Esthétique de la Nouvelle Messe

By Samuel Martin

Preface by Fr. Claude Barthe

(Versailles, Via Romana, 2010)

In this short (104 pages) but hard-hitting work, Samuel Martin, a French artist and sculptor, contributes to the growing literature trying to come to grips with the loss of beauty and the sacred in the Roman Catholic Church.  The author, born in 1973, makes the eminently sensible proposal that to do that we should start with the documents of the Second Vatican Council that govern the liturgy and the interpretations contemporary with those documents. The author does not accept at all that the reigning ugliness is merely an abuse of the “true meaning” of the Council. Rather, he sees the loss of beauty as the direct consequence of the founding liturgical principles introduced by the Council. These are, first, “noble simplicity” (almost immediately identified with “simplification” and “ease of understanding”) and second, “active participation.” These are inherently non-liturgical and non-aesthetic principles from which the current desolation directly proceeds. The author’s examination of documents issued by the French bishops – including those issued before the council was concluded! – shows the intent of the reformers to radically break with the past. These instructions call for a complete change of mentality, for the need of spiritual “reeducation” to accompany the exterior changes in the liturgy.  They reveal a quasi- totalitarian aspect of “active participation.” Admittedly, some concern was also voiced by the ecclesiastical authorities (at least in the mid-sixties) that the reform should not proceed in such an uncontrolled way as to totally alienate the faithful.  (In my experience, any such reservations had disappeared by 1970.)

 in this connection Samuel Martin sagely points out that only one ritual gesture  – the collection – has survived unaltered from the pre-conciliar era.  For ” it corresponded in advance with all the demands of the Council:  a  participatory gesture par excellence, of  a childlike simplicity.  One doesn’t  need  a lot of explanations to understand what the person wants who approaches holding the collection basket. Nor was a vigorous change of mentatlity required – just the perpetuation of a habit. For already it was the assembly, and it alone , that was fully involved.”

The foundational principles of disorder were reinforced by others. For example, the modern liturgy’s predominant, even exclusive focus on the Eucharist as a shared meal and the concurrent development of the “liturgy of the word” traps the architecture of a modern church between “a dining hall and a conference room.” The author reviews the products of reign of dryness and ugliness in the present church: the ubiquitous banners, the terrible furnishings, the abominable hymns (both text and music) the insipid translations. Martin of course cites numerous examples – some of them wickedly humorous even to those of us with over 40 years of exposure to the modern liturgies. Such a priest shouting before the “proclaiming” of the epistle: “Brother Hebrews! Paul has sent us a letter!” Or the intention: “Let us pray that parents may tackle calmly the question of new technologies.” Or a contemporary image of the Virgin Mary with a “totally interior gaze” and no eyes (we have seen similar in New York)

As might be expected, an artist-author provides unique insights. For example, in traditional church architecture the priest and the people ascended to the altar of God. These churches were essentially “processional.”  In contrast, those modern churches built in the popular form of an amphitheater make the congregation look down upon the sacred liturgy. That modern building which intends to foster the active participation of the faithful and the feeling of community at the same time blocks the ascending motion of contemplation. And as other authors have noted, the logical end of the process is the disappearance of the “church” itself as a distinct structure. It was to be replaced at first by structures totally indistinguishable from secular buildings, or, more recently, as money and congregations have dwindled, by televised or virtual communities.

Fr. Claude Barthe provides an excellent introduction. He provides additional background on some themes that Samuel Martin touches upon: that true “noble simplicity” already existed in the traditional styles of church architecture (e. g., that of the Cistercians). Or that in certain circles the principles that were to govern the new liturgy were already being devised and even implemented decades before the 1960’s.  Fr. Barthes notes that the paradox that the Council, which had the initial aim of increasing the role of the laity, has called froth a succession of lay authors (like Samuel Martin) who question the foundations of the liturgical movement to which the Council gave rise. Aesthetics of the New Mass is a short sharp and at times slyly humorous work that provokes thought.  It can be ordered  from Amazon.uk.  We would hope that in due time it will be made available in English translation.