Why Men Cultivate their Masculinity When they Grow Flowers

In the Office of Readings, on the Feast of the Visitation, the first reading is from the Song of Songs.

It seems to have been a common theme  in late medieval art to portray Mary interpreted as the 'Garden Enclosed' as referred to in the Song of Songs. As someone who loves gardens I like the idea of the garden having a place in sacred art. I am talking here of the garden grown for beauty, the 'flower garden' as it would be called here in the US. In Britain, where I come from, 'garden' always means a place cultivated for beauty.

I am not aware of this being a common subject for artists to paint today and one wonders why? The first answer that comes to mind, almost as a knee-jerk response, is that genuine piety for Mary has declined and this is just one more casualty in the devotional lexicon.

It might be this, but also, it is very likely a reflection also of a different attitude to gardens and to man's place in creation that is prevalent today and especially strong in the US.

Historically, the wilderness was seen the place of untamed nature which is the home of the devil. Christ went to meet him there for 40 days and when monks and hermits went out to the desert, it was not so much as we might think today, to escape the city, but rather to engage in spiritual battle in the wilderness, the lair of the enemy. In the painting below by the Flemish artist Robert Campin (scroll down to the second last), we see the father of monasticism, Anthony Abbot (with St Catherine of Siena, John the Baptist and, I think, St Barbara), now resting in the garden having completed, one presumes, his spiritual battles in the Egyptian wilderness.

Today, however, the beauty of nature as wilderness is seen as the highest form of natural beauty, of greater beauty than cultivated nature (which would be thought of as unnatural because it is 'man altered'). Here in the US, for example, people particularly prize their national parks as places of wilderness unaffected by man. They are wonderful and beautiful places to visit, but nevertheless very different from those in countries that are of the Old World. In the UK, where I come from there is no part of the land, as far as I am aware, that is not man-affected. Our national parks preserve the look of ancient farmland. The Lake District, for example, in the northwest of England is a landscape that has been shaped by man for centuries through agriculture. It's beauty was admired by the Romantic poets - it is the place, for example, where Wordsworth saw that 'host of golden daffodils' that he wrote about.

The wilderness is beautiful, but it is part of a fallen world and we know objectively that by God's grace man can raise the beauty of nature up to something higher than the wilderness (it should be said also, that as a fallen creature with free will, he is also capable of destroying its beauty too). It is a neo-pagan philosophy that makes nature untouched by man as ultimate ideal for beauty. It arises from an attitude that man and his activity is not natural and the influence of civilization is always detrimental to nature. This attitude took hold strongly in the US due to the influence of figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

For the Christian, man is meant to cultivate the world (or large parts of it at least) and if he does so well, he elevates it's beauty because he raises it up to what it was meant to be. So farmland is more beautiful than wilderness and a garden, grown for the contemplation of beauty is more beautiful than farmland.

The second point that arises in my consideration of this is the question as to whether or not gardening is a male or a female pastime? Talking to many here in the US, the impression I get is that people see planting vegetables or rearing animals for food as a masculine thing; but growing a garden for its beauty as something intrinsically feminine. I have noticed since I have been here in the US that it seems to be a fashion among Catholic academics (especially those with distributist tendencies) who have even a small plot of land  to use it for rearing chickens, keeping bees or growing vegetables. But I don't see much interest in creating a 'garden enclosed'.

Again, this goes against the tradition and not the case elsewhere. Adam was a gardener, Christ, the new Adam, was mistaken for a gardener. Christ went to the wilderness to meet the devil, but when he wanted to pray to his Father, he went to the garden. Also, while Mary is identified with the garden itself, it was the man in the Song of Songs who cultivated that garden and gathered lilies for his love. Furthermore, to add a personal note, my great grandfather was head gardener of the Duke of Northumberland (so the family lore goes); my grandfather was and my dad still is a very keen amateur gardener (my father's garden was even featured once on national television).

Aristotle it seems to suggest that the natural home for man is not the wilderness but the city, where he lives in association with others. Scripture seems to support this: for example, in psalm 106 the city is the place of culture from which the wilderness is banished; and in the Book of Revelation, our final home will be the city of the New Jerusalem. That city, however, is not a concrete jungle, but rather is a garden city in which the Tree of Life flourishes and Eden has been restored by Christ the Head Gardener. The garden in these accounts is a place of beauty, a retreat for relaxation and contemplation for city dwellers.  Everything is grown for its beauty and to delight the senses - taste, smell, vision - as well as sustenance. The little bit of reading  about medieval gardens seems to suggest that, consistent with this, they were designed with both utility and beauty in mind (just as with architecture it seems, utility and beauty are seen as two different aspects of what is good). By this the work of man adds harmony to the hymn of the cosmos in proclaiming the glory of God.

Furthermore, Leo XIII said in his encyclical Rerum Novarum, that men  (I assume here in the sense of all humanity) should be encouraged to cultivate the land. I have heard this used as an argument by those Catholic academics to support the idea that they ought to be keeping chickens and bees in their backyard and growing vegetables. If you enjoy it then I say go ahead and do it, but I feel no such obligation myself. Frankly, I can't see the point as long as the local supermarket sells ready-cooked chickens for under $5 and jars of honey and vegetables and fruit from all over the world year round.

However, what is not so often remarked upon is that Leo says that in cultivating the land, man will, 'learn to love the very soil that yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of good things for themselves and those that are dear to them [my emphasis].' He says specifically that he should cultivate for reasons that go beyond generation of food. This I suggest is the garden that man can contemplate for its beauty. I would even go so far to say that this is the higher goal. The Marian garden is higher than the Marthan.

In advocating that men grow flowers I am not suggesting that this should be the goal of unreconstructed men so that they can discover their 'feminine side'. On the contrary, the cultivation of beauty for contemplation should be seen as much a masculine occupation as a feminine one and a way in which the true masculinity is realized for it is part of what mankind is meant to do.

Perhaps there are parallels in the modern feminization of flower gardening with the feminization of prayer and contemplation that has lead to a drop in the number of priestly and religious vocations in the Church, and to the fact that in a typical congregation women always seem to outnumber men. Perhaps the antidote to both is the same - the reinforcement of the role of fathers in the family. In the first case, by leading the family in prayer, and in the second case by being happy once again to  cultivate natural beauty as an example to their sons...even if it is only by watering a window box to grow flowers to give to his wife!

Pictures below is  Noli me tangere by John of Flanders, 14th century - Christ with holy spade! And below that: Martin Schongauer, Madonna in Rose Garden, 15th century; and below: Gerard David, and Robert Campin, both late gothic Flemish. Picture above are from 14th century English psalters.

TMC student commissioned to design a Cosmatesque floor for her parish in Idaho

Here is a heartening story that went out in a recent newsletter from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts descrbes how college senior, Amy Green is designing a Cosmatesque floor for her parish, Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Driggs, Idaho. She is doing this through the weekly Guild of St Luke art class at the college. The article below was written by student Marlene Schuler, Class of 2017. In this Amy describes how this will be done through members of the parish volunteering their time to lay the tiles. She told me in addition that these professional tilers had also managed to negotiate a deal with the tile supplier, who offered them a good price simply because he was taken by how unusual this project is. This is the sort of result that makes it all worthwhile for me. I'm sure Amy will do a great job! Another point is that the article doesn't say so, but as this is done on a limited budget, they would welcome donations to go towards the finished floor. So here's your chance to contribute to the rebuilding of Catholic culture. Contact me if you would like to donate and I will put you in touch with Amy and the church.

Anyway here is Marlene's article, which was headed:

Rebuilding Catholic Culture, One Tile at a Time

What inspired you to start this project?

Initially, it was the Way of Beauty program in freshman year. Then, it was furthered by going to Rome and seeing the Cosmati floors in person; in particular, the floors of San Benedetto and Santa Maria in Trastevere.

(The Cosmati floor in the basilica Sancta Maria in Trastevere that helped to inspire Amy) 

Could you describe a little more how the Way of Beauty Program was able to help you with this design process?

In the second semester of freshman year, Mr. Clayton focuses in on Euclid’s geometry and how it is applied in various art forms. At the end of the semester, we were asked to design a Cosmati floor using the techniques we were taught through the program. I was so struck by how easy this project was and how beautiful the floors turned out; which was incredible for me, because I have never been able to draw.

Currently, I am taking the St. Luke art guild in which Mr. Clayton is able to help me with the design of the floor!

Where are you in the process of design?

I’m in the middle of designing the floor right now. Once I finish the design and our parish has raised the necessary funds for the floor, the project will begin. There are several parishioners who have offered to donate their time, talents, and materials to lay the floor. It’s going to be local parishioners and people from our town (including non-Catholics) all working together on the floor, cutting and laying the tile…. it’ll be like medieval times, when everyone from the village helped out.

