by Joseph Carola, SJ, appearing in Volume 48
John Henry Newman built three churches—the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas at Littlemore in 1835-1836, a temporary church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception for the Birmingham Oratory at Edgbaston in 1852-1853, and the Catholic University Church at Dublin in 1854-1856.
by Michael Kiene, appearing in Volume 48
Jacques-Ignace Hittorff (1782-1867), a German-born leading French architect of the nineteenth century who contributed to the masterplan of Paris before Haussmann, exhibited a drawing at the 1833 Paris Salon.
by William Pesson, appearing in Volume 48
Somewhat discreetly located on a quiet street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, near the Champs-Élysées, stands a chapel overlooking Rue Jean Goujon—a small masterpiece.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 47
The rites of papal succession are a great sight to witness, highlighted majestically by Rome’s art and architecture. After his death, a quarter million people waited in line to pay their respects to Pope Francis (2013-2025) in the baroque nave of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Even heads of state came to make a final visit to the Bishop of Rome lying in state in front of the tomb of the saint.
by Elisabetta Procida & Steven Semes, appearing in Volume 47
One of the undeniable masterpieces of the early twentieth-century architect Armando Brasini (1879-1965) is the Basilica of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Parioli district in the north of Rome. Principal Roman seat of the Missionary Congregation of the Sons of the Heart of Mary (the Claretians), the monumental scale and incomplete profile of the church give it a grandiose but melancholy character offering important lessons for architects and their patrons.
by James Matthew Wilson, appearing in Volume 47
The Catholic Church over several generations has suffered a grievous impoverishment. It has lost its sense of the scope and expression of the sacramental in its sacred architecture and so lost sight of the multitude of functions that architecture serves.
by William J. Turner, appearing in Volume 47
The picturesque city of Marietta, “the oldest town in Ohio,” was founded in 1788. It was the first permanent settlement of a newly created Northwest Territory and a possession of the French government. It was named to honor Queen Marie Antoinette in appreciation for aid that came from France during the American Revolution.
by Randall B. Smith, appearing in Volume 47
One of those mistaken notions, the consequences of which many of us have felt vividly ever since, is the idea that, in the early Church, worship took place primarily in “house churches.”
by Romanus Cessario, O.P., appearing in Volume 47
Theologians and artists belong together. Saint Thomas Aquinas supplies one reason for the happy companionship that theologians and artists should enjoy. In one of his minor works, Aquinas writes: “God is the fount of all beauty; every kind of beauty is his.”
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 47
What is the most famous chapel in the world? Many would say the Sistine Chapel in Rome. When pilgrims and tourists visit the chapel, the focus is not so much on its architecture but on its art, and rightly so.
by Virginia Raguin, appearing in Volume 46
Anthony Visco’s article on Marko Rupnik in the recent issue of Sacred Architecture raised many questions. It addressed a tragic story of abuse within the Church. Yet it also addressed the issue of artistic and doctrinal validity of a work of art, linking the maker’s personal failings to the work.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 46
• 312 - Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Constantine was victorious after seeing a vision of the Chi-Rho, a symbol of Christ.
by Lex Bosman, appearing in Volume 46
Anyone entering the present church of San Giovanni in Laterano for the first time will probably not immediately be aware of the historical importance of this place, nor of the history hidden in this great building.
by Joseph Connors, appearing in Volume 46
As splendid as the Lateran basilica is, it can be confusing to the first-time visitor. For one thing, one approaches and enters the church from the rear.
by Jack Freiberg, appearing in Volume 46
The profound spiritual renewal of the Counter-Reformation Church reaffirmed the central role of the Eucharist in Catholic faith and worship. Altars dedicated to the Eucharist were erected in major churches throughout Italy, often by local bishops, while in Rome, the popes assumed the patronage of sacrament altars.
by Susan Klaiber, appearing in Volume 46
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of the baroque priest-architect Guarino Guarini (1624-1683). Guarini, a Theatine priest active as a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, as well as an architect, designed buildings throughout the Italian peninsula and across Europe.
by Randall B. Smith, appearing in Volume 46
The Basilica of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) in Barcelona hosts some 14,000 to 16,000 visitors per day and some 2.8 million people every year, making it one of the most visited churches in the world. If you want to visit, you had better make arrangements days or weeks in advance.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 46
On July 14, 1902, when the great campanile of San Marco in Venice crashed 328 feet down to the piazza and was totally destroyed, the people were distraught. The response of the mayor was “dov’era e com’era”: we will rebuild it “where it was and how it was.” On April 15, 2019, when the great spire at the crossing of Notre-Dame de Paris crashed through the roof and fell 315 feet to the floor of the cathedral, the response of President Emmanuel Macron was that it should be rebuilt “geste architectural contemporain”: “with a contemporary architectural gesture.”
