For the second famous image of the Assumption in the German lands, we must go back to between 1505 to 1510 – still very much the era of the late Middle Ages. The Herrgottskirche (Church of Our Lord) in Creglingen is a chapel, built around 1400, that takes its name from the miraculous finding of a Host by a ploughman. A pilgrimage soon arose and this small church was decorated with a number of carved wooden altars that have miraculously survived until today. This, even though Creglingen became part of a principality whose ruler joined the Reformation later in the 16th century. But when the altar of the Assumption of Our Lady was created these developments still lay in the future.

The altar of the Assumption was called, at the time of its creation, the Corpus Christi altar in keeping with the dedication of the pilgrimage chapel. One of Tilman Reimenschneider’s greatest masterpieces, it’s also one of the earliest works of art to depict the Assumption of Our Lady – as opposed to the traditional Byzantine/medieval image of her Dormition. Yet the image of Our Lady in Creglingen is still that of the Middle Ages: calm, transfigured and sunk in contemplative prayer. The back of the altar is opened up, as if by the windows of a Gothic church, allowing light from the background to surround and illuminate the spiritual action taking place. Here we find no ecstatic, almost explosive rush towards the heavens (as in the Assumption of Egid Quirin Asam) but serene union with – even absorption into – God. One senses the lingering presence of the sprituality of the German mystics of the 14th and 15th centuries: Meister Eckhart, Tauler and Suso. And, of course, also of their contemporaries in other countries: think of Julian of Norwich, Walter Hilton and the author of the Cloud of Unknowing – just in England alone.

The creator of the altar, Tilman Riemenschneider, was the premier artist of the city of Wuerzburg located, like Creglingen, in the region of Franconia. At that time it was ruled by a prince-bishop, and Creglingen was under his spiritual (but not temporal) jurisdiction.Riemenschneider worked in both stone and wood. About this time, perhaps influenced by the first stirrings of the Rennaissance north of the Alps, Riemenschneider and other German artists started to abandon the medieval practice of painting religious statuary. Among this artist’s greatest works are his wooden altars. This kind of grand reredos, often featuring movable carved or painted wings, enjoyed a magnificent flowering in the Holy Roman Empire between 1450 and 1530.

The art of the great wood altars of Germany ended in the turmoil of the Reformation. In the tremendous religious struggles that followed, the precious contemplative heritage of the Middle Ages went underground. Yet that mystical spirituality did not go utterly extinct. It flamed up again and again in the Holy Roman Empire in the wake of the Catholic Reformation. It resurfaces, for example, in the Asam brothers’ mystical use of light at the church of St. John Nepomuk. And this spirituality lives once more in the poetry of Angelus Silesius (1624-1677) – such as in the following poem, which proclaims the bond between the Assumption and the Eucharist – the origin of Riemenschneider’s altar.

The Virginal Body that enclosed our Bread from Heaven.

Is truly no longer dead,

No ceder of Lebanon rots: otherwise it not be so fine,

For her to be, besides the Temple of God, His Ark of the Covenant.

Angelus Silesius, Cherubinischer Wandersmann, Book III, 66 “On the Most Blessed Virgin” (1675)

See Kahsnitz, Rainer and Bunz, Achim, Die grossen Schnitzaltaere 238-253 (Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 2005)

The brothers Asam, architects, sculptors and painters, represented the epitome of the baroque in the first half of the 18th century in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. They resided and did much their work in the electorate (principality) of Bavaria – an entity much smaller than the subsequent kingdom and present Land of that name – but were active in many other locations as well. But they only rarely had the opportunity to create an entirely new church, uniting all their talents in one unified work of art. Earlier, I have described one such example: their own house “chapel” of St. John Nepomuk in Munich. Another is the monastery church of Rohr, near Regensburg. Here Egid Quirin Asam created one of the three most famous images of the Assumption in European art. 1)

Rohr, now an out-of-the-way village, was in the time of the Asams the site of a monastery of the Augustinan canons. When we admire the almost innumerable number of baroque churches in 18th century Germany we forget that so many of these masterpieces were monastic churches. The eighteenth century in Germany was indeed the time of a great monastic flourishing after the tribulations of the Reformation and the wars of the 17th century – and before the destruction of the French Revolution and the subsequent secularizations (confiscations) by the German states. It was the patronage of these monks that in large part made possible the last great flowering of art in Europe in the age of the baroque and rococo. 2) The dedication of the Rohr monastery was to Our Lady of the Assumption.