I am also designing a website whereby people can donate to the project to help purchase the tile. I am hoping to have the website up and running by the end of this semester.

Is this something you would like to continue doing after the project is finished—after your tenure at Thomas More?

If there are other opportunities, I would definitely be open for exploring them. It’s so exciting to be able to use the education that I’ve received here so soon—even before graduating.

Announcing a Catholic Arts Conference for Fall 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska - Can Such an Event Be a Success?

There will be a conference for Catholic artists and patrons, covering painting, sculpture, architecture, music and film will take place in Omaha, Nebraska from October 27-29, 2016. Featured speakers are Anthony Visco, Fr Michael Morris (who writes the art articles for Magnificat, Denis McNamara and many other well known names, As well as sharing ideas about art, it will be a showcase for the artists and they will be able to interact with patrons, publishers, liturgical design companies and so on. I anticipate regular updates through the year.This is good news. I am not aware of something done on this scale before and so I pray that it is successful in furthering the new 'epiphany of beauty'.  The website is here.

However it does raise the question in my mind of what the aims of such conference should be and how might they be achieved? I am thinking particularly of the visual arts of painting and sculpture, the area I know best, as I write.

Over the years several people have suggested exhibitions to me as a way of promoting beautiful art and helping Catholic artists. As a rule I am skeptical about their value. The assumption seems to be that there are good artists out there who are unknown, and if we can provide a showcase for their work, it will give them a chance to become known and then patrons will commission them. I think that this assumption is wrong. In this age of the internet it has never been easier for artists to publicize their work. The reality is that there are very few good artists out there, most (not all) of these are trained iconographers and they are already generally known. Furthermore, the vacuum is so great, that anyone who really is any good will be noticed very quickly. So, when the call goes out for submissions and the art comes in, there are usually just a handful of good pieces but not enough for a whole exhibition and the organizers are forced to display much mediocrity just to fill the wall space. The overall, general impression for those who attend is that while the publicity speaks of a return to the values of timeless beauty produced by skillful artisans, they don't see it in the works on display. In the end art is a good as it looks, and people know what they are seeing. They see the disparity between the rhetoric and the product and will leave discouraged, believing that the future is bleaker than ever.

It might be that I am wrong and the work done in recent years in teaching artists skills and forming them so that they are aware of what constitutes Catholic sacred art has begun to pay off and there are now more good artists out there than I imagine. If so perhaps this event will put some patrons in touch with some artists who were previously unknown to each other. I am skeptical, as I have explained, but would be very happy to be proved wrong so I guess it is always worth a try!

I am a great believer in the idea that when the art is good enough, people will be clamoring to buy it. This is why Popes have stressed the importance of beauty. When it is present it connects with people regardless of how educated and how cultured they are and it sidesteps prejudice. I think that the evidence bears this out; good artists are able to get commissions. This says to me that the work to be done is not so much in publicising the work of artists, but rather in forming them.

Perhaps this conference can do more and play a part in sharing of ideas and in formation in way a simple exhibition does not ? Because of the stature of the people attending, it seems to me that it does offer the possibility of dialogue between creative people and with the Church and it's patrons. To the degree that it can achieve this, then I think that it can be useful. This dialogue is precisely what John Paul II called for in his Letter to Artists, so that there could be the development of new art that nevertheless participate in the timeless principles of beauty, goodness and truth. The desire is to create new popular forms that speak of and to the Church as it is today without compromising on the essential elements that make the art sacred and Catholic. Pope Benedict spoke of a similar need, for example in Sing A New Song, He talked of the need for artists to move out of the 'esoteric circle' (ie their friends at dinner parties!) and connect with 'the many'.

I believe that this will require all involved to be sincere in seeking to learn from each other try to understand what is needed today. On the whole artists are not good at listening to each other. I just think of my own reactions here. I am keen to meet patrons or people who might pay me for work, but it is easy for me to see other artists as competitors and my instincts are to avoid contact with them. This is my loss. I should be ready to learn from my peers. Raphael, no less, did not hesitate to copy the styles of others if he thought it would help his own, and I think we should be ready to do the same.  At such a conference, I would have to try to put aside this tendency and try to be ready humbly to learn from others and especially try to deepen my sense of how prayer and liturgy is connected to the form of art. This might enable my worship to inform my painting and in turn, one hopes, nourish that of others' too.

In this regard, I am pleased that the organisers have stated their intention to make prayer central to this. I hope that this a conference in which the liturgy - the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours -punctuates the days and that the organizers think very carefully about the environment in which they take place so that art, music, architecture and worship are all in harmony. By this the attendees might deepen further their instincts for how we engage with art in music in the service of our worship, which in turn will help them to paint better art.

As I have said I think that the signs are good here, so fingers crossed!

The website is www.catholic-artists.com.

Paul Jernberg's Mass of St Philip Neri - CD Available

One of the best Mass settings in English I have ever heard  A CD of the Mass of St Philip Neri, is Music Director of St Lucy's and St Monica's parishes in Methuen, MA. He is also Composer in Residence and Choir Director at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is now available from www.pauljernberg.com.

The whole Mass is sung, rather like an Eastern liturgy in which priest intones and calls and choir respond on behalf of the congregation. The recording has been done by the Chicago based, Schola Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle met under the direction of conductor J. Michael Thompson

This has been released to rave reviews (see for example comments from musicians and bloggers including Peter Kwasniewski at the Chante Cafe, here. He says the following 'Magnificent..one of the best English Mass settings I have ever seen.'

Charles Culbreth, a nationally respected choir director and composer, who has been a regular contributor at Chant Cafe and an important voice over the years in the Church Music Association of America commented: 'With the consistency of his expertise with Byzantine homophony, combined with near perfection and sheer genius of the harmonic/melodic construct of Paul Jernberg's setting, it cannot be just coincidence that Palestrina's patron bears the dedication of this Mass.'

The Our Father https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-0r5glY104#t=10 Glory to God in the highest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roxW_518SSg

A Suburban English Garden

Here are some more photos of my parents' garden in England taken this summer. I have described before how they have combined the English planting methods - creating herbacious and perennial borders in which no soil is visible - with ideas inspired by Spanish courtyard gardens that they had seen when visiting that country. The back garden is a small patch of ground perhaps 25 yards square. He is divided it up into rectangular areas that are either fully planted beds, or paved with flagstones and brick and dotted with large terracotta plantpots. There is no lawn here.

It is now about four years since it was first planted. The plants are maturing and as a result the amount of work need for upkeep is minimal. The plants just grow and block out the weeds. My parents are now at a stage in life when they cannot do any heavy lifting or hours of work gardening in week. This garden is now at a level where they hire someone to come in once in the spring to romove weeds from between the flagstones and any visible in the beds and generally tidy it up . Then it just grows and looks beautiful. With perhaps the occasional afternoon of deadheading, nothing more is done until the autumn when he will come in and cut down the perennials, prune the shrubs and again remove any visible weeds. I was commandeered for a couple of deadheading sessions in my visit!

Those who might have seen past articles about this garden will see how it is matured and changed in just a short time.

Anyway, here are some photographs (some, as you will see, taken before the dead heading was complete!).

A Walk in England Along the Shropshire Union Canal

After pictures of Wales, here is different sort of experience of man's work with the land. It is a walk (definitely a walk and not a hike) along the towpath of an 18th century canal near Chester in Cheshire, England. This is just about 5 miles from where I grew up. The Cheshire countryside is prime agricultural land. Never dramatic enough to be a tourist destination, I nevertheless love the gentle charm of the lush pastureland particularly when it is used for it designated purpose and you see dairy cattle or horses grazing. The canals of Britain are an interesting man made feature that now look a natural part of the landscape. Made for transportation of heavy loads of materials they fueled the early industrial revolution and then fell into decline when the railways were established.  So over just a short period, perhaps 50 years or so, at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century a network was built across the country, each one an investment project for entrepreneurs, as the the railways were to become later. They fell into disrepair and lay stagnant for many years. Then in latter years, perhaps the last 50 were seen in a different light and have been dredged and cleaned. The old long boats which used to haul coal or iron ore have now been converted into floating mobile homes for holidays. The towpaths which were made for horses to walk along as they pulled the long boats canals are no longer trade routes, were turned into footpaths.

The canals are a product of liberal capitalism and industrialization built with none of the sort of regulation and public money that such things would very likely require today, the forces that are identified very often with all that is 'satanic' to quote William Blake, about the modern world. Yet they are now, along with the factories, mill owners mansions and workers cottages built during the period seen as objects of beauty. The canals are even regarded as positive aspects of the countryside as natural as a stream or river because of the habitats for wildlife they provide. As a Christian who believes that the work of man is natural and good (when guided by God's grace) and not automatically destructive this is no surprise to me; although it may cause a few hardline greens to hesitate for a moment and think about their worldview.

