Advent. Part Five.

Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.

(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)

Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com

Originally published 1949.

Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.

Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

which reproduced them, with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press, from 

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.

The Nativity.

But, if the exterior practices of Penance, which formerly Sanctified the Season of Advent, have been, in the Western Church, so gradually relaxed as to have become now quite obsolete, except in Monasteries, [our recent (Late-19th-Century) English observance of Fast and Abstinence on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent, may, in some sense, be regarded as a remnant of the Ancient Discipline. Note of the Translator.] the general character of the Liturgy of this Holy Time has not changed; and it is by their zeal in following its Spirit, that the Faithful will prove their earnestness in preparing for Christmas.

The Liturgical form of Advent, as it now exists in The Roman Church, has gone through certain modifications. Saint Gregory seems to have been the first to draw up The Office for this Season, which originally included five Sundays, as is evident from the most ancient Sacramentaries of this great Pope. 

It even appears probable, and the opinion has been adopted by Amalarius of Metz, Berno of Reichnau, Dom Martene, and Pope Benedict XIV, that Saint Gregory originated the Ecclesiastical precept of Advent, although the custom of devoting a longer or shorter period to a preparation for Christmas has been observed from time immemorial, and the Abstinence and Fast of this Holy Season first began in France.

Pope Benedict XIV (1740 - 1758) adopted the opinion that 

Saint Gregory originated the Ecclesiastical precept of Advent. 

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Gregory, therefore, fixed, for the Churches of The Latin Rite, the Form of The Office for this Lent-like Season, and sanctioned the Fast which had been established, granting a certain latitude to the several Churches as to the manner of its observance.

The Sacramentary of Saint Gelasius has neither Mass nor Office of preparation for Christmas; the first we meet with, are in The Gregorian Sacramentary, and, as we just observed, these Masses are five in number.

It is remarkable that these Sundays were then counted inversely, that is, the nearest to Christmas was called The First Sunday, and so on with the rest. So far back to the 9th- and 10th-Centuries, these Sundays were reduced to four, as we learn from Amalarius of Metz, Pope Saint Nicholas I, Berno of Reichnau, Ratherius of Verona, etc, and such also is their number in The Gregorian Sacramentary of Pamelius, which appears to have been transcribed about this same period.

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PART SIX FOLLOWS

First Sunday Of Advent.

Text and Illustrations from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless otherwise stated.

First Sunday of Advent.

Station at Saint Mary Major.

Stational Indulgence of 10 years

      and 10 Quarantines.

Privileged Sunday of the First-Class.

Semi-Double.

Violet Vestments.

"See the fig tree and all the trees: when they now shoot forth their fruit 

you know that Summer is nigh; so you also, when you shall see these things 

come to pass, know that the Kingdom of God is at hand"

At Christmas, Jesus will be born into our hearts, for at that time the Anniversary of His Birth will be Celebrated. He refuses nothing to the Prayer of The Church, His Spouse, and thus He will grant to our Souls the same Graces which He gave the Shepherds and the Three Kings.

Christ will come again, also, at the end of time, to "condemn the guilty to the flames, and to call the Just with a loving voice to Heaven" (Hymn for Matins).

The whole of today's Mass is a preparation for this double Advent of Mercy and Justice. Some parts of it can be applied equally to either (e.g., the Introit, Collect, Gradual, Alleluia), while others refer to our Divine Redeemer's lowly birth, and others, again, (e.g., the Epistle and Gospel), to His coming in the splendour of His power and majesty.

The same welcome will be given to us by Our Lord when He comes to Judge us, as we give to Him now, when coming to redeem us. Let us prepare for the Christmas Feast by Holy Prayers and aspirations and by reforming our lives, that we may be ready for that last great assize, upon which depends the fate of our Soul for all Eternity. And all this with confidence, for those "who wait upon the Lord will never be confounded" (Introit; Gradual; Offertory).

In former times, on this First Sunday of Advent, all the people of Rome made the Station at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, to assist at The Solemn Mass which the Pope Celebrated, surrounded by his Clergy. This particular Church was chosen because it is Mary who gave us Jesus, and because Relics of the Crib, in which The Blessed Mother placed her Divine Child, are preserved in this Church. 

