Such columns are a familiar sight in Cenral Europe: Bohemia, Austria, South Germany, etc. One of the earliest and perhaps most famous stands in the main square of Munich. They were set up, particularly in the 17th century, in gratitude for help in times of plague and warfare – especially struggles against the enemies of the faith. The column in Prague, for example, erected in 1650, commemorated the defense of the city in 1648 against the Protestant Swedes. At that time Prague was the second capital of the Hapsburg domains – and of the Holy Roman Empire. Statues like that of Prague marked the triumphant reemergence of the Catholic Holy Roman empire from the challenges of religious conflict, Turkish invasions and economic crisis. They are also examples of that baroque art and religious expression that would so completely transform the customs and face of these regions. Their “triumphant” message became anathema to subsequent revolutionaries, unbelievers – and progressive Catholics.

In 1918 the Austrian empire, the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, disintegrated after a failed war. The coalition led by Woodrow Wilson (whose (virtual) statue has in this year been thrown down by his alma mater of Princeton)sponsored the creation of secular, petty nationalist states throughout Central Europe. In Prague a mob, in a paroxysm of anti-Catholic, anti-German and anti-Habsburg rage threw the Marian column down. (Not far from the column, a monstrous monument to Jan Hus had been erected by Czech nationalists a few years earlier.) Subsequent governments of Prague, Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic – secular liberal, Nazi, communist and secular liberal again – directly or indirectly stood by this action. Until June of this year. A movement to re-erect the statue, started in 1990, finally saw the project endorsed by the city government. The statue of Mary, a copy of the artistically significant baroque original, stands once more high above the city of Prague.

We read that the co-founder of  the Society for the Restoration of the Marian Column will be writing an account of the 30-year struggle for restoration. Hopefully it will be translated – we look forward to reading it! It should have important lessons for us in America today . In the United States at this moment, Catholic cathedrals are being vandalized, Catholic churches burned, images of Catholic saints thrown down, covered with obscenities and destroyed and, most recently, a statue of Mary burned. Perhaps the Czech example can show us how to organize to restore the public face of
Catholicism in the face of inveterate opposition. And teach us once more about the need to maintain and defend such a public presence in the first place.

CNA Article on the Prague statue.

The relevant Czech wikipedia entry has many more pictures of the Prague column, of its history and restoration and of similar statues of the Virgin Mary in the Czech Republic and elsewhere.

To see this exhibition on Emperor Maximilian  – his armor and his art – at the Metropolitan Museum:

The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I 

We recently have resumed our series of posts  covering the deeds and relics of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.  Emperor Maximilian I was one of its most extraordinary leaders. Warrior, patron of the arts, far-seeing politician yet upholder of chivalric virtues,  he personified the somewhat fantastic character of the Holy Roman Empire in its last few centuries. Yet Maximilian was was able to accomplish great political achievements – not for himself, but for his descendants. He rescued the Burgundian-Netherlandish state from annihilation by France. He saw his grandson, Charles ascend the thrones of Spain, Burgundy-Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire – becoming the mightiest European monarch in centuries. He laid the foundations for the union of the Bohemian and Hungarian crowns with the ancestral Habsburg domains, the essence of the future Austrian empire.  Yet he himself often wandered about,  bereft of resources and on the brink of bankruptcy.

In his age he was one of the greatest patrons of the craft of the armorer  and of German art.  A champion of knighthood, he was deeply involved in the development of artillery and infantry. He utilized the new printed media to promote his persona – including the monumental assembly of woodcuts known as the Triumphal Arch. He was a great collector of medieval German literature.

(above) Gauntlets of Maxmilian I

Plate armor was tailor-made for wealthier clients. (Above) Parade armor, commissioned by Maximilian for Charles V as an adolescent. (Below) Armor,  intended for combat use, made for Maximilian I as a young man.

Finally, of course, like every emperor pf the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian was a religious figure.  We find images of saints and of the Virgin  on various armors in this exhibition. The last work commissioned by him is his own portrait on his deathbed.  Graphically realistic, stripped of all the accoutrements of grandeur, it is a gripping acknowledgment that we shall all return to dust.

The fantastic “Triumphal Arch,”  covering an entire wall and assembled out of prints by many of the leading German artists of  Maximilian’s  day. 

The double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire adorns a well-known restaurant in the Kaiserstuhl  area of Baden, Germany: up to 1806 part of the Holy Roman Empire (and Austria)

The Holy Roman Empire: A Short History

By Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger

Translated by Yair Mintzker

Princeton University Press

Princeton, 2018

Some years ago, I attended a conference of lawyers  in Salzburg. I was walking through the streets of that magical city with a professor from an American law school, who marveled at the great architecture surrounding us.   I informed him there was a reason for this: Salzburg in the past had been not a provincial Austrian city. but the capital of a substantial principality of the Holy Roman Empire. That fascinated him: “the Holy Roman Empire…. the Holy Roman Empire….” he kept saying to himself as we continued our walk.