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 45
Beginning in 1998, the Institute for Sacred Architecture has existed to foster a return to the sacred, to learn from the richness of our ecclesiastical heritage, and to encourage the commissioning of new classical and Gothic churches.
by Michael J. Lewis, appearing in Volume 45
For the first fifty years of its existence
by William J. Turner, appearing in Volume 45
Visitors traveling through the Cincinnati area might well stop to see the Greek Revival Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains. However, they may not realize that across the Ohio River, in the city of Covington, Kentucky, can be found the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, a true architectural high Gothic jewel.
by Anthony Visco, appearing in Volume 45
Much has been said recently about the moral failings of ex-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik. But what of the failures of his art?
by Randall B. Smith, appearing in Volume 45
Some readers may have noticed that the Catholic Church has been striving the past few years to restore belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 44
Someone once said that historic Latin-American architecture is the Counter- Reformation without any Protestantism.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 44
This issue of Sacred Architecture is devoted to exploring the historic richness of Spanish sacred art and architecture, and it offers glimpses of some new and restored Spanish churches in Latin America and the United States.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 44
This issue of Sacred Architecture is devoted to exploring the historic richness of Spanish sacred art and architecture, and it offers glimpses of some new and restored Spanish churches in Latin America and the United States.
by Rodrigo Bollat Montenegro, appearing in Volume 44
The church is an integral part of the DNA of Latin American cities. From the great cathedral in a big city, to the parish church in the town, churches have always been, and still are, anchors that provide cohesion to the urban fabric.
by Julio Cesar Perez-Hernandez, appearing in Volume 44
The Cuban Church is five hundred years old. Its origins date from the early sixteenth century and the first arrival of Spaniards to America.
by Richard Sammons, appearing in Volume 44
A newly built city in Guatemala near the capital, Ciudad Cayalá, has miraculously arisen over the past decade, primarily due to the efforts of a trio of architects, Maria Sánchez and Pedro Godoy, with their mentor Léon Krier.
by Randall B. Smith, appearing in Volume 44
Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 43
It all started in someone’s basement.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 43
The modern Catholic Church is not known for being a leader in cultural endeavors.
by Joel Pidel, appearing in Volume 43
The story of Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in Lackawanna, New York, is one that, like most historic Catholic churches, is intertwined as much with the legacy of a person as with an event that reverberates throughout Church history.
by D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D., appearing in Volume 43
We may not see how the artistic dimension has any importance beyond the rhetorically persuasive.
by Deacon Patrick Toole, appearing in Volume 43
A question that can bedevil a diocese is what to do with unused or underutilized Church properties.
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 42
"For the Eucharist is at once a sacrifice and a Sacrament;
by David Lewis, appearing in Volume 42
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin remains important as one of the founders of the Gothic revival and one who thought about the relationship of architecture and social questions.
by Joseph Connors, appearing in Volume 42
In the Fall 2021 issue of Sacred Architecture, I looked at Santa Maria in Vallicella, the most innovative of the Counter-Reformation basilicas in artistic terms.
by George Cardinal Pell, appearing in Volume 42
I believe strongly that bishops, probably every parish priest, and religious superiors must be able to understand basic economic realities, especially about the institutes they are supervising.
by Nicholas N. Patricios, appearing in Volume 42
The most familiar image of a Byzantine church is that of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul).
by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 41
Just as in real estate, one of the most important principles for church design is location.
by John G. Waite, appearing in Volume 41
The Catholic Church had been a persecuted minority only twenty years before.
by Eugene Johnson, appearing in Volume 41
Leon Battista Alberti’s last, greatest, most influential church design was for Sant’Andrea in the northern Italian city of Mantua.
by Gary A. Anderson, appearing in Volume 41
The writer of Exodus lavishes more detail on the construction of the Tabernacle than he does on almost any other description.
by Charles Scribner, appearing in Volume 41
In 1655, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s old friend Fabio Cardinal Chigi ascended the throne of Peter as Pope Alexander VII and changed the face of Rome forever.
by The Most Rev. William E. Lori, appearing in Volume 41
My dear friends: in 1803, Bishop John Carroll surveyed his diocese—the Diocese of Baltimore.
by Steven W. Semes, appearing in Volume 40
Thomas Gordon Smith, who died at age seventy-three on June 23, 2021, was an architect and teacher who over the course of his career inspired two generations of designers and scholars to pursue the revival of classical architecture as a corrective for the failings of the contemporary built environment.
by Br. Philip Anderson, appearing in Volume 40
It all began when the small band of black monks stepped off the plane from France in September of 1999, and arrived after midnight at the hilly area in the backwoods of Cherokee County Oklahoma named Clear Creek.
by Craig Hamilton, appearing in Volume 40
I recall very well a freezing cold day in 2014, with snow thick on the ground, viewing with Thomas Gordon Smith his newly built courtyard of cinerariums in the cemetery at Notre Dame.
by Rev. Noah Waldman, appearing in Volume 40
Having been honored to have known Thomas Gordon Smith for nearly thirty years, first when I was his student and later as a friend, I think of this very magnanimous and brilliant man as the quintessential example of what it means to be an American.