Art, Old and New

This article appears in the January edition of Magnificat.  I added the pictures from the internet.  Of course, pictures don't do the windows justice!

Stained Glass Windows
Father Dominic White, O.P.

One of the most distinctive and beautiful features of many churches is their stained-glass windows.  They vary from humble little windows in a country church, depicting a local saint, to vast glories like the great rose window on the West Front of Chartres cathedral, which shows the Last Judgement, the consumation of time and space in Christ and the ushering in of the New Heaven and New Earth.



West Rose Window, Chartres Cathedral, France

The technique of coloring glass has of course been around since ancient times, but stained glass windows are one of the great inventions of Christianity.  They actually reveal a wonderful truth about what it means to be Christian.  For their effect, they rely on the light of the sun - just as God enlightened us in our baptism.  The colors of the figures in the windows, which are dull and almost invisible in the darkness, are suddenly revealed in all their glory.  Likewise, when we are filled, like Mary, with God's grace, we are not destroyed, but transformed into our true selves.

To be Christian is to be "able to share the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), each of us in the unique self which God has made us.  In turn this recalls the preparation of the chalice in the Mass: the priest or deacon adds a drop of water to the wine, praying in silence, "May we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity."  And so the water, as at Cana, is transformed into wine, the wine into Christ, and we in turn are transformed.  Christ does not force us - but the windows remind us of what we can be if we are open to his grace.

Finally, one of the loveliest effects of stained glass is how, when the light shines through it, it colors the stone and brick around it.  Likewise, Christians who are living in the Spirit shine divine beauty - even if they are unaware of it - on those around them.  We become "other Christs", and the whole cosmos is little by little transformed.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, Keller TX

 



And now for a newer art form.  We have all seen time lapse photography but I recently saw some work on TV by a man named Mayeul Akpovi that I think is especially interesting.  He's from the little country of Benin, Africa but now lives in France.  He lived in Paris for a few years before moving away to the Besançon region near the Swiss border.  From what I understand, after moving he realized he hadn't taken any photos of Paris to show family and friends back home in Benin.  That's when he started his time lapse photography projects.  One of his techniques is that, after each photograph taken, he moves his tripod and camera a short distance away to take the next (he says he once progressed this way for a couple of kilometres).  He takes thousands of single photos this way and then connects them together into video form.  Type this man's name into youtube and enjoy the results.

 

Mayeul Akpovi at work