Yes, it is a mysterious entity,  this Holy Roman Empire, which existed in one form or another between 800/962 and 1806. Throughout  most of this time it was closely linked with Germany- only for a period in the 13th century did the center of gravity shift to Italy.

Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger has written, as the title indicates, a “short history” of the Holy Roman Empire – actually only of its last three centuries. 1) It covers the period ca. 1490 to 1806 – when the Empire had been  “repurposed” as a German national kingdom. But this transformation was never complete. Central Europe never become another France or United Kingdom. This history it is more a constitutional or structural history – Prof. Stollberg-Rilinger emphasizes less what the Empire actually did.

But these last three centuries of the Empire, even if a period of weakness compared to the Empire‘s  medieval golden years, was still an era of real political accomplishments. The Holy Roman Empire was directly involved in all the major events of Europe; its diffuse structure enabled the Protestant Reformation to take root. But, paradoxically, this same lack of unity enabled Catholicism to survive in Germany – especially in the imperial or Austrian lands that had remained Catholic. From roughly 1480 to 1720 the Empire led the defense of the West against the Ottoman Turks, a struggle in which the German lands – not Poland  – did the overwhelming share of the fighting. These wars culminated in the recovery of  all of Hungary for Christendom.

The Empire’s political  complexity and religious antagonisms led to the catastrophe of the Thirty Years War. Yet from the low point of 1648 – the end of that struggle – the Empire recovered to lead the defense against France in the West, Sweden in the North and the Ottoman Turks in the East. By 1718 German princes occupied the thrones of Great Britain, Hungary and Poland. Denmark had become essentially a German state, and Sweden had its German possessions reduced to a fraction of their former size. It was a remarkable restoration! But soon thereafter came the conflict between Prussia and Austria, each of which disposed of resources dwarfing those of the Empire of which they were largely a part. Finally, the Empire collapsed under the blows of the French revolutionary armies and of Napoleon.

The Empire’s legacy in art, culture and architecture is overwhelming. “Take Germany’s best years(1660-1760)” as Ezra Pound put it.  Why is Prague today such an incomparable gem?- not because it is the capital of a third-rate Central European state, but because it served on several occasions as the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire. The same, of course, can be said of Vienna – only here the legacy of the Empire in obscured by 19th century construction. Beyond the imperial capitals, there are the architectural masterpieces of all the bewildering variety of the former estates of the Empire: the imperial abbeys ( e.g., Ottobeuren); the imperial cities (Rothenburg and Regensburg); and the prince-bishoprics (Bamberg and the above-mentioned Salzburg). And the achievements of these last imperial ages were not confined to architecture and the visual arts but embraced music, philosophy and, especially towards the end of this era, literature.

The study of the Holy Roman Empire takes on added significance in the light of the recent “Catholic Integralism” discussion. For the “Holy” Roman Empire is by definition characterized by a union of the temporal and the sacred.  It is a Catholic Empire. This did not necessarily earn it the approbation of 19th century and later ultramontanes. For the Empire was anything but a passive tool in the hands of the papacy.  For example, in the period covered by Prof. Stollberg-Rilinger,  Emperor Charles V, after sacking Rome in 1527, was instrumental in convening the Council of Trent against significant opposition in the Vatican. The Council assembled in Trent, a city, although not German-speaking, of the Empire. This religious dimension of the Empire, in my view,  does not receive a totally adequate  treatment in this book.

Although brief, this book may be relatively challenging for the American reader. It seems to presuppose a fairly good knowledge of German and Central European history, culture and geography – even if it does explain where Silesia is located or who Goethe is (presumably these are additions by  the translator).   With that reservation, The Holy Roman Empire: a Short History is a useful handbook enabling the reader to put in the proper political framework what are otherwise apparently unconnected religious, artistic and cultural developments. So, I notice it is offered for sale at the current exhibition Maximilian: the Last Knight at the Metropolitan Museum.

Regrettably the two forewords to this book are typical of present-day academia in Germany and the United States.  Prof.  Stollberg-Rilinger worries that  the methodology of her book could be interpreted as a “political move,” which is understandable given that her own foreword is largely devoted to the discussion of post–19^th century ideological issues.  Then there is the foreword of the translator. Yair Mintzker describes the book as targeting a “broad audience”  then devotes paragraphs to an exposition of the interrelationships among academics currently working in the field of the Holy Roman Empire.  Having translated a book often concerned with details of  terminology, he refers to the “Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.” And of course, like every American professor, he must utilize a discussion of the most remote topic to launch an attack on Trump. “Almost all Americans ” he informs us, “accept as legitimate  the election of Donald J. Trump.” How gracious of them to accept incontrovertible facts! You see, this was the product of  of a series of “fictions” that the outcome of elections represents the will of the people. Prof. Mintzker’s understanding of the purpose and workings of the United States constitution is decidedly limited.

