to define the mid200
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dle place in which it is possible to hold this meeting between men and God. The decus of the
Church is the measure of the balance between the Eternal Sacrament and the specific geographical and cultural context in which every Christian community celebrates.
We are searching for a church-building style which corresponds to its time. Such style should
not be singularly and immediately relative to the architectural language or materials used. The
style sought should not be determined by an external faade nor an image. Rather, we are searching for an architecture corresponding to the humanity of our time. We seek an architecture which
addresses the specific problems which are different from one part of the world to another: an
architecture which relates to and expresses the different levels of welfare, historical backgrounds,
social behaviors, cultures and modes of settlement.
We can not presume to find the one, unique ideal church, the only church suitable for every place
and every culture. It is both inevitable and mandatory to bring the discussions on the architectural shapes for the catholic liturgy into the local contexts. It is there, within them where one may
find the appropriate solutions which accordingly adhere to the specific natural and social landscapes.
By virtue of the observations we have noted, it would thus be appropriate that the living Church
always prevail upon the building-church. The decus, the property of the liturgical space is
precisely the balance of the eternal present of the Eucharist and the space and time of the human
community that celebrates It.
If this balance assumes inevitable local variations, there are regardless some aspects of our time
that have assumed a global cultural commonality. This is evident from some contemporary artis201
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tic and architectural structures which demonstrate a convergence of select aesthetic tendencies on
a global scale. Notable examples of such have received the most recent Foundation Brother Sun
International Award for sacred architecture and display several new sacred buildings in different
geographical contexts yet they simultaneously reference a common tendency to architectural
minimalis: chromatic in the case of the Chapel at the Fazenda Veneza (Valinhos, Sao Paulo of
Brazil) by the Architect Decio Tozzi, geometric in the case of the Chapel of St. Benedict in Kolbermoor (Germany) by the architects Peter and Stefanie Kunze Seeholzer and truly mystical in the
case of John Pawsons Cistercian monastery of Our Lady of Novy Dvur (Czech Republic), which
well-deservedly won first prize.
It becomes evident that the new design of places of worship must now incorporate these common taste trends and also involve the contemporary architectural production. Otherwise,
church-building runs the risk of being reduced to speaking a dead language. It runs the risk of
taking refuge in the mere revival of archaic models which are made of cement and steel and which
are false antiquities incapable of speech or prophecy. These carnival architectures often wrongly
give the impression of proclaiming Christianity as dead and no longer appropriate to our times.
Conclusion
A new Architecture for the Catholic Church that would propose again the use of ancient symbols
would now be a mere affectation, an exercise in pure knowledge. This is due to the fact that what
was once a language acquired and transmitted by an unbroken oral tradition is today almost unknown and its renewal would be only a structured cultural reconstruction that no one could read
in an intuitive way.
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This does not mean that one should stop at the current minimalism. Indeed, church-building
should not fixate on any concrete results but rather it should embrace the concept of the Decus
as the measure of Christs aesthetic, which is not a discipleship of common tastes but an attunement between the eternal Eucharistic and the living human condition. This approach would thus
encourage the designer to focus specifically not on the final product church architecture - but
rather on the Architecture of the Living Church.
There can be no innovation in construction for catholic worship if the concept behind the construction does not begin from a deep understanding of contemporary man and from a global
investigation into the existing issues surrounding his dignity of life.
If the architecture of sacred spaces should offer a representation of the contemporary human
condition at the altar of Consecration, then the fundamental trait that cannot be avoided in such
a representation (at least from a European perspective) is the interpretation of the wound of
contemporary man. The wound is the drama of our broken times, the drama of a human present that has had an irreparable rupture with its past, and the drama of the perceived inability to
reconnect with that past.. This rupture has been so deeply rooted in the common cognitive and
productive attitudes of mankind that the foundation of all of mans relations to his world have
subsequently been based upon it.
In many ways, our time which is already laboring towards the birth of a new model has not yet
internalized the potent outcomes of the industrial revolution of the XIXth Century. Urbanization,
industrialization and relations between man and matter (or mankind and world) were transformations that were entirely new and marked by the logic of capital and the economies of scale.
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Resolved spaces, white, symmetrical, ordered and formally made are places for abstract deities but
not for the God Who becomes flesh in the here and now and Who lives among us in dialogue
with the present and painful condition of humanity. It is necessary to recognize and show ones
hurt, to see it healed; the significance of such is clear throughout the Gospel and deeply inherent
in the Cross from which hangs the Savior.
A composed architecture, devoid of asymmetries, is largely the heritage of the bourgeois hypocrisy of the last century and is certainly not representative of a mankind still divided on every side.
The multiple fences erected between the sciences themselves, between the sciences and the humanities, between science and art have led to specific knowledge silos that impede the synthesis
of competencies, and thus the novelty of an authentic, original cognitive act has become virtually
impossible. As a result, art itself - having lost its traditional realm of object and applications - has
become totally isolated and now searches for its new identity by testing and pushing its boundaries.
If art allowed a partial convergence of the total mismatch between Creator and creature by means
of the evolution of a knowledge accomplished through symbols, diagrams and analogies, then the
crisis of art works (art-output) is not only a symptom of a deep and reflective crisis of its craftsman, but also the obscuring of a privileged glimpse to the conquest of a new universal knowledge
which is potentially able to nourish the intuition of a higher unity of the reality beyond the evidence of the multiplicity.
The radical changes in the field of artistic production are a sign of the deeper turmoil in the essential relationships between man and matter, subject and object and mankind and things. The crafts204
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man who creates an entire piece of art, or with the same personal care creates a common-use
object with the whole of himself, has become extinct. The final closing of the potters house,has
stolen from man the place and the act where he could best appreciate the innermost essence of his
freedom and the foundation of his dignity, which is the image and likeness of God.
Andrea Pacciani
The Doctrine of Imitation In Art and Faith

Andrea Pacciani
The erosion of each synthetic relief of the complex layering of symbols in which man previously
tied together the pieces of his progressive knowledge of the relations between beings, results in a
schizophrenic artistic culture constituted by pure icons, naked pictures, and abstract figures. Typically, mankind today is unable to read the culture of symbols in art, rather he simply experiences
emotional and aesthetic responses which reflect the most remote and persuasive forms of the archetypal patterns rooted in the deepest layers of the psyche. Bare spaces either designed by lights
and shadows and made geometrical and abstract by the neatness of white, or left in their original
roughness, build an architecture that is said to be minimal despite it being the product of striking
signs which are universally present at the bases of everyones spatial awareness.
In conclusion, the architectural space of the Church, which must be a material representation of
its coeval man, can not present today a priori a pacified condition, but rather it should offer and
individuate a place where one may be pacified. It should have the courage to show the wound,
the present disorder of humanity, in such a way as to show itself in its true conditions, in which it
waits to be redeemed by the Only Sacrament of Salvation. Alike the risen Christ, even the signs of
the Passion will become those of His Glory.
Concepts and principles containing both artistic and religious components should mirror each
other, in order to preserve truth and consistency.
The last century has introduced new systems, which promote interior and ascetic spiritual experience to the detriment of those rooted in precedent. In art this expressionist and self-referential
character increasingly excludes religious discipline.
In Catholicism, more than other practice, holiness though imitation of Christ, with the help of
the testimonies of the sacred texts and the lives of the Saints, connects individual faith to imitative
practices. The continuous search for the presence of God on earth can only be achieved through
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the spirit of imitation in the events of everyday life, imitation is the path to worldly perfection.
The Eucharistic Liturgy, which miraculously renders God materially present on earth, is conveyed
through material representation of divine perfection, through the beauty of the ritual held in a
worthy architectural space, such as Jesus Christ once chose the Cenacle as the location of the last
supper.
The church, therefore, is only able to rise to the role of clear demonstration of holiness with a
recognizable and functional architectural expression, whose character is appropriate to the individual city where it is located. This ensures that future generations reinforce this holy character
through devotion and affection that develop and mature through continual evidence of the certainty of faith.
Only art based on fully recognized precepts of imitation, rooted in universally recognized standards, can thus assist the true faith. Only Art and architecture that is traditional is suitable for
the structure and ornament of religious buildings, a shared language that transmits the message of
the Church.
The history of the Church has established that the contents of the Gospels must not be interpreted; the abstractions, invocations, references, and citations that are the cornerstones of all modern art have no place in the worldly Church, and even less in the physical building of individual
churches, made to hold the certainty, truth, and security of Gods presence in the tabernacle.
Contemporary culture values art in terms of originality, creativity, expressiveness, freedom from
shared and pre-established models, expressed in increasingly diverse and unique ways. Art is
conceived as a rational ordering of the future, wrenched apart from the past and of a provisional
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present. Art which does not follow these schema, and arises in the spirit of imitation is viewed
with with distrust, hostility, and as conformism.
It is undeniable that every work of art is generated from the historical setting in which it arose,
and reflects its own time, and expresses the intimacy of the artist with the historical conditions in
which he works with individual uniqueness. This both can and must occur within a creative process that adopts the theory of classical imitation, and including traditional and regional models.
Art should be an imitation of classic models. The permanence of that model should be of special
value, to be safeguarded during historical upheavals. The imitation of a model is the attempt to
achieve something divine, that in reality has never shown its perfection; indeed, the gap between
what is achieved and the ideal ensures the very diversity and unique individuality of artistic creation.
Thus:
Every work of art is the individual attempt to materially capture the elusive perfection of the divine model. The artist is one who can achieves in his own personal manner the indefinite immateriality of this model.
The adherence of these imitative processes to the practice of the Catholic faith, from individual
conversion, to the pursuit of sanctity, is clear and evident throughout human civilization.
Both the work of art and individual faith are the re-creation from precedent: nature, rule, model,
history, style, ideal on one hand, and on the other, the Bible, evangelistic Acts of Apostles, and the
lives of saints.
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The work of the artist builds on something already established, preceding artistic creation in the
manner that faith is not invented, but adheres to an already defined religion and religious practice.
The real or ideal model is the central point of reference either for the artist or the viewer of the
work of art, a common level of judgment; sanctity must be lived on earth among the common
people who will recognize it as such.The doctrine of imitation does not limit artistic freedom in
any way, but rather directs it, as any saint adapts his or her own unique and new saintliness to the
present reality, yet keeping with church doctrine.
David C. Kuhlman
A Case for Diversity in the Design of Catholic Churches

