Blog 6
I laughed a little when I saw St. Joe used as an example in our lecture on reading churches. While it’s certainly a good sample of a communal church, I spent all my years of grade school resenting the fact that I had to spend every Wednesday morning in a big beige box. I remember wishing we could at least have Mass at the Basilica, a church I liked attending because there was so much to look at. While now I’m able to recognize more important elements of a liturgy beyond just the building it’s taking place in, it was really interesting to be able to reflect on what is it that makes the Basilica such a special place to worship in.
Sacred architecture is “beautiful in the deepest sense of the word: it undoes the Fall by showing us a world restored to wholeness (integritas), proper proportionality (consonantia), and the clarity of what God’s perfect intended the world to be (claritas)” (McNamara, 37). This can be seen in so many ways around the Basilica, including (but of course, not limited to) the stained glass, columns, ceiling, and layout.
The stained glass windows in the nave show saints who can serve as examples for those attending Mass. It’s so important that the “household of saints is made up of all classes, ranks, ages, talents, and states” but “All were defined by a life of prayer. All led very active lives. All loved the Church.” (Cavadini & Cunningham, 20) The saints, who physically surround all those attending the Mass, offer examples of holiness that can be emulated by those who look upon them. Beyond the example of Jesus’ life on earth, the saints show very human examples of acting the way that God desires for us. Their examples can reveal the way that God “intended the world to be”. I also think it’s so special that there are more female saints than male ones!
In addition, the positioning of the saints in the nave, where the majority of congregation sits, join with those physically present to celebrate the eternal sacrifice of the Mass. This shows the way in which the physical building where the Mass is celebrated can add to the festivity of the Mass — the liturgy opens us up to eternal time and connects us to the communion of saints. This festivity is intensified by the signs and symbols throughout the Basilica: “Liturgy is also always festive because it is a participation in the things of heaven, a time of freedom from servile work and freedom for praise and contemplation of God who sanctifies us. On earth we celebrate this festivity through the vehicle of material signs and symbols.” (McNamara, 113)
The Basilica is full of symbols, but the ones I immediately thought of were the ones on the ceiling. The ceilings are covered with stars and angels. The Evangelists, surrounded by gold, are directly over the altar. We usually imagine heaven as a place in the clouds above us, so it seems fitting that we see heavenly people and things above our heads. These signs are the sacramental images of heaven and earth coming together through the celebration of the Eucharist. The Basilica is designed to give a glimpse of heaven itself, during the liturgy and outside of it.
The beautiful and ornate painted ceiling is highlighted by the columns that line the aisles of the Basilica. These columns are an example of decoration, which “make the natural forces of the fallen world created by God more evident, and it can be raised through the application of discovered knowledge in the intellect and the desire of the will to reveal the nature of things as they appear in a restored, perfected, and redeemed world” (McNamara, 101). Columns demonstrate a perfection that is not possible on earth. The way that they work against gravity alludes to the perfection that God intended in the world, a perfection that is divine. The columns and pointed arches draw your attention towards the ceiling, which as mentioned before, is offers us a view of heaven. Every element of the Basilica is meant to connect you with divine, to raise you towards heaven, and to elevate the sense of festivity in the liturgy.
Though there is much more that could be discussed, the last thing I’d like to briefly focus on is the layout of the Basilica. The main and side aisles all point you towards the altar and the tabernacle. These, along with the back chapels, form a cross shape, which I could not help but notice when looking at the floorplan in Stories in Light. The Basilica has many traits of what Kieckhefer calls the classical sacramental church, one being a sense of movement and procession from the aisles towards the altar. This draws visitors into the celebration of the Eucharist and keeps the focus on Jesus’ sacrifice. The side chapels could be seen as distractions from this main focus, because unlike the main and side aisles, they do not point directly towards the altar. However, as Kieckhefer says, “The succession of side chapels, like the succession of columns of windows or of stations of the cross, has ambiguous effect: any station is a stopping point in a precession, yet a procession can be made in stages without losing its sense of an ultimate destination.” (Kieckhefer, 27) The roundedness of the side chapels highlights this sense of “stopping points”. The lack of straight walls or harsh ending points means that visitors are always gently pushed, when they are ready, from the side chapels back towards the main altar, which they must pass by before they can exit the church. I think this is a really beautiful element, and one I never would’ve noticed without seeing the floorplan from above.
This unit made me look forward to the next time I’m able to worship in the Basilica. I know there’s so much more for me to recognize in the architecture, signs, and symbols. And hopefully my new eyes for reading churches will work the next time I’m at St. Joe too :)
