Embarking on the Way of Beauty at Holy Family Cathedral

SPECIAL WINDOWS EDITION! June 2016
A PARISH STAFFED BY FRIARS OF THE WESTERN DOMINICAN PROVINCE
TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, TO PREACH
The Most Reverend Roger L. Schwietz, OMI, Archbishop of Anchorage
Father Anthony-M. Patalano, OP, Pastor
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Embarking on the Way of Beauty at Holy Family Cathedral
Theresa Bird
TRUTH, GOODNESS, AND BEAUTY
As Fr. Anthony is fond of
saying, we are all called to
know, love, and serve God
in order to be happy with
Him in heaven. But how do
we turn our first-grade
catechesis into a tool for
evangelization? And, as a
parish, how does Holy
Family Cathedral bear
witness to Jesus Christ in
the midst of downtown
Anchorage?
The key, as the saints will
tell us, is the three classic
transcendentals:
Truth,
Goodness, and Beauty. Each has its own intrinsic attraction.
Many—particularly intellectual types—convert to Catholicism
after an encounter with Truth. A good example here is St. Teresa
Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein], who was born a Jew but
converted to the Catholic Church after rigorous philosophical
study. Like others, she came to the liberating conclusion that
the teachings of the Catholic Church are consonant with reason
and ensure true peace in the living out of their lives.
Others recognize the Face of Christ in the Goodness that has
touched them through persons living authentically Catholic
lives. Merely by reading the lives of the saints, St. Ignatius of
Loyola was so impressed with their goodness that he went out
and became a saint himself.
Still others are drawn
by their senses to
God’s
transcendent
Beauty. This was the
quality of God which
captured and converted
St. Augustine: “Late
have I loved Thee,
beauty ever ancient,
ever new.”
As
Scripture
has
it,
“through the grandeur
and beauty of the
creatures we may, by
analogy, contemplate
their Author.” (Wis
13:5)
SACRED ART: EVANGELIZATION
THROUGH BEAUTY
Sacred art, distinct from natural beauty or profane art, presents
man with an expression of Eternal Beauty that could be described
as the image, form, color, and sound of Revelation. It divulges
the truth of God’s love for man, especially when it manifests or
illumines Sacred Scripture. Catholic churches are often adorned
with paintings, statues, or stained glass windows which depict
instances from the Old or New Testaments or lives of the saints.
These works of art reveal God’s action in history and heighten
our awareness of His presence in our lives today.
Continued on back
T H E
The Annunciation
H O L Y
F A M I L Y
The Visitation
I N
The Nativity
A R T
The Presentation
A Second Life for Glass Treasures
Joseph K. Beyer, Beyer Studo, Philadelphia
When American Catholics think of stained glass, it is
likely that they imagine a window made in Munich. This is not
surprising, since the most ornate Catholic Churches built during
the great age of American church architecture feature stained
glass windows from the most prolific school in the history of the
medium.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, long after the
fascination with the enlightenment had been dimmed by the
years of war and bloody revolution, a longing for a return to the
spiritual realm sparked a rebirth in all the arts. At the same time
the gothic novel was becoming popular, so was gothic
architecture, representing a style inspired by Christian
sensibilities. While Greek columns were fine for municipal
buildings, the newest of God’s houses would return to a
medieval ideal of sacredness.
The swelling numbers of Catholics in the cities of the east coast
gave birth to countless parishes built with confidence and on a
truly grand scale. The Anglicans commissioned their windows
from English artists but the Catholics, in overwhelming
numbers, bought windows from the Munich School studios.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the cost
of labor in Germany was astoundingly low, even for the
academically trained artists. While there were fine stained glass
studios in the U.S., European artists offered a Catholic sensibility of
outstanding quality that was also affordable.
The Munich School of stained glass can be attributed to a pair of
visionary artists, Franz Mayer and Francis Xavier Zettler who
championed a new style of windows that relied on lush painting to
illustrate Old and New Testament stories with breathtaking drama.
Franz Mayer and his surviving sons employed no less than six
hundred artists, sending windows the world over. Not to be outdone,
Mr. Zettler sought and won the patronage of King Ludwig of Bavaria
and renamed his studio The Royal Bavarian
Art Institute for Pictorial Painting on Glass.
“. . .a longing
While these two were the largest firms, there
for a return
were numerous other smaller concerns all
to the
following the pictorial model of glass
painting. The many thousands of gorgeous
spiritual
windows these various continental studios
realm. . .”
made for American churches established the
reputation of the Munich School of stained
glass.
While the Gothic revival studios in England sought to achieve an
authentically medieval style, the Munich School artists adapted the
same materials of colored glass and lead channel to resemble easel
painting.
Holy Family Cathedral’s Stained Glass Windows
The Joyful Mysteries Of The Rosary
"My Soul Hath Rejoiced In God My Savior"
-Luke 1:47
The Joyful Mysteries are taken mostly from St. Luke's Gospel in
the New Testament. They involve the joyful events of Jesus'
childhood.
The most joyful event in all of human history is the Incarnation
or when God became man and dwelt among us.
Jesus is the Incarnation - God made flesh...
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
-John 1:14
When Adam and Eve sinned against God, the gates of heaven
were closed. God promised to send a savior who would open the
gates of heaven.
Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise. That is why the
Incarnation is the most wonderful event in human history.
Finding in the Temple
St. Therese
The saturate color in a stained glass is not painted onto the glass
but instead is the result of various precious metals and minerals
added to the formula for glass. The glass is blown, not sheet, to
provide a broad palette of colors for the artist. A design for a
window is made into patterns and the individual colors selected
and cut into pieces of various size and shape. In pictorial
windows, the multiple pieces are painted with a special medium
of vitreous paint, imparting design and draftsmanship to the
colored glass. In this method, blue glass is painted to resemble
the folds of the Virgin’s mantle while green glass may be drawn
to resemble the elements of a landscape. When the vitreous paint
is kiln-fired, it permanently fuses to the surface of the glass.
