Catholic iconoclasm

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Adamek

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The walls of my very modern church are bare. There are no ornaments, no statues of saints or great frescoes adorning the walls. Tine stained glass windows are hardly noticable. Nothing to distract the mind. Nothing to tells the story of Christianity.

Should the church of today make some effort to put some illustraions (icons) on the walls to educate the religiously illiterate children?
 
In my opinion, yes.

It is, however, not iconoclastic to avoid decorating the church. You and I find it in bad taste, but some people might even prefer such minimalism while praying and celebrating mass.
There is also the issue that, in spite of all the common accusations made against the wealth of the Catholic Church, the reality is that the Church is really struggling financially and can just barely maintain itself and all it’s parishes. Many parishes simply can’t afford any decorations.
 
Adamek said:
Should the church of today make some effort to put some illustraions (icons) on the walls to educate the religiously illiterate children?
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If financial situation allows it, yes. In the end Saints are present at every Mass. This is very well symbolised in older Churches. Right now though statues, paintings and icons cost quite a lot of money. We have fairly new Church (IIRC younger than me and I am 21), and it has some paintings of our Lord and Blessed Virgin, and one wooden statue of our Lord and His Mother after Crucifixion. It is powerful statue and was donated (IIRC) to Church. So donations are one way to enrich Church walls 🙂
 
Beautiful art and icons have always helped my prayer life, ever since I was a child.

There have been church closings in the past, and the artwork and statues have been placed in a warehouse. Perhaps this is an answer for churches who cannot afford great artwork? There may be a way to utilize this unused art, tapestries, stained glass.
 
There are spiritual traditions within Catholicism which favor simplicity in architecture. Benedictines and Cistercians come to mind.

A 13th century Cistercian abbey church in my corner of the woods:

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A recent Benedictine abbey church in France:

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In these buildings, one of the things aimed at is making light – the metaphor for the presence of God – the main feature of the church, which gives life to the whole architecture. I’m not sure I’d say it’s iconoclasm, it’s simply a different “iconography”.

Of course, there are also churches which are bare less by design than due to financial constraints.
 
Some rural Maronite churches round here have little or no decoration. The churches are usually very old and make do with a couple of icons and a crucifix. I personally like it better as I think it gives the church building a more rustic feel.

I am somewhat ambivalent on the issue, actually, because I generally like icons and statues, but in some places (usually the older, smaller churches and chapels) I don’t. I am definitely not a fan of modern architecture, but understand what may cause others to like it.

That said, I think the OP has used the term “iconoclasm” incorrectly, as it’s not iconoclastic to prefer bare or sparsely-decorated churches. Iconoclasm is the rejection and destruction of icons, not their lack of use.
 
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There are churches that were intentionally designed to be simplistic. Some of them are depressing 1970s constructions that just shout out, cheap and ugly. Others have some merit going for them, I must admit, despite being in favour of decorated churches myself.

There are also older churches that were once richly decorated but have been modernized, often in connection with Vatican II changes that were overdone. I once attended a church where a lot of stuff had been banished into storage, including magnificent Victorian candle holders, a large procession crucifix and numerous statues. All of this had been replaced by tacky minimalist 1970s stuff that totally did not fit in a historic church building. Fortunately a later priest discovered the stored items and these were cleaned up and put back into use, one by one.
 
Adamek said:
Should the church of today make some effort to put some illustraions (icons) on the walls to educate the religiously illiterate children?
Click to expand...
that would depend on the architecture of the building. Mid century modern items look out of place in a neo gothic structure. Often church run out of money for decorating after a new building is built.

If you feel your church is too barren, meet with the priest or the parish council and offer to form a committee to decorate the church. Be prepared to have to raise funds. Most churches with a lot of ornamentation had people who donated for the specific item. Our family donated a Mary Queen of Heaven statue. These are not cheap items though so don’t be surprised if people prefer that the parish put their money into other things.
 
Long long ago artisans gave their skills to the church free of charge. This is of course not the case anymore. I think cost can be inhibitive.
 
Sometimes people also donate stuff in memory of deceased family members. We are considering donating a stained glass window in memory of our mother.
 
OddBird said:
In these buildings, one of the things aimed at is making light – the metaphor for the presence of God – the main feature of the church, which gives life to the whole architecture.
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In such a case, it is the architecture that conveys the message. However, my original thought was that throughtout the middle ages, and well beyond, church decoration served to educate the faithful. Paintings and frescoes told stories. They helped the faithful to contemplate aspects of Christianity which might have escaped them otherwise.
In the case of a Cicterian abby church, those attending would have the training already.
 