David C. Kuhlman
What are the foundational principles of art that are coherent with the Catholic faith? To adopt
and return to creative systems that have been proven, to the ancient doctrine of imitation, to orient the eye through historically and culturally persistent compositional paradigms; to and strive
for the highest achievement, through a discipline that respects clearly established models.
The Catholic Church possesses a rich tradition of artistic beauty. From east to west flow many
artistic traditions, styles, and points of emphasis based on diverse cultural values, traditions and
backgrounds within the global Catholic Church. But the goal of achieving Beauty, of radiating
the transcendent beauty of the Triune God , is a constant. From a Catholic perspective rooted
in the aesthetic philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, liturgical art and architecture for the Church
should strive to reflect this Beauty, to manifest the magnificence and glory of Gods creation, and
of God Himself, who is the transcendent Artist,Supersubstantial Beauty, beauty beyond beauty
. And according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sacred art achieves this Beauty when
its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifyingthe transcendent mystery
of God, while drawing man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God. From this stand209
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point, all architects, artists, and musicians serving the Church are called to manifest this transcendent Beauty in their creative work.
In his 1999 Letter to Artists, Pope John Paul II invites all who are passionately dedicated
to the search for new epiphanies of beautyto rediscover the depth of the spiritual and religious
dimension which has been typical of art in its noblest forms in every age; to create works of art
to shed light upon (humanitys) path and its destiny. According to St. Thomas, Beauty requires
radiance (claritas), harmony (consonantia or due proportion), and wholeness (integritas), but
the chief requirement is radiance, and the radiance of beauty is the splendor of form, when
the essence of a thing shines clearly through its outward appearance. Since each Catholic church
building is a sign of the pilgrim Church on earth [reflecting] the Church dwelling in heaven,
suitable for sacred celebrations, dignified, and evincing a noble beauty, [and] a symbol of heavenly realities, to achieve this Beauty, designs for Catholic churches must manifest a sense of the
Heavenly Banquet, for the Sacred Liturgy is a foretaste of the Heavenly Liturgy which is celebrated
in the Heavenly Jerusalem, a window to eternity and a glimpse of what God calls us to be. But
just as the Beauty of God is inexhaustible, there is an infinite Ocean of Beauty, and each culture
within the Church has found its own waters to explore within this Ocean, some more, some less.
This cultural diversity is also found within the Catholic population in the United States, which is
evident in the wide range of designs for Catholic churches in this country.
Our architecture firm specializes in exclusively serving churches, and our recent work is a reflection of this search for Beauty within the Catholic population, including a classical design of an
oratory for an Opus Dei center in Darien, Illinois; a contemporary design for a chapel in a Catholic college preparatory school in Niles, Illinois; an eclectic design of a new cathedral for a new
Syro Malabar Diocese based in Chicago; a Byzantine style church for an Eastern rite parish in
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Lincolnshire, Illinois; and a large scale contemporary design for what will be the worlds
tallest Catholic shrine and pilgrimage site
in Buffalo, New York. Each of these design
strives to achieve transcendent Beauty, but
with a form of such Beauty that is unique and
appropriate to each of the communities being
served, which radiates the essence of their
specific Catholic identity through the outward
appearance of its design. According to St.
Thomas Aquinas, God wants the beauty and
perfection of the Church to merge from the
array ofthe diversity of grace (that He) pours out on men. Based on these five projects, which
are representative of the broad range of church designs in the United States, I propose that no
single architectural style can be identified as the ideal; rather, that the beauty and perfection of
the Church should merge from a diverse array of designs for Catholic churches.
The designs for the Darien Center Oratory and the St. Josemaria Chapel have much in common:
both are in suburban Chicago and are operated by members of Opus Dei; both seat less than 100
people, serve (or will serve) as a place of prayer within a larger facility, and, most importantly,
both answer the Churchs call to place a strong emphasis on the visibility, centrality and primacy
of the Holy Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life. But while the similarities are many, these chapels had different sight and budgetary constraints and were designed for
different end users, so their designs naturally represent differing stylistic approaches to achieving
Beauty.
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The Darien Center is a new two-story residence for male members of the Opus Dei that will serve
as a center of spiritual formation for both members and non-members. Reverence for the Holy
Eucharistic is central to the identity of Opus Dei and was the guiding principle in the design of
the oratory, an 800 s.f., 50-seat place of prayer within the residence, where Mass will be celebrated
daily, Eucharistic Exposition will take place weekly, and evenings of reflection will occur monthly.
After exploring multiple design options for the oratory, a traditional design with a vaulted ceiling
oriented toward the Sanctuary was selected. With its two-story volume, the classical approach
provided a rational means of creating a strong sense of formality, intimacy, human scale, and
cohesive beauty in an otherwise awkwardly proportioned space. The Doric order was implemented because of its simple elegance and masculinity, which reflect the culture of the end users.
The pilasters divide the Nave into four bays and support a continuous entablature that provides
a spring line for the vaulted ceiling and a means of concealing mechanical diffusers and recessed
cove lighting that will light the vaulted blue ceiling. The vault over the Nave terminates above the
Sanctuary, where a central arch and vaulted apse, framed by pilasters paired with projecting Solomonic columns, accentuate the hierarchy of the Sanctuary and visually direct ones eye toward the
altar with its gold tabernacle, marble reredos and painted replica of Bartolome Esteban Murillos
Holy Family. The design of the proposed tabernacle, by Granda Liturgical Arts, was inspired by
Bramantes Tempietto in Rome, and also features Solomonic columns supporting an ornamental
dome, further unifying the design of the oratory. Engaged Solomonic columns support a triumphal arch over the altar and tabernacle, and arched niches located on each side of the altar provide
a fitting location for sacred images. Additional niches are located within each bay of the Nave,
containing additional sacred images and the Stations of the Cross, and along the back wall, framing interior stained glass windows.
The St. Josemaria Chapel was commissioned for Northridge Preparatory School, a Catholic
school for boys, grades 6 through 12, and was designed with a very limited construction budget
within the space of two former 1000 s.f. classrooms with only 9-6 of vertical clearance below the
structure above. With the physical and budgetary limitations of the project, and with consideration of the younger culture of the primary users of this chapel, a simpler design aesthetic was appropriate for this chapel; however, the primary goal was the same, to create a beautiful chapel that
emphasizes the Holy Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life. This was achieved
by designing horizontal ceiling planes with cove lights over the aisles and vaulted ceiling planes
over the pews with a large central reveal which extends the full length of the Nave and opens into
the Apse of the Sanctuary, where the Eucharist is reserved in the Tabernacle (the same Tempietto-inspired tabernacle that is proposed for the Darien oratory). Where Doric pilasters were used
to create bays at the Darien Oratory, vertical reveals were used in this design to create a more
subtle effect of bays, which frame new stained glass windows on one side of the Nave and the
Stations of the Cross on the other. Continuous horizontal reveals in the perimeter walls and doors
of the chapel provide a simple means of embellishing the minimalist design while also directing
the eye to the Eucharist in the Tabernacle. A suspended wood slat canopy provides visual cadence
over the altar of sacrifice while also directing the eye toward the Tabernacle with its parallel wood
members. The design of the altar again features Solomonic columns, but a contemporary derivation in this instance with the use of spiraling reveals in the wood columns. A decorative iron
gate visually frames the Apse and provides required security for the Tabernacle, which is further
accentuated by a painted replica of Rafaels Sistine Madonna and Child, that, similar to the Murillo Holy Family, provides a devotional backdrop. An additional element of beauty in the Apse is
a decorative wood corona which is suspended above the Tabernacle. Designed as two concentric
circles joined together by cross-beams in the shape of a Greek cross, this detail is both rich in
Christian symbolism and in continuity with the tradition of accenting the Blessed Sacrament with
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a canopy or baldachino. Its placement adds much to defining this space as sacred. The outside of
the corona is decorated with the simple Latin phrase Amo Te, repeated three times, encouraging
all who pray there to tell the Lord I love you. Both the Darien Center Oratory and the St. Josemaria Chapel strive to achieve transcendent Beauty by manifesting the centrality and sacredness
of the Holy Eucharist, but each does so with a different aesthetic approach that reflects the culture
of each of the communities being served.
The Syro-Malabar Church is an Apostolic Church which traces its origin to the Apostolate of
St. Thomas, who, according to the tradition, landed at Cranganore in 52 AD and founded seven
Christian communities (in India)...It is one of the 22 Oriental Churches in Catholic Communion
with its own particular characteristics expressed in worship, spirituality, theology and disciplinary
laws. The community was originally known in India as the St. Thomas Christians, and their identity and liturgy evolved over the centuries, including a process of Latinization after the arrival of
the Portuguese in India in the 16th Century, until the 19th Century when it was designated by the
Roman Curia as the Syro-Malabar Church. In 2001, Pope John Paul II established the St. Thomas
Syro Malabar Catholic Diocese in Chicago for the 100,000 members of this Catholic community
living in North America, and the construction of the Mar Thoma Shleeha Cathedral in suburban
Chicago was completed for the new diocese in 2008. The 43,000 s.f. building includes a 1200 seat
church, daily chapel and Eucharistic chapel on the first floor, balcony seating and diocesan offices
on the second floor, and a multi-purpose gathering space on the lower level. During the design
phase, aside from incorporating traditional liturgical elements and arrangements that achieved
their programmatic goals and reflected their particular liturgy, the building committee expressed
a desire for the cathedral to have certain elements that represented their origins in India and their
identity as Syro Malabar Catholics, but within a comprehensive design that also reflected the
Western identity of the new diocese and their communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The
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resulting design is therefore a somewhat eclectic building, contemporary in some respects, traditional in others. It strives to capture the essence of this particular Syro Malabar church through its
outward appearance, to achieve a beauty that is unique to this Catholic community.
The exterior of the cathedral features a rusticated masonry base, which provides a sense of solidity and permanence, a red brick faade with tall arched windows and limestone surrounds,
and a continuous brick cornice. The body of the church features a large octagonal pitched roof
that culminates in a bell shaped dome centered over the Sanctuary, reminiscent of the churchs
architecture in India. The dome is capped with a stylized cross that is symbolic of the Syro Malabar Church. Octagonal corner bays on the front faade express the presence of the daily chapel
and Eucharistic chapel on the interior and are accentuated by pitched metal roofs and cupolas
with small versions of the bell shaped dome. A large stairway leads to a baroque inspired main
entrance portico which incorporates circular stone medallions with symbols of the Catholic faith
and brick corner piers supporting a brick entablature and stone cornice. The second level of the
portico integrates radial brick walls to direct ones attention to the focal point under the central
vaulted niche, a custom designed statue of Jesus the Good Shepherd, which provides a welcoming reminder of Jesus love for all people and of the local Bishops role as the shepherd of this
diocese. Paired stone columns support a triumphal arch which leads to three sets of ornamental
wood doors that were hand carved in India with floral patterns representative of the Syro Malabar
culture.
The interior of the cathedral features a large Narthex leading to a column-free Nave in the church,
designed in an octagonal arrangement around a multi-tiered octagonal Sanctuary platform. The
lowest tier contains a central Bema where the Gospel is proclaimed, secondary lecterns, and the
Baptismal font. The second tier includes the Cathedra, or Bishops chair, on one side and the altar
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servers and presiders chair on the opposite side. The third tier features the large hand carved altar
of sacrifice, and the fourth and final tier contains the tabernacle, which is enclosed by a wooden
baldachino adorned with gold Corinthian corner columns supporting angels and a gold version
of the same bell shaped dome, thus giving the Blessed Sacrament the highest honor called for in
the Churchs regulations pertaining to the Holy Eucharist. This progression from the Nave to the
tabernacle provides a heightened sense of the Sacred, which is even further enhanced by a Sanctuary curtain veil, suspended from the dome, which closes during the Offertory Rite when the
presiding priest and altar servers prepare the altar and elements of bread and wine, and opens at
the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This Sanctuary veil, and its theatrical use during the
sacred liturgy, is unique within the Catholic Church, but is a great example of how the Syro Malabar Church has extended and transformed the sanctuary veil of the Jewish tradition. Additional
elements that were incorporated into the design include custom stained glass windows from India
with images of Catholic saints associated with the Syro Malabar Church and a large dove in the
central rose window representing the Holy Spirit, custom wood pews with hand carved end panels, granite flooring from India, dynamic color LED lighting (with rotating colors) which projects
on the inside of the dome and in the tall recessed archways on each side of the rose window, and
exterior color strip lighting that highlights the main exterior features of the Cathedral at night.
While some of the elements and features of the cathedral may appear foreign to most of us, they
are part of the Syro Malabar Churchs culture and represent their approach to achieving transcendent Beauty in the design of their cathedral.
David C. Kuhlman
The Ascension of Our Lord Church is representative of a Byzantine rite church. While this project
is for a Greek Orthodox community, their liturgical and stylistic approaches to achieving beauty
are very similar to those of a Byzantine Catholic community. The Ascension of Our Lord Greek
Orthodox Church was founded to create a Holy Sanctuary, a Heaven on Earth, for the faithful of
the greater Lincolnshire area (suburban Chicago) and for all who are seeking answers, comfort
and understanding in their lifes journey as Orthodox Christians. The goal of Ascension church,
as in all Orthodox Churches, is to become an integral component to the lives of its parishioners
to ensure that as one body we remain Christ centered. While there are numerous examples of
contemporary Byzantine churches which attempt to achieve similar goals in a non-traditional approach, the Ascension community was very clear at the beginning of the design process that they
wanted a traditional Byzantine style church, and they provided numerous resources and photographs of churches in Greece and in the Unites States that they thought best captured the essence
of the Byzantine architecture they were seeking. The proposed parish complex is 39,000 s.f., and
includes a 9400 s.f., 450 seat church, administrative wing, multi-purpose gymnasium/Parish Life
Center, and Greek school education wing. However, the design of the church itself was the starting point, beginning with the dome, the most important element in a Byzantine church, and geometric relationships from traditional Byzantine architecture were used in developing the design
of the octagonal dome and its relationship to the rest of church building. Smaller versions of the
dome were designed for the roof of the Baptistry and bell tower, which provide visual interest and
balance on the front faade while conveying the significance of what takes place on the interior
(especially the Baptistry). The exterior design provides a sense of permanence and durability with
a brick faade and clay tile roofing and features an inviting entrance portico with Byzantine style
stone columns, arches and carved circular medallions. A variety of Byzantine style arched windows with circular glass rondels and stone surrounds provide the desired amount of natural light
for the church and are accentuated by inset brick arches. The entire interior of the church will
feature vaulted ceilings which will serve as a canvas for traditional Byzantine icons that will depict
the vision of Heaven on Earth, where images of Christ, the angels and the saints will remind the
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community of the invisible presence of the whole company of heaven at the liturgy. Another
distinguishing element in every Byzantine church is the Iconostasis, which separates the Nave
from the Sanctuary, and symbolizes the veil in the Temple separating the Holy of Holies from
the rest of the Temple. The icons hanging on the icon screen, rather than blocking our view into
heaven, have been described as windows into heaven. Access into the Sanctuary is limited to
ordained clergy and altar servers, and inside is the Altar Table, where the Tabernacle and Gospel
Book are located, and where the Eucharistic Liturgy is celebrated.
While traditional in form and appearance, the design for the church will employ conventional
building systems, construction materials and methods (i.e. cavity wall construction), and additional elements such as rain water harvesting that will help the church be good stewards of
their resources and achieve Gold LEED Certification. Other non-traditional elements include the
integration of the Baptistry with the structure of the church building, which will allow for overflow seating in the Baptistry during larger church liturgies. The community also wanted minimal
obstructions of sight lines from the seating areas in the Nave, so all of the traditional interior columns were removed except for those necessary to structurally support the dome and to maintain
the continuous barrel vaults that intersect at the dome. When constructed, the church will achieve
Beauty as it strives to manifest Heaven on Earth through its form, materials, proportions, and
liturgical art.
Lifes inevitable triumph over the false, materialistic philosophies of this ageBy serving thus as
a global signal call to conversion and repentance, the Arch of Triumph and the Holy Innocents
Shrine will invaluably contribute to the New Springtime of the Church, ardently hailed by Pope
John Paul II, while also marking and symbolizing the entry of the Church and the world into a
new period of history.
The monumental, triumphal arch is an ancient architectural device, frequently used in Roman times (e.g., the arches of Augustus, Titus, Septimius Severus, Constantine), and used by
the French to commemorate Napoleons victories (LArc de Triomphe). The Gateway Arch, the
national public monument in St. Louis, Missouri, is a triumphal arch, commemorating Americas
fulfillment of its manifest destiny to expand westward to the Pacific. Thus an arch need not
commemorate only military triumphs, although there was a military aspect to Americas westward expansion. Nor is a military aspect lacking in the Churchs passage from Church Militant
in the present age, to Church Triumphant in the age to comeIndeed, there exists no other architectural construct besides the monumental arch, which is associated specifically with triumphal
historic occurrences. It would therefore seem more than acceptable and appropriate, but even
necessary and inevitable that the grandest triumphal arch ever constructed be built to commemorate the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is the glorious triumph also of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, and of His Holy Cross.
The Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the International Shrine of the Holy
Innocents represents an unprecedented attempt to achieve what Pope John Paul called a new
epiphany of beauty. This project, undertaken in a spirit of profound devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and with the deepest sorrow, and a fervent desire to
make reparation, for the grave sin of worldwide abortion.[strives to]advance the Culture of
The architectural goal, if impossible to realize fully, is to create a truly fitting tribute to the Queen
of Queens, commemorating the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart predicted by Herself at Fatima
in 1917, which is believed to be already in our midst by faith, and will be fully realized with the
coming inception of the Reign of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and the Era of Peace Mary
predicted also at FatimaMeasuring 700 feet to the top of the golden cross that will surmount it
(seven being the mystical number of perfection), the Arch of Triumph will be truly a world-class
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shrine, attracting annually millions of both Christian pilgrims and ordinary tourists from around
the world. It will replace the (630 foot tall) Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, as the worlds
tallest monument.
The design for this project is in its infancy, and the challenges are obviously many, especially when
there is no closer precedent than the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Arguably, the only wellspring of
inspiration for such a unique design is a philosophy of beauty rooted in faith, the Churchs teachings and in the aesthetics of St. Thomas Aquinas. The current design strives to achieve beauty by
embracing contemporary design and technology, giving them a sacred meaning, and marrying
them with sacred form and imagery, similar to how the early Christian Church adopted and
transformed the pagan basilicas of the Roman culture into the early Christian churches. Attempts
to achieve St. Thomas splendor of form include the use of the Golden Section to proportion the
height and width of the arch; an arch form that is feminine in appearance while resembling, in an
understated but recognizable way, the letter M; and a crown at the top of the arch that recalls the
golden crown with the twelve stars of the Woman Clothed with the Sun from Revelations, and will
contain an observation deck and the Chapel of Triumph under the dome. The exterior surfaces
will be embellished with recognizable Catholic symbols, including the Sacred Heart of Jesus at
the intersection of the cross within the arch, and traditional design elements will be incorporated
such as the large semi-enclosed forecourt that recalls St. Peters Square, with its religious statues,
stone balustrades, and Doric column groupings with entablatures featuring engraved titles of
Mary. Traditional designs of the interiors for the Shrine and chapels, including large replicas of
various traditional paintings (which will be visible on the exterior through the sloped glass roof of
the shrine) will further reflect a respect for the artisitic heritage of the Church. The design continues to develop and evolve as it strives to convey the essence of this vision through the outward
appearance of the architecture.
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The ambitions of this Project are surely great; but the utter worldliness and sordidness of modern
public life demand great ambition, born of great inspiration, and fueled by that confidence and
determination which prayerful contemplation of Gods works and of His Holy Word encourages, for their effective countering with weapons of the Spirit. For like all great Christian art and
architecture throughout the world and in all times, the Arch of Marys glorious Triumph, and the
Holy Innocents Shrine, are dedicated utterly to God as physical weapons in the spiritual battle for
the souls of mankind. As further inspiration for this project, and for the design of all Catholic
churches, Mr. Behr states: Ive lately been thinking, how awesome the Arch will look against a
starry night sky, its crystal cross shining atop gleaming, floodlit golden arcs like streams of grace
& mercy pouring from the cross into the worlds darkness -a paean in architecture to Our Lady
under her title, Star of the Sea. The Arch as a beacon of hope for a benighted world.
Closing
Depending on the cultural identity, site and budgetary constraints, and specific vision of each
Catholic community seeking to build or renovate a Catholic church, the quest for achieving
transcendent Beauty should be paramount and should reflect a theological aesthetic - a true
understanding and respect for the Churchs teachings on Beauty and for the historic patrimony
of its church architecture - while manifesting a sense of the heavenly banquet and Gods supersubstantial Beauty. But no architectural style has a monopoly on achieving such Beauty. As
demonstrated, each Catholic community and each Catholic church project is unique. There are a
variety of stylistic approaches used to create churches that are truly beautiful, and in some cases a
contemporary design approach, rooted in a Catholic understanding of Beauty, is the most appropriate option. But these are issues which each community, and each church architect, needs to
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prayerfully discern so that the most appropriate approach is taken to achieve radiance, harmony,
wholeness, and, in the end, transcendent Beauty; for Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to
transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future It stirs that hidden
nostalgia for God, which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable
terms: Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!.
Thomas Stroka
Catholic Architecture Calls for a Common Language: Leon Battisti Alberti and
Ornament to Sacred Buildings
Thomas Stroka
When evaluating architectural language for a church building, we commonly look to the association of the architecture with a particular age rather than develop a coherent order and graceful
details for the building. A church built for a patron today with pointed arches is meant to evoke
the sentiments of Gothic cathedrals and the piety associated with the middle ages, but is not
necessarily a careful study of proportions and consistent architectural details. There is often a
layer missing in architectural language for churches, especially in the relationship of structural
elements, the appropriate hierarchy within churches and the ornament employed. Despite the
twentieth century overhaul of traditional church forms and artistic symbols, people today continue to prefer traditional architecture and take pleasure in the beauty of hand-crafted detail and
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the meaning embedded in ornament. In order for church architects to build with an ordered
architectural language, the design must be rooted in the tradition of ornament inherited from
our predecessors rather than an interest in innovation for innovations sake. We will study three
threads in the fifteenth century treatise Decem libri de re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti,
a Renaissance humanist who calls for a common architectural language in public, private, sacred
and profane buildings. First, we will look at the principles of the treatise and the specific points in
his seventh book regarding sacred buildings. Then we will study the definitions of beauty and the
effect of ornament for architecture. Finally, we will discuss the causes of beauty in architectural
design according to Alberti. Architects and patrons today can apply these timeless principles to
church projects to improve the architecture and inspire the faithful in their devotion.
Before we explore the treatise by Alberti, it is important to have some background on the writer
and architect to better understand his perspective on the art of building. Leon Battista Alberti
was born in 1404 and raised in Genoa by a merchant banker father. He studied under a Ciceronian schoolmaster in Padua and excelled in Latin, then entered the University of Padua to study
civil and canon law. He was ordained a priest and wrote a treatise on painting, De Pictura, on
sculpture, De Statua, and a book on the family, I Libri della Famiglia. Alberti also re-wrote
some of the lives of the saints in Latin. His work on the theory of architecture, De Re Aedificatoria, was probably finished in Rome in 1450 (though some scholars suggest he continued working
on it until his death in 1472) and it was widely circulated in Italy only when the Renaissance was
in full bloom one century later. Alberti presented a version of the treatise to Pope Nicholas V, to
whom he served as architectural consultant in the years following the 1450 Jubilee. The first Italian translation was not available until 1546, and illustrations accompanied the text in 1550.
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Alberti addresses both architects and their patrons in the treatise, and considers the elements
of architecture and beauty in ten books, in imitation of De Architectura by the Roman architect
Vitruvius. Alberti builds upon Vitruvius imitation of the laws of Nature in architecture with a
Christian worldview and suggests that the architects use of his intellect to design beautiful buildings reflects Gods creative process. As he accomplished for the other arts in his previous works,
Alberti provides a foundation, this time for the architect, to stimulate delight and transform
the civic realm through the addition of beautiful architecture. We therefore distinguished the
various types of buildings and noted the importance of the connection of their lines and their
relationship to each other, as the principal sources of beauty. In the seventh book entitled Ornament to Sacred Buildings, Alberti addresses the practical demands of church architecture and the
poetic significance of ornament. Ultimately, Alberti argues for the importance of beauty for the
life of the city, and suggests that architecture is guided by nature, grounded in the concinnitas (or
congruity) between the human person and the Creator. It is this concinnitas which informs a
common classical language of architecture for every age, fifteenth century or twenty-first.
The ten books have an overarching order outlined by the author in the prologue: first, the definition of architecture and its parts, which are lineamenta (architectural lines), materia (materials)
and opus (construction); second, the division between different building types; third, the discussion of the causes and effects of beauty. In the first book on lineamenta, Alberti states that the
graceful order of the building relies upon the composition of architectural lines into a unified
whole. He also defines the six elements of architecture: locality, area, compartition, wall, roof and
opening. Locality, for example, refers to the placement of the city on the land; an elevated position is preferable to a low-lying area. In the second book on materia, he describes design methods such as the importance of planning and the choice of building materials. The third book,
opus, involves construction methods and other practical aspects of building. The fourth and fifth
books portray the divisions of society, the variety of building types and the appropriate corre226
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sponding architecture. Book six discusses beauty and ornament, to which we will return after
discussing the specific points regarding sacred architecture.
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What are some of the specific recommendations by Alberti on sacred buildings from which we
can learn today? First, the church should be in a bustling location in the city, and visible from
surrounding streets. Ideally, the church faade faces a forecourt or large square and is prominent
among the other buildings but in close proximity to the population. It is the most important
building in the city and its location should nurture the frequent piety of the citizenry rather than
serve as a destination church once a week. An attractive church in the heart of a neighborhood
can serve as the nucleus of community life for people of all ages. Of course, architects need to
collaborate with urban planners and zoning officials to make this type of parish church a reality.
Second, the church will better inspire souls if it is elevated above the ground rather than submerged or low-lying in the city. The whole temple should be raised above the level of the city:
this will give it a greater air of dignity. In fact Alberti studies ancient precedent and concludes
that the best architects derived the height of the temples base as one sixth the width of the faade.
The base of the church sets it apart from the commerce and traffic at grade, and prepares the
individual for the mystery of the liturgy with a procession up a noble staircase. Third, the church
should be of a more modest size, only so large as the city requires, so that its surfaces can be ornamented appropriately. Alberti recommends generous decoration of the church and states that
ornament is never completed. Unfortunately we tend to build mammoth churches that accommodate masses of people and are expensive enough just to roof, let alone adorn. Alberti gives an
example of a church project that was so large it was never roofed. The architect can encourage
the patron to cut the scope of the project in order to improve the craftsmanship and detail in the
architecture. The construction of a smaller church building may not be prudent in many places,
but a compromise can be found in order to afford more ornament for the church interior. Fourth,
Alberti provides recommendations for finishing the surfaces of the church. He suggests decorating the brick walls with marble or glass, either paneled or as mosaic while the exterior can be
finished in stucco. It is important to catechize with the interior decoration, and so to encourage
the Faithful to live virtuous lives. Alberti mentions the posting of maxims for the moral instruction of the Faithful. More commonly in our churches, the side walls and windows may depict the
life of the patron saint or events from the life of Christ while the sanctuary portrays the Heavenly
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Book seven of De Re Aedificatoria is entitled Ornament to Sacred Buildings. In this part, Alberti
addresses the specific demands of sacred buildings which he divides into the temple and basilica
types and calls for a common language in a time of particular confusion. Though Alberti writes
about church architecture using the pagan Latin terms for temple and the plural gods, he intends
to fuse the architectural authority of the pagan temple with the supernatural order of the liturgy.
The temple could be re-interpreted as a Christian shrine or centralized church, while the basilica
is the traditional and more common longitudinal or cruciform church form. The basilican form is
noted for its focal point at the altar on one end, the space for the choir, and the generous nave and
porticoes in which the congregation may gather. Alberti writes that the basilica should imitate
much of the ornament in temples, but will serve a different purpose. Specifically, the basilica
hosts a rampaging crowd of litigants and should therefore include clear aisles and plenty of light.
The longitudinal basilica church has served the Faithful for two millennia and continues to serve
the Holy Liturgy today. It has deep significance for the city because it is its spiritual heart and the
architecture is meant to reflect its high position. The church is both Gods dwelling place in the
form of the Blessed Sacrament, and is also the place for the worship of God in the Holy Liturgy.
Alberti writes No aspect of building requires more ingenuity, care, industry, and diligence than
the establishment and ornament of the temple.
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banquet. Fifth, Alberti writes that the floor should have a paving pattern in order to stimulate
the mind with geometric lines. Sixth, in regard to the design of side chapels, they can be open
to the nave or separated by a pair of columns, or completely closed off from the nave. Seventh,
Alberti makes specific reference to windows in a temple, that they should be modest in size and
be located above the congregation so that the only view is toward the sky. The distractions of the
street or garden seen at the eye level will divert the minds of the worshippers. Many churches
today, such as the Dio Padre Misericordioso or Jubilee Church by Richard Meier in Rome, bring
an abundance of light into the space, which can reduce the austerity of the church, especially for
the purpose of private devotion. Alberti suggests that some darkness creates a sense of mystery
and encourages veneration by the people. Eighth, Alberti gives exhaustive recommendations for
the entrance to the temple, modeled on Ancient precedent. He delineates the differences between
the Dorians, Ionians and Corinthians after explaining their acceptance of a common architectural
language. From his observation of architectural practice in Antiquity, he discovers consistency
in ornament. All the best architects would make the jambs one fourteenth narrower at the top
than at the bottom. The lintel and the top of the jambs would be the same thickness, and their
ornament would share the same profile. Alberti suggests building the temple doors of bronze for
greater durability. For a basilica church, the doors should be of cedar or cypress but with bronze
knobs. Though these specifics may not relate to a church project today, they are reminders of the
importance of durability for the church building. When a patron is tempted to think in terms of
decades, the architect motivate him to think in terms of centuries. Ninth, according to Alberti,
the altar for sacrifice should be higher than everything else since it is the epicenter of worship.
the sacrificial altar is to be set up so as to give it the greatest dignity: the ideal position, surely,
is before the tribunal. The Holy Sacrifice calls for a noble position with all the other elements
in the church building ordered to it. The fifteenth century, leading up to the Council of Trent in
the sixteenth century, saw a wide variety of church arrangements which were considered disori-
enting by Alberti. The high altar in the apse of the church was overwhelmed by side aisle full of
altars and devotional shrines. Alberti believes it necessary to focus attention on the main altar to
preserve the dignity of the Holy Sacrifice, which had become confused by the crowding of other
elements in the church. However, in other parts of the treatise Alberti stresses the importance of
allocating places for personal devotion within the church. Tenth, the architect should incorporate the design of the liturgical elements into the church building. Alberti writes that the candelabrum, for example, should be wider at the base than the top and divides the whole into seven
parts which are subsequently proportioned. The ornament inside the churches and the liturgical
elements are part of the overall order of the architectural language. These principles are relevant
to church architects in the twenty-first century because they invoke the living tradition of sacred
architecture. Some ideas are more helpful than others, but none of them limit the creativity of the
architect. Rather, they are tools which have informed Catholic church design since Antiquity.
The second important thrust of Albertis De Re Aedificatoria is his definition of beauty in architecture and the means to accomplish it through the use of ornament. At the beginning of book
six, Alberti references the three principles of architecture from Vitruvius: firmitas, utilitas &
venustas. But it is to venustas that Alberti pays attention in the second half of the treatise. He
defines beauty and its place in the art of building, specifically with the use of proportion, ornament and the appropriate positioning of the building elements. Alberti invests more of the text
on these topics because of the loss of excellence in architecture in his own time. He writes Examples of ancient temples and theaters have survived that may teach us as much as any professor,
but I seenot without sorrowthese very buildings being despoiled more each day. And anyone
who happens to build nowadays draws his inspiration from inept modern nonsense rather than
proven and much commended methods. Architectural language and its ornament can contain a
narrative of human habits and gestures that also relate a specific building to the tradition. Alberti
appeals to this narrative in his description of classical forms by infusing a Christian conception
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of the created world. The inherited tradition of ornament brings forth a foundation upon which
architects can elaborate and build appropriately.
Toward the beginning of the sixth book, Alberti offers a brief description of the nature of beauty:
Beauty is that reasoned harmony of all the parts within a body, so that nothing may be added,
taken away, or altered, but for the worse. It is a great and holy matter. Rarely is beauty to be
found, even in nature itself. Ornament amplifies the beautiful nature of a building, or makes an
unpleasant building more bearable. Beauty and ornament are not synonymous but reinforce one
another. Ornament is a form of auxiliary light and complement to beauty. Beauty and ornament
can be found together through the art of building, and the implementation of traditional building
principles. These principles are found in the examples of our ancestors and may be applied to
beautiful buildings today.
First, architects can learn from the existing repertoire of church buildings. Many have already
resolved design problems that we encounter. Alberti suggests that architects learn from successful
buildings and should sketch details to keep a record. He writes wherever there is a work that
has received general approval, he should inspect it with great care, record it in drawing, note its
numbers, and construct models and examples of it. However, architects are not called to slavishly
copy the most beautiful works of architecture. In the first book, Alberti writes Although other
famous architects seem to recommend by their work either the Doric, or the Ionic, or the Corinthian, or the Tuscan division as being the most convenient, there is no reason why we should follow their design in our work, as though legally obliged; but rather, inspired by their example, we
should strive to produce our own inventions, to rival, or, if possible, to surpass the glory of theirs.
Until the twentieth century rejection of tradition in many spheres of learning, architects developed new buildings from an existing vocabulary that allows infinite possibilities for the architect.
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Second, conventions have defined the appropriate use of ornament, and even the specific application of the classical orders. The ornament employed in a building articulates its place in the
city, or decorum, and the church building has the highest position among all the public buildings.
With sacred works, especially public ones, every art and industry must be employed to render them as ornate as possible. Third, ornament is integral to the structure of the building and
cannot be removed. In the whole art of building the column is the principal ornament without
any doubt; it may be set in combination, to adorn a portico, wall, or other form of opening, nor
is it unbecoming when standing alone. The column is considered by Alberti both structural and
decorative, and is inherited from use in Greek and Roman precedent. While he does not provide
the elaborate stories of the invention of the Orders found in Vitruvius, he includes a synopsis of
columns used by the Dorians, Ionians and Corinthians, and calls the Composite order the Italian.
The three principle orders are related to three human measures: fuller, more practical and enduring is the Doric. Slender and full of charm is the Corinthian. The one that lay in between is
the Ionic. Alberti writes that the Ancients invented these ornaments for the body as a whole, indicating the hierarchy of the Orders and their incorporation into the corpus of a building. Make
the ornament to the window openings Corinthian, to the main entrance Ionic, and to the doors of
the dining rooms, chambers and so on, Doric.
Fourth, the meaning of classical ornament found in Antiquity is incorporated into Christian
sacred architecture. The anthropomorphic analogy is found in Vitruvius text and is re-introduced by Alberti with specific terms derived from the human body, which has been elevated by
the Incarnation. When [the ancients] considered mans body, they decided to make columns
after its image. Alberti was familiar with the medieval encyclopedic texts which brought the
elements of architecture to life through the use of terms of the human body. Alberti calls the top
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of the column the caput, or head, and the bottom of the column the planta, or foot. While medieval Christian authors compiled architecture with many other subjects, Alberti builds a theory of
architecture reconciling medieval and Ancient worldviews.
He includes a reference to the ark of Noah in Scripture, which was built based on the human figure. Alberti praises Gods creation for its coherence and completeness, and indicates that architects should design buildings that imitate that creation. Nature was so thorough in forming the
bodies of animals, that she left no bone separate or disjointed from the rest. Likewise, we should
link the bones and bind them fast with muscles and ligaments, so that their frame and structure
is complete and rigid enough to ensure that its fabric will still stand on its own, even if all else is
removed. So for Alberti the columns are the skeletal frame for the building, and are integral to its
overall form.
Fifth, Alberti argues for the power that beauty can bring to the defense of the city, suggesting that
the skills of the architect are strategic for maintaining peaceful coexistence. There can be no
greater security to any work against violence and injury, than beauty and dignity. One concludes
that the citizens raise their minds to noble aspirations and identify themselves more closely with
the physical form of the city. Sixth, beauty found in nature can also inspire built forms. Shapes
appropriate for architecture are derived from the elements of Gods creation. And just as creation
is appreciated ultimately for its beauty, architecture is judged by its beauty more than its utility.
Though ornament will differ for each building type, Alberti insists upon its relationship to the
beauty of the building.
Finally, the third thread we will examine in the treatise is the cause of beauty in architecture.
After defining beauty, Alberti defines its cause into three interrelated principles. He writes
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we may conclude beauty to be such a consent and agreement of the parts of a whole in which it
is found, as to number, finishing and collocation, as congruity, that is to say, the principal law of
Nature requires. Therefore the beauty of architecture is dictated by the laws of nature, especially
in the form of numerus, finitio, collocatio and concinnitas.
In judging numerus or number in building, the architect observes what happens in nature and
consults the philosophers. In the treatise, Alberti reflects on the even number of feet of all the
animals in Gods creation, and the relationship that has had on determining the even number of
columns in ancient buildings. Though there is a large variety of species, some more celebrated
than others, they all abide by the law of an even number of legs. In the same way, beautiful architecture has an even number of supports and an odd number of openings or doorways. Albertis
treatise uses geometry to confirm that which is already present in the created world. He considers
the significance of different numbers in nature and their integration into architecture. As for the
number five, when I consider the many varied and wonderful things that either themselves relate
to that number or are produced by something that contains it such as the human hand I do
not think it wrong that it should be called divine, and rightly dedicated to the gods of the arts.
Numbers can be celebrated in architecture, and they can have deep meaning for churches. Of the
three causes of beauty, numerus is the most perceptible in the building.
In referring to finishing, finitio, Alberti means the relationship between the length, breadth and
height of the lines of the materials. It determines proportions in the building formed by the architect. Though it may be an unpopular notion today, certain proportions in a building are inherently more attractive to the beholder. Alberti writes it is remarkable how some natural instinct
allows each of us, learned and ignorant alike, to sense immediately what is right or wrong in the
execution and design of a work. This requires the work of the craftsman to apply his skills to the
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physical material, the amassing, adding, diminishing, chipping, polishing and the like, which
make the work delicate.: The lineamenta, for example, bring definition to a work and therefore
finish it. The design, gives beauty to the building when the proportions and order are put in
their proper place using lines and angles, so that the whole form of the structure be proportionable. Finitio is also a call for proportionality in the plan of the building, which is then carried
up in three dimensions by the architect. Beautiful proportions defined by lineamenta are found
in the harmony of music, that consonance of sounds which is pleasant to the ears. He quotes
Pythagoras in saying that Nature is sure to act consistently, and with a constant analogy in all her
operationsthe same numbers, by means of which the agreement of sounds affects our ears with
delight, are the very same which please our eyes and our mind. The areae that are formed using
these ratios are the wall surfaces and floor dimensions of the built work. Starting with a square,
the designer can lengthen or shorten dimensions to achieve harmonic consonance, such as an octave, or 1:2, fifth, or 2:3, or a fourth 1:4. Through the use of these types of measure, the architect
can relate the intended narrative to the visitor, much like a painter develops a formula to engage
the memory. Architects employ these numbers to lay out dimensions in plan, and to develop harmonious heights of rooms. Rules for proportions can also be grounded in arithmetic or geometric means. If the length of the room is eight, width four, then the height could be determined to
be six. In Book VII Alberti suggests that nature relishes in round shapes, such as tree trunks, the
nests of birds and the stars. Upon seeing these qualities in Nature, the architect imbues his work
with beauty. In addition, the materials themselves emerge from nature with their own particular
character. Beauty in architecture proceeds from the intellectual energy of the designer engaging Nature. Therefore, the practical facet of beauty can be found in the proportions, but Alberti
reveals deeper dimensions of beauty throughout the text, leading to a concinnitas of parts , even
outside what Vitruvius would call Nature. All the finishing/proportion planned by the architect
reflects the harmony of Gods creation. The order found in nature is attributed to God, and the
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order found in buildings is attributed to the intellect of the architect and the generosity of the
patron.
Collocatio, or composition, is the right arrangement of the different members of the building
both small and large.; Take great care to ensure that even the minutest elements are so arranged
in their level, alignment, number, shape and appearance, that right matches left, top matches bottom, adjacent matches adjacent, and equal matches equal, and that they are an ornament to that
body of which they are a part. As a model, Alberti looks to the balance and symmetry found in
antiquity, when the pediments were perfectly level, the statues on either side matched one another
and even marble panels of the same quality and color were placed against one another. Therefore,
collocatio relies more on the natural abilities of man to put things together, something that cannot
be taught.
The final term used to express the beauty of a building by Alberti is the most significant: concinnitas, which is composed of the previous three, numerus, finitio, collocatio. Ultimately, he uses
the term to discuss the proportions of the whole building and the individual parts as one unified
system that imitates the perfection embodied by Nature. When Alberti uses the term Nature, he
refers to the underlying order founded by God the Creator. Concinnitas or congruity in architecture is therefore the design of buildings which resemble the beauty composed by the great Artist Himself. Man has been given an intellect to examine Nature and transfer these observations
into the language of architecture. [Concinnitas] runs through mans entire life and government,
it molds the whole of nature. Everything that nature produces is regulated by the law of concinnitas, and her chief concern is that whatever she produces should be absolutely perfect[Concinnitas] is the main object of the art of building, and the source of her dignity, charm, authority
and worth. The architect fulfills his social responsibility through concinnitas, the integration
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of the beautiful proportion and natural material found in Nature into the building. Architecture
serves a dignified role in society in as much as it reflects concinnitas, the principal law of nature.
The work of the architect stimulates delight in the citizenry and introduces order to their lives.
Men can be moved by beauty, both in churches and in other noble buildings, to live virtuous lives.
The business and office of congruity is to put together members differing from each other in their
naturesthat they may conspire to form a beautiful wholeits true seat is in the mind and in
reasonand runs through every part and action of mans life, and every production of Nature
herself, which are all directed by the law of congruity.
To build successful church buildings, we can emulate the principles set forth by Alberti, which are
rooted in the architecture inherited by the Christian church from Antiquity.
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Grafton, Anthony. Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance. New York:
Hill and Wang, 2000.
Lang, S. De Lineamentis: L. B. Albertis Use of a Technical Term. Journal of the Warburg and
Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 28 (1965), pp. 331-5.
Payne, Alina A. The Architectural Treatise in the Italian Renaissance: Architectural Invention,
Ornament, and Literary Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Tavernor, Robert. On Alberti and the Art of Building. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1998.
Van Eck, Caroline. The Structure of De Re Aedificatoria Reconsidered. Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Sept., 1998), pp. 280-97)
Works Cited
Aiken, Jane Andrews. Leon Battista Albertis System of Human Proportions. Journal of the
Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 43 (1980), pp. 68-96.
Alberti, Leon Battista. Rykwert, Joseph, Neil Leach and Robert Tavernor, trans. On the Art of
Building in Ten Books. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1988.
Eden, W. A. Studies in Urban Theory: The De Re Aedificatoria of Leon Battista Alberti. The
Town Planning Review, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Autumn, 1943), pp. 10-28.
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Westfall, Carroll William. Society, Beauty and the Humanist Architect in Albertis De Re Aedificatoria. Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 16 (1969) pp. 61-79.
Westfall, Carroll William. Awe for the Noble Things. Sacred Architecture Journal, Issue 16,
2009, pp. 20-25.
Wittkower, Rudolf. Albertis Approach to Antiquity in Architecture. Journal of the Warburg and
Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 4, No. 1/2 (Oct. 1940-Jan. 1941) pp. 1-18.
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Catholicism at the Eastern Border of Europe: Construction Works by the Catholic