Every Parish Priest says Mass for the people of his Parish.

Perfection. Deo Gratias.

Illustration: PARENTDISH

Advent. Part Four.

Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.

(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)

Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com

Originally published 1949.

Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.

Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

which reproduce them, with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS, from

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.

Saint Thomas, Apostle.

Feast Day 21 December.

Double of the Second-Class.

Red Vestments.

This much is certain, that, by degrees, the custom of Fasting so far fell into disuse, that when, in 1362, Pope Urban V endeavoured to prevent the total decay of the Advent Penance, all he insisted upon was that all the Clerics of his Court should keep Abstinence during Advent, without in any way including others, either Clergy or Laity, in this Law.

Saint Charles Borromeo also strove to bring back his people of Milan to the Spirit, if not to the Letter, of Ancient Times. In his Fourth Council, he enjoins the Parish Priests to exhort the Faithful to go to Communion on the Sundays, at least, of Lent and Advent; and afterwards addressed to the Faithful themselves a Pastoral Letter, in which, after having reminded them of the dispositions wherewith they ought to spend this Holy Time, he strongly urges them to Fast on the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at least, of each week in Advent.

Finally, Pope Benedict XIV, when Archbishop of Bologna, following these illustrious examples, wrote his eleventh Ecclesiastical Institution for the purpose of exciting in the minds of his Diocesans the exalted idea which the Christians, of former times, had of the Holy Season of Advent, and of removing an erroneous opinion which prevailed in those parts, namely, that Advent concerned Religious, only, and not the Laity.

Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist.

Feast Day 27 December.

Station at Saint Mary Major.

(Indulgence of 30 years and 30 Quarantines).

Double of the Second-Class with Simple Octave.

White Vestments.

He shows them that such an opinion, unless it be limited to the two practices of Fasting and Abstinence, is, strictly speaking, rash and scandalous, since it cannot be denied that, in the Laws and Usages of The Universal Church, there exist Special Practices, having for their end to prepare the Faithful for the Great Feast of the Birth of Jesus Christ.

The Greek Church still continues to observe the Fast of Advent, though with much less rigour than that of Lent. It consists of forty days, beginning with 14 November, the day on which this Church keeps The Feast of the Apostle, Saint Philip. During this entire period, the people abstain from flesh-meat, butter, milk, and eggs; but they are allowed, which they are not during Lent, fish and oil.

Fasting, in its strict sense, is binding only on seven out of the forty days; and the whole period goes under the name of Saint Philip's Lent. The Greeks justify these relaxations by this distinction: That the Lent before Christmas is, so they say, only an institution of the Monks, whereas the Lent before Easter is of Apostolic institution.

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PART FIVE FOLLOWS

A Little Levity To Lighten Your Day.

Now is the Winter of our Discount Tent

(with apologies to Mr Shakespeare).

(Illustration: ANDREW SKURKA

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling. An Artistic Vision Without Precedent. (Part Five).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Creation of the Stars and Planets by God,

by Michelangelo.

Sistine Chapel Ceiling Fresco.

Image from Christus Rex.

From: English Wikipedia:

en:Image:Creation of stars and planets.jpg.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the Book of Esther, it is related that Haman, a Public Servant, plots to get Esther's husband, the King of Persia, to slay all the Jewish people in his land. The King, who is going over his books during a sleepless night, realises something is amiss. Esther, discovering the plot, denounces Haman and her husband orders his execution on a scaffold he has built. The King's eunuchs promptly carry this out. Michelangelo shows Haman crucified, with Esther looking at him from a doorway, the King giving orders in the background.

English: Interior of The Sistine Chapel

showing the Ceiling painted by

Michelangelo.

Italiano: Interno della cappella sistina.

Origine: http://artchive.com/ftp_site.htm.

Immagine preparata per Wikipedia da Adria Pingstone (:en:User:Arpingstone).

Date: 17 May 2004.