What was unique to the Munich School was the way the designs
were crafted allow the painter free reign to paint on a large pieces
of glass just as he would on a canvas. The strips of lead that hold
the pieces of glass together recede into the deep shadows as
nothing more than a supporting element.
In contrast, the windows made by Gothic revival artists in
England and America celebrated the multiplicity of pieces of
glass and featured the lead matrix as a virtue, seeing the medium
much in the manner of a mosaic of light.
The six new windows shown above come from the former Our
Lady of the Rosary Parish in Philadelphia and include five Joyful
Mysteries made by the Zettler Studio. It is important to
recognize that their relocation will mean a new lease on life for
these works of art. Made in 1889, the matrix of leading that
holds the thousands of pieces of glass together is in late life and
could not have been expected to support the weight of the glass
The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary are so called because they
recount all the Joys of the "Good News", namely Jesus.
• The Annunciation The angel announces that Jesus is to
be born.
• The Visitation The baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for
joy when Mary who is pregnant with baby Jesus visits
St. Therese
her.
• The Birth of Jesus [The Nativity] Jesus is born in a
stable in Bethlehem.
• The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple Jesus is
presented to God in the Temple in Jerusalem in
accordance with Jewish Law.
• Finding Jesus in the Temple who was lost is found in
the temple in Jerusalem teaching the high priests.
for many more years. Thus, the relocation and restoration of these
windows will truly rescue them for another century.
The sixth window represents the best of
the American Gothic Revival School as
interpreted by Kase Studio of
Pennsylvania and features Saint
Theresa of the Little Flower, Alaska’s
Patron. The jewel-like quality of many
hundreds of small pieces of colored
glass offers a fascinating contrast
between the European and American
model of Sacred Arts of the period.
“. . .the relocation
and restoration of
these windows will
truly rescue them
for another
century.”
Edited from December 2014 “Glad Tidings.”
The Way of Beauty
Dear Parishioners, Guests and
Travelers,
Theresa Bird - Continued from front side
Please enjoy this keepsake of
the newly installed stained
glass windows at Holy Family
Cathedral. All of us who have
seen the change in the interior
of our church feel that we
might get just a little better
glimpse of God through the art
we can admire and in front of
which we can meditate and
pray.
The importance of adorning our churches with beauty was the topic
at the 2006 Plenary Assembly of bishops, wherein sacred art was
aptly described as an “instrument of evangelization and catechesis.”
The bishops recognized that the Way of Beauty (Via Pulchritudinis)
is “a privileged itinerary to get in touch with many of those who face
great difficulties in receiving the Church’s teachings, particularly
regarding morals.”
In other words, where the hearts of unbelievers or the indifferent
may fail to be moved by truth or goodness, it is beauty which stands
a fighting chance at reaching them. We, along with the bishops,
should treasure the rich history of the Church’s devotion to art, and
Her ability to save souls by it: “So many men and women from so
many ages and cultures have felt that deep emotional stirring and
opened their hearts to God in contemplating the face of Christ on
the cross, in listening to a Passion or a Te Deum, in kneeling before
a golden reredos or a Byzantine icon.”
AN ANTIDOTE FOR DESPAIR
The Vatican Council Fathers noted fifty years ago that “This world
in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair.”
Now, in this brave new world of social media, our senses are
bombarded with images of the banal and vicious at an alarming rate.
Many people—particularly youth—wish to rid themselves from a
hedonistic, meaningless worldview, but simultaneously seek to
immerse themselves in something that gives meaning to their lives.
Do we not then stand in need of opportunities to encounter beautiful
images? Images that raise us up, that encourage contemplation, that
call our attention to the most important realities of life? Images that
recall God’s love for man and reinforce the knowledge of his
individual identity and final end? Images that by their very nature
and location raise our minds and hearts to God in prayer? That
remind us that man, himself, is made in God’s image and likeness?
The stained glass windows to be installed
“Late have I
at Holy Family Cathedral will help to fill
loved Thee,
this need. They have been procured in
beauty ever
order to open up a new Way of Beauty in
Anchorage. They will undoubtedly
ancient, ever
further devotion within our parish, but
new.”
they will also speak to the hearts of all
St. Augustine
who pass by the Cathedral—pilgrims,
homeless persons, parentless youths, and
visitors from all walks of life. As you will see in this issue, their
form, composition, and subject matter truly are wonderful
instruments of evangelization and catechesis.
May our minds and hearts be conformed to Christ, Him Who is
“beauty ever ancient, ever new!”
Reprinted from December 2014 “Glad Tidings.”
Our “windows project” has been in the works for more than two
years and is the culmination, along with necessary renovations and
improvements, of our centennial celebration as a parish. It couldn’t
have happened without the prayers and generosity of many Holy
Family Parishioners.
The Joyful Mysteries seemed especially appropriate for Holy
Family as the Holy Family is represented in four of the five
windows. St. Therese of Lisieux is the patron saint of missions and
of the State of Alaska whose dioceses are mission dioceses.
May God bless you as you enjoy the beauty of His creation in
Alaska and at our Cathedral.
Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, OP, Pastor
THE SALVE REGINA ROSARY PRAYER
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life our sweetness
and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of
Eve; To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile show
unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O
loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
V: Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Holy Family Cathedral
811 West 6th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501
907-276-3455
www.holyfamilycathedral.org
holyfamilycathedral@alaskan.org