Church in the Post-Communist Countries at the Turn of the Millennium
Zoran Vukoszavlyev
Middle-Eastern Europe is on the historical ridge of Catholicism. In the history of the lands now
consisting of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary the presence of Catholicism is
dominant. For centuries, these most eastern countries of the Roman Catholic Church have been
the combatants of faith located in the close vicinity of orthodoxy and Muslim states. The constructing activity of the Church was unbroken even in the changing state-formations. In the 20th
century the international modern architecture of Europe has been enriched with outstanding
compositions in the church-architecture of these countries. The progressive architectural style
animated the new functional approach of the catholic reform movement as well: the composition
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of churches followed the functional arrangement of early Christian sacral space even between the
two world wars. The dynamically developing Church employed the most well-known architect, in
this way the national styles could also appear beside modernism: the romantic buildings emerging
from secession and using traditional vernacular forms.
The progressive architectural creations of the
era have adapted the early-Christian liturgical
space forms into the cubic mass formation of
modern architecture - thus the functional arrangement of the churches has become clearly
apparent in their mass-hierarchy. Behind
the arched gate-formation of the church of
Vrosmajor, the walls rise up like pylons, the
mass forms, which are closed from outside,
create a nearly ethereal space inside with the
thin pillars vertically aiming up. The tower
standing alone is a transcription of the Mediterranean campaniles. The monastery church
of Pasart is created by similarly simple forms;
the architect, Gyula Rimanczy designed it in
the modernist style near to romanticism that
was typical of the periods Italian architecture.
Also the porch with columns and the arched
inner spans of the gate are historical references; just as the beamed ceiling quoting the
F 01 : Hungary, Budapest-Vrosmajor catholic church, 1932.

Architects: Aladr rkay and Bertalan rkay
(Image by the Athor)
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However, this enrichment in architecture was followed by an extreme decline after the end of the
2nd World War. In the countries of the eastern block, getting under the influence of the Soviet
Union, church construction activity approached zero. It was more shocking than the wartime
damages and socialization that in the socialist era a church could only be built at the site of a
demolished former church the construction of a new building was only possible as the representative manifestation of the communist state. In the once prosperous East-European catholic
countries ideological oppression and even physical pogrom reigned for 40 years. In this atheist
dictatorship Christianity was considered as something to be concealed.
F 02 (left) : Hungary, Budapest-Pasart, franciscan monastry, 1931-1934. Architect: Gyula Rimanczy F 03 (right) : Slovakia, Rrsmulyad, roman
catholic church, 1908-1910. Architect: Istvn Medgyaszay
traditional sunk paneled ceilings. Medgyasszays church in Rrsmulyad uses central space form
and its organic space-formation creates a special communal space. The vernacular form-treasury
is appearing not only in relation of decoration but also in the arched line of the layout and in the
form of the tower. The church is special for the cover of the central space form, where the periods
technical achievement is used in the thin reinforced concrete cupola forming vegetal petals.
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During the socialist-communist dictatorship, sacral buildings could be built only under very
strict control. With achieving a political stabilization, the construction of these certain buildings
became possible as a favor toward people the satisfaction of social needs was intended to consolidate the counter-balance of democratic movements. Uprisings started in Hungary in 1956 and in
Czechoslovakia in 1968; but in both cases they were suppressed by the troops of the Varsaw Pact
marching in.
The Hungarian State, in order to represent its social indulgence, commissioned Lszl Csaba with
the design of a new church to the place of a small church that had been demolished for the sake of
an industrial investment. Expressive formation and complex program of related arts show the eras
architectural approach which does not stand opportunism.
The expressive triangular formation, the unique use of lights has made this building be an outstanding creation. The crematorium near Bratislava, deigned by Miluky is of the same high
standard and can be recognized as the gem of modern architecture. On the edge of woods the
long running parallel walls are adapted to the hillside. Between them the space coverings create
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the architectural spaces: a mortuary is formed which is wide opened to the sight of woods by the
huge glass walls. In this way the mystery of farewell becomes part of the landscape. Beside the use
of natural materials (natural stone walls, solid wood furniture, details, light timber-lamella fences)
the concept of modern detail formation appears as well: the flowing spaces are bordered by the
membranes of glass walls installed on thin steel profiles.
Political changes have started with the election of John Paul II as pope (16th October
1978) Karol Jzef Wojtya coming from the
communist Poland preached for peace, and
his consistent forgiving attitude made more
permissive not only the leaders of his own
nation but the political leaders of Czechoslovakia and Hungary as well.
The church of the workers town Nova Huta
next to Krakk had been being built for decades before it was consecrated in1977. The
building has an organic layout, and its ceiling
of an enormous span is held by the steel load
bearing structures produced by the steel factory and it is covered with timber cladding. The
arched line of the walls tries to set itself free
from the bleak purity of buildings constructed
F 04 : Slovakia, Bratislava-Lama, crematory, 1962-1968.