The canals were built to connect the industrial cities and their start and end points are often modern industrial towns (which can be ugly). Birmingham has, so I was told at school, more mileage of canal than Venice. The Shropshire Union Canal actually starts in a place called Ellesmere Port and is a branch of the Manchester Ship Canal. This old industrial Britain close to Liverpool on the River Mersey. I think that even the locals would hesitate to recommend it as a tourist spot...for the American readers it would be a bit like starting off in Flint, Michigan or Toledo, Ohio. While the exact point of departure, shown below has some 18th century buildings that are not unattractive, the first section does take you through some of Ellesmere Ports main features, the oil refinery and car factory...no the most photogenic.

But as you start to get into open country the scenery improves.

An old canal boat. What might have carried huge loads of coal in the past is now a holiday boat.

And another!

The lines of these old brick bridges are very attractive I think. Perhaps those who design the bridges that go over our motorways could learn from this?

I climbed up onto this one to have a look at the farm track that crosses over the canal.

The immediate scene is pretty, but the pylons in the distance indicate that we are still just coming out of a built up industrial area. The canal with the bridges and boats is as much an industrial landscape as the Stanlow oil refinery we see in the distance. We will know that Western culture has undergone the epiphany of beauty when even an oil refinery is a place of uplifting beauty... but we're not there yet!

Why the JPII's Theology of the Body says that Nude Figure Drawing is a Bad Thing

When Pope John Paul II presented his Theology of the Body and addressed artists directly, challenging them to portray the human figure 'naked without shame' and in such a way that the beauty of the human form would be revealed in an ordered way it caused quite a stir. Here was a Pope, now saint, it seemed, who was putting his intellectual weight behind the artistic tradition of painting the nude and not only excusing it, but promoting it. Finally Catholics who fancied themselves as arty and cultured could hold their heads up high at dinner parties amongst their sophisticated, non-Christian friends and happily say that although there were some puritanical elements in the Church, those who were uncomfortable with nudity were just narrow minded philistines who didn't really understand Catholic culture. It inaugurated the creation of a wave of contorted Theology-of-the-Body nudes that, the artists told us, communicated human sexuality 'as gift' by gesture.

I didn't get around to doing the paintings, but I did believe for a long time that JPII was a Catholic apologist for the Sixties, who could see the good at its heart and was able to distinguish, deftly, between those elements that were disordered or and those that reflected an ordered view of the human person. I also believed that the study of the nude was essential in the training of the human body.

Then I read the Theology of the Body and attended an atelier in Florence in which I did figure painting or drawing every afternoon. Now I am not so sure.

First, I no longer believe that the study of the nude is necessary in an artist's training. The method I studied relied on training the eye, not anatomy. In fact we were told not to think deeply about the structure of what we were observing. Moreover, there have been great naturalistic artists who were masters of the academic method and did not train with the nude, such as Velazquez and his contemporaries in the Spanish school of baroque naturalism. I understand that even today, the Russian school of academic art in Florence, Italy does teaches today to the highest level without painting the nude.

Also, my understanding of JPII's writing has changed. What I see now in his writings about art and nudity, which include the ToB, is someone who understands the differing traditions in art very deeply and who is conservative by nature. In fact he was strongly against the portrayal of the nude in naturalistic styles that must, by virtue of their naturalism, portray Historical Man that is, man after the fall (those painting or sculpting in the style of the 19th century atelier take note).

Furthermore, he said that only when the body is shining with the 'light that comes from God' can it have dignity when naked. This is a reference to what in the context of the icon is called the 'uncreated light'. He is proposing therefore that only highly idealised representations of the human form are appropriate such as we might see in the iconographic form. In common with other Christian commentators he also sees great dignity in the nudes of ancient Greece. It is the correspondence to this idealised form, and not its naturalism, I suggest that causes him to appreciate the work of Michelangelo so highly, especially his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. He sees each as a way of portraying the glory that was present in man before the Fall. After the Fall, dignity of Historical Man was restored by putting clothes on, not by taking them off.

We must also consider not only the effect of the image on the observer, but also how the process of creating the image affects both the model and artist. It is often stated that the etiquette of the studio, in which the model disrobes behind a screen and no one other than the studio master speaks to him or her when nude, protects the dignity of the model. In fact, if it does to some degree remove the general indignity of baring all in front of others and the erotic charge that is present when the model is attractive (and I am skeptical about that) then it does so by objectifying the person. That is, it creates a situation in which we no longer view the model as a person, but impersonally as a flesh shape, a nude. This is therefore participating, albeit in a different way, in the problem of today's understanding of the human person that the Pope is trying to remedy - it removes the dignity of the person so that they are just forms of flesh to be used.

Only the person bathed in the uncreated light of God and those artistic styles developed to portray him are appropriate for nudity, says John Paul II, for, 'If it is removed from this dimension, it becomes in some way an object which depreciates very easily, since only before the eyes of God can the human body remain naked and unclothed, and keep its splendor and its beauty intact.’

I have not formed a definitive view on this matter.  But at the moment my own position is that even if it was possible in the past, in this present age when the dignity of the human person is under attack, we must be more conservative rather than less, and put some clothes on our models.

I am open to arguments that reinforce the place of the naturalistically portrayed nude in the canon of Christian art and in the training of the artist.

This is a very short summary of a much longer article (10,000 words) that appears in The Beauty of God's House: Essays in Honor of Stratford Caldecott published by Cascade Books. I would love to hear readers' comments on this, but I ask that if you have strong views on the matter you read the full reasoning in the article above before doing so. Just in case you are wondering, I get no royalties for this. I am asking this in order that you might understand fully why I have reached these conclusions before writing.

Above and below, legitimate nudes: all the paintings above show the figure in highly stylized form and therefore come under the criteria approved by JPII, or else as a baby. The nudity of babies does not offend ever I suggest (I explore the reasons why in my article).

A Walk in Wales

Here are some photographs of a walk my brother, Rob, and I took on trip this past month to Britain. We climbed a mountain in North Wales. It was about a 3000ft climb from a town called Capel Curig. The mountain peak is Moel Siabod (pronounced Mole Shabod). The wild terrain is typical high sheep pasture. The purple tinge to the hills is the flowering heather which was not quite in full season.

It was a beautiful day and when there's no wind and the sun shines it all seems very benign. But come wind, rain and snow and its a different story. In fact we tried to climb the same route about three years ago and had to turn back because the mist was so thick that became too dangerous to continue. As you can see from the photos, the peak of the mountain is on a ridge, one side of which is a sheer drop of several hundred feet.

This is the beauty of a landscape farmed by man for centuries. No wilderness here!

The path start alongside a stream and then you start to climb up through the trees and emerge on to the fells.

Below, halfway up and time for a snackette!

We stop occasionally to look at the path we have just climbed.

The heather is just coming into bloom...

As we approach the top we hit the ridge and can see the steep sided drop on the other side with the lake below

And from the top, the views are magnificent

The sheep seem to be enjoying the views too!

The Beauty of God's House - a Collection of Essays Published as a Tribute to Stratford Caldecott

Readers might be interested to know of newly published book, the Beauty of God's House, which is a Festschrift for Stratford Caldecott. It is a collection of essays edited by Prof Francesca Murphy and features contributions from the Davids Schindler, Marc Ouellet, John Milbank, Aidan Nichols, Adrian Walker, Jean Borella, David Fagerburg, Nick Healy Jr, Michael Cameron, Phil Zaleski, Carol Zaleski, Derek Cross, Mary Taylor, Reza Shah-Kazemi, and myself with an afterword by his wife Leonie Caldecott. The book covers the whole range of Caldecott's interests, from poetics to politics. Anyone interested in the field of theology and the arts will find much to intrigue them. If there is a common thread that runs through them all it is, as the title suggests, Stratford's interests is in the beauty of the cosmos and how it reflects the beauty of God.

I contributed an essay on the place of the nude in Christian art in the light of JP II's Theology of the Body (and other writings including his address at the opening of the newly restored frescoes of the Sistine Chapel​ and his Letter to Artists​). The common lore has him as a Catholic apologist for the Sixties who stripped the loin cloths and fig leaves from the Sistine Chapel. In fact he spoke very strongly against naturalistic representations of the nude and I argue that in fact he was as about as conservative in his approach to the pictorial representation of nudity as ​Pius IV (who had some fig leaves painted on the Sistine Chapel​ some years after it was first painted).