But these things are of our time. I would hope the reader of The Holy Roman Empire: A Short History would be inspired by it to delve more deeply into a fascinating polity and its culture!

1. The original German title more accurately conveys the scope of the book: The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation: from the End of the Middle Ages to 1806.

The  imperial eagle in Colmar, Alsace (up to 1635 part of the Empire)

The ancient Christian empire seems to be gaining more and more attention – despite recent denunciations by Team Francis. Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of hearing a 17th century Holy Week oratorio by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, written in 1678 for Emperor Leopold I. Just this last Saturday we attended the performance of a second short oratorio by Antonio Draghi, also first performed in Vienna in 1668. Giuditta (Judith) was composed for the chapel of the dowager empress Eleanora, widow of Emperor Ferdinand III (1637-57). The oratorio was performed by the “Academy of Sacred Drama” which has as its aim the exploration of the “forgotten cultural treasures of sacred dramatic music.” Amazing that such groups have arisen here in the City! The venue was Corpus Christi Church near Columbia.

Although only ten years separates the composition of the two oratorios, they are quite different. Giuditta is shorter and has a more operatic text. Judith Malafronte gave a scholarly introduction to the piece. The evening concluded with two beautiful works: the Laurentian Litany by Francesco Durante and a Stabat Mater by Antonio Draghi.

Last Friday evening, in the midst of a fierce early March storm, I attended a rare musical event  at the church of St. Luke in the Fields in the Village.  The vocalists of TENET together with the instrumental performers of ACRONYM presented Le Memorie Dolorose, a sepolcro, or kind of oratorio for Holy Week. It would have been first presented in the imperial chapel in Vienna. In fact, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, the composer, was required to write one or two new sepolcri every year (there were Thursday and Friday pieces).  After their initial performance, they remained unpublished and unperformed until the 1970’s.

It was an outstanding performance. The work is not at all an eclectic jumble but has a clear form leading to a dramatic climax in which all musical forces participated. These were significant because, despite the modest length of this work, eleven singers are required. The performances were uniformly outstanding. Originally the sepolcro was semi-staged; this performance tried to duplicate this by the solemn procession-like entrances of the singers.

The Italian libretto by Nicolo Minato is quite sophisticated theologically and poetically. At times it seems almost reminiscent of the eastern liturgy in its dramatic juxtapositions of the divine and the human. The text serves to further integrate the succession of recitatives and arias which make up this work.

An extremely informative lecture preceded the performance.  Prof. Robert L Kendrick of the University of Chicago explained the genre and the libretto and situated Le Memorie Dolorose in its place and time – Vienna of the 1670’s, in the reign of Leopold I.

(Above) Ivory image of Emperor Leopold I in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Contemporary artists in all media seemed to delight in exaggerating Leopold’s not very attractive features.

Leopold I (reigned 1658-1705) is one of the most underrated rulers in history, the victim of the utterly dishonest writings of French, German (Prussian), Czech, Hungarian and Polish nationalist historians. Extremely well educated (he had been initially destined for an ecclesiastical career) he became ruler of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation at its nadir after the Thirty Years War. His entire reign was an exhausting struggle against external and internal foes. At the end he succeeded. It was primarily his forces, not those of Poland, which defeated the Turks in 1683 at Vienna. The forces of the Empire then recovered Hungary from the Ottomans between 1683 and 1699. France, in the ascendant under Louis XIV, proved a more formidable foe. Yet here too Leopold lived to experience the crushing defeat of the French at Blenheim in 1704.  in the north, the elector of Brandenburg, now allied with Leopold, threw back the Swedes. And beyond just conducting seemingly endless wars, Leopold introduced significant improvements in administration – both of his own lands and of the greater Empire itself. The Holy Roman Empire, seemingly moribund in 1658, had acquired a new vitality and prestige under Leopold.

But Leopold’s main claim to fame is cultural. Completely devoted to Catholicism, he consolidated the Church throughout his domains. He cultivated strong cultural links with Italy – this performance is evidence of that. In so doing he ushered in the age of the baroque in the German lands. After 1683 there was a veritable renaissance of art and music. Starting in the Habsburg lands, in Prague and Vienna, baroque architecture, sculpture and painting spread to the other principalities of the Empire: Salzburg, Dresden, Fulda, Passau and Bamberg. Leopold was personally a great enthusiast of music and a composer in his own right. In Leopold’s own Hapsburg domains alone, musicians like Schmelzer, Biber and Fux were active. As for literature, in Silesia, then one of the Austrian territories, there was a long line of baroque poets, including one genius: Angelus Silesius. Leopold’s reign was the start of a glorious revival of art and culture that lasted into the succeeding classical and romantic ages.