Architect: Ferdinand Miluky
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from prefabricated panels. An obvious relationship can be found between this building and the
magnificent work of Corbusier in Ronchamp.
In the eighties the building activity of the Church slowly became tolerated, but the real break-through was the fall of the
socialist block and the start of democratic changes. Beyond
financial rehabilitation, the new freedom of soul was much
more important the gates of churches could be wide opened
again, the houses of God were crowded for masses. The religious communities of the extensive building estates pulled
up during socialism intended to build churches for their own
and the worker-colonies of the industrial areas aspired to a
home as well. After 1989, several churches were built trying
to compensate for the decades-long backlog.
In an architectural sense, we can talk about the continuation
of architectural activity of the 20th century being interrupted
in the 40s. The definition of a national character is even more
forceful in these countries, since at time of the constructions
in this re-gained freedom, the results of the Second Vatican
F 05 : Poland, Cracow, The Ark of the Lord

catholic church, 1967-1977.
Architects: Wojciech Pietrzyk and Jan
Grabacki
Council have had a very old perspective. The turn of the millennium can be described with the
search for architectural status and with the re-definition of lost identity. In Poland, the homeland
of John Paul II, the popes great spiritual work has always been a great power - so the self-identification of the Church could become unbroken on the basis of the believers strong faith. In the
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former Czechoslovakia the challenges are more complex: the different cultural characters of the
two nations require unique solutions to the continuation of the construction works. In the middle
of the 20th century the suppression of the Church was the most shocking in Hungary, the country
where the order of St. Paul was founded, but maybe this gave strength for the resumption.
The constructions related to political changes were established in areas where the ease from strong political oppression had resulted in a very fast counter-reaction. In several
industrial towns that had been settled under socialism, the
churches appeared nearly simultaneously to the changes.
The catholic church of the internationally known architect
Imre Makovecz has been built on the skirts of the concrete
plattenbau of Paks, the town in Middle-Hungary famous of
its nuclear power plant. Hungarian organic architecture is
inspired by ancient vernacular architecture the composition seems like something before Christianity, carrying the
vernacular religion of the thousand year old Christian state
and determining a place within the world of the turn of the
millennium at the same time. A building-organism was born
from the anthropomorphic signs; the composition forms
F 06 : Hungary, Paks, roman catholic
church, 1988-1992.
a heart shape. The cross rises on top of the entrance tower,
Architect: Imre Makovecz
but underneath, the symbols of sun and moon appear as
well. The main gate is guarded by two angels: the angel of Darkness on the north side and angel
of Light on the south. The timber structures are raised high from the layout to the heart-shaped
skylight of the ridge, just like the two angles who accompany Christ turn to the light with their
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outstretched wings. Makovecz has balanced the uncertain period of political changes and social
transition with the conscious use of this specific language of forms the treasury of Hungarian
vernacular forms becomes the embodiment of religious traditions.
The vernacular tradition or the previously presented churchs organic layout arrangement is seeking for the architectural space of the turn of millennium in term of new formal approaches. This
search for style is typical of that churches too where the historic forms and details are adapted
more directly.
A church in Budapest in the near vicinity of
university and office buildings, lays on the
banks of the river Danube. The main sacral
space is determined by the cupola with flat
arch and circle-shaped layout, emerging in the
ring of tiny glass skylights quoting the central
churches of the medieval Hungary. The unusual asymmetry of the space with triforium is
balanced by the axis of the space-row starting
from the baptistery at the entrance to the synF 07 : Hungary, Budapest-Lgymnyos, roman catholic church,
1994-1996. Architect: Ferenc Trk and Mihly Balzs
therion of the altar apsis. Outside the homog(Image by the Architect Ferenc Trk and Mihly Balzs)
enous mass of the monumental copper cupola,
which is supported by stone plinth, is embraced by the Stations of the Cross climbing the ramp. At
the gate of the entrance-bridge a gothic gable greets the visitor with the aim of leading him to the
entrance between the buildings in this way creating an urban space within the separate buildings of the campus. Historic spirit and direct architectural quotations try to find their way.
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The accelerated construction works in the first decade following1989 were typical for their search
for style: to find the desired national character has led to several errors, while the traditions of
modernism seemed to be a misunderstood language for a long time. Beyond all question, the
ideological oppression has broken a tradition, which previously had meant the most adequate architectural attitude due to the continuous development of the Church and the culture of the given
nation. Nevertheless, the constructions of the new decade show a more clarified picture.
F 08 : Bohemia, Novy Dvur, trappist monastery, 1999-2004. Architect: John Pawson
The rooms of silence have been created in the formation of a Czech Trappist (Cistercian) monastery. In the mountains near to Prague, the ruins of a baroque farm building were reconstructed by
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the Czech monks returning from French exile. Following the plans of John Pawson, the U-shaped
layout was altered to a closed yard with building wings on all four sides, in this way modeling the
Cistercian monasteries being typical since the Middle Ages. With the rooms of the refectory and
dormitory, harmonically adapted building parts have been attached to the beautifully renovated
baroque wing; the Sacristy, Chapter room and Scriptorium are placed in the new wing. The chorus
of the monks has become the centre of the long, narrow church space; the sounds of hymns are
dissolved in the play of lights within the abstract space created by white walls.
A song in colours gives the most direct image
of the building complex designed in a dense
urban environment. The hierarchic-order of
the three main functions (church, vicarage,
community house) results in a liberal composition. The central yard is bordered by building blocks from three sides. The fourth side is
open to the surrounding: the heterogeneous
forms of family houses and panel blocks are
appeased by the calm composition being open
in the bay-like formation. Arriving from the
F 09 : Hungary, Gdll, roman catholic church, 2001-2007.
Architect: Tams Nagy (Image by the Architect Tams Nagy)
small park, the side-wings facade rhythmically articulated with pillars escorts us- or rather leads us to the church that frontally welcomes
us with its monumental elevation. A harmony in born from the delicate sonority of rhythm and
scales of openings; while formal leanness and consistency hardly gives a chance for emotional
attachments. The spaces of nearly evangelical purity are drawn into a genial and intimate one with
the use of wonderful wooden furniture and white structural elements. In the semi-arch apsis of
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the altar, the glass windows glow with the lights of saturated colours, presenting a colour-sound
transcription of the Gregorian melody of Kyrie eleison.
At the turn of the millennium, the most important need of the human race is silence itself. The
dynamism of the visual world around us has to be changed by the calm environment of the
church, where the aesthetics of structure and moderate decoration can provide peaceful surroundings for the meeting with God.
The design method concentrating on conceptual elements,
which is typical of the young architect generation, gives well
readable answers. The small chapel located in the nature
reservation area near Tarnw, Poland is built of homogenous
materials. All its structure, claddings and furniture are made
of wood. The simplicity of the tiny chapel referring to the farm
buildings of vernacular architecture creates a pathetic space.
The pattern of a shed is a profane room but with the presence
of the congregation it becomes a sacral space. The Word is
completed in Eucharist Christ comes to join directly the
people.
F 10 : Poland, Tarnw, chapel, 2009.

Architects:
Marta Rowiska & Lech Rowiski
(Image by the Architect beton)
Presently we live in the era of tradition being fulfilled. The

recognized tradition addresses the believers in a contemporary
language of forms, and they feel at home again in the churches.
The goal of our study has been to present these different languages. We consider the self-identification found in historical
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forms as well as the contemporary way of clear/minimalist architectural formation, manifested in

abstraction. Are the quotations from vernacular architecture, the forms of classicism or the engineering aesthetics of modernism the most effective from the aspect of historical continuity of the
Catholic Church? The catholic churches of the European post-communist countries built on the
turn of the millennium represent the revival of tradition.
References:
KRHLING, Jnos: Gylekezeti kzpontok a XX. szzad szakrlis ptszetben. in: pts ptszettudomny,
2008/1-2, pp.119-127.
MAKOVECZ, Imre: A [paksi templom] tervezs trtnetrl, in: GERLE, Jnos (ed): Makovecz Imre mhelye. Tervek, pletek, rsok, interjk. Magyar ptmvszet-1. Mundus Egyetemi Kiad, Budapest, 1996. pp.306-307.
MASZNYIK, Csaba: Fny s forrs : szenthromsg katolikus templom, Gdll, in: Rgi-j magyar ptmvszet.
2007/5. pp.36-37.
MORAVKOV, Henrieta - DULLA, Matus: 20th Century Architecture in Slovakia. Art Stock, Bratislava, 2003.
PAMER, Nra: Magyar ptszet a kt vilghbor kztt. Budapest, 1986.
RV Ilona: Templomptszetnk ma. Corvina, Budapest, 1987.
STOCK, Wolfgang Jean: Architectural Guide : Christian Sacred Building in Europe since 1950. Prestel, Mnchen,
Berlin, London, New York, 2004.
TRK, Ferenc: Trk Ferenc. (Architectura Vallomsok), Kijrat Kiad, Budapest, 1996.
This research has been funded by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund No. OTKA 68610 and by the Bolyai Grant
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
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George Joseph Martin
On Incompleteness: The Architectural Sehnsucht of Gaudis

Sagrada Familia
Contemporary sacred architecture suffers in many ways from the circumstances surrounding
its making, particularly in post-industrial societies where highly refined construction product
delivery methods and computer assisted critical path monitoring have evolved the practice of
building to one that values speed and efficiency over craft. In service to a state of completeness
driven by the need to transition to a permanent financing structure and mandated by property
insurance boilerplate, the act of building seeks an immediate final state. This emphasis understands the object of construction to be a thing, in the case of sacred architecture, a physical
church or temple, to which the parameters available for success are specifically structural, compositional, material. What tends to be lost in all this is an understanding of, and appreciation
for, the temporal sacred space of the build-ing. The architect who undertakes to design a sacred
space should adequately inform his/her architectural imagination of both the temporal and physical attributes of the space they participate in defining.
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To say that something is incomplete is to say that there is a state of completeness which this
something does not attain or participate in. A chess set for example, with only three rooks, is an
incomplete set, its incompleteness defined by the missing rook. We would recognize this incompleteness simply from asymetry even without a knowlege of how the game is played. For my
exploration of incompleteness in architecture here I will examine it in both a literal and figurative
way. Literal in that buildings, like chess sets, can be incomplete due to construction or decay, and
figuratively in that the quality of incompleteness is a human condition that plays out meaningfully
in Catholic sacred architecture, particularily in my opinion, with Gaudis Sagrada Familia. As St.
Augustine wrote, You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in
you our restlessness is a sehnsucht (longing, yearing) for human completetion in the presence of
God. That sacred art and architecture can illicit this sehnsucht, the sharp stab of intense joy and
longing for that union (that C.S. Lewis describes so well), is its highest calling and one that I will
argue here, can readily be drawn in the experience of Sagrad Familia.
Architectural Incompleteness
Incompleteness in design is a safe harbor for the architect from the storm of criticism which
awaits a completed work. A design, when incomplete on the drawing board, is ripe with potential. The architect lays out the general formula for the design, the rules of the game if you will,
and in short order finds himself at that crossroads where a commitment must be made and a path
taken, a limitation defined. Immediately the expanse of potential in the design is reduced to an
ever decreasing field of options dictated by the rules of the game being played. As much as it is
the architects job to play this game, the desire to find some way to hold the design perpetually in
a state of pregnant potentiality is tempting, but alas, the design must condense into building. By
contrast, the artist when laying out a sketch has the luxury of defining completeness in her own
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work. She makes a determination as to at what point in the execution of the sketch has provided
enough information to induce in the mind of a viewer, a sense or idea or picture of the subject being contemplated. Often this determination consists of an ongoing negotiation between artist and
work as to when just enough, and no more, information has been provided than is necessary. The
sketch must tease out from the viewer, an image in the minds eye which is more complete, more
meaningful really, then any sketch in and of itself has the power to convey. The sketch conspires
with the viewer to produce the subject. Architecture, as a useful art, makes the possibility of
engaging in this sort of incompleteness, a difficult proposition indeed. The public, by and large,
wants its buildings complete.
In order to explore the idea of incompleteness in architecture, and more specifically in sacred architecture, it will be helpful here at the outset to distinguish between two general types and within
those types, two further sub-categories. This four part matrix will serve as a frame through which
to evaluate a particular piece of sacred architecture. To establish the two general categories I will
borrow from Colin Rowe in his investigation of Transparency (1), distinguishing between a literal
and phenomenal variety. For their two respective sub-categories I will clumsily play off Lindsay
Jones (2) two part pattern for ritual-architectural eventfulness substituting a front and back half,
with a coming and going and a be-coming and an absence.
Literal Incompleteness (LI)

Literal incompleteness is what we normally regard as incompleteness or unfinished-ness. In the
design stage, this type of incompleteness is far from virtuous. A design which is incomplete can
not reasonably be constructed. For a design to be complete, it must consist of all the information
necessary to fully communicate an end state to another who is charged to build it. An evaluation
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of architectures completeness then, can be made of a design itself, i.e., does the design comprise
the necessary set of elements required for its adequate function? Or, of the artifact itself, as an
extension of the incomplete design, or inasmuch as the artifact does not correspond to that which
is specified in the design. What is important is that completeness may be determined by a specific
defined set of attributes. In the case of sacred architecture, a Christian church must satisfy the
various sets of attributes, among these are local codes for building and canonical codes for liturgy,
to be considered complete.
It is here that we must distinguish between the two aforementioned subcategories; LI which is
coming (LIc) and LI which is going (LIg).
Literal Incompleteness - Coming (LIc)

LIc is a state in building which most architects live for. It is that phase in the process where a
design is just taking its first breath. It is construction, from ground breaking to framing; it is
this phase when an idea takes form. Few architects would admit to not being enchanted by their
own designs when they are moving through this phase. Architecture in its embryonic stage is
abundant with unforeseen relationships and unanticipated opportunities. All too often the desire
to freeze the process at this stage is overwhelming. Like parents standing over the bassinet of
a newborn, unable to break their gaze from the sleeping child, the architect becomes lost in the
potential of that they have anticipated throughout the design, but which they were unable to fully
grasp. Architecture participating in LIc is curious, hopeful and energetic. The general public is
particularly fascinated by architecture at this stage. Wandering by a construction site one is invited to participate in what may be.
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With regard to sacred architecture, LIc has been variously valued through time. In the medieval
European experience, the enormity of construction operations for a cathedral for example would
assure that the project would be underway for generations. The need to finalize or complete
the design prior to groundbreaking therefore, was unnecessary. In most cases a crypt would be
designed and well underway while the upper church was still being considered. A wonderful case
in point for this is the extraordinary Duomo in Florence, for which a competition was held to
solve the problem of completing the dome (3) when the construction arrived at that point. The act
of building these Christian monuments served as a metaphor for the building up of the Body of
Christ itself such that the very act of actually finishing them presented somewhat of a problem.
For the Temple, its essential eventfulness has been caught up in its LIc from the earliest of times,
even when Gaudi was still directing construction. This is particularly obvious due to the fact that
it has not been ever substantively used for the celebration of the liturgy (main church). The reception of the Temple has not been meaningfully perceived in the context of that for which it was
principally built, but rather has been perceived from its inception, well over one hundred years
ago, as a construction site. Interestingly enough this has not seemed to diminish its transcendental qualities in the least, and this can be said both on the personal level, for the individual pilgrim
traveling to the site as well as to the civic level, for the entire city of Barcelona.
Has the Temple though, had a more extended, or different, period of becoming than other such
projects? Perhaps not in periods pre-dating the medieval, but for twentieth century building
projects it is somewhat unique. The reasons for this are several, but the most interesting for me
has to do with the involvement of the architect. Gaudi is famous for replying that, his client was
not in a hurry when questioned about the slow progress of construction, but there is meaning
behind this answer in addition to the humor he intended. In addition to at times serving as a
fundraiser for the project, Gaudis involvement as construction supervisor was pivotal to his
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design process. Of the models and drawings for the Temple which survived the Anarchists, it is
clear that they were tools of a master builder and not instructions from a remote designer. Gaudi
was using the construction of the Temple to understand how to continue. The design process undertaken by Gaudi at the Temple was markedly different from that at previous projects and owes
its uniqueness to his religious convictions. This is born out in his statement that;
Creation works ceaselessly through man. But man does not create, he discovers. Those
who seek out the laws of Nature as support for their own work collaborate with the Creator.(4)

The reception or understanding of LIc in the artifact of the Temple is further reinforced by the
atypical manner in which the order of construction is being undertaken. A project is revealed in
the construction process most usually in a bottom up manner. For heavy masonry projects which
are built progressively from the ground up, one experiences the building at the base in an almost
wholly complete stage from early on. The invitation to participate in imagining its completion
involves finishing the top based on what ones perceives at the bottom. With the Temple there is
an almost arbitrary order taken with the construction process, pieces, one at a time are manifest
at the site as if the building is discovering itself as it grows. For this reason I would argue that
there is a unique experience of LIc with the Temple which induces a sense of mystery. If not for
the ubiquitous tourist pamphlets showing the vision for the completed project, one would be left
to construe, from the built information provided, what would come next. It is participatory in the
extreme.
Literal Incompleteness - Going (LIg)

Incompleteness in a state of going, and of the literal variety (LIg) is much more difficult, espe256
cially for Americans. For those cultures however, who live among the architectural remnants of
their distant past are well acquainted with this type of incompleteness. LIg is a byproduct of age.
Its manifestations are many, being brought about by such immediate events as conflict or natural
disaster, or passively through simple disregard. Most often however, this form of incompleteness
is undertaken as a result of a negotiation between its inhabitants loving repair and restoration of
the subject, and their reverence for the original artifact and a desire not to replace it incrementally. Completeness in this case is only held as an idea or memory of a complete state. It is a story
handed down from generation to generation of what was. Its completeness stands for the idea of
a better time, when the logic of the design was apparent, not the fabrication of a mental reconstruction. Incompleteness of this variety will imbue a construction with a mystery which may be
a meaning in and of itself. As perhaps an archetypal example of this is the monolithic arrangements at Stonehenge which is inarguably incomplete, but it is in fact this very characteristic of
incompleteness which acts as catalyst for involvement on the part of the occupant to recreate the
construction as it was at that founding moment and to occupy it alongside the ancients. Architecture which participates in LIg has the ability to instigate in an occupant a sense of place which is
temporally deep and spatially anchored.
One of the difficult attributes of this variety of incompleteness, at least for the originator, is that
LIg may often alter, while not necessarily diminishing the sacral content of the structures original
intent, imbuing a significance apart from intent but no less palpable. The Athenian Parthenon is
a case in point, Athenas likeness having long since departed the structure, it maintains a sacral
significance which is as much Athenian, and now more broadly, Greek, then its original ritual
eventfulness would have intended.
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On the other hand, LIg may also be responsible for both altering and diminishing the sacral content of a space. The San Lorenzo complex in Florenence is a case in point in this regard. Like so
many of its sister churches throughout Europe, it has become as much museum and tourist destination as sacred space. For San Lorenzo, the Basilica, the Cloister, the Library and the Medici
Chapel, it is their intersection with the life of Michelangelo which gives them an enduring significance. The basilica, arguably the most central of sacred spaces of the complex is perhaps the most
worn by age, its unfinished faade, an aborted case of LIc, lacks the hopefulness of an impending
completeness and seems satisfied with its daily role as backdrop for the Florentine street market.
It is perhaps one of the most unique attributes of the Temple is that it is able to participate in
LIc and LIg simultaneously. It is perceived as both construction site and ruin at the same time.
The reason for this dual reception is principally due to the aforementioned unorthodox order of
construction being undertaken. With portions of some faades being nearly complete, and others
(the Glory faade) being left undone, it more resembles a bombing victim than a building site.
The city of Barcelona even seems to acknowledge the ruin aspects of the enterprise in that it has
allowed for the construction of apartment blocks immediately adjacent to the Glory Faade (5) and
in a location which would be occupied by the entry to the Temple itself, almost as if to question if
the project will ever be brought to completion. The city fabric, like climbing vines, has overtaken
the urban space of the Temple, challenging its growth and threatening incursion. Additionally,
the age and accumulation of grim due to local industry and auto exhaust has left the portions of
the building completed in the early twentieth century, dark an foreboding, the newer sections by
contrast are bright and pristine, this, while the two share a consistency of architectural form. One
is left to question if the structure is actually coming or going.
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The perception of LIg is one of the most powerful inducements for participation that a building
site can offer, due in large part to the fact that its organization is usually organic, being caused by
the effects of aging in the materials and the brutality of weather. More than anything it gives the
artifact gravitas, its staying power being a testament to its value, and the importance granted to it
by its users, its physical condition bearing witness to its battle with time itself. It is into this context that we can place the Temple, even though its history is relatively brief. It serves an iconographic function for the city of Barcelona, serving as a measuring rod for its growth.
Phenomenal Incompleteness (PI) (6)