I don't explain in the essay, but the reason I wrote this arises directly from conversation with Strat and Leonie Caldecott some years ago. I was working with both at the time to organise a summer drawing school in Oxford teaching the academic method and we were looking for a model for a life drawing class that was to be included. We couldn't find one and in the end someone we all knew well volunteered, but she would not disrobe. None of us wanted her too either because we knew her and that alone made it seem inappropriate. So what we did in the end was ask her to model, elegantly dressed, for what we called a full-figure portraiture class. Realising that if I was going to establish an art school for Catholics I was going to have to address this issue head-on I decide to do some research.

At that time I had unquestioningly accepted the received wisdom that came from Catholics and non-Catholics alike that it was part of the tradition and necessary for any good training of an artist. Therefore, I was looking to find justifications for the nude and for figure drawing as a practice that I could use against what I perceived to be over puritanical Catholics. I immediately headed for JPII believing he would be my great ally here, as  well as various other authors. Strat suggested to me that I read an article that had been printed in Communio some years earlier. It was a reprint of  a piece written by a contemporary and friend of Jacques Maritain called Erik Petersen and was entitled A Theology of Dress. Here was the complementary theology to the Theology of the Body and I found that the two were founded on complete harmony of thought. As I studied these writings and the Catholic tradition of figure painting, to my surprise I came to the opposite conclusion. I felt that the place of the nude in the Catholic tradition had been greatly exaggerated latterly and also that nude figure drawing is not necessary for the training of artists. The article explains my thinking in detail.

I intend to post a review of the book when I have read the contributions of the other authors.

It is available from the publisher, Cascade Books, here.

Now you have an option of taking the painting class for college credit

From Thursday to Saturday, October 23 - 26, Columbus, Ohio,  at a special low price, this course gives you the option of taking it for either college level credit, or continuing education units. Learn the style of the School of St Albans

This A residential class teaching the English gothic style of the School of St Albans will be offered in Columbus, Ohio between October 23rd and 26th. It will start on the Thursday morning and will finish at 6pm. Those who wish to stay of for Mass on Sunday can do so. The liturgy at the local church is beautiful. There will be regular praying of the Liturgy of the Hours and lectures to supplement the practical classes.

For those who wish to take the college level credits there is an additional online element which teaches about Catholic culture and the Catholic traditions in art.

This is suitable for beginners or experienced painters and I am pleased that now students who take it will have the option of obtaining 3 undergraduate college credits or 25 continuing education units accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, whose accreditation at undergraduate level is nationally recognized. I will be teaching this course and from now on all residential courses that I teach will be done so that those who take them have the option of gaining credits (including, for example, next year's summer schools).

The painting class is offered in conjunction with an online element that has 12 recorded lectures (produced by Catholic TV in Boston) and written material about Catholic culture and art that has not be published anywhere else. The painting course in October will be supported by talks and instruction on learning to pray with sacred imagery in the context of the liturgy of the hours. I have posted examples of both 13th-century originals in the style we study, and works done by past students in these classes.

The options for those who take this course are:

Audit the class and learn to paint: to take the course without obtaining credit, as has happened before cost is $370

Continuing Education Units: to take the painting course and obtain 25 hours continuing education units cost is $49+$370 = $419

Undergraduate College Credits: to take the course for 3 college level credits the cost is $1,050 + $370 = $1,420. In order to obtain the credits, as well as taking the residential class, students will do the online element which requires a short test after each lecture and appropriate reading, and a written 'mid-term' and a written final exam which will be submitted for marking. You can audit the online element immediately, here. The tests and examinations will be available when the painting class starts.

Online only for Continuing Education Units: in addition the online part can be taken without the practical element and without taking the tests and exams and this will qualify the student for 25 hours continuing education units. Suitable for all teachers or those wishing to design a curriculum such as homeschoolers, the cost is just $99. To register now go here. Learn about Catholic culture and transform you world!

In the online element, there are case studies on great works of art from the liturgical artistic traditions of the Church plus coursework on traditional harmony and proportion in detail not offered before, that goes right back to the original sources such as Plato, Augustine and Boethius. There is also an examination of how an education in beauty has its place in general Catholic education.

To register for the painting class contact Gina Switzer at gina.switzer@gmail.com  To register for the online course for a preview of the online course go to   Edevate.com here 

You will be able to register for college level credit from the first day of the class on October 23rd or if you wish to audit if for continuing education units you can register right now. For more information about the course feel free to contact me, emailing me through this website on dclayton@newliturgicalmovement.org .

Pictures above and first two below are of images from the Westminster psalter. Below that you can see work by past students.

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Suburban Garden in Boston that Transforms the Community

In his book Second Nature, A Gardener's Education, Michael Pollan suggests that the reason that Americans are so noticeably disinterested in flower gardening (in comparison with the counterparts in Western Europe and especially Britain where I come from) is due to their veneration of Henry David Thoreau and the influence of his book Walden. It is noticeable how it is not just those with land who grow flowers in Europe, even apartment blocks have window boxes filled with plants outside them and courtyards are routinely filled with planted pots. It is not absent altogether in the US but it is less prevalent. A walk around the suburb in the town of Nashua in New Hampshire where I live will reveal much less careful cultivation for the beauty of it than you would see in its British equivalent. In my experience, the American mindset is one that perceives 'unspoiled' nature and wilderness as the model of beauty, and anything affected by man as unnatural, and therefore less beautiful. The assumption behind this is that man is not 'natural', or modern man at any rate, and so his work with nature is almost automatically detrimental and destructive to some degree.

This is not the orthodox Christian view of man and his relationship with the natural world, though I have met orthodox Christians who believe it. As I have described before, man is made to work the land and not only for cultivation for food, but also for beauty. You can read it here in the article, Come out of the Wilderness and into the Garden.

At our very beginning Adam was a gardener in Eden, the risen Christ was mistaken for one and the New Jerusalem our final city dwelling described in the Book of Revelation contains beautiful gardens. In the Song of Songs the lover describes his love as a 'garden enclosed'. The beautiful garden is here used to illustrate the depth and passion of love between man and woman, which is in turn an allegory for the love of God and his Church. Ultimately this points, as all consideration of love does, to Love itself in the mystery of Trinity, whom Augustine characterizes as Lover, Beloved and Love.

In his encyclical on Catholic social teaching Leo XIII stresses the importance of man having access to the land and cultivating it. One surprising consequence of this is to create a fashion among Catholic academics for keeping chickens in their back gardens. Make no mistake, those who wish to do so for whatever reason, are free to do so and if by following this hobby it fulfills that desire to work the land then all the better. But I am not the least tempted to follow suit. I do love to eat chickens, but thank goodness the local and much beloved supermarket chain Market Basket sells eggs year round and has delicious, ready roasted chickens for under $5. This allows me to eat chicken for a fraction of the cost, effort and inconvenience that would be involved if I had a coop in the back garden.

I do accept what Leo says, though and feel that he describes me when he says: 'Men learn to love the very soil that yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of good things for themselves and those that are dear to them.' (Rerum Novarum, 47). Where I live now does not have land that I am able to cultivate, but I do not feel so deprived as many might think. I love to go out into farmland walking (as many Brits do) and enjoy seeing the beauty of the land responding to the labor of man's hands. This is something that, again, is much easier to do in Europe where people have much freer access to privately owned land for walking. Also, in accord with the Leo's quotation, I love to grow flowers in the house - growing 'good things for themselves'. This is a passtime with a contemplative end which even my two-year-old enjoys. She delights in the appearance of leaves and flowers in the household plantpots. So much so that we have to make sure in her enthusiasm to look at them she doesn't pull them apart.

I have just returned from a trip to England and as always when I return it makes me feel nostalgia for beautiful countryside and gardens. As a result you are going to see string of articles with photos of Britain in the next month or so. I hope readers will forgive my self indulgence. Also as a reminder to myself that good things are possible in the the US here are some more photographs about a tiny little garden in Boston that has a great impact.

Some readers will remember the wonderful story of my friend Nancy beginning a flower garden in the tiny patch of land available to her in her Boston city home. Here is a low income complex which was changed because she decided to plant flowers. As a result, the neighbours would see her doing this and talk to her and then they started to do the same. The manager of the complex was so pleased in the effect on the beauty of the place and the connections made in the community that she instructed that the common areas be planted too. So she walked the men who mowed the grass around the cul-de-sac and taught them to distinguish between the weeds and unwanted plants, and the flowers which were to be preserved. This act alone runs counter to Thoreau, who said that there was no real difference between weeds and flowers, it was all just in the subjective perception of man. You can read about the story here, How Small Household Flower Gardens Have Helped Transform a Boston Community.

All this and not a chicken in sight (although there is a very good supermarket round the corner selling ready-cooked ones). The photographs below are of Nancy's garden this summer and you can see, if you compare with the photos from the previous article, how the plants have matured very quickly.

