Articles

Editorial: Nova Contrareformatio

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 34

We need a new Counter-Reformation in sacred art and architecture. What was the Reformation’s effect? First, it preached iconoclasm, the rejection of the human figure in religious art. Second, it reoriented worship, so that people gathered round the pulpit rather than the altar and the baptismal font became more important than the tabernacle. At the same time, it lessened the distinction between the clergy and the laity, creating more equality and decreasing hierarchy.

Editorial: Ab Urbe Condita

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 33

When you go to a great European city, you find beautiful spacious piazze, outdoor cafes, charming shops, fountains to sit near, and people to watch. For many today, that symbolizes the good city.

Editorial: Regulae Americanae

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 28

Have you ever noticed the incredible number of ways Catholic churches include iconography? From signs and symbols to images of the saints and angels, from paintings of the Trinity to sacra conversazione, biblical scenes, and even historical scenes (i.e., the battles of Lepanto and Vienna), the imagery of Catholic churches is rich and varied. So, when a colleague recently journeyed to Rome in search of sacred architecture, I challenged him to find one church with the “American church formula.” What is the American formula? A life-size crucifix centered behind the altar, with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the left and Saint Joseph on the right. Many American Catholics see this as the “traditional” solution for a church layout, because it is all that they know. Yet in over five hundred historic churches I have studied in Rome, Florence, and Venice, I have seldom seen the formula (so ubiquitous in the U.S.) employed.

Editorial: Ecclesiae Pro Pauperibus

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 26

We all know that the poor need food and clothing, decent education and good jobs. But what about their spiritual and cultural needs? Can a church building serve the poor spiritually through the material? It is an expensive proposition, but I would suggest the answer is yes. Which leads us to the question, how can we design a church for the poor?

Editorial: Sanctum Paupertatem

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 25

What is the architectural corollary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s “holy poverty”? Is it the shantytowns of the third world or the stylish minimalism of first-world condiminiums? When we build churches, schools, and soup kitchens, should they be cheap or at least look cheap?

Editorial: Quo Vadis

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 21

Three miles from Disneyland there is another famous theme park, which proclaims itself as “America’s Television Church.” The Crystal Cathedral, perhaps the first mega-church in the United States, is about to undergo conversion classes so that it can finally get the cathedra and bishop it has always wanted.

Editorial: Estote Ergo Vos Perfecti

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 19

A well-known architect, who was really an artist, was asked to design a cathedral. The project did not go smoothly. He was difficult to work with, had his own ideas, lost his temper when things did not go his way, and kept asking for more money.

Editorial: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam et Beatae Mariae Virginis

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 15

Unemployment is at a high level, and the economy is in recession. In order to give thousands of people jobs, the state embarks on some major infrastructure projects designed by an award winning architect. A parable for how the U.S. government can get the economy back on track? No, the story of how Pope Alexander VII and Gianlorenzo Bernini built Piazza San Pietro, the greatest public piazza in the world.

Editorial: Catechismus in Lapidem

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 14

People often ask me why we have not been building beautiful churches in recent decades. It is not a simple answer of course: there are the changes from Vatican II; the embrace of modernism by the architectural profession; the expense of craftsmanship; the parsimony of the faithful; and the belief that the church is merely a functional building. Today, when laity and clergy alike desire to build beautiful churches again they are confronted with a limitation that their great grandparents did not have to contend with: the strict monetary policies of the diocese.

Eucharistic Tabernacles: A Typology

by M. Francis Mannion, appearing in Volume 3

An examination of the art of Eucharistic tabernacles in Catholic liturgical history yields a considerable variety of operative meanings. In this brief essay, I want to suggest that tabernacle design may be categorized under a five-fold typology: ark, building, treasury, tower, and a

The Spirit of Mediator Dei

by Denis McNamara, appearing in Volume 4

Despite the prevailing belief that architectural modernism was the only available option for the modern church, the early twentieth century provides considerable evidence of representational, historically-connected and often beautiful architectural designs responsive to the same principles canonized in the documents of Vatican II.

Catholic Architecture and New Urbanism: An Interview with Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

by James C. McCrery, appearing in Volume 4

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk is dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture and a partner in the design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company. She is an ardent promoter of New Urbanism, a movement that has been successful in designing new communities as towns rather than subdivisions and revitalizing older communties. Among Duany Plater-Zyberk’s best known projects are the towns of Seaside in Florida, Kentlands in Maryland and downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, all designed to be pedestrian-oriented with schools, churches, libraries and shops within walking distance of homes.

Editorial: Caveat Emptor

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 7

And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. Matthew 21:12-14

Editorial: Domus Eucharistica

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 4

Over the years, church buildings have received numerous titles: domus Ecclesiae, domus Dei, temple of the most high, image of the eternal, holy place, and body of Christ. John Cardinal Newman called churches gospel palaces. In this Jubilee year dedicated to the Eucharist it is appropriate to reflect on the domus Eucharistica, the church as a Eucharistic house. Our churches are the places we gather to eucharist, to thank God for His marvelous gifts.

Environment and Art in Catholic Worship - A Critique

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 2

By all accounts, the past forty years have produced few church buildings that the American laity are proud of and fewer of which the cultural establishment approves. No doubt some credit for the present state of architecture should be given to a small booklet entitled Environment and Art in Catholic Worship (EACW) presently being revised.

Editorial: Vocatio Architecti

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 2

One of the reasons that we are amazed by the beauty of architectural masterpieces is that they appear to go beyond the ability of mortals to conceive them. Their harmony and proportions seem to have been constructed by angels. In order to bring to fruition these sacred works, ranging from the nave of Amiens Cathedral to the exterior of San Vincent de Paul in Los Angeles, many hills have to be climbed.

Editorial: Architectura Sacra

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 1

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Sacred Architecture, a journal committed to the promotion of the cultural heritage of the Church. In publishing a variety of articles and news items, Sacred Architecture sees its mission as keeping you up to date on how bricks and mortar are being used to build up the City of God.

A Vacuum in the Spirit: The Design of the Jubilee Church in Rome

by Breda Ennis, appearing in Volume 9

While on my way in the car to see the new church built by Richard Meier on the outskirts of Rome, named 'God the Merciful Father" (in the original Italian, "Dio Padre Misericordioso"), two phrases kept coming into my mind from Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists, in which he remarked: "even in situations where culture and the Church are far apart, art remains a kind of bridge to religious experience."

The Church Builder: Patrick Charles Keely

by Robert T. Murphy, appearing in Volume 49

American Catholic architects have generally received too few accolades, but more than a century after his death, the founder of the field is mostly unknown. He refused interviews, disliked writing or public speaking, and forbade his children to speak of his achievements…

Principles for a Complete Church and the Legacy of Owen Jones

by David Riccio and Hope Ensing, appearing in Volume 49

Effective integration of the major art of architecture with the various minor arts such as decorative painting, stained glass, and fine woodwork can produce a unified composition and a timeless interior. Owen Jones’ theory on the integration of architecture and the decorative arts in his seminal work The Grammar of Ornament defines what it means for an interior to be complete.

The Divine Light of Notre-Dame Cathedral

by Allan Greenberg, appearing in Volume 48

It was a sunny spring day in May 1959 when I entered the nave of Notre-Dame de Paris for the first time. As I looked up into the seemingly weightless vaults, and then down the colonnade to the distant apse, the sheer beauty of the architecture took my breath away.