As was the case with Rowe and Slutzky in dealing with Transparency, the Phenomenal variety of
Incompleteness (PI) is without doubt the more complex of the two. PI owes its complexity to the
fact that it resides in the very idea of the design as opposed to its constructed artifact. Where LI
may be perceived from the fact that a given piece of architecture wants for some element which
contributes substantively to its use, ie, a roof, wall or door to keep out the weather, PI is perceived
as something wanting from the general compositional arrangement of the design itself. In the
case of PI, the building may be considered functionally complete but phenomenally (or ontologically) incomplete.
of architecture, its narrative content, which gives rise to an appreciation for, and understanding
of, PI. It is important here to comment on the very notion that buildings should mean something at all, that they should in fact communicate as well as shelter, or serve some given function.
Upon entering into such a discussion one risks never emerging as it has been a preoccupation of
architectural theorists an academics throughout the twentieth century and remains a fascinating
subject both with respect to the subjectivity of the reader, and the control, or lack thereof, of the
author. With respect to an understanding of PI though, we should agree before proceeding, that
architecture has a broad horizon of meaning (8) which may be entered into from a variety of directions and perceived in diverse manners.
So what then is PI and how does it differ from LI? One could perceive, in a Greek temple for example, whose columnar porch had a particular meter established in the distance between columns
that one column may be missing and thus the temple seems to be unfinished. If it were indeed
the case that the missing column was absent due to an order of construction, or the need to repair,
then this would indeed be incompleteness of the literal variety. That same temple however, and
it missing column could, under my definition, be participating in PI if its absence was due to a
design driven purpose, its very absence serving some tangible effect to the overall design.
PI derives its potency by engaging in the dual dialectic of concealing-revealing. An architectural arrangement consists of an ordering in the environment which may be perceived, to varying
degrees, as consistent. It is this consistency (or lack thereof) which begs an understanding of incompleteness. In order to participate in PI then, an architecture must arguably have, a readable
order from which an inconsistency or incompleteness arises. (7) It is the hermeneutical potential
In order to further explore this notion, it will be helpful here to categorize PI in the same manner as was done with LI while making note of the substantive differences between the two types
respective categories. LI as was discussed earlier, is an attribute of the artifact of architecture, the
building, and as such exists in the linear temporal space of the buildings construction, life and
ruin. The categories of coming and going are appropriate in this case where a line spanning birth,
life and death is charted. PI on the other hand, being an attribute of the idea of architecture; the
design, ideally exists in a timeless space. In a Platonic sense, the idea of the architecture, partici-
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pates in a perfect architecture, its harmony attempting resonance with a divine order. It may be
best to describe PI as occupying a sempiternal (9) space. Due to this fundamental difference, the
use of a coming and going with respect to PI is untenable as there is a necessary interdependence
establish between the two due to ones preceding the other. A more appropriate categorization
then for PI will be of becoming (PIb) and absence (PIa).
identified as a repetitive proportional system existent in nature and in the repetitive generative
cycles of animal reproduction, became an organizing formula for the architect to use in order
to allow a design to resonate with the (divinely) designed world around it. As in the case of the
Golden Section, the beauty of a conch shell could be graphed and replicated, allowing the artist
and architect to tease out a reading of infinite order within a finite composition.
Phenomenal Incompleteness Coming - Becoming (PIb)
The idea of becoming then has to do with growth or extension of an order beyond that which is
perceived. It is important that it is understood not so much as a biological growth, as rather an
extension of an organic system beyond its limit. If one were to examine a conch shell it would not
be difficult to imagine the shell being twice or three times as large, in fact, the shell itself, in its
very organization, suggests it pattern of growth were it not to have stopped developing where it
did. It is this pregnancy of potential which defines PIb and is affected by a controlled concealing
and revealing.
Seeing as PI relates to an idea, it is inevitably subject to interpretation of meaning. Interpretations are inevitably subjective and therefore, as is the case with any form of communication, we
are faced with a diversity of interpretation and even the possibility of contradiction among the
various readings. It is important then to stress that a correct meaning, even if the intention of the
author, is not the only meaning possible. This gets to the notion that architecture is multivalent
and as Lindsey Jones contends, must be understood in the context of architectures eventfulness.
Jones uses architect Bernard Tschumis description of architecture as a masked figure whose
masks conceal yet other masks (10) to make this point. It is in an intimate negotiation between
architecture and its experience in which an understanding or awareness of PI is possible; it is an
enticement to participate in the idea of the design.
PIb, or at least what I have generally categorized under that title up to this point, was the subject of great interest in the late middle ages and renaissance Europe among Humanists scholars.
Breaking with scholastic tradition, the Humanists regarded the world as Gods design and very
much open to inquiry, and as with any design, it could be analyzed and to some degree replicated.
In this intellectual vein an interest in generative or organic geometries was explored and influence
architectural theory tremendously. The recursive Fibonacci sequence and Golden Section being
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As was mentioned earlier in the case of my accident-prone roommate, there is great skill necessary in revealing just enough, and no more, to tee up or entice a desire for that which is concealed,
too little and the enticement isnt served up, too much and the curiosity is satisfied. This sort
of enticement is similar to a burlesque in which the dancer manipulates feathers to alternately
conceal and reveal her presumably naked body to the audience. It is in the very nuanced art of
revealing enough to entice the imaginative participation of the audience which assures that the
concealed is only perceived in the mind of the individual viewer, thus assuring its perfection. Architecture participating in PIb plays much the same game.
There can be no discussion of the Temple with respect to PIb then without a close look at its
designer, Gaudi, and the cultural environment in which he lived. During the time of the con262
struction of the temple (begun 1882 and taken over by Gaudi in 1981) the industrialization of
Europe, and in particular Barcelona, was well underway. It is due to this industrialization and the
patronage of one of its chief beneficiaries that most of Gaudis early work had been made possible.
(11)The production technologies which fueled the revolution were brought about by the same enlightenment empiricism which was causing scholars to increasingly look to science as opposed to
religion for answers. Gaudi, curiously enough, was beginning to swim the opposite direction of
the zeitgeist throughout his involvement with the Temple, and increasingly began to see science,
as the following quotation bears out, as a limitation on seeing the world as it truly is.

Science is a hamper which is being filled with things and more things that no one can
manage until Art puts handles on the hamper and takes from it exactly what is necessary
to perform the deed. (12)
Gaudis work, while being subject to a description of reactionary and bearing some aesthetic
similarity to his fellow artists of Barcelona, Picasso, Miro and Dali (13) who were influenced by
the same political upheavals of the Spanish civil war, bears significant difference in that Gaudis
philosophy is more in line with the organic leanings of American architect Louis Sullivan (14) than
with his three local contemporaries (15), this similarity having to do with the organic relationship
between form and function in architecture. Gaudi was a student of nature and saw his work as an
extension of a divine design. As an artist, he saw himself as inseparable from the work saying;
such can be regarded as incomplete until it realizes this stage, Gaudi was able to distill in his architecture a sense of growth and impending becoming which makes the artifact at any given time but
a shadow of its true self. Nowhere is this made more evident, both architecturally and artistically
than in the Nativity Faade. Here, the composition of the architecture sprouts symmetrically from
the organization of the Temple as a whole but then breaks randomly into sculptural arrangements
who seem to react to their own inner direction, but as Masini contends, while seemingly ambiguous they are reacting as an unforeseen force plays freely with them a fundamental biological
force, drawn from an uncontrolled and uncontrollable ethnic inheritance (17) The Temple than,
can be perceived phenomenally as an organism in a process of growth for which the occupant is
able to anticipate its maturity.
Phenomenal Incompleteness Going - Absence (PIa)
To understand PIb with respect to the Temple then is similar to perceiving certain incompleteness
and becoming in nature. Just as a rose bud holds the promise of a beautiful full blossom and as
Incompleteness can also be affected by a sense of absence. As opposed to its sister PIb which is
hopeful, PIa is most often despairing. It is perceived in that aching sense that something is missing, the sting of loss when someone beloved passes away and their emptiness is felt in those places
they theretofore would commonly occupy. While absence in this regard has a decidedly negative
connotation, absence as related to emptiness or nothingness, does not necessarily share in that
connotation. Architecture in fact is quite comfortable with the idea of emptiness. In his highly regarded 1957 book Architecture as Space, How to Look at Architecture, theorist Bruno Zevi
argues that architecture for too long has suffered from a formal as opposed to spatial critique. Architectural design being overly concerned with the form of the solid, as opposed to the sculpting
of the void is prone evaluation from a purely stylistic interpretation according to Zevi. The minimalism of the modern period championed by such masters as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius
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The Creation continues incessantly through the media of man. (16)
and Le Corbusier, represented a determined effort to minimize the distractions of ornament and
gratuitous form in favor of a more sophisticated conception of space itself. Mies Barcelona Pavilion illustrates a high point in this preoccupation with the simple elegance of overlapping spatial
volumes, made even more perceptible by the refined control and simplicity of the spaces envelope. The public however, who would occupied the works of these modern masters, were often
less convinced, as Pater Blake illustrates in his 1964 book, Mies van der Rohe, Architecture and
Structure, recounting Mies reaction to a negative appraisal of the Farnsworth House in the April
1953 issue of House Beautiful;

To Mies the architecture of nothingness suggests a maximum opportunity for free

expression on the part of those who use the buildingA few years later Mies had de

signed an ideal museum for a small city and here again he tried to make the architecture

almost nothing and the paintings and sculpture (for which the museum would be built)
everything. (18)
reference, but rather a memory or nostalgia for an experience, a universal as opposed to cultural
reference.
PIa can also be affected in architecture in much more concrete ways, similar to those discussed
for PIb. As with the discussion of organic geometries and their application in PIb, purposefully incomplete architectural arrangements or degenerative organizations, can be implemented
for similar effect in the case of PIa. In both cases the intent of the design is to communicate an
understanding in the viewer of a condition of either coming or going, but not due to the natural
effects of time, but woven into the very substance of the design itself.
In the context of PIa, absence is a quality of wanting or longing brought about by a desire for that
which is suggested or enticed. But unlike PIb which is hopeful and curious, PIa is the longing
for something had, and then lost. Architecture which participates in PIa will often make use of
memory or nostalgia to activate this sense, but this is not to be confused with historical or stylistic
An understanding of PIa instigated by the Temple is similar to the manner in which LIg operates
with ruins. Oddly enough, this type of incompleteness can be argued to be a necessary element
of a buildings completeness in that one cannot feel being unless they also feel nothingness. This
characteristic plays out in late gothic cathedrals in the gargoyles and other monstrous manifestations which reify a state of otherness from the New Jerusalem implied within which is made
possible by the redemptive act of the Mass itself. For Gaudi, this aspect of the Temples design is
affected chiefly through the Passion Faade and through the sculptural use of skeletal structures
throughout. Gaudis interest in these forms derives from the same sense of organic growth that
inspires PIb. The evidence of a skeleton beneath the surface of even a health young creature provides a foreshadowing of death and decay which provides poignant contrast to a healthy exterior.
The Passion Faade has a distinctly angular geometry (as opposed to the rounded more expressive
geometry of the Nativity Faade) striking shadows not unlike those of an emaciated face whose
skin is pulled tightly over the bone. The formations of the structure are less organic and more
inert like the rocky outcrops found along the Mediterranean coast nearby. A further distinction
of the two faades is due to orientation. The nativity faade facing east, welcomes the warmth and
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While the subject of emptiness and nothingness in architecture is ripe with possibility, especially
in the context of sacred architecture, it is best left for a separate discussion, especially due to the
fact that it is somewhat off the mark for my purposes here in drawing out a definition of PIa appropriate to the work of Gaudi. We will be able to revisit the topic however in a later comparison
of Gaudis architecture with that of his contemporaries.
promise of the rising sun, the Passion Faade facing west receives the long hot rays of a setting
sun before darkness envelopes the day. The interior columnar arrangement also embodies a sense
of PIa in its decidedly skeletal form, although the structure itself cannot be said to have something that could be regarded so much as a skin, the interior structural arrangement seems well
prepared to be revealed and laid bare as a future ruin of the Temple that was. One can therefore
perceive in the design itself a sense of death and decay which serves to make more glorious, the
gift of life that it celebrates.
Endnotes:
1 Rowe and Slutzsky, Transparency, Literal and Phenomenal 1955-56 First published in Prospecta, 1963.
2 Jones, Linday The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture, Experience, Interpretation, Comparison Volume One: Monumental Occasions, Reflections on the Eventfulness of Religious Architecture Cambridge 2000
3 A wonderful telling of this story may be found in Ross Kings, Brunelleschis Dome, How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented
Architecture.
4 Van Hensbergen, Gijs Gaudi, a Biography Harper Collins 2001
5 It should be noted however, that the city of Barcelona granted this permission with the understanding that at some
point in time the blocks would need to be cleared to make way for the completion of the Temple, that time left indeterminate.
Partial Bibliography
Van Hensbergen, Gijs Gaudi, A Biography New York 2001
Masini, Lara-Vinca Gaudi New York 1970
Martinell, Cesar Gaudi, His Life His Theories His Work Cambridge 1967
Descharnes, Robert and Prevost, Clovis Gaudi, The Visionary New York 1970
Crippa, Maria Antonietta Gaudi, From Nature to Architecture Bonn 2003
Jones, Lindsey The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture, Experience, Interpretation, Comparison Volume One: Monumental Occasions, Reflections on the Eventfulness of Religious Architecture Cambridge 2000
Rowe, Colin The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays Cambridge 1976
6 My own introduction to PI came before I even knew what it was as a first year architecture student. My roommate
and I both being architects, were feverishly working on our elementary design project which involved the manipulation of a girded cube, the type of Bauhaus project prolific in architecture schools after WWII. We had both rushed
to complete our delicately constructed basswood and paper models and were rushing them across campus to turn
them in to the instructor before their nine p.m. due date. Like any such event which holds a firm place in ones long
term memory, I first heard the noise; a thump and cracking, and then turned to see my roommate laid out flat on the
ground, with his model, now in two pieces, several feet in front of him. With no hope for a reasonably decent repair,
my roommate snapped off the dangling broken elements and turned in the larger of the two pieces. At our review the
next day, I discovered that my roommate, who I had pitied as a victim of unintended LI had unwittingly stumbled
upon the mystical genius of PI. The next day he stood before the jury of instructors fully prepared to communicate a
verbal reconstruction of the missing section of his model when he was cut short with praise for the ingenuity of the
design. The jury, having seen several (statically) symmetrical projects before his, was animated by the dynamic quality of the design. They lauded both the establishment of an order and the willingness to interrupt, or break that order.
They were right, the extremely balanced and symmetrical model sitting on my lap, lacked the participatory quality of
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my roommates. His was enticing; mine was at best, well ordered. Although a lesson well learned, further attempts to
purposefully implement the same type of PI on future projects proved unsuccessful as there exists a fine line between
the nuance and beauty of PI and the pastiche of LI trying to pass for PI.
7 The discussion of consistency and completeness here must not neglect the mathematical theory of Kurt Gdel.
Gdels Incompleteness theorem (See Set Theory) proves that arithmetic, the most basic language of mathematics,
while consistent, it is not complete.
8 Henri Lefebvre uses the term horizon when speaking to the signifying capacity of architecture in The Production of
15 Gaudi certainly the most senior of the set being born 30 years or better prior to the others, which for an architect
puts him in the prime of his career coincidental with the others.
16 Citation needed.
17 Lara Vinca Masini, Gaudi Crown Publishing 1970
18 Peter Blake, Mies van der Rohe, Architecture and Structure Penguin Books 1964
Space.
9 Federica Goffi at Carlton University discusses the idea of sempiternity in the evolving design of St. Peters Cathedral
in Rome.
10 Architecture resembles a masked figure. It cannot be easily unveiled. It is always hiding.Once you uncover that
which lies behind the mask, it is only to discover another mask..masks hide other masks, and each successive level
of meaning confirms the impossibility of grasping reality. Bernard Tuschumi, Architecture and Disjunction.
11 Eusebio Gell was a Barcelona textile merchant who was Gaudis major patron. While early economic success
paved the way for Gaudis early career, Guells fortunes diminished in Gaudis later career as the same industrial revolution which brought him initial riches eventually superseded him.
12 Bergos Masso 1969 no. 52 trans. Collin, Drawings; from Van Hensbergen, Gijs Gaudi, a Biography
Harper Collins 2001
13 A study of the similarity and differences of these twentieth century Spanish giants is forthcoming
Robinson, Jordi Falgas and Carmen Belen entitled, Barcelona and Modernity, Picasso,i, Miro, Dali.
14 Louis Sullivan on visiting the Sagrada Familia temple is said to have remarked that it was the greatest piece of
architecture of the twentieth century calling it spirit symbolized in stone.
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Site/Context
Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church

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The existing church facilities consisted of a turn of the 20th century gothic revival
worship building and arts and crafts multi-story residence used for support. The site
was two acres located behind the existing church for additional buildings and parking. It offered a tremendous opportunity to present a new face to those entering
the city from the southeast. Our solution capitalized on this by accentuating the
verticality of the church with an accompanying campanile, capturing the concept of
the city on the hill. The building gracefully steps with the topography, embracing
the natural terrain and minimizing disruption of the existing conditions. A circular
piazza, of permeable pavers, double functions as a drop-off on Sunday mornings
for worship.
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Program/ Aesthetics
The addition called for a new 500 seat worship building and an accompanying parish hall/fellowship space. The church community strongly
desired a fan shape seating arrangement for worship, with a center aisle for important traditional processions. Our Greek-Cross plan - a common
Catholic Church typology - became the form that best addressed this. A large cupola with clerestory windows caps the centralized plan with natural light dramatically lighting the interior from the heavens above. The focus of the interior space is on the sanctuary and the Blessed Sacrament
celebrating the important ritual of communion. The Parish Hall is directly beneath the worship space at grade with the drop-off and easy access for
the many elderly members of the church. The materials are primarily stone and timber inspired by the aesthetic of the region.
A Hypothetical New Seminary in the American Midwest

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View of the seminary from the valley. the seminarys principal chapel can be seen at left, with the
classroom and administrative sections of the complex to the right. the stylistic choice of baroque
comes from discussions with the congregations art director, and also is partly inspired by the
beaux arts architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which are near the proposed site.
The front elevation of the seminarys chapel the religious orders devotion to the kingship of christ
is expressed in the iconographic and sculptural program, which also reflects the theme of the last
Matthew Alderman
judgment and thus serves as a fitting prelude to the church interior, representing the timelessness
of the new jerusalem.
Care has ben taken to ensure that both the privacy of guests, students, professors, and oblates and easy access to public space are taken into account. the plan is partially inspired by
benedictine monastic plans, as Benedictine spirituality and its tradition of work, prayer and
hospitality is of interest to the organization using the seminary. The seminary also serves some
of the functions of a north american headquarters for its congregation, with space for meetings,
yearly chapters, and other formal events.the order often evangelizes through the arts, organizing
concerts of sacred music as a way of introducing the public to catholicculture. the congregation
is devoted to the extraordinary form (hence the large number of side al tars for private masses,
but the design nonetheless offers wider lessons for the extraordinary form and could be adapted
and simplified in scope and scale fora smaller diocesan seminary with fewer administrative and
hospitality requirements. Seminarians will be able to exercise by using an indoor basketball
court (in the lower level, not shown) and by tending the gardens.
Typical upper floor plan for the seminary. the seminary could train 50-100 seminarians at one
time (lodged on two upper and two lower levels), with additional 10-20 priest-students (housed
above the professors rooms) and a small number of oblates or brothers lodged in one of the
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Michael Arellenas
lower levels. Seminarians and professors lodgings are largely separate, though each can easily access common areas such as the library, refectory and classrooms. the upper levels are intended for the use of clergy and seminarians only, with the main floor accessible to lay visitors
and faculty. private chapels are located throughout the building.
A longitudinal section through the chapel, crypt, refectory, and the sacristy and seminary courtyards. the project, while hypothetical, was
designed after consultation with the provincial authorities of a recently-founded religious order with an emphasis on the sacred liturgy and
the arts. the interior of the chapel is designed to carefully respond to the liturgical practices of its users, and is ornamented with a complex
symbolic program making reference to parallels between the heavenly and earthly liturgies, and the passion of christ. a crypt church for
private mass es and a chapel for relics are also included.
A section through one of the side aisles of the seminary chapel. The baroque language of the interior here takes on the lightness of late gothic,
a fusion one finds in some German examples of the style. The figures of angels in liturgical dress along the roof are seen as assistin Christ the
priest in the heavenly liturgy, while within the instruments of the passion appear on escutcheons over the arches.
The windows along the main level alternately repeat two varieties of pediment, ornamented with devices
derived from the congregations emblem. A rendering of the interior of the principal chapel of the seminary, showing its prominent high altar
and choir. The orders beautiful celebrations of the sacred liturgy have attracted many lay supporters, thus suggesting a chapel much larger
than might be the norm in other circumstances. Side chapels open up on either side.
The iconographic program uses liturgical and royal symbolism in making reference to the kingship and priesthood of Christ. This also suggested the color scheme of gold and various shades of red and royal purple. an image of christ in mass vestments and a crown appears over
the high altar, with a smaller crucifix at eye level.
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Divine Exuberance in the Napa Valley