I hope we see more of this! I would love to see the status of the profession and passtime of gardening raised once more to the degree that one might confuse Christ for a gardener when we see Him face to face!

Discerning My Vocation as an Artist

How I came to be doing what I always dreamed of

Following on from the last piece, as mentioned I am reposting an article first posted about four years ago. In connection with that, it is worth mentioning that one's personal vocation can change as we grow older. I am not necessarily set in the same career or life situation for life. What was fulfilling for me as a young man may not be right for me now. So I do think that regular reassessment is something that should be considered.

I wrote this originally because people regularly ask me how they can become an artists. One response to this is to describe the training I would recommend for those who are in a position to go out and get it. You can read a detailed account of this in the online course now available. However, this is only part of it (even if you accept my ideas and are in a position to pay for the training I recommend). It was more important for me first to discern what God wants me to do. I did not decide to become an artist until I was in my late twenties (I am now 52).  That I have been able to do so is, I believe, down to inspired guidance. I was shown first how to discern my vocation; and second how to follow it. I am not an expert in vocational guidance, so I am simply offering my experience here for others to make use of as they like.......

I am a Catholic convert (which is another story) but influential in my conversation was an older gentleman called David Birtwistle, who was a Catholic. (He died more than ten years ago now.) One day he asked me if I was happy in my work. I told him that I could be happier, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. He offered to help me find a fulfilling role in life.

He asked me a question: ‘If you inherited so much money that you never again had to work for the money, what activity would you choose to do, nine to five, five days a week?’ One thing that he said he was certain about was that God wanted me to be happy. Provided that what I wanted to do wasn’t inherently bad (such as drug dealing!) then there was every reason to suppose that my answer to this question was what God wanted me to do.

While I thought this over, he made a couple of points. First, he was not asking me what job I wanted to do, or what career I wanted to follow. Even if no one else is in the world is employed to do what you choose, he said, if it is what God wants for you there will be way that you will be able to support yourself. He told me to put all worries about how I would achieve this out of my mind for the moment. Such doubts might stop me from having the courage to articulate my true goal for fear of failure. Remember, he said, that if God’s wants you to be Prime Minister, it requires less than the ‘flick of His little finger’ to make it happen. If wanted to do more than one thing, he said I should just list them all, prioritise them and then aim first for the activity at the top of the list.

I was able to answer his question easily. I wanted to be an artist. As soon as I said it, I partly regretted it because the doubts that David warned me about came flooding in. Wasn’t I just setting myself up for a fall? I had already been to university and studied science to post-graduate level. How was I ever going to fund myself through art school? And even if I managed that, such a small proportion of people coming out of art school make a living from art. What hope did I have? I worried that I would end up in my mid-thirties a failed artist with no other prospects. David reassured me that this was not what would happen. This process did not involve ever being reckless or foolish, but I would always need faith to stave off fear.

Next David suggested that I write down a detailed description of my ideal. He stressed the importance of crystallizing this vision in my mind sufficient to be able to write it down. This would help to ensure that I spotted opportunities when they were presented to me. Then, always keeping my sights on the final destination, I should plan only to take the first step. Only after I have taken the first step should I even think about the second. Again David reiterated that at no stage should I do anything so reckless that it may cause me to let down dependants, to be unable to pay the rent or put food on the table.

The first step, he explained, can be anything that takes me nearer to my final destination. If I wasn’t sure what to do, he told me to go and talk to working artists and to ask for their suggestions. There are usually two approaches to this: either you learn the skills and then work out how to get paid for them; or even if you have to do something other than what you want, you put yourself in the environment where people are doing it. For example, he suggested that I might get a job in an art school as an administrator. My first step turned out to be straighforward. All the artists I spoke to told me to start by enrolling for an evening class in life drawing at the local art school.

My experience since has been that I have always had enough momentum to encourage me to keep going. To illustrate, here’s what happened in that first period:  the art teacher at Chelsea Art School evening class noticed that I liked to draw and suggested that I learn to paint with egg tempera. I tried to master it but struggled and after the class was finished I told someone about this. He happened to know someone else who, he thought, worked with egg tempera. He gave me the name and I wrote asking for help. About a month later I received a letter from someone else altogether. It turned out that the person I had written to was not an artist at all, but had been passed the letter on to someone who was called Aidan Hart. Aidan was an icon painter. It was Aidan who wrote to me and who invited me to come and spend the weekend with him to learn the basics. Up until this point I had never seen or even heard of icons. Aidan eventually became my teacher and advisor.

There have been many chance meetings similar to this since. And over the course of years my ideas about what I wanted to do became more detailed or changed. Each time I modified the vision statement accordingly, and then looked out for a new next step – when I realized that there was no school to teach Catholics their own traditions, I decided that I would have to found that school myself and then enlist as its first student. Later it dawned on me that the easiest way to do thatwas to learn the skills myself from different people and then be the teacher.

I was also told that there were two reasons why  I wouldn’t achieve my dream: first, was that I didn’t try; the second was that en route I would find myself doing something even better, perhaps something that wasn’t on my list now. When this happens you will be enjoying so much you stop looking further.

David also stressed how important it was always to be grateful for what I have today. He said that unless I could cultivate gratitude for the gifts that God is giving me today, then I would be in a permanent state of dissatisfaction. In which case, even if I got what I wanted I wouldn't be happy. This gratitude should start right now, he said, with the life you have today. Aside from living the sacramental life, he told me to write a daily list of things to be grateful for and to thank God daily for them. Even if things weren’t going my way there were always things to be grateful for, and I should develop the habit of looking for them and giving praise to God for his gifts. He also stressed strongly that I should constantly look to help others along their way.

As time progressed I met others who seemed to be understand these things. So just in case I was being foolish I asked for their thoughts. First was an Oratorian priest. He asked me for my reasons for wanting to be an artist. He listened to my response and then said that he thought that God was calling me to be an artist. Some years later, I asked a monk who was an icon painter. He asked me the same questions as the Oratorian and then gave the same answer.

What was interesting about all three people so far is that none of them asked what seemed to be the obvious question: ‘Are you any good at painting?’ I asked the monk/artist why and he said that you can always learn the skills to paint, but in order to be really good at what you do you have to love it.

Some years later still, when I was studying in Florence, I went to see a priest there who was an expert in Renaissance art. It was for his knowledge of art that I wanted to speak to him, rather than spiritual direction. I wanted to know if my ideas regarding the principles for an art school were sound. He listened and like the others encouraged me in what I was doing.  Three years later, after yet another chance meeting, I was offered the chance to come to Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, to do what precisely what I had described to the priest in Florence.

In my meeting with him the Florentine priest remarked in passing, even though I hadn’t asked him this, that he thought that it was my vocation to try to establish this school. He then said something else that I found interesting. He warned me that I couldn’t be sure that I would ever get this school off the ground but he was certain that I should try. As I did so, my activities along the way would attract people to the Faith (most likely in ways unknown to me). This is, he said, is what a vocation is really about.

Why the Benedictine Rule is Psychological Training for a Joyful Old Age

I once heard a discussion on the radio about preparation for old age. The focus was on making sure that you had sufficient financial resources and so there was talk of the need for people to start making contributions to pension plans early. One person offered a slightly different approach. While putting money away for the future was not a bad idea, he said, people should think about what they are actually going to do when they retire, furthermore they should avoid getting into the trap of living the whole of their working lives as though its only purpose is to provide for retirement. Why not try to find a way of earning money that you enjoy, he said? Then you will want to work after the age of 65 because you enjoy it and so reduces the amount of money that one needs to save; and makes the time both before and after retirement more enjoyable. As he pointed out, there is danger of being so fearful of being able to support yourself after 65 that the whole of you life prior to it becomes a waiting game in which retirement is a sort of 'secular afterlife', a reward for the drudgery of work. He had a point, I think. Firstly, pension schemes are not guaranteed however prudently one saves. Also, it is good to think about what we can do to enjoy life, before and during retirement, as well as having the money to do it.

Given that my physical capabilities are going to decline with time, shouldn't I be ready to change what do as I get older so that life is always interesting. I am 52 and so am aware of this happening already. I am reminded of my grandpa here. While he did the same job all of his working life which he enjoyed until he was 65, he always had strong recreational interests as well. He was an nationally known rugby player until he was thirty, when I he gave up rugby and took up tennis and golf. For the next 20 years he played for the local tennis club and got a golf handicap of five. Then at the age of 50 he gave up tennis and golf and took up the even more sedate activity of bee-keeping, which he did until he died at the age of 83 (at the end he was recruiting neighbours and family members to help him move the hives onto the moors for the heather-honey season). Bee-keeping was the hobby that he followed for the longest time and which occupied him during all of his retirement.