The nave of Rohr is in a rather severe style, leading the visitor onwards to the main altar shimmering in the distance. Egid Quirin Asam was responsible for the decor and likely for the architecture as well.

The altar depicts the Assumption of Our Lady. Below, the apostles, in agitated conversation among themselves, marvel at finding her empty tomb strewn with flowers. Above, the Trinity and angels await the crowning of Our Lady as Queen of Heaven. The altar was the creation of Egid Quirin Asam in 1722-23.

Come away my Love,

Come away my Dove

Cast off delay:

The Court of Heav’n is come,

To wait upon thee home;

Come away, come away.

The ecstatic art of Egid Quirin Asam in Rohr corresponds to the expressive religious poetry of Richard Crashaw in the preceding century.

Thy sacred Name shall be

Thyself to us, and we

With holy cares will keep it by us,

We to the last,

Will hold it fast,

And no Asumption shall deny us.

All the sweetest showers,

Of our fairest Flowers

Will we strow upon it:

Though our sweetnees cannot make

It sweeter, they may take

Themselves new sweetness from it.

Richard Crashaw, “On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary”

1. The others are Titian’s great Frari Assumption in Venice and Riemenschneider’s masterpiece in Creglingen.
2. After World War II, German Benedictine monks expelled from Czechoslovakia came to Rohr and restored monastic life and many of the buildings.

I was fascinated to read the recently published Report in Paix Liturgique on the “epic” of Traditionalism in the United States. And not just because of the complementary reference therein to my own series on the history of  Catholic Traditionalism! It’s always useful to get an outsider’s view of one’s own world – even though one may not agree with all his conclusions. The French believe, for example, that The Trouble with Harry is Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest film. It isn’t, but by understanding their logic one learns a lot about Hitchcock and his movies. On the other hand, Michel Houellebecq’s short book on H.P. Lovecraft is the best criticism of that American author published so far anywhere. 

The Paix Liturgique Report, in eight installments, is attributed to the late Daniel Hamiche and is largely structured as an interview between him and the publication. It deals primarily with the present and benefits from “field work”: surveys on the current views of American Catholics. In certain areas the Report provides unique information – such as the installment on the sedevacantists and the independent priests. Given its French audience, the Report of necessity needs to set its discussion of Traditionalism in the wider framework of American Catholicism, both past and present. The Report accordingly starts with a brief historical review of American Catholicism from the 16^thcentury to Vatican II.  Actually, I have more critical comments on certain factual statements and judgments in this installment  as opposed to the content of later chapters dealing with Traditionalism itself.

For example, we read that “only two colonies, Maryland… and Rhode Island (which practiced a “blind welcome” that is, without religious exclusion) had a Catholic population….” Rhode Island was actually militantly anti-Catholic.  Perhaps the author really means Pennsylvania,  the second British colony with a significant Catholic population, which just before the American Revolution was far more tolerant of Catholics than the original Catholic home of Maryland.  Katherine Drexel was not a convert. Elizabeth Seton founded the Sisters of Charity in the United States, not just those of New York  (that designation relates to a split later in the 19th century). 

As one might expect, the Report describes with justifiable pride the major contribution of French Bishops in the early years of the US : some dioceses – New Orleans, Bardstown/Louisville, Vincennes/Indianapolis  – were largely or totally  in their hand, while Boston, New York and Baltimore each had at least one French prelate. However, although I haven’t attempted to make a complete tally,  I am not totally sure that French bishops were a “majority” of the U.S. episcopate in the first half of the 19^th century.

Of more substance are some nuances that I don’t think the author got exactly right. The domination of Irish Catholicism from 1830 onward is not attributable to the sudden appearance of the Irish:  they always had been a strong component of  American Catholicism from the founding of the United States. Rather, it was the radically increased number of the Irish (and also the German ) immigrants in the decades preceding the Civil War that by 1860 transformed the Catholic Church in America from an exotic fringe to a significant presence at least in most urban areas. The author also seems to think that the status of Catholics as a “closed society” prior to the Second Vatican Council is attributable to the multiplication of ethnic parishes. That was hardly the case –  the alleged Catholic  pre-Conciliar “ghetto” was typified by the mainstream “American-Irish” parishes, not Italian or Polish national churches. 

