Clockwork Statues and the Council of Trent

[DL82]

I realise this is somewhat off topic, but figured people here have a good understanding of our Catholic history and the Tridentine Canons, so please indulge me.

I was reading recently that one of the things that concerned the Protestant reformers a great deal was not traditional art and statues, which may be found in Lutheran churches, but a new fashion for clockwork and moving statues in churches, which had begun in Prague and Bohemia, fuelled by the new discoveries in the sciences, and was leading to superstitious beliefs among the uneducated.

Now I don’t know of any moving statues in any Catholic Churches, so there must have been a turn against this in Catholicism too, perhaps as part of the Counter-Reformation.

I was wondering if anyone here knows anything about this, or can point to anywhere where the Church outlawed this innovation?

 

[DaveBj]

I have never heard of this; will be interested to read responses from cognoscenti.

 

[AbideWithMe]

I have never heard of this; will be interested to read responses from cognoscenti.

Same here…I’ve heard of clockwork statues, but not about their use in churches.

 

[3DOCTORS]

Steampunk Catholicism?

 

[Symphorian]

There were several such cases during the English Reformation. A well known example being the Rood from the Cistercian Abbey of Boxley in Kent. This was ceremonially destroyed during a sermon on Sexagesima Sunday in 1538 given by Bishop Hilsey of Rochester against the blasphemous and fraudulent use of images. The Rood Crucifix was said to have miraculous powers and was capable of physically responding to the prayers and supplications of pilgrims – for example, it could turn its eyes and move its lip. It was simply a jointed figure carving which was able to move like a puppet.

It was as a puppet that the Rood was publicly exposed by Bishop Hilsey who demonstrated the cords and mechanical devices which made the figure move before smashing it into many pieces where the assembled crowd took broken bits as souvenirs.

 

[Othmar]

There were several such cases during the English Reformation. A well known example being the Rood from the Cistercian Abbey of Boxley in Kent. This was ceremonially destroyed during a sermon on Sexagesima Sunday in 1538 given by Bishop Hilsey of Rochester against the blasphemous and fraudulent use of images. The Rood Crucifix was said to have miraculous powers and was capable of physically responding to the prayers and supplications of pilgrims – for example, it could turn its eyes and move its lip. It was simply a jointed figure carving which was able to move like a puppet.

It was as a puppet that the Rood was publicly exposed by Bishop Hilsey who demonstrated the cords and mechanical devices which made the figure move before smashing it into many pieces where the assembled crowd took broken bits as souvenirs.

Ah, interesting. I can somewhat understand the sentiment of the people in this case.

 

[Stephen_Korsman]

There were several such cases during the English Reformation. A well known example being the Rood from the Cistercian Abbey of Boxley in Kent. This was ceremonially destroyed during a sermon on Sexagesima Sunday in 1538 given by Bishop Hilsey of Rochester against the blasphemous and fraudulent use of images. The Rood Crucifix was said to have miraculous powers and was capable of physically responding to the prayers and supplications of pilgrims – for example, it could turn its eyes and move its lip. It was simply a jointed figure carving which was able to move like a puppet.

It was as a puppet that the Rood was publicly exposed by Bishop Hilsey who demonstrated the cords and mechanical devices which made the figure move before smashing it into many pieces where the assembled crowd took broken bits as souvenirs.

What would they have done with Powerpoint or YouTube???

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

What would they have done with Powerpoint or YouTube???

Or with all the audio-animatronic figures at the Disney parks?

 

[DL82]

Or with all the audio-animatronic figures at the Disney parks?

The difference there is that nobody is claiming that those figures work by supernatural means, or worshiping them.