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HAGGAI: Chapter 1 : Verses 7, 8

Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Consider your ways
Go up into the hill country;
bring timber, and build the house
That I may take pleasure in it
and receive my glory, say the Lord.
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Jonathan Bodway
Cathedral design is a process which leads to the malleability of intensive formal articulation of
tectonics and space within the context of Eucharistic adoration. The desire for that which is
exuberant in nature, majestic in scale, and multiplicity in expression to experience Sacred Space
is the intent of the project proposed. The Cathedral is a typology which throughout
history has maintained a level of vigor and robustness that inhabits a ray of diverse complex
relationships to construct an architectural body which performs as a vessel for the unification
of spirit, mind, and matter. The architectural form is meant to enhance levels of perception
and meditation through a series of sensations, moods, atmospheres, which then focuses to a
single point of cognition, experiencing intensities from the corporeal and incorporeal. The idea
of placing a Cathedral in the Napa Valley is intended for a pilgrimage, experiencing nature,
following a journey to a destination that invites quiet contemplation. The methodologies and
procedures involved are a series of component based operations, morphing and evolving to
construct assemblies of varied vitality. The architectural body emphasis is on multiple surfaces
and structural layers to demonstrate a range of conditions and environmental effects which
centers to the altar. Transubstantiation is a powerful force harnessed into a body, likewise the
body of the Cathedral blushes along the altar; invisible forces and vectors radiate and manifest
into a composite of tectonics and material flavors (m.spina) as a house of worship for the
Lord. A classical floor plan for the Cathedral is intended to keep universal qualities and practices throughout Christian history in association with openness, penetration of light, and exotic
aesthetic elements.
Saint Peters Church, Lemoore CA

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Daniel DeGreve
How does a religion so distinct in its doctrines, so embedded in the past, so

characterized by its history begin to respond to the lives of its modern-day
congregates? This question will always pull at the robes of the Catholic community. One diocese adamantly responds to that question in their approach
to commissioning a new church in Lemoore, California. This architects reply
brings the ideals of Catholicism together with the concepts of open-mindedness
and environmental responsibility-all under the umbrella of modernity and ingenuity. The fundamental ideas of church as community icon, devoutness through
architectural awe, and using natural light and material to tell the stories of faith
translate to a modern approach and aesthetic.
Sited prominently, just north of the bustling historic downtown, the church
gains a distinct presence as a beacon for the community. This icon for the
community embodies acceptance and inclusion by making the community halls,
sculpture garden, and public plazas available to the neighborhood. Adding another layer to this fundamental idea of community icon, this solution
chooses to respond to the community in an environmentally responsible way. Beyond creating dynamic natural lighting in the sanctuary, a central
oculus acts as a key component in the passive cooling system, allowing rising hot air to vent, thus reducing the load on the mechanical system.
Locating a parking garage below grade increases the area of pervious landscape maintaining a stable run-off system. Grounded in community
involvement and designed with the environment in mind, this church builds upon the idea of church as community icon while responding to its
context in time and place.
As historic precedence, we look to the gothic cathedrals of Chartres or Notre Dame and find an architectural theme of grandiose space used to
reinforce the religious theme of miraculous faith. To preface these monumental spaces, a ceremonial entry progression through a large plaza,
up a grand stair, and through massive doors sets a tone of formality. In addition, the drama created by the contrast of light and shadow through
openings in an otherwise massive solid structure inspires this miraculous faith. As a modern reflection of these fundamental ideas, the process of
formal progression through the space starts in the imposing concrete entry plaza and continues through monumental doors into the sanctuary. This
architect chooses to derive the buildings form by abstracting natural elements into an architectonic design. The structure of an insect wing inspires
an aesthetic of delicate webbing and responsive membranes. Light filtering into the sanctuary through a glass skin of cellular apertures created
from openings in the webbed concrete membrane which, brings an awareness of nature and God to the congregates. Similarly, a striking shaft of
light pours through the central oculus into the sanctuary emphasizing the dramatic contrast of light and shadow. The poetic biomimicry allows
the church to symbolically represent the Catholics fundamental belief in Gods creation of all natural things and reinforces the idea of devoutness
through architectural awe.
Reflecting the fundamental ideals of Catholicism and Catholic architecture through an approach involving environmental responsiveness, community outreach, and striking architectural forms and dramatic natural lighting, this church begins to tighten the gap between a religion drenched in
tradition and a congregation of forward-thinking men and women.
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Reconciliation through Sign and Image: The Suburban Parish Church

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The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that a church is a sign of the pilgrim Church on earth and reflection of the Church dwelling in
heaven. The language of forms, the choice of materials, and the employment of iconography contribute to the signal clarity of the message that is
articulated through beauty. Saint Thomas Aquinas defines an objects beauty as comprised by its integrity, radiance, and proportion- whereby integrity refers to the perfection inherent in the totality of the objects parts; radiance, to the order by which its parts can be appreciated; and proportion,
to the incarnate relationship of the object to its maker. Belonging to the timelessly eloquent linguistic family of Catholic architectural patrimony,
Classical architecture is an allegorical expression of tectonic composition reliant upon the harmonious totality, cosmic order, and anthropomorphic relationship of constituent parts to the whole. It is inherently traditional, rational, and conversant, comprising a language and grammar of
custom that has been passed down from generation to generation. Analogous to a lexicon from which words of varying complexity may be drawn,
its vocabulary can be used to articulate hierarchy.
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The Catholic parish is a community of spiritual and physical dimensions and, as such, it is a catalyst for engendering authentic community. The
intent of this project is to propose an adoptable model with which a Catholic parish can sow the seed of a culturally-edifying, pedestrian-friendly,
mixed-use neighborhood of place organically rooted in the Churchs formal and constructional Tradition.
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Ecclesiastical architecture has never been limited to merely the creation of sacred space; hence, it is not unreasonable for Catholicisms architectural
patrimony to extend into the arena of urban design and planning. This proposed New Urban community is to be built around a sponsoring order
and a small liberal arts college with accompanying parochial schools on a plot of undeveloped rural farmland. Although fully incorporated into the
city of Shohola, the community is intended to be as self-sustaining as possible, with housing and a row of shops along the communitys Main Street
to be constructed as demand dictates.
The plan merges a street grid based on the Roman castrum into the topography of the existing landscape, with Catholic symbolism and allegorical
artwork embedded throughout the urban fabric. The college and municipal center are paired at the communitys innermost intersection as a symbolic gesture of the parallel lines of faith and reason noted in the encyclical Fides et Ratio; likewise, the church and community meetinghouse stand
opposite one another as a symbolic gesture of the proper cooperation between temporal and spiritual rule. The communitys church, dedicated to
Saint John the Evangelist, stands at the terminus of the decumanoshere named Center Street-transforming the ad orientum liturgy of the sponsoring order into an urban feature. At this point the cardo-here named Main Street-shifts in response to the existing topography, creating a small plaza
that draws precedent from Pienza. At the western terminus of the decumanos is a garden with allegorical statuary depicting the creation account. A
rosary walk, similar to that of Lourdes, works through the existing wooded landscape to the propertys highest elevation.
City of Saint John the Evangelist

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Saint John the Evangelist Church

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A sacred edifice must connect its parishioners to a Church that

transcends time and geography even as it incorporates various
cultural traditions. Among these traditions-and in light of the
Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum - is a renewed interest in
the Tridentine Rite, an architectural and liturgical manifestation of
an ancient and generally Western patrimony. This church, designed
for use by a traditionalist order, follows the basilica typology of the
first centuries of Christendom. Both the interior and exterior have
been left as exposed brick with a cast-stone colonnade unifying the
spaces throughout. The precedent for the colonnade derives from the
Corinthian order of the Arch of Constantine, itself constructed of
ancient spolia in a symbolic nod to the triumph of the Church over
paganism. The proportioning system of the plan is heavily reliant on
the so-called Golden Section, a mathematic pattern of theological
and scientific significancedue to its frequent recurrence in nature.
All ecclesiastical furnishings-including the pews, the ambo, the
baldachin, and the tabernacle-are to be provided by a salvaging
company. Theflooring is intended to evoke the Cosmatesque paving
style that is nearly exclusive to Rome. The gold gilding in the apse
and frieze is the only other
applied ornamentation, reminiscent of the ancient Byzantine imagery of heaven. Flanking stairs to either side of the high altar lead to a
crypt where
the sponsoring order hopes to receive episcopal permission for
burial. An original statue of Saint John the Evangelist stands at the
exterior entran of the church, while a detached baptistery at the
midpoint of the courtyard serves as a symbolic reminder of the
baptismal journey one renews upon entering the church.
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New expressions of Catholic orthodoxy are required in our contemporary world, and should evolve from within the diversity of existing Catholic
rites and traditions. By respecting and reincorporating varying cultural contributions into a singular Catholicity, powerful new modes of spirituality can emerge. This complex is not principally a worship center; rather, it is a conjoined monastery for both the male and female components of a
new order with an affiliated laity. The complex is entered through a formation house with flanking guesthouses for men and women. A symmetrical
plan ensures the equal distribution of all functions for male and female components of the order, with a large cloistered forecourt sequestering the
professed religious from the laity. Design queues for the stone-faced oratory are drawn from baroque models, emphasizing the orders similarity to
preaching orders of the Counterreformation. The remainder of the complex is executed in unadorned brick, which subordinates ancillary buildings
to the oratory. The oratory itself is cruciform in plan, with a directional nave entered on an elevated altar to the fore of a rood screen concealing
the tabernacle in the Lady Chapel. Side choruses delineated by screens conceal the brothers and sisters of the order from one another, while also
The Oratory of Saint Joseph Guardian of the Redeemer, Diocese of LaCrosse

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reinforcing the canonical norm prohibiting the interaction of the genders. The oratory is thus only partially public,
and forms a meeting space for the four components of the order: The brothers, the sisters, the priests, and the laity.
The sponsoring order has a special devotion to iconographic representations in the Byzantine tradition; accordingly,
icons are inserted into the rood screen in a manner not unlike the iconostasis of Eastern Rite communities.
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Carlo Fantacci
CHIESA dello SPIRITO SANTO

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The church of Holy Spirit, thought as a measured organism, becomes, in its turn, unit of measure and governing unit of the same block. The entrance is placed in the corner of the building, and emphasizes the passage from the material world to the spiritual world. Such passage is moreover
evidenced in the changing of the shape: the shape, externally square, is transformed in octagon, becoming then circle, as the form of the Divine
perfection, in the centre of the building. The Church besides the centrality, proposes to its inside, the idea of the distance, therefore one of the
generating topics of the plan is constituted by the guideline of the building from west to east, obtained through the real and symbolic passage of
the square in an octagon, direction that cuts and guides the building in the same time, and that proposes the topic of the distance towards the light.
The flooring made of travertine and the cement of the pillars, with their aspect nearly brutal, represent the bond that man has with the earth, and
therefore with the matter. However the vertical developmentof such elements would symbolize the desire to turn to one more spiritual life.
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The Wheatfield (John 12:24)

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... Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat

falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone: but
if it dies, it produces much fruit. (John 12:24)
This design proposal fulfill the requirement
of an architecture competition that called for
the transformation of an unused church into a
columbarium. The task of transforming a church
leads us to ask ourselves the question: how do
we understand our faith in the resurrection? Our
faith in the resurrection is best expressed in the
passage of the Gospel of John (12:24): .. Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into
the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies,
it produces much fruit. This image of faith based
on the resurrection is expressed in a wheat field
of bronze wheat stalks elegantly aligned on the
inner expanse of the neo-romantic church. Each
wheat stalk, represented as bronze steles, contains
the ashes of the deceased and is marked with the
deceaseds name and birth/death dates. Each stele
may contain the ashes of one or two deceased
individuals. The wheat blade at the top of the
bronze stele is a cross-like engraving of a fruit
symbolizing the oneness of death and resurrection.
At one end of the aisle is the statue of the Pieta
signifying the place of suffering and death. On the
other end of the a isle is the place of hope and Iife
as expressed through a water spring and a place
of rest for the ashes. The sanctuary remains for
the commendation and farewell. At the end of the
sanctuary behind the altar, we find the words of the
gospel passage John 12:24. This design proposal,
now patented, offers a church of the resurrection,
a place where eternaI Iife is visible as we face the
end of Iife.
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Saint Thomas More Church Renovation

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When Saint Thomas More Chapel was first dedicated in the autumn of 1938, it must have generated
something of a stir among those accustomed to more
traditional Roman Catholic forms. Designed by
William Douglas and the office of Douglas Orr, the
chapel sought to temper the gravity of traditional brick
masonry with a more modern sensitivity to space and
light, its large, clear cut-glass windows flooding the
nave with a brightness which worked its way across the
walls through the changing moods of the day. While
unusually spare in its overall conception, the interior
was enriched with a few carefully calibrated highlights - canopied altar, high pulpit, chandeliers - each
handled with imagination and considerable artistic
freedom.
they had spent decades in disarray and disrepair. In an act of

faith the remaining pieces were reassembled, reconstructed in
brass and copper, burnished to their original glow and reinstated
in their full glory, their curved surfaces refracting rays of light
across the painted masonry of the walls.
The project also presented the opportunity to design a new suite
of liturgical furniture - altar, baptistry, and ambo with sounding-board - to replace elements dating to the 1970s which had
proved foreign to the vocabulary of the chapel. The forms of
these new pieces sought to restore focus, to re-introduce those
moments of close attention originally intended to offset the
simplicity of the whole. In sympathy with the language of the
architecture their materials and profiles, while classical, embody
the freshness and playfulness of the 1930s transitional moment,
the juxtaposition of modern planes and baroque curves, of
exposed materials and
gilded highlights.
By the time the chapel entered its eighth decade,

however, it had lost some of the elegance of its youth.
Adjustments made in the 1970s to accommodate
changes in Catholic liturgy and unfortunate modernizations in the 1980s had stripped the interior of much
of its coherence and of many of the elements that had
served as counterpoints to the austerity of the
brickwork. While retaining its overall sense of tranquility, the chapel had lost its moments of
brilliance. Failing acoustical tiles were replaced with
a new ceiling of plaster and white oak, its articulation
re-establishing the rhythm of the space and its details
responding to an intent expressed in the original design but cut from the project as a late Depression-era
austerity measure.
These pieces were complemented by a new prayer alcove at the

rear of the chapel, set into the wood-paneled depth of the wall
and intended to provide a focus for private devotion. Its
hinged wood rail also re-introduced to the chapel the zinc-plated cast brass balusters whichoriginally composed the altar rail
but were removed from the sanctuary in post-Vatican II
alterations.
At an unhappy moment in the chapels more recent

history its chandeliers, extraordinary figments of the
1930s scientific imagination, their glass originally
blown by a fabricator of laboratory equipment, had
been entirely removed to the chapels basement, where
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Mar Thoma Shleeha Cathedral

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The Mar Thoma Shleeha Cathedral serves the St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago. The 42,600 s.f. cathedral serves as a
center of activities for 800 families in
the Chicago area and for 100,000 members of the community in
the United States and Canada. The program features a 1200 seat
worship space, Daily Chapel, and Eucharistic Reservation Chapel.
The basement provides a multi-purpose gathering space, and church
offices are located on the second floor. The cathedral was designed
with masonry cavity wall construction and a steel frame supporting
a steel roof structure, compression ring, and bent tubular steel dome.
The exterior features a rusticated masonry base, brick veneer and
limestone trim, and incorporates a baroque inspired front facade
complete with circular stone
medallions with carved symbols of the Catholic faith, a vaulted
niche housing a statue of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and images
of Catholic saints depicted in stained glass windows - all reflecting
the historic patrimony of Catholic church architecture. The main
worship space
features a large octagonal roof that culminates in a bell shaped
dome over the Sanctuary that is reminiscent of Indian architecture.
The same dome design is repeated in a smaller scale at the cupolas
above the octagonal chapel bays, and again at the wood baldacchino
enclosing the tabernacle in the Sanctuary. A suspended curtain veil,
which closes and opens only at the beginning of the Liturgy of the
Eucharist, was also designed to further heighten the sense of the
Sacred at the Sanctuary.
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Jude LeBlanc
Stella Maris, Our Lady Star of the Sea, New Orleans

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CITY CHURCH AND COUNTRY CHURCH--PLACES OF DEVOTION

These two designs seek to renew the tradition of Catholic sacred architecture. These projects seek to embody the teachings of the Catholic Church in built form. They are part of a larger research project focused
on the creation of places that matter in a world seemingly given over to the production of things that really
dont matter. In these designs, the practices of the church are maintained yet progressively transformed
through shifts in emphasis. The aspiration is to reinforce the language and drama of faith
through the transmission of light and use of materials; the typological transformations of
crypt, narthex, confessional, and baptismal; and the design of furnishings.
SITE AND MATERIALS
The two churches are complementary with a number of aspects in common. Both are sited in Louisiana.
The New St. Joseph Church located in the small rural town of Cecilia backs onto an existing mausoleum
and an above-ground cemetery on the Bayou Teche. The Church of Stella Maris, Our Lady, Star of the
Sea is located on St. Claude Street in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Both churches are positioned over
an above ground crypt and surrounded by a walled precinct. The garden walls of the country church are
themselves mausoleum walls that enclose publicly accessible gardens. This church reconfigures the existing
adjacent elements of watery bayou, cemetery, and mausoleum beyond. The walled gardens of the
city church are not publicly accessible. They are designed to create significant views from the church
building. The primary material in both projects inside and out is poured in place concrete. Wood elements
and furniture are cypress bleached silver grey. White marble is deployed primarily as fabric-like veneer. A
gray and white world is created in contrast to the verdant green surrounds. Fabrics and carpets complete
the interior.
CHURCHES AND THEATER
Church interiors are theatrical environments where the Last Supper of Christ and his apostles is reenacted,
in which Holy Communion at the same time commemorates that collective meal and transubstantiates
wine and bread into the body and blood of Christ. Gardens and nature are part of the narrative of the Catholic Church associated with landscape, the myth of paradise and natural harmony linked to salvation and
divine intervention.
Both projects position the church over an open air crypt, raising a traditionally dark space to the light of
day. Above-ground cemeteries are common in this region of the South due to the high water table. What is
novel in these proposed projects is the sliding of an above-ground cemetery underneath the church proper.
This is proposed not only for practical reasons of sustainability regarding the preservation of land. Placing
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the house of the living literally atop the house of the dead also functions symbolically metaphorically, as the embodiment of historical continuity
in the community of the faithful and as an expression of the task to prepare in life for a death in relation to Christ. The walled garden of the city
church is made of cypress trees and plants indigenous to the region, recalling a prehistoric tropical condition. It is the primary view of the congregation as seen through a vast window over the altar. This constructed garden alludes to the cusp between paradise, paradise lost and wilderness. It
is a reminder that: 1. We are historical beings who operate through language (In the beginning was the Word ... ); 2. We, all of us, are stewards of
the current ecological system that makes up our largest collective environment.
LIGHT
Constructed light in the country church begins with the reflecting pool on the south side of the building. It functions to mirror the church in
reflection and to bounce light off the ceiling of the crypt. The main body of the church is lit by saw tooth light monitors that move across ceiling
and down the south elevation. The monitors in the south wall would register light from the reflecting pool, especially before and during noon.
The country church contains three significant thresholds and three related elevations. Above the altar is a steel cross 12 by 24 with a backlit wall
behind. This cross is identical in material and proportion to the primary door frame at the west end of the church. One ascends steps over the crypt
and through the first portal/cross connected to the floor of the church. An identical cross is viewed in aerial position over the altar. Light in city
church is filtered through the primary garden. Each axis terminates in theveil of cypress trees.
NARTHEX AS COMMUNITY ROOM
In both churches the narthex functions traditionally in providing a room of transition to the sacred space of the church proper. However, extensive
glazing connects the narthex visually with the space of the surrounding neighborhood. The narthex functions as a community room of sorts, at
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least in signification. The room is visible both day and night, a sign of accessibility and a gracious open invitation to passersby to join the congregation.
LIGHT FILLED CONFESSIONALS
Traditional confessionals are dark and solemn. They tend to exaggerate the oppressive guilt associated with past actions. The proposed confessionals have large windows or skylights. They are light filled . The intention is to subtly shift the emphasis to the immediate future promise of cleansing
forgiveness that comes from confession, repentance, and resolve to reform in the sacrament.
BAPTISMAL AND CISTERNS
In both cases water from the roof is collected in visible cisterns, each related to the baptismal. The slope of the roofs and the collection of water is a
reminder of the large rains in the tropical south.
FURNITURE
If the Mass re-enacts the Last Supper the altar area is a communal dining room and the altar a dining table. The table is rendered in marble with a
gilded bronze base. The table appears mobile but is fixed to the floor of the altar area. The ambo/pulpit is designed as a lectern with two sides, one
side function s to hold a book open for the reader and the other side functions to display the Bible to the congregation.
POSTSCRIPT
ELEVATION AND FORM
Wouldst thou pass this lowly door?
Go and angels greet thee there;
For by this their sacred stair
To descend is still to soar.
Bid a measured silence keep
What thy thoughts be telling oer;
Sink to rise with wider sweep
To the heaven of thy rest,
For he climbs the heavens best
Who would touch the deepest deep
... what in an ancient Spanish church, may be seen written near the steep entrance to a little
subterraneous crypt ...from , Interpretations of Poetry and Religion, by George Santayana
One theme in the above poem is the implication of elevation, a concern in both of the proposed projects--elevation in relation to the body and in relation to programmatic and signifying elements. The diagram illustrates the formal rigor in the classic formal structure of the
poem. Both design proposals deploy geometric relationships at the scale of furniture, spaces,
the overall building and the site plan.
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New Saint Joseph Church of the Bayou Teche, Cecilia