Source: Transferred from it.wikipedia;

transferred to Commons by User:Pierpao using CommonsHelper.

Author: Original uploader was Snowdog at it.wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)

The other two stories, those of David and Judith, were often linked in Renaissance art, particularly by Florentine artists, as they demonstrated the overthrow of tyrants, a popular subject in the Republic. In this image, the Shepherd Boy, David, has brought down the towering Goliath with his sling, but the giant is alive and is trying to rise as David forces his head down to chop it off.

The depiction of Judith and Holofernes has an equally gruesome detail. As Judith loads the enemy's head onto a basket, carried by her maid, and covers it with a cloth, she looks towards the tent, apparently distracted by the limbs of the decapitated corpse threshing about.

There are obvious connections in the design of the Slaying of Holofernes and the Slaying of Haman, at the opposite end of the Chapel. Although, in the Holofernes picture, the figures are smaller and the space less filled, both have the triangular space divided into two zones by a vertical wall, allowing us to see what is happening on both sides of it. There are actually three scenes in the Haman picture, because, as well as seeing Haman punished, we see him at the table with Esther and the King and get a view of the King on his bed. Mordechai sits on the steps, making a link between the scenes.

English: The Last Judgement.

Italian: Il Giudizio universale.

Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).

Current location: Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Italy.

Credit line: user:GianniG46.

(Wikimedia Commons)

While the Slaying of Goliath is a relatively simple composition, with the two protagonists centrally placed, the only other figures being dimly-seen observers, the Brazen Serpent picture is crowded with figures, and separate incidents, as the various individuals, who have been attacked by snakes, struggle and die or turn towards the icon that will save them. This is the most Mannerist of Michelangelo's earlier compositions at The Sistine Chapel, picking up the theme of human distress, begun in the Great Flood scene, and carrying it forward into the torment of Lost Souls in The Last Judgement, which was later painted below.

The Ceiling of The Sistine Chapel was to have a profound effect upon other artists, even before it was completed. Vasari, in his Life of Raphael, tells us that Bramante, who had the keys to the Chapel, let Raphael in to examine the paintings in Michelangelo's absence. On seeing Michelangelo's Prophets, Raphael went back to the picture of the Prophet Isaiah, that he was painting on a Column in the Church of Sant'Agostino, and, according to Vasari, although it was finished, he scraped it off the wall and repainted it in a much more powerful manner, in imitation of Michelangelo. John O'Malley points out that even earlier than the Isaiah is Raphael's inclusion of the figure of Heraclitus in the School of Athens, a brooding figure similar to Michelangelo's Jeremiah, but with the countenance of Michelangelo, himself, and leaning on a block of marble.

There was hardly a design element on the Ceiling that was not subsequently imitated: The fictive architecture, the muscular anatomy, the foreshortening, the dynamic motion, the luminous colouration, the haunting expressions of the figures in the Lunettes, the abundance of Putti. Gabriele Bartz and Eberhard König have said of the Ignudi, "There is no image that has had a more lasting effect on following generations than this. Henceforth, similar figures disported themselves in innumerable decorative works, be they painted, formed in stucco or even sculpted."

The Sistine Chapel.

The Prophet Daniel,

before (left) and after (right) Restoration.

Date: 1505.

Source: Webgallery of art, Bartz and Konig, "Michelangelo".

Author: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Within Michelangelo's own work, the Chapel Ceiling led to the later, and more Mannerist, painting of The Last Judgement, in which the crowded compositions gave full rein to his inventiveness in painting contorted and foreshortened figures, expressing despair or jubilation. Among the artists in whose work can be seen the direct influence of Michelangelo are Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto,Correggio, Tintoretto, Annibale Carracci, Paolo Veronese and El Greco.

In January 2007, it was claimed that as many as 10,000 visitors passed through the Vatican Museums in a day and that the Ceiling of The Sistine Chapel is the biggest attraction. The Vatican, anxious at the possibility that the newly-restored frescoes will suffer damage, announced plans to reduce visiting hours and raise the price in an attempt to discourage visitors.

