An Exhibit on the Eucharist – and the New York Times

The Master of the Della Rovere Missals – Mass with a Pope in attendance (The Morgan Library)

Illuminating Faith: The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art
Morgan Library and Museum
(Until September 2)

The Morgan library has unlocked many of the masterpieces from its store of illuminated manuscripts to tell for us the story of Eucharist: its origin in the New Testament, its role in liturgy and Christian piety and the growing development of Eucharistic devotions. Through a survey of a vast number of beautiful illustrations we learn the meaning of the Eucharist in theology and explore the vast number of Eucharistic symbols. Indeed the story begins before the New Testament, as many of the Old Testament parallels are depicted and explained.

My wife observed how much of the knowledge patiently set forth in the explanatory materials to this exhibition would have been known up to the end of the 1960’s by the average Catholic grammar school pupil. Only a minority of the images deal with esoteric subjects or strictly medieval practices. In that regard, the visitor unacquainted with medieval life and humor may be scandalized by some of the strange and even blasphemous images found in a few of these manuscripts…

The exhibition devotes much space to the practices surrounding the feast of Corpus Christi. For here we see that medieval Eucharistic devotion did not simply foster an individualistic piety – however laudable that certainly is – but developed into a feast that in so many locations is the greatest public manifestation of collective Catholic identity. Originating north of the Alps and gradually spreading, by the 1540’s it was celebrated in Rome with the almost endless papal procession shown on a manuscript in the exhibit.

The explanatory materials are ample and their tone is objective and straightforward. This is what was believed – and to some extent, the exhibition (Roger S. Wieck is the curator) takes care to point out, is believed still. There are only a few ”zingers” directed at the Church, such as where persecution of Jews is described as a “repercussion” of medieval Eucharistic piety – without any further qualification. (I can think of many more immediate causes such as fear of the Black death in 1348).

Now Holland Cotter in The New York Times (July 5, 2013) has written an extensive review of this exhibition. Building on elements of the descriptions accompanying the displays, he has refashioned the show into a tale of clerical oppression. The “consecrated bread” was “potent stuff” increasingly kept in the custody of the clergy, which had “come to be defined as a specialized professional class set apart from the larger community.” “The mass was performed by the priest standing with his back to the congregation…” “As if to compensate for lack of tangible access ( of the laity to communion), though, the host began to assume a growing visual presence…” It’s a story we have heard so many times from post-conciliar Catholic clergy. Eamon Duffy in several of his works (The Stripping of the Altars; Marking the Hours) has offered a major corrective to the views of the Times and, to some extent, of the exhibition. But at least The Times has devoted a long report to this excellent exhibition; as one might expect, its resonance in the Catholic world outside of a few individuals has been null.

All in all, this exhibition is highly recommended, although the price of admission to the Morgan nowadays certainly ain’t cheap. But for your money you can wander among the great rooms of the library and several distinguished exhibits often virtually alone – what a blessing in New York! For to appreciate works such as these illuminated manuscripts concentration and quiet study are required – the approach found in the blockbuster shows at the Met won’t work here….

In addition to The New York Times review, see the blog Ad Imaginem Dei for a detailed image by image review – in 6 installments!

Good and Bad communion (The Morgan Library).