Sunday, August 12, 2007

Where have all the statues gone?

The parish that I often go to for Daily Mass or Morning Prayer/Adoration is a historic one as it has been in existence since at least the 1800's. I was never thrilled with the (indoor) architecture, but it was certainly better than some I've seen.

The other day, while using the church restroom, I noticed some historic black and white photos of the altar (yes, this is where they are displayed--in the bathroom!). Well, even in black and white, this altar was breathtaking. The altar itself was huge, white marble with gothic type spires across it reaching half way up towards the ceiling. There were at least 20 lit candles on the altar. There were no less than 4 huge statues, again white marble, on the sides. Just beautiful.

It made me SO sad to see that this is so far from the flat wooden statues that are there now. I wondered where those priceless (to me, at least) marble statues ended up. Hopefully, some church, somewhere, has them and is using them to enhance their congregation's worship.

This particular parish is building some new buildings outside of town. Dare I hope that some of this beauty will be resurrected?

2 comments:

Michele said...

our church has alot of statues in it. alot. iam glad too!

Staying in Balance said...

I can't help but shake my head and say, "What were they thinking?!" when I think of all the beauty and art that has been destroyed.

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"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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