From Cape Cod to Florence. The Artistic Road to Ecumenism
Introducing the "Community of Jesus." They are Protestants, but they follow the rule of Saint Benedict, and want sacred art to draw powerful inspiration from the liturgy. They look kindly on the Catholic Church, as the monks of Taizé did before them
by Sandro Magister
ROME, October 7, 2011 - On the feast of Saint Luke, the evangelist who tradition says was also a painter, in Florence, world capital of art, a community of American monks and nuns will dedicate the day to reflecting on the church in which it will celebrate the liturgy, a church built by the community itself.
The day of study, Tuesday, October 18, will be entitled "Contemporary Sacred Art- Life Sources and Spiritualities."
The church is the Church of the Transfiguration in Orleans, Massachusetts, on the coast of Cape Cod.
The monastic community is called the Community of Jesus, and was founded by two women in the 1960's.
Its monasticism is of the Benedictine tradition. With two distinctive characteristics.
The first is the exceptional interest of the members of this community in art and architecture, as demonstrated by the church they built.
The second distinctive characteristic is that the Community of Jesus emerged in the Protestant camp. And most of its members are Protestant. But their very interest in art - rather secondary in the tradition of the Reformation - acts as a bridge to Catholicism and Orthodoxy, where liturgical art has a central place.
The most famous precedent for a monastic community born in the Protestant camp but with great openness to the Catholic Church is that of Taizé.
Monsignor Timothy Verdon, an American art historian who has lived in Florence for years and directs the diocesan office for the arts and the liturgy there, comments:
"The story that emerges from that unusual journey invites us to reflect on the connection between art made for the place of worship and the spiritual life of the believers who gather in it: that is, on the relationship between art made in service to the Christian liturgy and the vital spring of the faith of Christians, Christ himself, the Word of God made flesh. The story of this reformed community attentive to Scripture and to preaching, but that wants to express its spirituality also in visual and artistic form, opens fascinating ecumenical perspectives."
The talks on that day of reflection will have just this ecumenical breadth. Timothy Verdon will give the introduction. Professor Martin Shannon will illustrate the art created by the Community of Jesus. Anthony Ciferni and Jérôme Cottin will present the visions of sacred art proper to Catholicism and Protestantism respectively. Finally, two artists - a priest of Slovenian origin, Marco Ivan Rupnik, and Florentine layman, Filippo Rossi - will testify to the interaction between artists and the Christian communities that entrust them with the task of giving material form to "what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived," but God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Why in Florence? Among the reasons for the choice is the fact that one of the artists commissioned to decorate the Church of the Transfiguration with images, Silvestro Pistolesi, is Florentine and a pupil of the great painter Pietro Annigoni.
"But beyond this," Verdon observes, "the desire of the Community of Jesus to organize a conference in Italy, and specifically in Florence, reflects the conviction of a universal ecclesial membership in space as in time. Looking from the new world to the old continent, and looking from the present to the whole history of the Church and of monasticism, the Community of Jesus has discovered that it is part of a millennia-old tradition, to which it wants to contribute."
The proceedings of the day of reflection will be available as of Tuesday, October 18, in this book, soon to be published in English as well:
"Bellezza e vita. La spiritualità nell’arte contemporanea," edited by Timothy Verdon, Edizioni San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo, 2011.The event, which will be open to the public, will be held at the Centro per l'Arte e la Cultura, located at 7 Piazza San Giovanni. It will be preceded, on the evening of Monday, October 17, by a prayer vigil in the Baptistry of Saint John, in front of the cathedral. And it will be concluded with ecumenical vespers, in the same Baptistry.
For more information and to provide notice of attending, contact
Niccolò Torrini, Ufficio per la Catechesi attraverso l’Arte dell’Arcidiocesi di Firenze, Piazza San Giovanni 3, 50129 Firenze.
The website of the community, with photos of the Church of the Transfiguration, is the following:
> Community of Jesus__________
All the articles from www.chiesa on these topics:
> Focus on ART AND MUSIC__________
English translation by
Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.
__________
7.10.2011
