The Course of Evangelization

(Above) The so-called “Crown of the Andes.” A masterpiece of Spanish colonial art, it was fashioned of gold and emeralds in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries for a statue of the Madonna in Popayán, Columbia – although stories connected the gems to the last Inca ruler. It was sold to an American investor/collector in the 20th century.

The new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas,” is a major attraction for fans of the arts of the pre-Columbian American cultures. The tile is a bit unfortunate, however, in that it suggests that in their original cultures these objects had the function of luxury knick-knacks or high-priced antiques. Rather, these had a numinous, magical character – and often a specific liturgical function. The exhibition shows how different cultures handed down and reused precious objects such as the mysterious Olmec and Mayan jade pieces over hundreds of years and that techniques such as working in gold slowly made their way from one people to another.

(Above) a Mayan Lady

The pagan art of the pre-Columbian Indian cultures has for us a mysterious, utterly alien quality. Below, a depiction of an a menacing octopus from Peru.

Then came the Spanish and later the Portuguese. How did they set about evangelizing this vast new world? The exhibition confronts us with one object which serves as a corrective to current stereotypes and the “black legend.” It is a unique image of the Mass of St Gregory – based on a print from the Netherlands but executed in the traditional Aztec craft of feather-working! The date and circumstances of its creation are as interesting as its technique. For it was commissioned in 1539 as a gift for Pope Paul III by Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin, an Aztec noble who was serving as a governor of Mexico city under the Viceroy of New Spain. He previously had held high office under his relative, the last Aztec emperor. His gift follows a decree of that Pope in 1537 favorable to the native population. It seems we need to drastically revise our preconceptions about the early life of the indigenous populations in the Spanish colonies.

(Above) The Mass of St Gregory. Mexico City, 1539 executed in gold and feathers. The earliest dated example of  Aztec Christian art, it is preserved in the city of Auch, France. The design is based on a contemporary print from the Netherlands.

The legend of the Mass of St Gregory confirms the truth of transubstantiation.  A doubting deacon saw a vision of Christ in His Passion above the altar during a Mass celebrated by Pope Gregory the Great. What better image to use to instruct the newly converted populations on what the Mass really represents? Here the native artist has taken the basic outline from a print (an art form and technology of the Old World) and has “translated” it into his own fantastically colorful and intricate medium of feather-work.

(Above) Pope St Gregory and assisting sacred ministers (one of whom is the doubting deacon).

Traditionalists should be heartened to see how the solemn mass served as a means of evangelization. A world of pagan ritual and cruel sacrifice was displaced by new, even richer rituals and forms. Within a few decades virtually the entire population of the Aztec lands had become Christian.

This image of the Mass of St Gregory, hoverer, is not just a noble witness to the past, but an admonition to us in the present. For nowadays, despite all the official talk, the spirit of evangelization has almost completely vanished from the Church. The public culture of our age in the United States and Western Europe is militantly anti-Christian. And it seems the majority of contemporary Catholics urgently need basic instruction themselves in the nature of the Mass and the Eucharist. This image  is a salutary example of what once was  accomplished in a prior age by missionaries and their (very) recent converts. It it is just one aspect of a  never-ending task, which despite the unimaginable differences between Mexico City in 1539 and New York in 2018,  always can and must be taken up once again.

(Above) The image of Christ in the “Mass of St Gregory” is surrounded by items associated with the Passion of Christ – a subject of late medieval devotions. In addition, there is a somewhat incongruous offering of two pineapples – a fruit from the New World.

For a detailed and extremely informative discussion of this image see HERE.

A description of the exhibition.