Ultimately, our happiness in life rests on more than having hobbies, of course.; but the principle of anticipating how we change as we get older applies as much to consideration of doing what is right and good, I suggest. This is where, for the Christian, consideration of one's personal vocation comes in. If we find out what God wishes for us to do then we will be fulfilled and He will give us the means by which we can do it.  I have written a number of articles on guidance that I was given and will repost one of these in the next couple of days.

In recent years I have seen a number of people approaching their last days and suffering from debilitating illnesses. This has made me think about the lives of those who cannot do anything without great help, cannot concentrate long enough on anything they observe to derive mental stimulation from it and cannot communicate with others easily. Is Christian joy on offer to them too? One has to believe so...but how?

It is distressing to see someone dying of cancer unable to do much more than watch television and eat when fed. I saw someone whom I loved slowly decline so that she was not able to concentrate or draw on her memory sufficiently well to engage in conversation. What made it worse was that she was aware of the decline in her mental abilities and was getting frustrated at not being able to respond and say what she wanted to. Unable to move without help, she was chair bound most of the day and would fall asleep periodically (perhaps under the effect of the pain controlling medication) and so could not even watch a television program long enough to follow what was going on and enjoy it.

I could not help trying to put myself in her place and imagine how life must be for her. How does one cope when there is little pleasure and continuous discomfort? It was a difficult question for me to answer, so I prayed that she could know that her family loved her. I prayed also that her capacity to respond to God's grace was always present, even as all other faculties decline in power. Then, I hoped, even in this last stage of life Christian joy can be hers too. Like the joy of the Christian martyrs who can inspire us, that there is a joy for her too that transcends the physical suffering and increasing isolation.

I have reflected also on what may be the future for me. Like any of us, it is quite possible that I will have to face such a situation myself. How would I fare? Is there any preparation anyone can make?

The only answer I could think of was a life of prayer, meditation ordered to participation in the liturgy. The Rule of St Benedict sets out one approach to such a life. As a Benedictine Oblate (of Pluscarden Monastery in Scotland) I have studied the Rule a little and have tried to adapt it a lay life.

A spiritual life should be focussed on the worship of God in the sacred liturgy and be a balance of participation in the liturgy itself, (the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours); quasi-liturgical prayer, which is structured prayer that echoes the patterns or content of the liturgy, such as praying the psalms, repetitions of the Jesus Prayer or the rosary; and personal prayer. The liturgy is the activity from which all other human activity is derived and to which it ought to lead us.  When this is understood, it makes all our everyday, common-or-garden activities fulfilling, while at the same ensuring that they don't become our primary goals in life.

In this context we can see that as we get older and our physical capabilities decline we will be forced to do things that are less physically demanding. If at this point we have developed the habits, then we will reach naturally for things that are in harmony with the principle of ordering our lives to union with God; and the activity of worship and prayer itself will start to occupy a greater proportion of our time, through default as well as desire.

For those I saw who were in their last days, even prayer becomes more difficult, they could not read a psalter, for example and gain anything from the text. What then? I remember being told of a lady who silently prayed the rosary all day in her chair. She could do this because the memory of it was indelibly imprinted on her mind through years of habit, so that her prayer was second nature, almost unthinking. This highlights the value of memorizing some set prayers when you can so that they are there to draw on later. I would go for some short psalms and the gospel canticles and the Jesus Prayer.

What if even the ability to do this has gone? It seems to me that contemplative prayer is what remains. Contemplation is a passive state of mind by which one is receptive to God's grace.  In his Rule, St Benedict insists on the regular practice of lectio divina (you can read about how to do it in my book, the Little Oratory or in more detail in a great book on the subject by Dr Tim Grey). St Benedict describes the fourfold process: three are active - reading, meditating (thinking) and praying and the fourth is contemplation a passive, receptive state of mind that we are lead to by the practice of the first three. We do not judge the success of this, incidentally by how feel during the process or even by the number of good ideas that might, occasionally, jump into our heads. Grace is not felt directly.

For Benedict,  the 'work of God' in which we participate is the liturgy, and so I have always understood lectio divina as a discipline that is part of a training that deepens our participation in the liturgy and so allows for a fuller union with God. In praying the liturgy we move from moment to moment engaging in one or other of these four processes and these constitute the dynamic of the exchange of love that is our goal.

It may be that the people who I have described and in whom even the possibility of active prayer and worship is reduced, that contemplation is the natural activity that occupies most time. I would like to think so, at least. I do not know of any reason to believe that the power of the faculty of the passive reception of God's love in contemplatio is impaired by old age.

There is no accounting for who will respond to His grace but, to the degree that any of us can develop that faculty, the answer seems to be to include the regular practice contemplative prayer in your prayer life now, would be an important preparation for a joyful old age.

I have been doing lectio divina daily this since I pondered over these things. I also try to put aside time when I can be 'alone with none but thee my God' - these are periods when I just try to sit and be aware of and enjoy being alive, devoid as much as possible from stimulation. It occurs to me that it would a useful to develop such as skill when there is discomfort and lots of distraction going on around me so that I can learn to cut it out.  I will not always be able to control my environment and I might have to try contemplatio in a nursing room lounge when the television if showing Wheel of Fortune at a loud volume.

Another point is that the limitations I describe are not the preserve of the elderly. Some are born with severe physical and mental handicaps and it seems to me that they too might be unsung, natural contemplatives among us whose presence brings untold graces into the world for the benefit of all. As I understand it, God is not constrained by the sacraments and neither is He bound to act in ways that require mediation of the senses for us to benefit from them.

When all is said and done, we may be surprised to discover who has contributed the most to the good of the world and who has lived a life of Christian joy.

Baroque Landscape: Chinese Baroque!

This is another in the series about baroque landscape…and its not about baroque landscape, but bear with me. It is relevant to the topic. I am fascinated by the beauty of Chinese landscape. Once I started to learn about the baroque style I noticed that the same basic features are present in the form of Chinese art too. Further investigation revealed that the traditional Doaist understanding of the natural world and man’s relation to it, as manifested in Chinese art, are in accord in many ways with the Catholic worldview. Considering form first: if we look at any of the paintings shown here we see these features. There are a limited number of principle foci of interest which are more detailed and more coloured. The areas in between these are muted in colour and rendered in monochrome, usually black and grey ink washes. In fact in Chinese painting the contrast in the treatment of the focal points and background areas is even more pronounced. The areas between the foci are often no more than a hazy mist. However, there is always a unity to the painting. It looks like a single scene not painting containing three unconnected scenes.

I began to investigate a bit and read a book called The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. This was written in China in the 1600s (which, coincidentally, is the baroque period in the West). What struck me is that their understanding of the natural world and how man relates to it is in accordance with the Christian worldview. The Daoist worldview does not include God, but it does recognize heaven, a place that is non-material. The natural world reflects a heavenly order and the task of man and his work is to act in harmony with it. Therefore, just like the Christian painters of the same period, they saw the beauty of the natural world as something that pointed to a place beyond it that was non-material. When we apprehend the beauty of nature, we perceive intuitively the harmonious relationships that exist between the parts; and the harmonious relationship of the whole to God (for the Christian), and to heaven (for the Daoist). As a Catholic I say that all harmony is derived from the harmonious relationships that are intrinsic to God, between the persons of the Trinity.

Compare, for example, two quotes that follow. The first by St Thomas Aquinas and the second by the Chinese sage, Lao Tzu:

‘The order of the parts of the universe to each other exists in virtue of the order of the whole universe to God’ St Thomas Aquinas (Questiones disputatae de veritate, 7,9)

‘Man’s standards are conditioned by those of Earth, the standard of Earth by those of Heaven, the standard of Heaven by that of the Way [Tao] and the standard of the Way is that of its own intrinsic nature.’ Lao Tzu, (from Tao Te Ching, XXV, 6^th century BC)

It seems strange to me, that with their view of an ‘empty’ heaven they did not, historically at least, welcome the revelation of a God. It is though they had already deduced the existence of heaven but with an empty throne, and Christianity could provide the only King who is worthy to sit on it. Christ even told us that he is ‘the Way’ (John 14:6)

So, coming back to painting, when they painted a landscape they sought to capture its beauty by mimicking the way that man observes nature. Again, this is just like the baroque method.

The landscape tradition is much older in the China than in Europe, and I would say that this representation of the balance between the particular and the whole was at a much more mature in Chinese art than in the baroque landscapes of this period. Part of the training of any artist should be the study of the work of Masters in their tradition. Any artist wishing to specialize in landscape could benefit from the study of Chinese landscapes, I suggest, even if the ultimate aim is a Western form.