Regretfully, we must pass from the past to the present day. The lecturer felt it necessary to “utterly dissociate” himself from parts of the text that feature “anti-Jewish outcry.” I myself was unable discover anything in that regard  in Minato’s text beyond what is contained in the gospels; presumably our speaker would have to qualify a performance of one of Bach’s Passions in the same way. After these remarks, he noted how important it is to make such statements when “hate” is taking over Washington and “countries like Poland and Hungary.” I would note that the speaker, who shows such sensitivity to the alleged anti-Semitic nuances of a 17th century libretto himself feels free to disparage whole peoples of today. And I ask myself; doesn’t he know that the world media are accusing Poland and Hungary of the crime of seeking to restrain immigration – of the same “migrants” and “refuges” who are making life increasingly miserable for the Jewish populations of the UK and France? It reminds me very much of my experiences long ago in East Germany, where every presentation on every conceivable topic had to include a ritualistic reference to the controlling ideology.

But enough of such thoughts! It was a wonderful evening. And I hear this work is being recorded by Friday night’s performers. I would highly recommend acquiring it when it appears!

Today is Feast of St Hugh of Cluny (May 13, 1024 – April 28, 1109). The abbey of Cluny under his rule was the model of a Catholic restoration based on perfection of the celebration of the liturgy.

(Above) A near-contemporaneous image of St.Hugh; (below) a much later version. Both are depictions of his role as mediator between Countess Matilda of Tuscany and Gregory VII on the one hand and the Holy Roman emperor Henry IV on the other.

(Above) The towers of the cathedral of Bamberg (early 13th century) seen on a dark winter day.

We have heard, endlessly repeated over the decades, that the Traditional mass constitutes a barrier to those “outside”: the young, those not practicing their faith and non-Catholics. It is supposed to lock these devoted to it in an inaccessible “ghetto.” Is this true? A now obscure episode of German literary history enables us to test these claims – almost under laboratory conditions.

In the summer of 1793, while the French revolution and its wars were ravaging Europe, the young law students Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder and his friend Ludwig Tieck set out on a series of journeys from the South German university town of Erlangen. They would have an epochal effect on German culture. They traveled through the wild, hilly uplands of Franconia – deep valleys, mysterious caverns, ruined castles and bizarre mountain formations – helping to ignite the Romantic enthusiasm for nature. They explored the winding streets and many medieval monuments of the ancient, almost fossilized but still intact city of Nuremberg, rediscovering the Middle Ages. In palaces, churches, monasteries and cities they studied paintings and sculptures, launching a cult both of the Italian Renaissance and of the age of Albrecht Dürer. But what concerns us is another trip, this time by Wackenroder alone, to investigate not nature or the artifacts of the past, but the Catholic world of his own time. He undertook a journey to the nearby city of Bamberg.

Although a little over 26 miles removed from Erlangen, a trip to the Catholic world of Bamberg was to Wackenroder much the same as a journey to Afghanistan or Burma might be to us. Such was the consciousness of the religious divide in the Germany of that era. Moreover, Wackenroder and Tieck both hailed from Berlin, a stronghold of Protestantism and of the Enlightenment and the most extreme antipode to the Catholic principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. Wackenroder himself seems to have started his journey with no great knowledge of Catholics or liking for them. Indeed, he was of the opinion that Catholics were biologically distinguishable from Protestants:

The character of the Bambergers, in general, is supposed to be ingenuous, dull, and superstitious – and involve frequent beer drinking. As in all Catholic countries, the numerous holy days invite laziness. The general Catholic national physiognomy is very striking and characteristic especially of the women. They are mostly small, anything but beautiful and have a snub nose.

However, the Catholic Church that Wackenroder encountered in 1793 was not that of the desiccated services of the post-Pius X reforms, let alone the cold minimalist rituals we see Bamberg today, attended by only a handful of worshippers. No – it was the Catholic Church bathed in the last golden glow of the setting baroque sun. It was a world of processions, relics and devotions, of overflowing public and popular piety, of splendid masses accompanied by orchestras, gunfire salutes and trumpet blasts! Bamberg was at that time a separate principality of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a prince-bishop (an institution so characteristic of the old German Empire!). In Wackenroder’s day, “enlightened” bishops had recently taken steps to reduce the number of processions, to cut down on holydays and to restrain the popular enthusiasm. But much still remained!

He was struck by the superabundance of art in the Cathedral:

Inside, the cathedral contains an indescribable richness of old paintings, tombs and reliefs. One finds similar things in all Catholic churches but not always in such abundance….One can study these all the easier because all Catholic churches are usually open the entire day except in the afternoon; and one doesn’t disturb the few people who are praying at different times in the churches.

