St. Bernard of Clairvaux on architecture & Church

[Libertas_cordis]

In a letter Bernard of Clairvaux wrote in 1127 to William, abbot of Saint-Thierry, He complained about the rich outfitting of non-Cistercian churches in general and the sculptural adornment of monastic cloisters in particular.

I will overlook the immense heights of the places of prayer, their immoderate lengths. Their superfluous widths. The costly refinements, and painstaking representations which deflect the attention …of those who pray and thus hinder their devotion…But so be it, let these things be made for the honor of God……(But) in the cloisters, before the eyes of the brothers while they read—what….are the filthy apes doing there? The fierce lions? The monstrous centaurs? The creatures part man and part beast?..Everywhere so plentiful and astonishing a variety of contradictory forms is seen that one would rather read in the marble than in books, and spend the whole day wondering at every single one of them than in meditating on the law o God. Good God! If one is not ashamed of the absurdity, why is one not at least troubled at the expense?

Bernard also said this…

(Men’s) eyes are fixed on relics covered with gold and purses are opened. The thoroughly beautiful image of some male or female saint is exhibited and that saint is believed to be the more holy the more highly colored the image is People rush to kiss it, they are invited to donate, and they admire the beautiful more than they venerate the sacred….O vanity of vanities, but no more vain than insane! The Church……dresses its stones in gold and it abandons its children naked. It serves the eyes of the rich at the expense of the poor.

 

[johnshelby]

1 Kings 6:
19And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
20And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
21So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
22And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.
23And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.
24And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
25And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.
26The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.
27And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
28And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

boy, St. Bernard would have really pitched a fit if he had
seen this one…

 

[Libertas_cordis]

johnshelby:

boy, St. Bernard would have really pitched a fit if he had
seen this one…

Not likely. St. Bernard was born in 1090. I would bet he read this passage in the Bible and understood it very well.

St. Bernard had an opinion about the times in which he lived and he wrote about it. I am glad I can share it today.

 

[johnshelby]

well, i think a lot of times, people are faced with
the same dilemma Mel Gibson faced when he made
'The Passion"…

some people said it was too graphic and the suffering scenes
were overdone…

But, Mr. Gibson was probably caught up in trying to show
how much Jesus suffered… and no matter how long, or how
graphic the scenes, they would never be able to relate the
suffering Jesus endured because most of it was spiritual,
and not physical… but, he felt duty bound to try and depict
it anyway…

in a similar way, people try to make a building worthy
of the name, ‘house of God’… and they can go overboard…

and even understanding that the power of God’s church is
spiritual, and can’t be shown in it’s physical structure,
people can still get caught up in trying…

and St. Bernard’s ideas about his time, are the same as
a lot of people’s now… i find myself ‘overwhelmed’ by what
i consider excessive ornamentation in some churches…
but, when that happens, i say to myself, ‘look at the lenghts
they went to, trying to show their love for God’…

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Just a question, what does this have to do with Moral Theology?

 

[johnshelby]

i’m guessing that St. Bernard was questioning the
moral responsibility being shown, when people are
starving and unclothed, but so much was spent on
onrnamentation of church buildings…

correct me if i’m wrong about his belief’s… i’m not
completely familiar with them…

but, that would be a moral question… and would deal with
moral theology …

i think… lol

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

johnshelby:

i’m guessing that St. Bernard was questioning the
moral responsibility being shown, when people are
starving and unclothed, but so much was spent on
onrnamentation of church buildings…

correct me if i’m wrong about his belief’s… i’m not
completely familiar with them…

but, that would be a moral question… and would deal with
moral theology …

i think… lol

Yes I could see that but then this issue is more about the spending of money on things other than the needy rather than a question of the actual architectural choices being made.

 

[johnshelby]

granted that is true also… but, in the last section of the message
St. Bernard was quoted as saying…

“The Church……dresses its stones in gold and it abandons its children naked. It serves the eyes of the rich at the expense of the poor.”

so, i assumed it was addressing the architecture, ornamentation, and the morality of spending a lot on it…

and now, it seems that the subject has moved again… lol