Finally we note with some humor  (and perplexity) our author’s assertion that:

“One hears now and then that American Catholics are more pious  and practicing (compared to those of Western Europe) …  . It’s hardly astonishing that 25% of baptized Catholics attend Mass every Sunday and of the remaining 75% a good proportion attends Protestant services, depending on the region.”

Perhaps this level of religious practice is acceptable, even admirable,  compared to France or Germany – it is absolutely catastrophic, however,  for the Catholic Church in America and for its finances. And the author attributes even these statistics  primarily to the social pressure of an allegedly Protestant society. Now, as indicated  in the very quote above,  the Report is well aware of the “regional” differences in the United States. I am not sure though, that the author fully appreciates how radical those differences can be. For example, whatever the situation in “Trump country” may be, NO conformist pressure supporting religious practice exists in any of the places that control the secular power in the United States: New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C, Chicago, Silicon Valley/San Francisco, the suburbs of all these places,  almost all of higher education – to name only the most prominent examples. Indeed, in this stratum of American society the public hostility to Christianity of any kind is strong and growing ever stronger.  Like many European Traditionalists, Paix Liturgique is perhaps a bit too enthusiastic about the American scene.

The chapter of the Report on independent priests and sedevacantism  is a unique contribution and fills a gap in my own essay.  I would, however,  wish to see the support for  the author‘s estimate of  the number of independent priests: it seems extraordinarily high to me. At least today in and around New York they  are (perhaps with one exception) hardly found at all. The significant  presence of various sedevacantist sects(as well as other FSSPX offshoots) is duly noted, as is the fact that such movements seem more numerous in America than elsewhere. But, if we consider sedevacantism to be the flip side of extreme ultramontanism, does not the Irish, papalist heritage of the “American Catholic Church” explain this phenomenon?

I would also highlight the installments of the Report on Traditionalism in the religious life,  particularly that of the female religious. He also deals with the Society of St John Cantius at some length. Yet in his enumeration of “Traditional priests,” he considers the FSSPX, the FSSP and the ICRSS –  who celebrate the Traditional Mass  exclusively –  to be the sole “traditionalist” clergy of the United States.  I have noticed this attitude in other European publications. 

Now I have attended celebrations of the Traditional Mass since 1988. Except in the very last year,  almost all my experiences were with diocesan priests or members of “mainstream” religious orders who celebrated both the Traditional Mass and the Novus Ordo.  Thus this essay very much underestimates the actual scale of Traditionalist activity. Of course the author is aware that there are a great many celebrations of the Traditional Mass in addition to  those of the above orders and dedicated Traditionalist “chapels” (his term) and that many diocesan priests are involved. The author rightly points out the remarkable number of diocesan priests that have received training in the Traditional rite.  He seems to think, however, that the activities of the diocesan priests are a kind of underground. That has not been the case for many years – Traditionalism in many places has become a normal aspect of American Catholic life. 

Indeed, our author is heartened by his surveys that indicate that 72,7% of practicing Catholics find the simultaneous practice of both the Novus Ordo and the Traditional Mass  pursuant to Summorum Pontificum “normal”  and that 41.5% of these Catholics could well see themselves attending the Traditional Mass if it were offered at their parish. That’s impressive testimony to how, in the United States at least, the Traditional Mass has joined the mainstream of the Church as a significant and beneficial force. It is precisely for this reason, of course,  that Pope Francis has now determined to destroy Catholic Traditionalism.  What will be the result of his campaign in the United States? The facts set forth in this essay, demonstrating the growing strength and acceptance of Traditionalism among the laity, priests and religious,  give me some confidence that it will survive the trials that are to come.

There is now a weekly Sunday Missa Cantata at St. Emery Church in Fairfield, CT at 12:30 pm. Fr. Peter Lenox is the celebrant. A lavish coffee hour follows the Mass in the church hall downstairs.

Historic photographs above from the website of Holy Family/St. Emery parish.

One hundred Catholics gathered this afternoon at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT to pray the Rosary for Bishop Caggiano and priests who say the traditional Mass. Bishop Caggiano was meeting during that time with his priests to discuss the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes. Reports of the meeting have been positive.