(Above) The Cathedral still houses a multitude of priceless medieval artworks. But the lavish abundance of Wackenroder’s day is gone – largely because of the “purification” (the stripping of baroque art) in the 19th century.

(Above and Below)Among the artworks in the cathedral mentioned by Wackenroder is the tomb of Sts Henry and Kunigunde by Tilman Riemenschneider

Wackenroder continues:

In this cathedral so curious and ancient for me, I attended with the greatest interest on the feast of Saint Henry (the patron saint of Bamberg- SC) High Mass that was held on Sunday from 9 to 10 after the preaching, and on every major feast…. In the streets, flowers were on sale everywhere, which everyone brought into the cathedral. Before the church a woman sat, selling rosaries and scapulars. I bought for myself a rosary for three Kreuzer and a scapular.

As I entered the venerable church I found it already almost full. I pushed forward up to the main altar and waited now for the solemn scene. Oh! – truly I had not expected very much. Everything was new for me. The ceremonies, which every minute always changed, made an ever stronger and wonderful impression on me the more they were mysterious and unintelligible. I was standing among nothing but Catholics: men, women and children. Some were constantly reading prayer books; others prayed the rosary while standing, yet others reverently knelt right next to me.

Here I found proved so clearly what Nicolai relates: that fixed raising of the gaze in prayer, which suddenly blazes up to heaven without resting on earthly objects; the making of the sign of the cross in holy zeal; the heartfelt firm striking of the breast which, with expressive glances towards heaven and with deeply felt sighs, shows such special depth of feeling. …One is totally initiated into the Catholic faith here and almost driven to participate in all the ceremonies.

Now on the high altar, adorned in red, a mass of candles was lit. Everyone who passed this altar genuflected. Now four or five clerics in splendid vestments, embroidered with great flowers in green and gold, with red and white, appeared on the steps of the altar and began the High Mass. It was entirely in Latin, but is available to the people in German translation. The High Mass itself consists of a great number of ceremonies, precisely organized but unintelligible to me. Now this or that cleric sang, with a hoarse, monotonous and unpleasant voice, prayers or selections from the bible – now before the altar, now from a pulpit across from the altar. There, lower clerics in simple choir robes with black collars stood at his side, carrying candles. Now a cleric did this or that on the altar; now they changed places, knelt here or there, on this or that step, now the organ interrupted them at every second or third word and accompanied their chant, of which I could understand only isolated words that were often repeated: a “dominus vobiscum” and an “in saeculo saeculorum.”

Now, accompanied by violins, etc, arias and choruses were sung in other parts of the church; now the Host on the altar was incensed with a silver thurible hanging from chains; now a cleric took the Host to the other end of the church and returned, always preceded by a soldier with his musket. For, right next to me on the high altar stood four soldiers. On the sides sat the canons in white choir robes and red collars; the cleric with the thurible also approached them, swung it upwards before them and incensed them – which impressed me greatly.

The most solemn moment, however, was when another cleric showed to the people the monstrance (a gleaming crystal case in which the Host resides). At this moment a bell was rung, the soldiers presented their arms, took off their hats and fell to their knees. The whole congregation fell down and crossed itself, blaring trumpets rang out, which were lost amid the long drawn out sounds of horns. I also fell to my knees, for otherwise I certainly would have exposed myself to the indignation of the people; moreover it would indeed have taken an effort to remain standing in isolation, for a whole world knelt down around me, and everything prompted me to the highest devotion – to do otherwise would have been as if I didn’t belong to the human race.

We will pass over the other artistic experiences and investigations of Wackenroder in Bamberg. But we must mention his participation on subsequent days in public processions, which impressed him greatly. On one such occasion, one of the natives raged at him for not taking off his hat – something like that can befall young ladies today who walk into certain Traditional masses wearing trousers…

Wackenroder’s impressions of individual Catholics and their clergy, however, were mixed. One day (in a subsequent visit to Bamberg with Tieck):

A procession of Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans and Capuchins left the church. I saw some venerable and really ideal old men among them.

Several Catholic clerics and other friends, moreover, were very kind and helpful hosts to Wackenroder during his stay in Bamberg. Yet:

The Catholics that I knew were not orthodox and themselves smiled over the peculiarities of their religion.

Wackenroder himself had to endure the company of one insufferable enlightened character who yearned to break out from Catholicism.

On a second journey to Bamberg, Wackenroder and companions wanted to experience the Benedictine life in the nearby monastery of Banz. To their distress, they quickly found that, in that stronghold of the Catholic enlightenment, the traditions of medieval hospitality had vanished….