This has happened in the past. There has always been an easy crossover between Chinese and Western naturalistic landscape painting. Nineteenth century French landscape artists, especially the Impressionists, were fascinated by Chinese and Japanese landscape and incorporated many compositional elements into their own work.

It works the other way too. To demonstrate the point, I should now come clean and explain that not all the paintings in this article were painted by a traditional Chinese artist. The second is, but the first and third are by a classically trained Italian artist, who was also a Jesuit missionary to China in the mid-eighteenth century, called Giuseppe Castiglione. He was admired in China for his work and was patronized by the Emperor. I first came across his work at an exhibition at the Royal Academy a couple of years ago.

The first painting below is by Castiglione again. The others are by a contemporary artist, Henry Wo Yue-Kee, based in Alexandria, Virginia. He was sitting in a shop front working one day when I walked past and noticed him. He told me that he had moved here from Hong Kong where he was trained.

I found this link through to short description of Castiglione's life and 40 images of his work (as reproduced on the stamps of China, Taiwan and Korea!)

The Nativity in the Initial P, c. 1395, by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339 – 1399), by Dr Caroline Farey

Art, as the Catechism tells us, can communicate through beauty aspects of the truth that words alone cannot. In this posting Dr Caroline Farey of the School of the Annunciation, Buckfast Abbey, Devon, England describes why this image was chosen to exemplify and communicate the idea of the via pulchritudinis - the pathway of beauty that leads to Beauty itself, and which is itself beautiful. This is an important aspect of the School's newly launched Diploma in New Evangelization, a distance-learning, interactive online course. Dr Farey also leads the School of the Annunciation summer school in ‘Finding Faith through Sacred Art’, August 14-17th at the same magnificent location and its not too late to enrol for that too. You can enrol through their website.

She writes: 'This picture and the whole page ‘evangelise’, that is, ‘proclaim the Good News’ and the artist friar, Don Silvestro, has chosen to proclaim it in glorious gold and exuberant life and colour!   The musical notes too join the joyous proclamation on the page to that of the choir who will sing from it.  The first two notes are an interval of a fifth, an uplifting interval, an interval used for the joyous moments in the Church’s liturgy. This illuminated capital letter ‘P’ is a depiction of the Good News that Jesus Christ, Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary.  You can see that the P is the first letter of ‘Puer’ ‘boy child’. God is born a boy child, born of a virgin  ‘betrothed to a man to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.’  Luke chapter 1:27.

'No ‘news’, no facts, no truth, can compare with this.  No other religion ever claimed that Almighty God, Creator of the universe chose to enter his created world and its history, as a human being, at a specified time and place in a particular family that could be verified with parents, Grandparents and cousins.

Let us look closely at the Latin words. On this page we find that these do not come from the New Testament (as the image portrays), but from the Old, from the prophet Isaiah (Is 9:6)

• ‘Puer nat(us) est nob(is)  ‘A child is born for us,
• Et filius datus e nobis - and a son is given to us,
• Cuius imperium - whose government  - (next page not shown) is upon his shoulder’.

'Here we have perfectly portrayed the unity of the Old and the New Testaments in Jesus.  As the Catechism tells us (CCC.102): ‘Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one utterance in whom he expresses himself completely’.   That is Jesus, the Son and Word and Image of God.   The Good News of God becoming man has been proclaimed in a hidden way throughout the whole of the Sacred Scriptures.

The Incarnation: a cosmic event

'Let us now look again at the miniature painting itself. This image portrays the event that changed everything, the whole of creation.  The open cave depicts the hard earth opening to let the love of God enter in and ‘dwell’ in our midst.  It follows the prophet Ezekiel (36:26) who speaks of our hearts like hearts of stone that need to be opened and replaced with hearts of flesh, hearts that receive the divine love of God by receiving the child Jesus.

It is a cosmic event, affecting all levels of creation.  Starting from the lowest level of inanimate and plant life we see that:

• From the grey rock a tree breaks into leaf and blossom and red and white flowers sprinkle the barren earth like life newly bursting forth.
• The animal kingdom is also affected, where, as Isaiah prophesied, ‘the ox knows its creator and the ass its Master’s crib;’.  (Is 1:3)
•        'Mankind is portrayed by Mary and Joseph and the shepherds.  Mary and Joseph show us in their attitudes, the way to heaven. They show what to do in the presence of God made man.  Mary ‘carries’ the Christ child, not letting him go and holding him in such a way that he is available for others.  Joseph faithfully follows the instructions of the psalm, ‘come in let us bow and bend low, let us kneel before the God who made us’ (Ps 94:6).  He kisses the baby’s feet as he adores him as God, following the first commandment : ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might’  (Deut 6:5)

'You will find the shepherds in various stages of their journey.  The closest is appearing from behind the rock cave.  Others are at the bottom of the page: on the right one is still sitting absorbed with playing a bag and pipe of some kind. Others in the left corner are startled by an angel and the sheep are wandering in a  confused state through the decorative border.

• As we move up the levels of the created world we see the angels here too, singing and dancing with Joy on the roof of the stable.
• Both as the sky and as heaven, the shining gold background suggests rejoicing in heaven and on earth, ‘the glory of the Lord shone around them ...’and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying  ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is well pleased’ (Luke 2:9 & 14).

'Let us look again at Joseph.  Here he is not portrayed sitting to one side, as in many images of this time.  Here he is taking the flesh of the feet of the child on his lips – what does this remind you of?  Yes, of receiving Christ in Holy Communion.  We must remember that this is a book for the liturgy of the Mass.  This page is the opening page of the Introit (opening prayer) for the Mass of Christmas Day.   Even as Mass begins, the image portrays that what happened on the first Christmas Day is the same as that which takes place at Mass, hence, of course, the name of the feast, ’ Christ’s Mass’.

'Lets look again at Mary.  Her inner dress and Joseph’s are the same colour – they are both human.  Mary is not divine.  Over her humanity, however, she has a mantle of blue indicating the ‘overshadowing’ of God the Most High (Lk 1:35) and the singular graces given to her for this moment.    Jesus’ garment matches the colour of the heavens, the glory of God.

'You will notice too that Mary is sitting on a most elaborate cushion with diamond decoration.   This suddenly reveals the artist’s concern to show Mary with the riches of a Queen, for the newborn King in gold on her lap, as well as to show her as Mother.

'In conclusion, we have the Good News portrayed here from the Old Testament prophesy to the New Testament event of the birth of Christ.  The Good News includes the ultimate Queenship of Mary as mother of the King of Kings and all of this is proclaimed for us liturgically with words and music, and eucharistically with Joseph’s adoration.'

The Landscapes of Jean Charles Cazin

Here are some paintings of the French painter Jean Charles Cazin who died in 1901 (h/t Giovanni Patriarca). He is not painting in the Impressionist style, but in a more naturalistic style. The Impressionists gave a much more generally looser rendition of the subject matter and were inclined to exaggerate colour. These examples are drawing on a different sort of 'impressionism' that of Velazquez which was studied in 19th century Paris , that we see in paintings of artists such as John Singer Sargent. In my opinion this form of impressionism is superior to that work of the Impressionists such as Monet. The idea here is to reflect much more accurately how we really perceive things. So in these paintings some areas are painted loosely and those parts which are the natural foci of interest in the composition are more detailed. This reflects how we look at things, casting our eyes more slowly and carefully over those parts in a scene before us that are of greater interest and so in our mind's eye which is really where we 'see', those parts are always more detailed. He was admired in his day for his 'poetical' treatment of landscape and especially the scenes with peasants working in the fields. Some of these subjects are a little too sentimental for my taste. I have included some that do appeal, which I find tend to be those in which there are no human figures, or if there are any they do not figure too prominently in the composition. The scenes are all rural France except for the urban scene which is of Paris. Giovanni has written an article in which he talks of the problem of the frantic pace of modern life and how this habit of constant activity it engenders in us, even in recreation, acts to pull us away from meditation and contemplation in our prayer lives. For him, Cazin's rural scenes, especially those with workers resting in the fields are a visual inspiration that give us a sense of how to pause and give a moment to God. The article is published in Zenit here.

Listen to this Chant in English

Chant that Competes With Praise and Worship Music! I have been contacted by a seminarian based in Boston called Pat Fiorillo who directs the choir of a young adults group in Boston.

He told me that through his influence of introducing this sort of music at groups he has worked with, he has seen a young people's group chant for the first time ever rather than singing only praise and worship music with the usual guitars and drums.

He sent me this recording of his group of singing the Magnificat to the Way of Beauty psalm tones composed by myself and with the harmonization by Paul Jernberg. They are singing it as a communion meditation for Mass on the Feast of the Assumption recently. The antiphon is composed by Paul Ford (whose work I otherwise know nothing of), but I must say that it sounds good. Pat is clearly working well with them, and I find their chant of the antiphon beautiful. They actually did all of the propers - introit and offertory also from Ford's collection - as well as Kyrie VIII, and Proulx's Missa Simplex. 