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Duncan McRoberts
A New Monastery, Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
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David Meleca
Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Parish

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This will be the largest church in the Columbus Diocese, at 38,000

square feet and seating for 1500. The construction cost is under $12
million. The exterior is Richardsonian Romanesque and features
stone arches and watertable, custom columns, brick veneer throughout with blind arch tracery along the gable ends, and finials along the
parapet caps. The most prominent element, from both the interior
and exterior, is the octagonal crossing tower that will rise to 86 feet
high. The design team and contractors worked very hard to meet
the budget while maintaining the buildings integrity in material and
design. The parish is to be lauded for its ability to raise the funds for
this ambitious project in the midst of these trying economic times.
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Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Parish

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Following on the parishs request for an architectural connection

with Rome, the architect began with the architecture of the Italian
Renaissance for the design of the church. However, he made use of
the local materials and todays liturgical trends to make a building
which is rooted in the history of the Church but is very much a
building of its day. Though its traditional elements are evident, St.
Michaels is fully a church of the post-Vatican II era. The plan uses a
Greek cross as its primary shape, allowing for seating on three sides
of the sanctuary. In this way, each arm of the cross has a generous
aisle for wedding and funeral processions while still giving the
faithful a close view of the altar and ambo. This new church will
clearly look like a church both from within and without, yet takes
advantage of the insights of the Second Vatican Council to advance
the active participation of the faithful in the sacred liturgy. By doing
so, the parish not only provides the local church with a beautiful
and suitable space for its own public prayer, but proves to the world
that todays worship and its architecture can be solemn and beautiful
while still advancing the goals of liturgical renewal.
From Dr. Denis R. McNamara, PhD, Liturgical Consultant. Used

with Mr. McNamaras permission.
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Mercado
Chapel of the Annunciation

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Behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and will call His name Jesus.
- Book of Luke, Chapter 1, Verse 1
A message, a new hope, a revolutionary change, a light; Archangel Gabriel brings this in Gods message tor Mary. The Chapel of the Annunciation
celebrates the moment and its meaning. The triangular geometry of the site is already an allusion to the characters involved in the Annunciation:
Gods message about his Sons conception throughout the Holy Spirit. The corner between Payne St and Commerce St symbolizes the Archangel
Gabriel and his message, while the lower corner with the tree and the garden of lilies symbolizes the Virgin Mary and her willingness to follow
Gods words. The Sacristy has a view to this corner tor the priest to be in a state of serenity before the sermon. The entrance to the Chapel is
through an alley, which serves as a transition between the outside and inside of the chapel, insulation of noise, but mainly allows a meditation
before the ritual of Mass. The alley separates the sacred from the profane; administration office and restrooms from the actual Chapel. On the other
hand, the alley gives the Chapel the sense of belonging to Alexandria; there the alleys plan an important role as a urban characteristic; the materials, brick and siding wood, also contribute to this sense of belonging. Inside the Angels Corner the brick wall unfolds to let the light come into the
chapel, lighting its nine wooden columns that represent Virgin Mary pregnancy months. The heights of the corners are significant, going from high
to low, from the Archangels corner to Marys as the message came from heaven to Mary, but it also as respond to the heights of the surrounding
buildings.
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Andrea Picciani
Conicinnitas
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Andrea Picciani
The task of concinnitas is to order in precise rules parts that other wise would be distinct in its nature between them, so that their look presents a mutual
agreement
- Battista A1berti, Dereaedificatoria
Leon Battista Alberti, writing in his treatise in the mid fifteenth century, wants to define one of the qualities needed in a building using a term unheard in the
history of architecture, Concinnitas, used by Cicero in his Orator. For the Roman writer Concinnitas represents the balance of the arguments and the beauty
of exposure that a speech must have to be really convincing. Today the concept of Concinnitas is to be extended to the harmony with the buildings of the past
most representative in which identity of the place is constructed . For the sacred buildings of the Catholic Church Concinnitas is the choice to ensure continuity with the own history in its best spenL, to give value to its institution and to confirnr its strength in the representation of absolute values.
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Constantine George Pappas
In this tradition, the services were conducted in a true monastic style of worship in which seats of the Chapel face one another. Chanting occurs
with the order singing back and forth across from one another. The structure echoes the practice of the religion in much the same way. In keeping
with the Orders traditional roots, the architects chose to integrate traditional elements of the early Christian Churches that include a dome, apse,
rerodos, central aisle, and seating stalls.
The Chapel is designed with indirect natural light to fill the space from upper side windows. The Dome features a central oculus, which allows
one to see the cross at the top of the dome within the Chapel. Dating back to the mid 1800s, the rerodos (central Altar) was installed as the main
feature of the space. It includes the tabernacle that houses the body of Christ as well as other religious figures. Other antiquities include side
statuary, stained glass windows, and religious imagery throughout. Side walls of the Chapel are constructed with a full height wood panel that is
used to acoustically refract sound in the space.
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Saints Ann and Joachim Church

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The new parish church of Sts. Anne and Joachim in Fargo

calls upon the rich Gothic revival traditions and cultural
memory of the Northern European settlers to the area.
The Blessed Sacrament is enshrined in the tabernacle
directly beneath the 70 tall bell tower, announcing to the
community the message of the Lords living presence.
The parish has committed heavily to supporting the Catholic sacred arts through patronage of new stained glass,
murals, bronze reliefs, iconography in the floor medallions
and statuary.
The new altar, handcrafted from Rosso Levanto and other
fine stone, was consecrated on 11 February 2010 by Bishop
Samuel Aquila.
Throughout the design of the building and the furnishings,
the consistent use of the Gothic arch according to the Golden Section, and the Tudor arch, gives a unity of proportion
to the project.
The church plan accommodates 1300 seats in the nave with
a choir loft, in addition to an octagonal daily mass chapel, a
chapel for Perpetual Adoration, and numerous shrines.
The floor medallions represent the four cardinal virtues and
the three theological virtues.
The octagonal daily mass chapel incorporates antique
stained glass depicting the life of the Virgin.
Live stone is used throughout the sanctuary and nave walls
and floor, as well as the liturgical furnishings.
The ambulatory provides a place for quiet contemplation.
The blue sodalite recalls the waters of baptism.
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Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church

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The parishs desire for a church that recalls traditional Catholic architecture is a challenge for
the budget. After a parish survey, the idea of a Gothic church resonated with the majority of the
parishioners. The design strategy is to use conventional industrial and commercial materials: steel
frame and roof, tilt slab concrete panels, and cast stone and precast concrete veneer to achieve the
design in budget. The tilt slab panels are uniform for cost control, and carefully proportioned to
allow for future installation of stained glass. The final flourish will be the application of the skin:
cast stone veneer, precast window surrounds and finials, and the front porch, as funds are available.
The careful proportioning of the interior space work with the regularity of the bay spacing and the
repetition of strong design elements such as the hammer beam roof to create a sacred place
for Catholic worship in spite of the severe budget limitations. Traditional elements such as the
monumental triumphal arch with the Rood screen, and the profusion of stained glass windows
will strongly identify this building as a place of Catholic worship.
The application of traditional forms of sacred architecture within the commercially available
materials and construction methods used today allow contemporary parishes to achieve dignified
and worthy churches that can take their proper place within the great patrimony of Catholic
church architecture and create a living presence for the faithful.
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Thomas Stroka
The International Shrine of Holy Mary, Mother of Fair Love is situated in Boulder County, Colorado, at the base of Mount Meeker and Rocky Mountain National Park. The shrine is intended to be
a large-scale public place of pilgrimage as well as a private retreat and conference center. A formal
hierarchy is established so that the garden and forum are subservient to the church, while the body of
the church is below the sanctuary, altar and devotional statue of the Blessed Virgin.
Shrine of Our Mother of Fair Love

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The triumphal arch gateway is a symbol of the

triumph of life over death through the Christ.
In imitation of early Christian basilicas, the
garden is a place of purification and serves as
a reminder of ones Baptism. The main forum
is designed in the tradition of the plaza towns
of southern Colorado, with a large paved
courtyard for major pilgrimage feasts and the
outdoor celebration of the Holy Mass. The
entrance facade of the church superimposes
the Corinthian over the Ionic in honor of Holy
Mary, Mother of Fair Love as both Mother
and Virgin. Like many places of pilgrimage,
the shrine is crowned with a dome to signify
the infinite and perfect nature of the Heavens.
The Shrine applies the tradition of Catholic
church architecture to a unique program and
elaborates the language.
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Ann Boyak
Ann Boyak
A forgotten, wooded area in the center of a campus became the inspiration and the site for a non-denominational chapel. Drawing initial ideas
from the dappled light that gave the area it~ own sense of privacy, the concept of something hidden in plain site began to emerge. The religious
idea of God becoming man, or the Incarnation, became a deeper meaning of this treasure hidden in plain site, as God was hidden within the form
of man.
Hidden in Plain Sight - A Chapel
The chapels architecture and materials reinforce the interpretation of the Incarnation. Program spaces are cradled within strong outer walls. The
materials slowly disintegrate with each layer, from solid seeming translucent concrete to carved screens and then finally clear glass. This layer effect
of materials and shapes slowly reveals the sacred interior space. The exterior spaces are designed as well, with a pathway following a stations of the
cross reflecting pool to a tucked away adoration chapel. The benches spread across the field allow for a larger congregation during outdoor Masses,
a cathedral hidden in plain site.
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Leslie Edwards
Leslie Edwards
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

-John 1 :1
The Church of the first millennium was characterized by an intense desire and struggle to put divine mysteries, and beliefs of the new faith into
words. Words had the power to express deepest reality. For Adam in the garden, naming the creatures of the earth, calling them by their essence.
The writing of the word was an act of the profoundest craft, directly connecting the human hand to the word of god. Believers penetrated the
beauty of god through a veil of words, which held absolute truth, through liturgy, prayer and sacred texts.
In the modern age, words have become disconnected from reality, mere tools, endlessly manipulated, produced and published, physically disconnected from the human touch. The Church can no longer rely on words to express the divine mysteries because her people do not trust her words
any more than anyone elses.
A Model Church for the Third Millenium

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Calling to the world ... a new pentecost. Visible to all. .. but veiled in mystery. Lift up your eyes.
The Church of the third millennium is that which calls to those who are lost in the chaos, follow me. Her mysterious nature is what sets Her apart
from that chaotic world, full of superficial certainties; She promises experience of divine mystery, the answers to our deepest desires ,relieved from
the need to be explained or quantified through human means. We find a path laid out for us, and by following it, we are transformed. Through
these mysteries, we find ourselves. we find humanity. We are brought back to a place and time where we can truly hear the word once again, in
communion with the Church of the ages.
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John Pergallo
John Pergallo
Christmas
Easter
Pentecost
Instrument of Praise
Through analysis of how sound behaves in space, how as a listener we receive information through our aural sense, and an understanding of the
nature of a pipe organ to elicit physical and aural responses, we can begin to reveal the principles of sound architecture and let them shape the
experiences of the sacred in the built environment.
Allow the experiences to resonate the space once more
Instrument of Paraise
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Architecture as the Instrument.

When listening to a musical performance, it may not be immediately evident that just by simply being there you are a part of the performance. In
fact youre built form, (body) literally resonates with every chord struck and every note sung. You are in the midst of an energy that is continually
becoming more mature and enveloped with every second that passes. With every surface, every other sound-wave it collides with and with every
motion of your head and body, you are effecting your and everyone elses perception of the space through this medium. This energy impacting
your person is creating an environment, true architecture.
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Winding Diagram
By leaving out the air lock at the entrance, a tangible experience of air flow entering the space pulls past
you. This air then passes over the Baptismal font on its way to the confessional, then passes through the
structure of the space to the pipe organ.
Tonal Colors impacting the effect of movement towards the Altar.
This design was a reflection of Abbot Sugers concept to allow stained glass to mediate and celebrate
an unseen ever changing texture within a space. The frieze would be comprised of a series of different
discernible organ stops that would progressively be localizable when moving past them. Each seat in
the Church would have a different timbre. Instead of trying to create an equal experience of the Liturgy,
the design celebrates the fact that we each experience it in our own unique way. Moreover, with
the unique organ layout, the way music is heard and sung within the space will be vastly different each
time.
Vertical link between the Confessional and Altar.
It seemed most appropriate to link the events of Christs sacrifice and the gift of that sacrifice. The vertical relationship of the two is also reinforced by the unseen air movement air supplying the pipe organ
from underneath the isle of the nave. The air is then sent to the pipe organ from the actual confessional
space which is under pressure. This air, which is now full of the sins we cast off in the confessional is
transferred to the praise of God within the Mass above. Physically, pneumatically and spiritually the
Altar is linking the spoken words passed under it to spoken words passed over it.
While presiding over an organ dedication in Germany, Pope Benedict stated that the organ takes up
all the sounds of creation and gives resonance to the fullness of human sentiments, from joy to sadness,
from praise to lamentation. By transcending the merely human sphere, as all music of quality does, it
evokes the Divine. The organs great range in timbre from piano through to a thundering fortissimo,
makes it an instrument superior to all others. It is capable of echoing and expressing all the experiences
of human life. The manifold possibilities of the organ in some way remind us of the immensity and
magnificence of God.
The idea is to create a world for the audience to enter where architecture magnifies the expressive
dimensions of the music. Pamphlet Architecture_ 16
The most important stop on the organ is the space.
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Dominic Spadafore
Dominic Spadafore
But whoever lives by the Truth

comes into the the Light,
so that it may be seen plainly
that what He has done
has been done through God
(JOHN 3:21)
Our Lady of Light Catholic Church

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From urban farming, rainwater harvesting, a green roof and shared parking to design elements like semi-permeable paving, photovoltics,
prefab wall construction, and an adaptable congregation space, Our Lady of Light proves that stewardship can happen on many levels.
The courtyard not only acts as threshold and defines an area between public and private space, but also serves as: a sculpture gallery for the
Stations of the Cross; a place for people to enjoy the water features and pray during their lunch hour; or an intimate outdoor wedding location.
Our Lady of Light embodies the truth for which so many of Gods children search during times of personal darkness.
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Brian Spangler
Brian Spangler

Sacred Space Is An Individualistic Interpretation. Sacrality Is Understood As The Composite Phenomenon Of Layered Intrinsic Qualities. Here,
As Inspired By Petra Kempf, Each Quality Is Illustrated As A Way Of Understanding The Intricacies Of The Site, In Order To Design Interventions
That Become The Extrinsic Manifestation Of The Intrinsic Intricacy: The Sacred.
[Ws] Worship Site - Accessibility, Acoustics, Exchange, Topography, Climate
[Cs] Confessional Sites - Exchange, Acoustics, Topography
[Os] Oratory Site- Accessibility, Acoustics, Topography, Climate, Exchange
[Ss] Sacristy Site - Resources, Acoustics
[Pc] Parish Center Site - Accessibility, Grid, Resources, Exchange, Acoustics, Topography, Play
[Chs] Chapel Sites - Accessibility, Acoustics, Climate, Topography
[Soc] Stations Of The Cross- Play, Topography.