Among our author’s most positive experiences of an individual Catholic was a visit to a school for girls, where Wackenroder admired a sister of the order of the “English Ladies” conducting a class. 1)

(above) Wackenroder found this painted false cupola, “tasteless.” (in the church of St. Martin – at that time, the Jesuit church). But might this not have been the inspiration for Wackenroder’s later description of the dome and columns of the Pantheon in Rome? (see below)

Four years later, in 1797, appeared Wackenroder’s Outpourings from the Heart of an Art-Loving Monk – the title alone reads like a fantastic Romantic manifesto. In this book Wackenroder alludes several times to his experiences in Bamberg, above all in one crucial chapter describing a young German painter encountering the Catholic mass. Wackenroder shifts the time from that of his era to the early 16th century, the place from Bamberg, the “German Rome,” to the real one, and the church from an early Gothic cathedral to the Pantheon. Instead of the sober, almost scientific prose of the accounts of his travels, the style is florid, exalted, and enthusiastic – in a word, Romantic. (Indeed, my edition claims the following passages were actually written by Tieck; the two friends often contributed to each other’s works.)

I went recently into the rotunda (the Pantheon – SC) for it was a great festival and a splendid Latin music was going to be performed – but really above all to see my beloved again among the praying crowd and to hover in the presence of her celestial devotion. The splendid temple, the huge mass of the people that again and again pressed in and surrounded me ever closer, and the dazzling preparations – all this induced in my soul a wonderful attentiveness. I was most solemnly disposed. Even if I wasn’t thinking clearly and lucidly, as usually happens in such a tumult, my very soul was stirred as if something very special was about to happen within me. At once everything grew quieter. Above us began the all-powerful music – slowly, fully, expansively – as if there blew an invisible wind above our heads. Like the sea it surged forth in ever-greater waves, and its sounds drew my soul completely outside of my body. My heart pounded, and I felt a mighty yearning for something great and sublime that I could embrace. The full Latin chant that, rising and falling, forced its way through the tones of the music like ships sailing through the waves of the sea, raised my soul ever higher. And, while the music pervaded my entire being and ran through all my veins, I, who had been sunk in thought, raised my eyes and looked about me. The entire temple appeared alive before my eyes – the music had intoxicated me so! At that moment the music stopped, a priest advanced before the high altar, raised the host with an enthusiastic gesture and showed it to all. Everybody fell on his knees, trumpets blared out indescribable, all-powerful sounds and solemn prayers resounded everywhere. All those pressed tightly around me fell to their knees. A secret miraculous power drew me too to the floor, and I couldn’t have resisted with all my might.

And now, as I knelt with bowed head, and my heart soared within my breast, an unknown power lifted again my gaze. I looked around me, and it seemed clearly as if all the Catholics, men and women, who, kneeling, now meditated, now gazed up to heaven, crossed themselves reverently, struck their breast and moved their praying lips – as if all were praying to the Father in heaven for the salvation of my soul, as if all the hundreds around me prayed for a lost one in their midst and drew me over to their faith in silent worship but with irresistible force. Then I glanced to the side at Maria, and I saw a great holy tears spring from her blue eyes. I didn’t know what was happening within me, I couldn’t stand her gaze any more, I turned my head sideways, my eyes fell upon an altar, and a painting of Christ on the cross looked at me with indescribable melancholy. The mighty columns of the temple rose, worthy of reverence, before my eyes like saints and apostles, and looked down on me with their capitals full of dignity. The endless vault of the dome bowed down like the all-embracing heaven over me, and blessed my pious resolutions.

I could not leave the temple after the end of the celebration, I fell down in a corner and wept, and then passed with a contrite heart all the saints, all the paintings – it seemed that only now could I really contemplate and revere them. I could not resist the force within me – dear Sebastian, I have now crossed over to your faith, and my heart feels happy and light. It was art that had all-powerfully drawn me over, and I can say that only now can I understand and grasp art.

It’s clear that here Wackenroder has built upon the details of what he himself saw in Bamberg but has transfigured them in a new literary form. The emphasis, moreover, has shifted not so subtly from religious ritual to the aesthetic power wielded by art: the architecture, the paintings and above all the music – even leading to a conversion! There is romantic subjectivity too, as the artist’s tearful beloved becomes a Madonna figure leading to Christ. But let’s not be critical: didn’t Vladimir Soloviev point out that St Vladimir chose the Orthodox faith for Russia because the beauty of the ceremonies of St. Sophia impressed him so? And, aside from any aesthetic experiences, the unforgettable impression made on the writer by the open and unashamed devotion of the simple Catholic faithful is the same both in this story and the original account.

Other than what we can surmise from these writings, we know of no conversion in the case of Wackenroder himself. He died in 1798, aged only 24. But he has left for us a marvelous description of a Catholic liturgy, which on one special day made such an indelible impression upon him. For this Mass, so foreign to him, and that he could not “understand,” had clearly communicated to him the most profound sense of worship and of the Divine. Such is the transformative power, both in 1793 and today, of this Mass – the Mass of Tradition!

