“Beauty awakens the soul to act.” This famous quote ascribed to Dante Alighieri (Italian poet, 1265-1321) is well understood when we observe what happens in our daily life. The power of beauty and the sense of Beautiful impact significantly our daily habits. What is unavoidable is that, either we are artists or not. Furthermore, the sense of the beautiful is common to many cultures, that is, each people try to depict and express the beauty through specific ways. Actually, the most common medium might be that of art, as a cultural aspect and product of human intelligence. Consequently, through artworks peoples have handed on their traditions from generation to generation, and interacted with others.
Paying attention, for instance, to our surroundings, visiting museums or art galleries, we always find something that catches our attention and deserves our amazement and appreciation. In fact, we can admire several varieties of artworks such as painting depicts, sculptures, buildings, monuments, statues, mausoleums and so on.
Moreover, it is important to note that among the above-mentioned artworks, we can distinguish the profane art from the religious one. The profane does not have purpose beyond its expressing the beautiful or transmitting cultural messages. On the other side, the religious art intends to transmit messages related to religious world. For example, there is Christian art found in icons, buildings, paintings in Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant context. We also have the sacred art for liturgical purpose (songs, Altar, Chalice, Ambon, Tabernacle, etc.). Besides, there is non-Christian art in Buddhist, Hindu contexts (the statues of Buddha, Shiva, etc.).
On December 8th, 1965, closing the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI addressed special words to artists (poets and literary men, painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, men devoted to the theater and the cinema). He said: “This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the heart of man and is that precious fruit which resists the wear and tear of time, which unites generations and makes them share things in admiration.”[1]
This declaration of the late Pontiff reveals and reminds the interest the Church has developed about art in its connection with the beauty and the life of the faithful. However, as we will discover it, the Church’s interest has a different purpose.
Looking back at the history of the Church, it’s fascinating to notice how that interest has been developed since its very existence, and expanded according to the dominant vision of each period of the spreading of Christianity. Considering that the Church is founded in the world, its process of spreading implies factors regarding cultures, politics, theological and philosophical visions.
Therefore, since the very beginning and throughout centuries, the Church has been trying to find languages to announce the salvific mission to all people, dialoguing with different cultures. That is well expressed by Pope John Paul II in his letter to artists: “The art which Christianity encountered in its early days was the ripe fruit of the classical world, articulating its aesthetic canons and embodying its values. Not only in their way of living and thinking, but also in the field of art, faith obliged Christians to a discernment which did not allow an uncritical acceptance of this heritage. Art of Christian inspiration began therefore in a minor key, strictly tied to the need for believers to contrive Scripture-based signs to express both the mysteries of faith and a “symbolic code” by which they could distinguish and identify themselves, especially in the difficult times of persecution”.[2]
The Church is convinced that, since our Lord has chosen to become man, sharing our human life, it is important to find and develop approaches to celebrate, announce and witness to every people God’s plan of salvation, revealed by his Son, Jesus Christ. Art is effective and helpful for this purpose: “In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms that which is in itself ineffable. Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colors, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look or listen. It does so without emptying the message itself of its transcendent value and its aura of mystery.”[3]
On the occasion of the 1200th anniversary of the Second Council of Nicaea, Saint John Paul II called the catholic bishops to promote Christian art in its specificity. Referring to the Second Vatican Council, he said that “Over the past several decades we have observed a resurgence of interest in the theology and spirituality of Oriental icons, a sign of the growing need for a spiritual language of authentically Christian art. In this regard, I can only invite my brothers in the episcopate to "maintain firmly the practice of proposing to the faithful the veneration of sacred images in the churches" and to do everything so that more works of truly ecclesial quality may be produced. The believer of today, like the one yesterday, must be helped in his prayer and spiritual life by seeing works that attempt to express the mystery and never hide it. That is why today, as in the past, faith is the necessary inspiration of Church art.”[4]
Underlining the importance of faith in expressing the presence of the Lord among his people, Pope John Paul II reminded that “Authentic Christian art is that which, through sensible perception, gives the intuition that the Lord is present in his Church, that the events of salvation history give meaning and orientation to our life, that the glory that is promised us already transforms our existence. Sacred art must tend to offer us a visual synthesis of all dimensions of our faith. Church art must aim at speaking the language of the Incarnation and, with the elements of matter, express the One who "deigned to dwell in matter and bring about our salvation through matter”.[5]
In sum, the Church’s interest in art is motivated by the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who deigned to dwell in our midst to reveal his Father’s plan of our salvation. In order to transmit this Good News Jesus brought us, the Church needs to find languages that touch the concrete life of the believers and help them sustain their faith. Such a process is made possible through a wise dialogue between the Church and the context in which Jesus’ Good news is proclaimed.
[1] Closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: Address of Pope Paul VI to Artists, December 8, 1965
[2] Letter of his Holiness Pope John Paul II to artists 1999, n.7
[3] Ibid., n.12
[4] Apostolic Letter Duodecimum Saeculum of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, December 4, 1987, n.11
[5] Ibid.