From what he describes everyone is enthusiastic about singing sacred music and he is pleased to have something that works in English which opens the way for congregations who might be resistant if he insisted on Latin. What is particularly encouraging is that this is a seminarian doing this! I hope this gives us an indication of what are priests will be doing in the future.

[audio mp3="http://wayofbeauty.thomasmorecollege.edu/files/2014/08/Communion-Magnificat.mp3"][/audio]

Painting Class in Columbus, Ohio; October 23-26th

From Thursday to Sunday, October 23 - 26, Columbus, Ohio,  at a special low price, this course gives you the option of taking it for either college level credit, or continuing education units. Learn the style of the School of St Albans

This A residential class teaching the English gothic style of the School of St Albans will be offered in Columbus, Ohio between October 23rd and 26th. It will start on the Thursday morning and will finish after Mass on Sunday. There will be regular praying of the Liturgy of the Hours and lectures to supplement the practical classes.

For those who wish to take the college level credits there is an additional online element which teaches about Catholic culture and the Catholic traditions in art.

This is suitable for beginners or experienced painters and I am pleased that now students who take it will have the option of obtaining 3 undergraduate college credits or 25 continuing education units accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, whose accreditation at undergraduate level is nationally recognized. I will be teaching this course and from now on all residential courses that I teach will be done so that those who take them have the option of gaining credits (including, for example, next year's summer schools).

The painting class is offered in conjunction with an online element that has 12 recorded lectures (produced by Catholic TV in Boston) and written material about Catholic culture and art that has not be published anywhere else. The painting course in October will be supported by talks and instruction on learning to pray with sacred imagery in the context of the liturgy of the hours. I have posted examples of both 13th-century originals in the style we study, and works done by past students in these classes.

The options for those who take this course are:

Audit the class and learn to paint: to take the course without obtaining credit, as has happened before cost is $370

Continuing Education Units: to take the painting course and obtain 25 hours continuing education units cost is $49+$370 = $419

Undergraduate College Credits: to take the course for 3 college level credits the cost is $1,050 + $370 = $1,420. In order to obtain the credits, as well as taking the residential class, students will do the online element which requires a short test after each lecture and appropriate reading, and a written 'mid-term' and a written final exam which will be submitted for marking. You can audit the online element immediately, here. The tests and examinations will be available when the painting class starts.

Online only for Continuing Education Units: in addition the online part can be taken without the practical element and without taking the tests and exams and this will qualify the student for 25 hours continuing education units. Suitable for all teachers or those wishing to design a curriculum such as homeschoolers, the cost is just $99. To register now go here. Learn about Catholic culture and transform you world!

In the online element, there are case studies on great works of art from the liturgical artistic traditions of the Church plus coursework on traditional harmony and proportion in detail not offered before, that goes right back to the original sources such as Plato, Augustine and Boethius. There is also an examination of how an education in beauty has its place in general Catholic education.

To register for the painting class contact Gina Switzer at gina.switzer@gmail.com  To register for the online course for a preview of the online course go to   Edevate.com here 

You will be able to register for college level credit from the first day of the class on October 23rd or if you wish to audit if for continuing education units you can register right now. For more information about the course feel free to contact me, emailing me through this website on dclayton@newliturgicalmovement.org .

Pictures above and first two below are of images from the Westminster psalter. Below that you can see work by past students.

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Paintings from Students at the Gothic School of St Albans Painting Classes in July

And a review by Fr John Bambrick from St Aloysius, Jackson, NJ Here are some of the paintings done by the recent' classes teaching the gothic style of art using the 12th century English illuminations of the School of St Albans (with one contemporary French image there as well). As usual what strikes me hear is the ease with which Catholics from the Roman Rite take to these forms which are closely linked to that Rite. I have taught many classes of Eastern style icons and there is a cultural barrier to overcome that means that the quality of the painting is not as high. Some who have been exposed to the prejudice against Western forms that you hear in some icon painting classes, are intially suspicious. However, once they accept that they are allowed to like Western gothic art and that it is just as authentically liturgical and worth of veneration as a Russian or Greek icon, then they seem to take to these forms very naturally.

Students always want to change things and interpret. In Eastern icon painting classes, you almost always have to say no because the changes suggested are not appropriate. I find that in this form the students quickly inhabit the gothic world and when they suggest changes they would like to make, they are in accord with the tradition and so, provided that it won't detract from the learning process, I usually them to do it.

 Fr John Bambrick, who attended the class at TMC in Merrimack NH wrote a generous review of the week in his parish bulletin and here is what he said:

"The Week of July 28^th I took a class on Christian Iconography at St. Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack New Hampshire.  It is a small liberal arts college with a strong traditional Catholic identity in New England.  Professors are called ‘Fellows’ at this College. To be honest I cannot draw a straight line; however through the skill of Fellow David Clayton I competed an egg tempera copy of an illumination from a Medieval Psalter.  The excellence of his teaching was apparent when the entire class completed their Icons.  If David is ever considered for canonization this could be considered one of his first miracles!  He has just published a very fine work on prayer for the family called, “The Little Oratory: A beginners guide to praying in the home”.  You can find this gem on Amazon.com.  He also maintains a blog on Art, Religion and culture called thewayofbeauty.org.   We also had a wonderful field trip to a Russian Icon Museum in Massachusetts.  One of the most reproduced Icons is the Mother of God under various titles."  The full bulletin is here.

Most of the students had never done a class before, although some were doing their second or third class. The image top left, which is shown again on a larger scale was done by an 18-year old who was attending his first class ever. The original images are from the 12th century Westminster psalter apart from the image of the Creator making the universe according to weight and measure and number, which is from a French manuscript of the same period.

I am receiving inquiries from about when the next class will be. So for any who are interested we will be running and icon painting class in Columbus, Ohio running from October 20-24th.  Full details will appear shortly in this blog and Facebook, but any who are interested should email me through this blog giving me your email address which I will forward to Gina Switzer who is organizing it.

Diploma in the New Evangelisation launched by the School of the Annunciation, Buckfast Abbey, Devon, England

Consideration of the liturgy and beauty is central to evangelization. Visual art in particular has a role to play - it teaches and informs us through its content, it's beauty helps to direct and deepen our worship of God in the liturgy and in a context outside the church, it's beauty draws all men to itself and then beyond to the source of all beauty, God, so opening their hearts to be receptive to the Word when offered to them. My good friends at the newly established School of the Annunciation situated in the grounds of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England understand it deeply. I am delighted to learn of the launch of their Diploma in New Evangelization. Taught through a combination of residential weekends and online this means you can take it wherever you live.

The New Evangelization is a fashionable phrase to bandy about (to the degree that anything to do with the Faith can be fashionable!). When I finally read Benedict XVI's document on the subject, written as Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope, what struck me is the simplicity of what he described, but nevertheless how needed it is. He wrote first of the need for personal transformation through prayer centred on the liturgy; and the emphasis on communication of final judgement by a just and merciful judge and of sure and certain hope in eternal life that brings joy to us in this life. This is made evident most plainly by the joy with which we live our lives and the love we show to our fellows. This emphasis on the next life, it seemed to me, anticipated his encyclical Spe Salvi, in which he states that it is the absence of hope in salvation, because of an over reliance in mastery of the material world to provide the answers to human problems, that is a cause of the lack of faith that exists in the West today.

They have chosen this image to promote and encapsulate the essential aspects of the course, as explained in detail below. It is Nativity in the Initial P, c. 1395, by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339 – 1399). Tempera and gold on parchment, 570 x 380 mm from Gradual 1 for the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano (Folio 38v) (Sometimes thought to be from the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence). Now in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

This illuminated page has been chosen to introduce the Via Pulchritudinis - the 'pathway of beauty' that leads to Beauty itself and is itself beautiful - that is a major feature of the Diploma, a distance-learning, interactive on-line course delivered by the School of the Annunciation situated in the stunning location of Buckfast Abbey, Devon UK.  The School of the Annunciation is a Centre for the New Evangelisation and the Diploma has been designed by Dr Petroc Willey a Consultor for the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation, The Via Pulchritudinis that is part of and accompanies the whole program has been designed and written by Dr Caroline Farey, who is also a Consultor for the Council.

Dr Caroline Farey also leads the School of the Annunciation summer school in ‘Finding Faith through Sacred Art’, August 14-17^th at the same magnificent location and its not too late to enrol for that too. You can enrol through their website.

In the next week I will post a fascinating detailed description of this illumination by Dr Farey, and an explanation as to why it communicates so beautifully communicates their intentions.