(Above and below) The Bamberg town hall, located on an island in the midst of a river and built in a medley of styles, impressed Wackenroder.

(Above and below) Wackenroder and his companions had disagreeable encounters with modern Benedictine hospitality in the monasteries of Banz and Langenheim. Strangely, though, he never mentions what is today the most famous work of ecclesiastical architecture in that vicinity: the grand and prominently situated pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen. ( the “fourteen holy helpers”)

All the quotations are from Wackenroder, Wilhelm Heinrich, Werke und Briefe (1967 Verlag Lambert Schneider, Heidelberg) (reprint of the 1938 edition with the inclusion of one additional letter)

1) “English Ladies” (Englische Fräulein) a order of teaching sisters founded by Mary Ward in the 17th century but by far more widespread in Germany than in England.

POMERIUM
Alexander Blachly, Director
with viol consort THE CAT’S PAW
Music for Imperial Augsburg, 1518-1548

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 4 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI CHURCH, 529 W. 121 St, NYC

Director Alexander Blachly’s vocal ensemble Pomerium and the viol consort, The Cat’s Paw, perform works by Isaac, Josquin, Senfl, Crecquillon and Gombert. “Music for Imperial Augsburg” presents monumental works by these composers, known to have been presented at the general assemblies, called diets, of the Holy Roman Empire during the reigns of Maximilian I (1486-1519) and Charles V (1519-1556).

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The Golden Madonna- this sadly mutilated image of Our Lady, commissioned by St. Bernward before 1022, is one of the earliest statues in the West.

Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Exhibition open until January 5, 2014

The Holy Roman Empire – a vague and mysterious concept to us nowadays. Yet an extraordinary exhibition of religious art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art brings the founding era of the empire close to us once again. The cathedral town of Hildesheim is now rather obscure. In the North of Germany, it is today an extreme outlying post of Catholicism in that country. Yet in the glory days of the foundation and initial flourishing of the Holy Roman Empire (say 955- 1100), it was of central importance. The bishopric of Hildesheim illustrated the close union of spiritual and temporal authority characteristic of the empire from its very beginnings. Under the patronage of several extraordinary bishops – Bernward and Godehard, both canonized, it became in the first half of the 11th century a center of first flowering of Christian art in Medieval Europe. And more of this early art survives in Hildesheim than almost anywhere else in Europe – it is rivaled only by Aachen, Bamberg and the “Welf Treasure”(mostly now in Berlin).

The artistic renaissance of the early 11th century saw the building of several noteworthy churches in Hildesheim. But it is especially the creations in sculpture, metalwork and in illuminated manuscripts that amaze us today. Let us remember that even Suger in the 12th century – the builder of the first Gothic church of Saint Denis – spent as much or more time describing the sacred vessels and precious ornaments of his church as he did the architecture itself. This exhibition offers a unique collection of the smaller works of art: candlesticks, croziers, chalices patens, and some items that have since fallen out of liturgical use, like three 12th century metal ceremonial fans. The styles range from the expressive creativity of Bernward’s candlesticks to the “classic” Gothic style of an early 13th century baptismal font.

Even after Bernward’s and Godehard’s time, Hildesheim continued to flourish as an artistic center under the leadership of the Church. And Germany itself led Europe in the working of metals throughout the Middle Ages. The result was an almost unending series of masterpieces. Magnificent examples of work in gold, silver, copper and bronze from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries are on display in this exhibition.

St. Bernward’s “logo” on a book cover.

One of unique set of three liturgical fans – still used in the Byzantine rite.

This text should be familiar to all of you – sacramentary from 1014-1022.

The Assumption – actually from a different artistic center of Germany at that time – the abbey of Reichenau on Lake Constance.

(Above and below) The spectacular early 13th century baptismal font.

Sadly, after the Reformation Hildesheim became religiously divided – a “frontier” outpost where the Catholic and Protestant worlds coexisted uneasily. After the 16th century its former economic prosperity also departed. Finally, the “Rotenburg ob der Tauber of the North” was senselessly destroyed by bombing in 1945. Yet the extraordinary treasures of the Middles Ages, gleaming in gold and silver, survive to this day. They witness to the birth of Western art and culture after the dark ages – and to the creation of the first mature Christian commonwealth in the West as well. Be sure and pay a visit to this exhibition before January 5th!

The tower of the Frankfurt Cathedral reflects the form of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire

Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany would seem the very antithesis of the sacred. Oversized skyscrapers dominate the town as nowhere else in Europe. Thanks to the area bombing of the Second World War and the activities of postwar speculators, there is precious little evidence of the past. A crowd of every language, race and nationality swarms on the mall-like main shopping street. At night, however, the high-rise financial district lies deserted just like most US downtowns. What would otherwise be a pleasant, medium-sized European commercial city seems crushed under the weight of an impersonal modernity.