Five hundred years earlier, Vasari had said "The whole world came running when the Vault was revealed, and the sight of it was enough to reduce them to stunned silence."


THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON THE SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING

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Advent. Part Three.

Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.

(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)

Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com

Originally published 1949.

Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.

Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

which reproduced them, with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press, from 

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.

Receive, O Merciful Father, these Holy Sacrifices (Te igitur)

The obligation of observing this Advent, which, though introduced so imperceptibly, had by degrees acquired the force of a Sacred Law, began to be relaxed, and the forty days from Saint Martin's Day to Christmas were reduced to four weeks.

We have seen that this Fast began to be observed first in France; but thence it spread into England, as we find from Venerable Bede's history; into Italy, as appears from a diploma of Astolphus, King of the Lombards, dated 753 A.D; into Germany, Spain, etc, of which the proofs may be seen in the learned work of Dom Martene, On the ancient rites of the Church.

The first allusion to Advent's being reduced to four weeks is to be found in the 9th-Century, in a Letter of Pope Saint Nicholas I to the Bulgarians. The testimony of Ratherius of Verona, and of Abbo of Fleury, both writers of the 10th-Century, goes also to prove that, even then, the question of reducing the duration of the Advent Fast by one-third was seriously entertained.

The Holy Family, Magi, and Shepherds.

It is true that Saint Peter Damian, in the 11th-Century, speaks of the Advent Fast as still being for forty days; and that Saint Louis, two Centuries later,  kept it for that length of time; but, as far as this Holy King (King Saint Louis IX of France) is concerned, it is probable that it was only his own Devotion which prompted him to this practice.

The discipline of the Churches of the West, after having reduced the time of the Advent Fast, so far relented, in a few years, as to change the Fast into a simple Abstinence; and we even find Councils of the 12th-Century, for instance Selingstadt, in 1122, and Avranches, in 1172, which seem to require only the Clergy to observe this Abstinence.

The Council of Salisbury, held in 1281, would seem to expect none but Monks to keep it. On the other hand (for the whole subject is very confused, owing, no doubt, to there never having been any uniformity of discipline regarding it in the Western Church), we find Pope Innocent III, in his Letter to the Bishop of Braga, mentioning the custom of Fasting during the whole of Advent, as being at that time observed in Rome; and Durandus, in the same 13th-Century, in his Rational on The Divine Offices, tells us that, in France, Fasting was uninterruptedly observed during the whole of that Holy Time.

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PART FOUR FOLLOWS

The Mystery Of Advent. Part Four.

Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Illustrations are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe “at St. Bernard.”, 
328 West 14th Street, New York, United States of America.

Illustration from the Blog 
THE SOCIETY OF ST. HUGH OF CLUNY

In this way, The Church makes pass before our eyes the magnificent procession which, all down the ages, goes before Jesus Christ. There we see Jacob, Judah, Moses, David, Micheas, Jeremias, Ezechiel, Daniel, Joel, Zacharias, Habacuc, Osea, Aggeus, Malachias, and, above all, Isaias, Saint John The Baptist [with whom three out of the four Advent Gospels are concerned], Saint Joseph, and the Glorious Virgin Mary, who sums up in herself all Messianic hopes, seeing that their fulfilment hung on her fiat: "Be it done unto me according to Thy word. All these Holy Souls yearned for The Redeemer, and, in their fervent longing, they besought Him to hasten the day when He would Come.

As we follow The Masses and Office of Advent, we are impressed by these urgent and pressing appeals to The Messias:

"Come, Lord, nor tarry longer [Gradual for The Fourth Sunday]". 

"The Lord is nigh, come, let us adore Him." 

"Come, Lord, and save us." 

"The King Who is to come; O come, let us adore Him." 

"Show forth Thy power, O Lord, and Come [Collect for the Fourth Sunday]." 

English: Stained-Glass Window,
St John the Baptist's Anglican Church,

Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia. 

Illustrates Jesus' description of Himself: "I am the Good Shepherd" 

(from the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, Verse 11).

The Memorial Window is also captioned: 

"To The Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. 

Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70."

