461 BEAUTY AND TRUTH IN ART

YOUCAT Lesson 461

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

461  How does art mediate between beauty and truth?

The true and the beautiful belong together, for God is the source of beauty and also the source of truth.   Art, which is dedicated to the beautiful, is therefore a special path to the whole and to God.  [2500-2503, 2513]

Mary, Queen of Heaven procession statue displayed at the National Champion Shrine is an example of religious art.  The carved wooden statue was formerly at Holy Cross Church in Bay Settlement and was greatly admired by Adele Brise when she attended Mass there.  It was later given to the Champion church by Father Daems and later the statue transferred to the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help. Between religious events, the statue is displayed in a mirrored case in the visitors center at the National Champion Shrine. ….. 461

What cannot be said in words or expressed in thought is brought to light in art.  It is “a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches”  (see below CCC 2501).  In a way that closely approximates God’s creativity, inspiration and human skill are combined in the artist so as to give a valid form to something new, a previously unseen aspect of reality.  Art is not an end in itself.  It should uplift people, move them, improve them, and ultimately lead them to worship and thank God.

“The author of beauty created them (the things of this world).  Wisdom 13:3

“From the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.”  Wisdom 13:5

“For me, perfection in art and in life springs from the biblical source.”  Mark Chagall (1887-1985) Russian painter)

“Christians think God invented and made the universe—like a man making a picture or composing a tune.”  C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

[2500-2503, 2513]

VI. TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND SACRED ART

2500 The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral beauty. Likewise, truth carries with it the joy and splendor of spiritual beauty. Truth is beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of the knowledge of created and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God. Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos-which both the child and the scientist discover-"from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator," "for the author of beauty created them."(Wisdom 13:3, 5.)²⁹⁰ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

[Wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.( Wis 7:25-26.)²⁹¹ For [wisdom] is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail.( Wis 7:29-30.)²⁹² I became enamored of her beauty.( Wis 8:2.)²⁹³ --CCC

2501 Created "in the image of God,"(Genesis 1:26.)²⁹⁴ man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works. Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being's inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man's own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill,(Compare Wis 7:16-17)²⁹⁵ to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God's activity in what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself, but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.( Cf. Pius XII, Musicae sacrae disciplina; Discourses of September 3 and December 25, 1950.)²⁹⁶ --CCC

2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."(Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 2:9.)²⁹⁷ This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier. --CCC

2503 For this reason bishops, personally or through delegates, should see to the promotion of sacred art, old and new, in all its forms and, with the same religious care, remove from the liturgy and from places of worship everything which is not in conformity with the truth of faith and the authentic beauty of sacred art.(Compare Sources Chretiennes 122-127.)²⁹⁸ --CCC

IN BRIEF

2513 The fine arts, but above all sacred art, "of their nature are directed toward expressing in some way the infinite beauty of God in works made by human hands. Their dedication to the increase of God's praise and of his glory is more complete, the more exclusively they are devoted to turning men's minds devoutly toward God" (Sources Chretiennes 122). --CCC