Yet, slightly off the beaten track and on either side of the Main River are astonishing Catholic churches, isolated witnesses to a more glorious past. For it was in Frankfurt that the German kings and the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were elected. After 1560, they were crowned here as well. Indeed, Frankfurt owes its very origin to its status as a possession of the Carolingian Emperors and before that, perhaps, of the Merovingians as well.

St Leonhard is remarkably well preserved, having survived World War II with very little damage. Emperor Frederick II founded this church in 1219, in connection with his vow to go on Crusade – a commitment that soon brought him much grief from the papacy.

Two towers (which mimic a tower in Jerusalem itself) still testify to this vow.

Inside, enclosed by later late medieval construction, are two Romanesque portals dating to the era of its foundation. One, of 1220, shows St. James and two pilgrims – this church also served as a departure point for pilgrims to Santiago. Indeed, this church has it its patron the patron saint of one of the main French stations of the pilgrimage route to Santiago: St.Leonard-de-Noblat.

The other portal of 1230 depicts various saints – including St. George, associated with the Crusades. St. George kneels, clad in the armor of a Crusader.

One is overcome by awe when contemplating these ancient ,hidden images while reflecting on the traffic, skyscrapers and global capitalism so near at hand. For when these portals were carved, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare, St. Elizabeth, St. Dominic and so may others walked the earth, the Cathedral of Chartres was rising, Christian knights were battling the infidel in Spain, in Prussia and in the Holy Land. Now all is quiet here – one can count the number of visitors, whether tourists or faithful, on one hand.

Later, between 1400 and 1520, St. Leonhard was mostly rebuilt and greatly expanded in an elaborate late gothic style. By then, Frankfurt was a large, prosperous city.


On windows and on carved stones the donors left their mark – like Dr. Stork (Storch) and his wife Mrs. Frog (Froschin). Much lovely glass, stone and metalwork survives from that era.

The original altars and statuary, however, were mostly lost in the Protestant reformation, the adaptation of the church to baroque tastes and subsequent damage by the French armies after 1792. As part of a little known yet remarkable 19th century restoration initiative, Fr. Ernst Franz Muenzenberger, the rector of the church of St Bartholomew, furnished this and other Frankfurt churches with magnificent altars, some newly carved or painted, some purchased and some a mixture of old and new elements. Much of the present appearance of St. Leonhard is due to him.

It is in this magnificent setting that the Frankfurt Traditional mass community celebrates what is called here variously the “Tridentine” or the “classical Roman” liturgy. Traditional Mass Community
Can we forget to mention that Martin Mosebach, who has done more than anyone else has in recent years to promote the restoration of the Traditional liturgy in Germany and the world, hails from Frankfurt?

St. Bartholomew, the “Cathedral” of Frankfurt (it has never been the seat of a bishop) is a much older foundation and a more splendid church. Like St. Leonhard’s and several other major Frankfurt churches, St. Bartholomew’s was eventually preserved for Catholic worship through the influence of the Holy Roman Emperors and of the nearby Prince-bishops of Mainz. Sadly, in contrast to St. Leonhard, St. Bartholomew’s suffered great damage by fire in 1867 and by bombing in 1944. Much of the original atmosphere has been irreparably lost. Piped-in music and horrendous modern art does not help.

Yet many original sculptures, tombstones, paintings as well as Fr. E.F. Muenzenberger’s magnificent altars do survive. Some 19th century frescoes in the style of the Nazarenes tell of the great days of the empire.

To the side of the sanctuary is the very chapel where the Holy Roman Emperors were elected. Later, after the Protestant Reformation and until 1792, the Emperors were crowned in St. Bartholomew’s as well. The very tower of this church features a “cap” reminiscent of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Cathedral museum preserves an amazing number of original vestments and precious liturgical artwork of St. Bartholomew, St Leonhard, and other Frankfurt churches. There is a chasuble worked in needlepoint by a princess – the wife of a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire.

Two great candlesticks from St. Leonhard dating to 1480 acquired four smaller companions in the 16th century. For it was then that the “Tridentine” liturgy was adopted which prescribed six candles for solemn masses.

A magnificent 18th century monstrance was curiously altered in the 19th century – a crown was substituted for the original Trinitarian eye of God, which was now felt to be “Masonic.”

Yes, it is a shock to turn from these wonders from the past and confront once again the “modern world” so stridently in evidence in Frankfurt. The Holy Roman Empire, the Crusades and even Christianity itself seem to belong to a dead age. Yet the “new beginning” after Summorum Pontificum of the Traditional Mass in St. Leonhard’s shows that it is far too early to declare absolute victory for modernity. To quote a much later historical figure but in the spirit of the 13th century Crusaders: we have not yet begun to fight….