Français: Vitrail de l'église anglicane Saint Jean Baptiste d'Ashfield (site de l'église), 

en Nouvelle Galles du Sud (Australie). 

Le vitrail illustre la description de Jésus par lui même dans le livre de Jean (chapitre 10, verset 11). On lit aussi sur ce vitrail: (« Dédié à la gloire de Dieu, et à la mémoire de William Wright, 

mort le 6 Novembre 1932 à l'âge de 70 ans »).

Source: A derivative work of File: St. Johns, Ashfield. StainedGlass, GoodShepherd.jpg

Author: Stained glass: Alfred Handel, d. 1946[2], Photo:Toby Hudson.

(Wikimedia Commons)

[All the following are from The Greater Antiphons] [The Great O Antiphons]

"O Wisdom, come and teach us the way of Prudence." 

"O God, guide of The House of Israel, come, stretch forth Thy hand and redeem us."

"O Root of Jesse; come to deliver us and tarry not."

"O Key of David and Sceptre of The House of Israel, come and release the captive plunged in darkness and the shadow of death."

"O Morning Star; Brightness of Eternal Light, come and enlighten those who are plunged in darkness and the shadow of death."

"O King and Desire of Nations, come and save man, whom Thou hast made from the slime of the Earth."

"O Emmanuel [God with us], Our King and our Lawgiver, O Lord, Our God."

Our Lady of Coromoto, 

(Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Coromoto,)

Patroness of Venezuela.

Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe “at St. Bernard.”, 
328 West 14th Street, New York, United States of America.

Illustration from the Blog 
THE SOCIETY OF ST. HUGH OF CLUNY

The longed-for Messias is The Son of God, Himself, The Great Royal Deliverer, Who is to conquer Satan and Reign over His people for ever, Whom all Nations shall serve. The very reason why we should utter "Come", crying to Our Lord, "O, Thou corner stone, uniting in Thyself the two peoples, Come," is that The Divine Mercy extends, not only to Israel, but to all The Gentiles, as well.

"And when He Comes, we shall all be guided together by this Divine Shepherd." "He shall feed His flock," says Isaias, " . . . He shall gather together the lambs with His Arm, and shall take them up in his Bosom." He, even Our Lord God.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON THE MYSTERY OF ADVENT.

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Vespers Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Vespro Della Beata Vergine. Claudio Monteverdi. Italian Composer, Gambist, Singer And Roman Catholic Priest (1567-1643).

English: Copy of a portrait of Claudio Monteverdi.

(Original painted by Bernardo Strozzi, 1581–1644).

Svenska: Claudio Monteverdi.

中文: 蒙泰威尔第肖像，威尼斯，1640年，

Date: Circa 1640.

Current location: Accademia of Venice, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: Vespers of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Italiano: Vespro della Beata Vergine.

Claudio Monteverdi.

La Fenice. Director: Jean Tubéry.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/6YmJLIZaFMU.

The following Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, singer and Roman Catholic Priest.

Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the heritage of Renaissance polyphony and the new basso continuo technique of the Baroque. 

Monteverdi wrote one of the earliest operas, L'Orfeo, an innovative work that is still regularly performed. He was recognised as an innovative composer and enjoyed considerable fame in his lifetime.

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling. An Artistic Vision Without Precedent. (Part Four).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Raphael's Isaiah was painted in imitation of Michelangelo's Prophets.

Artist: Raphael (1483–1520).

Date: 1511.

Current location: Sant'Agostino, Rome, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art:

(Wikimedia Commons)

The twelve Prophetic figures are:

Jonah (IONAS) – above the Altar;
Jeremiah (HIEREMIAS);
Persian Sibyl (PERSICHA);
Ezekiel (EZECHIEL);
Erythraean Sibyl. (ERITHRAEA);
Joel (IOEL);
Zechariah (ZACHERIAS) – above the Main Door of the Chapel;
Delphic Sibyl. (DELPHICA);
Isaiah (ESAIAS);
Cumaean Sibyl. (CVMAEA);
Daniel (DANIEL);
Libyan Sibyl (LIBICA).