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The Church reaches beyond the liturgy to provide the infrastructure for secular agenda. As informal urban landscapes continue to grow as epicenters of cultural, social, and economic exchange, micro-communities within the larger context will increasingly seek ways through formal and
informal institution to exploit economic means and spiritual identity. By challenging institutional interiority and container traditions of Catholic worship spaces, the design reconceptualizes and articulates the spatial relationship of the sacred to the secular in order to reveal and inform
cultural pre-conceptions. The project seeks to embed within the urban landscape, the interventions being obvious and obstructive to intimate and
instantaneous.
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Worship site The form of the construct is derived from the monthly solar position, which focuses direct sunlight on the altar space. Corrugated
aluminum cladding diffuses the word of God, and is indigineous to the site.
Baptismal Font
The baptismal font is removed from the interior of the church as a renewal of the rite of baptism originally performed in a body of water emerging
through the landscape. stations of the cross The stations are removed from the container of theChurch, inadvertentlyand quietly guiding the informed Catholic through the extended narthex. The non-religious pass by these unobtrusive elements, where they become read as instances.
Confessionals
Confessionals are distributed throughout the site in particular areas rich in exchange and intimate surroundings.
Oratory
The oratory serves as the polar opposite to the worship space. The oratory is simple and solid, ensuring the Word of God be intimate
and direct. The elevated space removes the congregant from the material world to the celestial. thereby instigating a metaphysical meditation.
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Ami Badami
We are currently suffering by a lack of beauty and are in desperate need to awaken our hearts and eyes to see what
true beauty is. As a consumer society in which the secular media dictates what is attractive, appealing, and exciting,
the artsinstead of feeding our soulsare saturated with violence, pornography, and are attacked by the secular
community. The marvels of nature are disfigured by some modernists renditions of it. True beauty, however, is not
just ornamental; it is necessary for our psychological and spiritual well-being. The test of anyones mind is his mental
landscapea landscape, which, as in a sunrise when it is exposed to the light, becomes light-bathed. So, too our
spirits need to be God-bathed, and our eyes refreshed with beauty so that we can return to a healthy mentality. We
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are living in a time where our disfiguration of reality needs desperately to encounter beauty in order to unshackle our
lives and our hearts from darkness. We are wanting for a transfiguration and enlightenment so that we may search
anew to find meaning and happiness in life.
Beauty turns our hearts because it turns our heads, and we need to be turned in the right direction. True Beauty turns
us to God who is beauty Himself. It is the splendor and beauty of holiness that simply attracts us to holiness itself.
And, as Pope Benedict writes, Beauty is the experimental proof that incarnation is possible. It is the key to allowing
us to enter deeply into the mysteries of the faith, but how does something beautiful come to be? How does an artist
produce something that arrests us in a way that we cannot explain? There can be different impetuses, interior stirring
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of the individual, which can and may inspire pure, creative, and prolific output. One is the imperative need for the
artist himself to be spiritually grounded. That is, to be immersed in the solid fundamental teachings of the Catholic
Church, to long to grow closer to Christ, for the intellect and the spirit must serve the imagination. The traditions of
the church are manifested in the artwork if the artisan himself is part of the tradition.
Simply put, The Catholic Church today needs beauty. It needs art. Artists also, need the Church, its teachings, traditions, and inspirations. There is a synergistic bond between Christ the Master Creator, and the artist, who longs to
create true beauty for Him who is truth and Beauty himself.
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As Pope VI has encouraged artists, We need your collaboration in order to carry out our ministry, which consists,
as you know, in preaching and rendering accessible and comprehensible to the minds and hearts of our people the
things of the spirit, the invisible, the ineffable, the things of God himself It is your task, your mission, and your art
consists in grasping treasures from the heavenly realm of the spirit and clothing them in words, colors, forms -- making them accessible.
Just as Christ illuminates the world and Man is lifted up on the ascent towards Christ in the liturgy, so too must the
architecture and artwork that is within its walls serve to sanctify the space in which worship takes place. Christian
worship in the Liturgy is mankinds movement towards Christ, and Christ then moves to meet men. All forms of
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sacred art, then need to serve and extend the traditions of the Catholic Church to aid in this movement. Starting with
Church Architecture itself, along with sculpture, paintings, iconsall these things should and need to promote the
sense of sacred space, elevate the spirit, enlighten the soul, and aid in that continual ascent towards meeting Christ.
Especially during the Divine Liturgy where heaven kisses earth in Our Eucharistic celebration, we need to be in Holy
spaces and surrounded by beauty so that the treasures of the spirit from the heavens are indeed accessible to us once
again.
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Louis Astorino
Christianity no longer produces the worlds most arresting art. It is part of the battlefield where we lost the world,
and the place in which we are going to have to win it back.
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Louis Astorino
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Louis Astorino
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Louis Astorino
Marco Sammicheli
The need of updating sacred aesthetics is an issue that can hardly be challenged by any opponents. There are indeed
opponents, but their blindness is something rooted in the history of progress retarders. The debate is as pressing as it
is actual and all the involved parties are aware of this: the Church, artists, designers and scholars that go back to pondering their roles in this wholesome revolution of man interpreting the dialogue with the transcendental.
This is not the place to explore the relationship between art, architecture and the Catholic religion, nor shall I expatiate upon the fertile exchange of opinions and accounts. Yet that close dialectic, which gave so much to mankind,
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Marco Sammicheli
Marco Sammicheli
is again inflaming debates and creating habits. Today the Church is shyly
promoting that ancient and valuable discussion both theoretically, through
motions and declarations of intents, and practically, through donations and
activities.
Initiatives in which art and the culture of design are intended as a message, a
challenge to the noise of media, a complex, vital and congenial expression of
contemporaneity.
The connection to the Church has apparently changed: divulgations have
become more experimental, clients more trustful.
Given todays role of an architect, liturgist, artist and sound designer within
the design of a church, the utmost example of total architecture, artists and
designers can act as a glue, showing a mystic bond with tradition, the environment and the perception of time - as in the following examples.
The traditional supply of companies and designers that have been working
for the Church for decades is starting to open up to design-led innovations.
The recitation of the rosary, the rite of confession, the experience of a pilgrimage or the making of liturgical vestments are just some examples where
a rite or a believers daily practice have introduced formal novelties and
technical experimentations.
Genuflex, a company that can boast collaborations with Renzo Piano, Mario Botta and Paolo Portoghesi, has been
focusing on design for differently-abled people for years: the application of ergonomic studies has resulted in a space
that is easily accessible and respectful of privacy.
Finally, a mystic experience like that of a pilgrimage has been given by Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi a modern
approach based on the design of religious touristic services. A fleet of aircrafts is available for pilgrims to reach the
destinations usually covered in religious tours.
Thus a rosary has been turned into a pocket device that can be worn to recite prayers while doing other things, with
the help of a voice guide. The formal and technological innovation of the digital rosary doesnt change the meaning of
the rite, but radically changes its use. Similarly, Elisabetta Bianchetti has hybridized her familys manufacturing tradition with the language of contemporary fashion and co-operated with stylist Calvin Klein to create a vestment that is
liturgically rigorous but definitively modern.
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Thomas Gordon Smith
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Isabelle Gournay & Mary Corbin Sies
civic engagement vs. the pursuit of suburban middle class comforts. Despite these tensions, though, we think you will
see that these expanding parish complexes enhanced the identity of a new postwar suburban cohort and served their
multiple functions with practicality and grace.
The buildings we studied were site and program specific: down to earth. They ranged from dirt cheap to lavishly
decorated.
There was no dominant diocesan style. The complexes ranged from traditional to progressive and showed many
different characteristics of modernism.
Our talk presents an overview of the post-war building campaign of Catholic complexes in Montgomery and Prince
Georges Counties. In a period of great dynamism for the Catholic Church, these suburban parish complexes exhibit
practicality, fervent piety, and the use of architecture to sustain a rich community life. Although a few complexes
were built at once, like those you see on the screen, most experienced two distinct phases of construction: first, a
utilitarian school group accommodating worship in a multi-purpose space; and second, a monumental church.
As with Baby Boom modernism in general, suburban Catholic parish architecture and planning embodies tensions
characteristic of the postwar era: tensions between modernity and tradition, vernacular vs. more cosmopolitan design expressions, suburban sociability vs. enhancement of individual and collective spirituality, and volunteerism and
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We begin with a brief analysis of the context and process underlying the building of parish complexes. We continue
with a virtual thematic tour and conclude with an analysis of cultural and aesthetic issues significant to the preservation and heritage of Baby Boom modernism.
Forty-five churches and religious complexes were built in Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties between 1949
and 1971. New parishes were carved out from existing parishes or replaced simple missions. The first suburban
pioneers had to attend mass in places as odd as a Quonset hut or a movie theater. Their willingness to invest in subscriptions and communal effort and sweat equity underlay many Catholic building campaigns. St. Bernards auditorium, school, and convent in Riverdale were built by 153 volunteers, some non-Catholics, working in their spare time.
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St. Catherine Labour held dances to repay parishioners for all the hard work they were putting into the church
complex. Since Wheaton was still a raw, new suburb with little family entertainment, this parish was a social center
as well as the focus of Catholic spiritual life.
The Archdiocese of Washington--which had been detached from that of Baltimore in 1939 and included DC, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, and the primarily rural counties of southern Maryland--must be considered
one of the regions principal entrepreneurs sponsoring modern architecture. The Archdiocese closely monitored
parochial construction. From 1947 to 1973, it was headed by Patrick A. OBoyle, a social liberal (as evidenced by his
endorsement of school desegregation), but a staunch defender of spiritual traditions and papal dictates. Aided by a
dynamic team of clerics, seeking advice from members of the local building industry, OBoyle oversaw the construction of 317 buildings.
The Archdiocese began its highly centralized construction campaign by taking advantage of suburban landscape
amenities, selecting sizeable property, a dozen acres on average, in order to accommodate ample parking and school
playfields. Land was generally purchased with diocesan funds, but was sometimes donated by religious orders or by
developers who found it advantageous to provide or attract communal structures to their suburban neighborhoods.
The land chosen was near or adjacent to well traveled routes and often backed onto privately or publicly-owned
woodlands.
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The Archdiocesan Building Commission entrusted parish buildings to a small stable of pre-approved local architects,
whose community buildings (as evidenced by these pictures) peppered suburban Maryland. Most of the architects
were graduates of Catholic University. CU architecture professor and dean Paul Goettelmann designed three of our
churches. Johnson and Boutin, whom Terry Lachin mentioned, had their hand in many commissions in Montgomery County, as did Walton and Madden in Prince Georges County. In retrospect, the select list was both a curse and a
blessing as it discouraged design diversity while providing opportunities for improvements and refinements from one
project to the next.
The top priority of the Archdiocese after World War II was to open a primary school in each parish. According to its
education director, this was the only effective weapon against secularism, the denial of God in everyday life. For
all postwar suburbanites, schools for young children were key social condensers; with children attending Catholic schools, parish and family lives coalesced. Indeed, Maryland had a strong legacy of Catholic education. In the
mid-fifties, a vast majority of the states 17% of non-public school students were in Catholic establishments. By 1955,
Montgomery and Prince Georges counties each counted nearly 5,000 children in elementary parochial schools; most
came from middle-class families. By the end of the decade, when the school campaign was practically complete,
some establishments had more than a thousand pupils.
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In the mid-1950s, one third of the teachers were nuns. For them, the archdiocese built convents. Behind discrete, occasionally distinguished, facades lay spacious rooms: a parlor, community spaces, a private chapel, and even a music
room.
A parish hall was built along with, or shortly after, initial classrooms. With an average seating capacity of 600, it combined the functions of a school gymnasium and cafeteria, secular auditorium, and provisional worship space. This
mixture of religious and secular functions was thought crucial to maintaining a cohesive worship community in the
lower density suburbs.
These multipurpose spaces possessed ingenious flexibility. The majority were utilitarian, sometimes ennobled by decoration. From the exterior, parish halls were legible volumes, generally the only components of the complex without
a flat roof.
Rectories were usually contiguous to other parish amenities. They combined domestic and religious purposes,
hosting living quarters for two or three priests and their housekeeper as well as parlors and parish committee rooms.
Earlier examples have a traditional palazzo-type massing, endowing them with a slightly patrician character. 1960s
rectories expound the middle-class suburban vernacular, to the point of being housed in tract dwellings.
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The majority of postwar school and parish hall complexes were working with a modern vocabulary. The trend toward
functional and mostly unornamented schools with multipurpose meeting rooms/cafeterias/church auditoriums began
at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda, constructed in 1940-01 (top left). Utilitarian in design, their composition and
massing hugged the ground; in fact, the press used the term ranch-style to describe some of these buildings.
Parochial school design accommodated Catholic pedagogy, advocating a broad basic education; it displayed less
programmatic differentiationfewer specialized classroomsin contrast to public schools of the same period. The
Archdiocese did not take a cookie cutter approach to design, however. The massing in each school was always different; additions were seamlessly done.
Parish complexes routinely offered fine exterior detailing: stone accents, careful elaboration of entrance motifs, and
nicely worked religious symbols, most prominently the cross.
The design drama was reserved for the second campaign, the much awaited real church. As competition between
denominations marked the suburban landscape, church silhouettes had to expound a clear Catholic identity. The
churches we studied were not unprecedented, but neither were they mere copies. They exhibited a certain degree of
originality while adhering to two principal structural types: an inexpensive A-frame system and, later, steel-framed
sanctuaries enclosing much loftier spaces. We only have time to present key design features.
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We begin with the inexpensive A-frame that led to the creation of simple, good-natured brick gabled churches with
interesting patterns and textures.
During the 1960s, the fashion was for lighter (and cheaper) steeples. At St. Andrew the Apostle, a removable 40-ft
steeple of skeletonized steel pipe was indeed removed.
Some facades supported traditional Catholic iconography in the form of figurative, even realistic, sculpture or ornamentation articulating an extensive narrative program. Artistic elaboration was controlled by the Archdiocesan
Sacred Arts Commission. The two gabled facades we are showing you present examples of magnified ornamentation
meant to be seen from a moving vehicle as well as frontally. The first rendition of the Crucifixion is in stone and
stained-glass, the other in mosaic.
As suburban roadways widened, the traditional frontality of churches gave way to three-dimensional silhouettes. At
St. Catherine Labour literal billboard imagery expressed itself in stained glass. St. Marys in Landover Hills stands by
itself, estranged from the rest of the complex.
Canopies signified the suburban churchs orientation to automobile culture. The one at Our Lady of Lourdes along
East-West Highway was intended as a simple drop-off device, but at St. Bernadette, the canopy was used as support
for the Virgins apparition in Lourdes.
Proud and solid towers were definitive and uplifting signals in the low lying suburban landscape. St.Ambrose (top
left) has an illuminated bell tower 65 ft. high, surmounted by a 15-ft. aluminum cross. It is the highest object in the
neighborhood and casts the shadow of Christs cross all around, recalling His injunction to take up the cross and to
follow Him; and recalling that He came to bring His salvation to all men.
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No matter how basic an A-frame on the exterior, interiors provide exalted spaces for worship and meditation. They
employ modern vocabularies to achieve their spiritual effects. Wood supports in sleek renditions add tremendous
warmth and drama and often materialize lateral circulation.
By 1960, A-frame structures gave way to more heroic, tectonic expressions for very large rectangular or T-shaped
plans, with the altar occupying a more centralized position. Mount Calvary was the first suburban Maryland Catholic church to use steel framing. Several sanctuaries increased their drama by employing concealed lighting.
An important manifestation of modernity was the greater attention to the parishioners well being, physical as much
as spiritual. Capacious narthexes eased ingress and egress, served as an airlock to help keep temperatures more
comfortable. Every church provided well-equipped and accessible restrooms and other public amenities, such as
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telephone booths. At Mount Calvary a staggered canopy sheltered students and parishioners for processionals.
Architects placed the greatest visual and symbolic focus on the altar, whether the centuries-old version at the very
back of the sanctuary or the new, more open altar that modern suburban worshippers often desired.
During the later 1960s, the focus on the altar was enhanced through more modern architectural treatments to reflect
the new practices for conducting the liturgy as recommended by the Vatican II Council which convened from 1962
to 65. In 1965, Archbishop OBoyle authorized priests to hold a few masses facing worshippers.
essary, and local and regional church hierarchies were uncertain how to implement the changes brought by Vatican II.
There was a widening ideological divide between Catholic leaders and liberal priests and parishioners. Schools were
experiencing financial crises as teaching nuns had to be replaced by lay teachers needing competitive salaries. There
was rampant inflation and rising construction costs. The new Holy Family Church in Hilcrest Heights neared the $1
million mark in 1970-71.
Stained glass enables worshipers to transcend their surroundings which were becoming increasingly mundane and
commercial. They confer to the church interior a great spiritual power and provide solace against the world outside.
Then there were challenges associated with the architecture itself. Too rich a dcor led to over-pious worship of
images. Affluent suburban parishes were accused of having become comfortable retreats from current problems.
The entire suburban building campaign came to be regarded as a self-indulgent middle class act. In April 1968, in the
wake of the civil disturbances in Washington, D.C., Patrick OBoyle called for a moratorium on all new church and
school construction in his diocese. Funds were to be diverted to fighting urban poverty and funding social improvement programs, such as day care centers and affordable housing. Projects fully designed and already contracted, like
the rather spartan, single-level Saint Nicholas church in Laurel, however, were allowed to go forward. There Pastor
Kane practiced tremendous economies, fabricating on his own the simple furniture and altar screen devised by architect Jack Sullivan.
Church buildings were both agents and symbols of the triumph and crisis of suburban Catholicism. By the late
1960s, several forces contributing to a crisis for the church had gathered. Catholic social and service organizations
attracted fewer volunteers, vandalism and theft on parish grounds made locking church doors between services nec-
In more recent years, one or two parishes have demolished modernist architecture and rebuilt in a more traditional
Italian idiom. A case in point is Our Lady of Mercy in Potomac whose new church, seen at the top right, is less successful at combining monumentality and intimacy and has less compelling craftsmanship.
Our tour of interiors concludes with some views of walls of stained glass, generally part of the original design but occasionally added later. Frequently the glass is the most remarkable interior feature; it could range from quite modern
to more traditional in aesthetics and feeling.
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New worthy priorities included the construction of non-profit elderly housing on parish property, financed through
public-private partnerships.
The legacy of the Baby Boom era presents a quandary. In parishes losing member households, monumental churches
seem out-of-step with the times. At St. Ambrose in Cheverly, the current pastor would like to transform the transept
of his oversized church into a multi-purpose activity space and music room. The traditional separation of handsome
baptisteries from the main assembly space causes problems when large family groups attend baptisms.
Other churches are bursting at the seams as demographic changes brought large numbers of Catholic immigrants
from Central and South America, beginning in the late 1960s. A striking phenomenon is the advent of national ethnic parishes, new to the DC area. Parochial schools are providing a more welcoming home for Latino/a children, as
they did historically for earlier waves of European immigrants. Yet some, serving predominately African American
children, and non-Catholics, are threatened with closure.
The clash between white middle-class spirituality and more traditional devotional practices of new Latino/a immigrants sometimes manifests in decorative preferences. Here the Baptistry of Our Lady of Sorrows, a jewel of modernist simplicity, gained new dcor when transformed into a chapel.
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We would like to conclude by estimating the architectural and social legacy of Baby Boom compounds in the Maryland suburbs. Whether constructed in single or successive building campaigns, these complexes provide useful lessons in civic land use. They provide harmonious and scenic layouts, and picturesque but functional massing, clearly
governed by a concept of economical master planning. By taking such good advantage of suburban natural features
and the rolling topography of our region, they provide sound examples of situated modernism.
Another characteristic feature is the visual unity of the complexes, whether architecturally bold or utilitarian.
Careful and imaginative linking of parts of the complexes via canopies, breezeways, or clustering contributes to the
visual unity.
Most of the Catholic compounds are pieces of their time. As these examples demonstrate, whether in Camp Springs
or Silver Spring, they are compatible with their surrounding neighborhoods.
They are prime examples of modern suburban vernacularpart of a larger suburban cultural landscape, right down
to their permastone walls.
Inside, churches offer high quality and unique examples of craftsmanship. They maintain a high degree of integrity.
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Where there have been recent changes, they are usually architecturally compatible and well informed additions. At
St. Columba, for example, the sanctuary was reoriented and enhanced with beautiful woodwork. At St. Matthias,
beams were painted a lighter shade, cinderblocks were stuccoed and painted a light green, and the stations-of-thecross were remounted.
We found these complexes perfectly maintained, user friendly, and to all appearances, integral to the lives of parish
families. These compounds still serve their constituencies and the schools feed life into the church.
Catholic compounds in suburban Maryland, like the synagogue complexes in Northern Baltimore City and County,
constitute key components of suburban social practice. They express the social necessity of community building so
strongly felt by baby boom suburbanites, as much as Catholic faith.
These parish compounds need to be studied and appreciated as a group. Our examination strengthens our belief in
a culturalist approach to the study of Modern Movement resources in Maryand as building types rather than isolated
structures. If none is a singular masterpiece, they altogether present a compelling case for historical attention and
documentation. Although their designers are not household names, these churches are associated with highly regarded firms and individuals, such as contractor John McShain; Rambusch, or glassmaker Gabriel Loire of Chartres.
The stained glass windows provide a rich case study for better understanding the post-war golden age of stained glass
production, aesthetics, and iconography. [Note: possible thesis topic for graduate students in the audience]. There
are many, many decorative treasures hidden behind less exalting exteriors. In these church compounds, care and
beauty have crossed all income and racial-ethnic lines.
In short, Catholic parochial complexes in the Baby Boom suburbs carry a significant legacy deserving documentation, preservation, and public awareness. They provide an important chapter in the history of vernacular modernism
in both the Washington suburban region and the State of Maryland.
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Extending and Transforming

2010 The Catholic University of America

A Living Presence: Proceedings of the Symposium

A Living Presence: Presented Papers

Originality and Tradition: The Presence of the Past in Contemporary

Symmetria, Order & Complexity, Definiteness

Looking for a New Tradition: Transformations of the Spanish Religious

A Living Presence: Design Competition

City of Saint John the Evangelist

A Living Presence: Slide Presentations

Catholic Parish Church Complexes in the Maryland Suburbs 1945-70

A Living Presence: The Symposium

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Introduction: Michael Patrick

A Living Presence: The Symposium

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Apostolic blessing for the Symposium

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Introduction: Michael Patrick

Inspiration for the Symposium

Introduction: Michael Patrick

A Living Presence: The Symposium

The Nature of the Symposium

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Introduction: Michael Patrick

Speakers and Presenters

Introduction: Michael Patrick

A Living Presence: The Symposium

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Introduction: Michael Patrick

Introduction: Michael Patrick

A Living Presence: The Symposium

A Forum for Discussion

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Introduction: Michael Patrick

Information and Sponsorship

A Living Presence: The Symposium

A Living Presence, Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred

Building for the Future

April 30th through May 1st, 2010

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Information and Sponsorship

Information and Sponsorship

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Keynote Speaker: Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali

Associate Professor Duncan Stroik, AIA

A Living Presence: The Symposium

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Information and Sponsorship

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Duncan G. Stroik, AIA

Professor, Notre Dame School of Architecture

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Information and Sponsorship

Craig Hartman, FAIA

Information and Sponsorship

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Design Partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Denis McNamara, M.Arch.H., Ph.D.

A Living Presence: The Symposium

Information and Sponsorship

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