Adamek said:
In the case of a Cicterian abby church, those attending would have the training already
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Not necessarily. Famous abbeys, who had reputed relics or a sainted founder, tended to draw crowds who attended Mass in the abbey church. There is a well-documented case around here with Saint Maurice’s abbey, whose relationship with the local parish in the Middle Ages wasn’t too cordial as the pastors felt the abbey were robbing them of their parishioners.
Adamek said:
However, my original thought was that throughtout the middle ages, and well beyond, church decoration served to educate the faithful. Paintings and frescoes told stories.
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That’s a possibility, although I read an art historian who thinks it wasn’t the case - her arguments were that there is much of the impressive artwork, particularly stained windows, is in big, high-vaulted cathedrals, were they are often too high up to be seen well (at a time were short-sighted people wouldn’t have had glasses). She (I think, I can try to source that later) said that the aim was probably rather to create an impression of supernatural life by creating a vivid atmosphere, and that the global effect of being immersed in the otherworldly, rather than the detail of the scenes themselves, was what mattered.

I found that interesting because in that case, both ornate and denuded churches would have been ways of achieving the same thing, giving a foretaste of eternal life, either by presenting it to the imagination or by letting the light transcend the bare stones.

Of course, all that is speculation, but I rather like that hypothesis.
 
Adamek said:
The walls of my very modern church are bare. There are no ornaments, no statues of saints or great frescoes adorning the walls. Tine stained glass windows are hardly noticable. Nothing to distract the mind. Nothing to tells the story of Christianity.

Should the church of today make some effort to put some illustraions (icons) on the walls to educate the religiously illiterate children?
Click to expand...
Each church’s decoration is part of its own narrative. The Gothic stained glass contributed to the Gothic symbolism of space and light, as well as a visual catechism. The Benedictines have always favoured simplicity (and yet you cannot deny their spaces still give the sense of the sacred). The Baroque/Roccoco is a product of its time as well, as a means of emphasizing beauty and catechesis during the counter-Reformation.

The modern church’s design is also part of its narrative, and if that church is active, the narrative is ongoing. Why is it bare? Are illustrations on the church still effective or appropriate as a means of catechesis in this age of high literacy and education? Could the parish be just short of funds? If it’s important to you, have you offered to donate something? A statue, a painting, or even some funds? You are as much a part of the parish as is the pastor and parish council.
 
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Maybe it’s just me, but a lot of church art doesn’t make much sense to me until I either read the explanation or somebody explains it to me. Maybe it has to do with religious education these days being very much about bible stories and we don’t get taught the lives of saints in the way prevoious generations maybe did. In some older churches you get to see paintings that are not even depicting scenes from lives of actual saints but more folk art.

For example I know of a church in which a series of paintings show a local nobleman who saw a wonderous stag while out hunting, and who followed the stag until the stag showed him a special place in the forest, and he built a chapel there. He wasn’t a canonized saint and the rest of his life wasn’t even especially holy. There were no witnesses so we only have his word that this story happened at all. This is the sort of story that survives in many variants in many countries and places in local folklore but is only very weakly, if at all, connected to church teachings. It’s wonderful that such paintings do survive, but can you imagine doing that in a modern church?
 
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Adamek said:
Should the church of today make some effort to put some illustraions (icons) on the walls to educate the religiously illiterate children?
Click to expand...
It’s a matter of personal aesthetic taste and individual need. Too much will drive my ADHD kid to sensory madness. But I do like just enough images on stained glass, or some visibly hung Stations of the Cross, to inspire kids to tug at their parents’ sleeves and ask questions about them. Personally, I’ve really loved some of the more austere yet beautiful church interiors.
 
The tide is turning. We have two new churches in my area that are breathtaking and nothing near that dreaded 70s ugliness.
 
Yeah, current modern church architecture is much closer to traditional. The newest large church built around here has plain undecorated white walls, but also is in a cross shape (not round), has stained glass with traditional Biblical motifs in some windows (others are clear glass), and has large matching plain white statues of Mary, Joseph, the Sacred Heart, and three popular saints, all with candle racks. It’s uncluttered, but very nice.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Yeah, current modern church architecture is much closer to traditional. The newest large church built around here has plain undecorated white walls, but also is in a cross shape (not round), has stained glass with traditional Biblical motifs in some windows (others are clear glass), and has large matching plain white statues of Mary, Joseph, the Sacred Heart, and three popular saints, all with candle racks. It’s uncluttered, but very nice.
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Church buildings typically last a very long time, outliving those who built and designed thm by many generations. And different generations like to add their own elements. Additional statues, artwork etc. This is why many older churches are such an eclectic mish-mash of styles and I think this is also part of the beauty because it conveys the living history of so many generations having come together there to pray. If a church is cast to be too strict in any particular style this basically limits further development.
 
Some of these might be a bit Anglican but there seems to be a good opportunity to restore tradition at reasonable prices…
 
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