The seven Prophets of Israel, chosen for depiction on the Ceiling, include the four, so-called, Major Prophets: Isaiah; Jeremiah; Ezekiel; Daniel. Of the remaining twelve possibilities among the Minor Prophets, the three represented are Joel, Zechariah and Jonah. Although the Prophets Joel and Zechariah are considered "Minor", because of the comparatively small number of pages that their Prophecy occupies in the Bible, each one produced Prophesies of profound significance.

They are often quoted:

Joel for his: "Your sons and your daughters shall Prophesy, your elderly shall dream dreams and your youth shall see visions". These words are significant for Michelangelo's decorative scheme, where women take their place among men, and the youthful Daniel sits across from the brooding Jeremiah with his long white beard.

English: Coat-of-Arms of the Popes of the family Della Rovere:

Pope Sixtus IV and Pope Julius II.

Español: Escudo de los papas de la familia Della Rovere:

Sixto IV y Julio II.

Date: 18 March 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Echando una mano.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Zechariah prophesied: "Behold ! Your King comes to you, humble and riding on a donkey". His place in the Chapel is directly above the door through which the Pope is carried in Procession on Palm Sunday, the day on which Jesus fulfilled the Prophecy by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and being proclaimed King.

Jonah's main Prophecy concerned the downfall of the City of Nineveh. While this alone does not seem to warrant him a place above the High Altar, it is the person of Jonah, himself, that is of symbolic and Prophetic significance, a significance which was commonly perceived and had been represented in countless works of art, including Manuscripts and Stained-Glass Windows.

Jonah, through his reluctance to obey God, was swallowed by a "mighty fish". He spent three days in its belly and was eventually spewed up on dry land, where he went about God's business. Jonah was thus seen as presaging Jesus, Who, having died by Crucifixion, spent part of three days in a tomb and was Raised on The Third Day. So, on The Ceiling of The Sistine Chapel, Jonah, with the "great fish" beside him and his eyes turned towards God the Creator, represents a "portent" of the Resurrection of Christ.

A reconstruction of the appearance of the Chapel in the 1480s, prior to the painting of the Ceiling.

An engraving, which attempts to reconstruct the probable appearance of the Interior of The Sistine Chapel before the internal reorganisation, the moving of the Screen; and the painting of the Ceiling and The Last Judgement by Michelangelo.

Artist: Unknown.

Date: 19th-Century.

Current location: Sistine Chapel, Rome, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In Vasari's description of the Prophets and Sibyls, he is particularly high in his praise of the portrayal of Isaiah: "Anyone who studies this figure, copied so faithfully from nature, the true mother of the art of painting, will find a beautifully composed work, capable of teaching in full measure all the precepts to be followed by a good painter.”

The Sibyls were prophetic women who were resident at shrines or temples throughout the Classical World. The five depicted here are each said to have Prophesied the Birth of Christ. The Cumaean Sibyl, for example, is quoted by Virgil in his Fourth Eclogue as declaring that "a new progeny of Heaven" would bring about a return of the "Golden Age". This was interpreted as referring to Jesus.

In Christian Doctrine, Christ came not just to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. It was understood that, prior to the Birth of Christ, God prepared the world for his coming. To this purpose, God used Jews and Gentiles alike. Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem (where it had been Prophesied that His Birth would take place), except for the fact that the pagan Roman Emperor Augustus decreed that there should be a Census. Likewise, when Jesus was Born, the announcement of His Birth was made to rich and to poor, to mighty and to humble, to Jew and to Gentile. The Three Wise Men (the "Magi" of the Bible), who sought out The Infant King with precious gifts, were pagan foreigners.

English: Michelangelo's rendering of The Erythraean Sibyl on The Sistine Chapel's Ceiling.

Deutsch: Deckenfresko zur Schöpfungsgeschichte in der Sixtinischen Kapelle,

Szene in Lünette: Die Erythräische Sibylle.

Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).

Date: 1508-1512.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.

DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In The Church of Rome, where there was an increasing interest in the remains of the City's pagan past, where scholars turned from reading Mediaeval Church Latin to Classical Latin, and the philosophies of the Classical World were studied along with the Writings of Saint Augustine, the presence, in The Sistine Chapel, of five pagan Prophets is not surprising.

It is not known why Michelangelo selected the five particular Sibyls that were depicted, given that, as with the Minor Prophets, there were ten or twelve possibilities. It is suggested by John O'Malley that the choice was made for a wide geographic coverage, with the Sibyls coming from Africa, Asia, Greece and Ionia.

Vasari says of the Erythraean Sibyl: "Many aspects of this figure are of exceptional loveliness; the expression of her face, her head-dress and the arrangement of her draperies; and her arms, which are bared, are as beautiful as the rest."

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling fresco,

by Michelangelo, depicting The Cumaean Sibyl, on the right.

Artist:

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).

Date: 1508-1512.

Current location: Sistine Chapel, Rome, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In each corner of The Chapel is a triangular Pendentive, filling the space between the walls and the Arch of the Vault, and forming the Spandrel above the windows nearest the corners. On these curving shapes, Michelangelo has painted four scenes from Biblical stories that are associated with the Salvation of Israel by four great male and female heroes of the Jews: Moses; Esther; David; and Judith:

The Brazen Serpent;
The Punishment of Haman;
David and Goliath;
Judith and Holofernes.

The first two stories were both seen, in Mediaeval Theology and Renaissance Theology, as pre-figuring The Crucifixion of Jesus. In the story of The Brazen Serpent, the people of Israel become dissatisfied and grumble at God. As punishment, they receive a plague of poisonous snakes. God offers the people relief by instructing Moses to make a snake of brass, set up on a pole, the sight of which gives miraculous healing. Michelangelo chooses a crowded composition, depicting a dramatic mass of suffering men, women and writhing snakes, separated from redeemed worshippers, by the snake, before an Epiphanic light.


PART FIVE FOLLOWS

Advent. Part Two.

Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.

(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)

Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com

Originally published 1949.

Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.

Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

which reproduced them, with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press, from 

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of The Lord.

Saint Ivo of Chartres, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and several other Doctors of the 11th- and 12-Centuries, have left us Set Sermons de Adventu Domini, quite distinct from their Sunday Homilies on the Gospels of that Season.

In the capitularia of Charles the Bald, in 846 A.D., the Bishops admonish that Prince not to call them away from their Churches during Lent or Advent, under pretext of Affairs of State, or the necessities of war, seeing that they have Special Duties to fulfil, and particularly that of preaching during those Sacred Times.

The oldest document, in which we find the length and exercises of Advent mentioned with anything like clearness, is a passage in the Second Book of the History of the Franks, by Saint Gregory of Tours, where he says that Saint Perpetuus (Sixth Bishop of Tours), one of his predecessors, who held that See about the year 480 A.D., had decreed a Fast three times a week, from the Feast of Saint Martin until Christmas. It would be impossible to decide whether Saint Perpetuus, by his regulations, established a new custom, or merely enforced an already-existing Law. Let us, however, note this interval of forty, or, rather, forty-three, days, so expressly mentioned, and consecrated to Penance, as though it were a second Lent, though less strict and severe than that which precedes Easter.

John, preaching the Baptism of Penance.

Later on, we find the Ninth Canon of The First Council of Macon, held in 582 A.D., ordaining that during the same interval between Saint Martin's Day and Christmas, the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, should be Fasting Days, and that the Sacrifice should be celebrated according to the Lenten Rite.

Not many years before that, namely in 567 A.D., the Second Council of Tours had enjoined the Monks to Fast from the beginning of December till Christmas. This practice of Penance soon extended to the whole forty days, even for the Laity; and it was commonly called Saint Martin's Lent.

The capitularia of Charlemagne, in the Sixth Book, leave us no doubt on the matter; and Rabanus Maurus, in the Second Book of his Institution of Clerics, bears testimony to this observance. There were even special rejoicings made on Saint Martin's Feast, just as we see them practised now at the approach of Lent and Easter.

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PART THREE FOLLOWS