Sermon for August 1

by Fr. Richard Cipolla

From the 7^th chapter of St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans:  “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate…So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me…I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.”

Modern science for the most part still depends on experimentation to explain physical reality.  The scientific method:  observe, propose a theory to explain your observations, then perform experiments that will test the theory. If the results of the experiments match what the theory predicts, then the theory has a grounding in the truth of the nature of physical reality.  If the results are not congruent with the theory, then you propose a new theory, think up and perform experiments, and see if the results are predicted by the theory.

Many years ago Einstein proposed what is known as the General Theory of Relativity.  Observations based on that theory for nearly a century have indicated that Einstein’s theory has merit. One of his predictions was that there should be a faint echo of the beginning of the universe in background radiation.  After a difficult and long search, using instruments of the highest sensitivity the fluctuations in the background radiation were not that long ago observed, and most physicists believe that this confirmed not only Einstein’s theory but also confirmed that the universe most probably began with what is now known as the Big Bang, an explosion of inconceivable energy that formed and is still forming the universe in which we live.  And let us remember that the originator of the Big Bang theory was a Belgian Catholic priest, Monsignor Georges LeMaître.  Yes. One can be a great and imaginative scientist and at the same time be a Catholic priest who believes the creation account in the book of Genesis.

In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, he speaks of the relationship between the Law, sin, and Christ. In the passage I began this sermon with, he states in a bold and clear way the human condition vis a vis sin: Man’s inability to do what is right even when he knows what is right.  In the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul uses the history of the Jews in the Old Testament as experimental evidence, where the experiment is living a life, where the chosen people of God over and over again refuse to honor the sacred Covenant and to do what they know is right.  This experimental evidence that is observation of facts is not confined to Jewish history.  It includes all of human history, which is a history of man’s sinning in every possible sphere of existence.  St. Paul loves lists, and his various lists of individual sins leave little out.  His theology of the Cross of Jesus Christ is based on man who is in a fallen state and who is in terrible need of redemption.  Paul’s words:  “For since by man came death”.  This is a wonderful summary of the meaning of the Fall of man.  Without a need for redemption the Cross is unfathomable.

St. John Henry Newman, in a passage from the Apologia pro Vita Sua, presents the evidence for the theory of Original Sin.  I dare not summarize his words but will offer them to you as he wrote them:

To consider the world in its length and breadth, its various history, the many races of man, their starts, their fortunes, their mutual alienation, 

their conflicts…the greatness and littleness of man, his far-reaching

aims, his short duration…the prevalence and intensity of sin, the

pervading idolatries, the corruptions, the dreary hopeless irreligion—

all this is a vision to dizzy and appall: and inflicts upon the mind a 

profound mystery, which is absolutely beyond human solution. What

shall be said to this heart-piercing, reason-bewildering fact? I can

only answer that either there is no creator, or this living society of

man is in a true sense discarded from his presence…if there is a God,

since there is a God, the human race is implicated in some terrible

aboriginal calamity.  It is out of joint with the purpose of its creator. 

This is a fact, a fact as true as the fact of its existence: and thus the

Doctrine of what is theologically called original sin becomes to me

almost as certain as that the world exists, and as the existence of God.

“Some terrible original calamity”.  But the fact is that we live in a world, in a culture that not only denies the fallen state of man but also denies the very concept of sin.  Modern and now post-modern man look at the evidence of the reprehensible behavior of man, which behavior they would admit, and posit a theory of their own to explain this terrible behavior, whether it be war, or pillage of some nature, or terrorism, or mass murders, or whatever captures the public’s eye on any given day.  Their theory is that man is capable in overcoming this terrible behavior on his own, if only everyone were better educated, if everyone let go of any moral judgment on someone’s behavior, if only everyone would stop buying guns, if everyone came from the enlightened areas of the Northeast or the West Coast, if only everyone were dedicated to the value of organic kale, if only everyone underwent the moral lobotomy that characterizes the leaders of this world.  Then all the bad stuff would stop. History would be changed into a series of glorious happenings that would explode into the apotheosis of the omega point. 

All of this, mind you, in a culture that defends the reprehensibility of epidemic pornography that is destroying the deep meaning of human sexuality not only among young people but also in marriages, a culture that is also determined to cancel the fact and meaning of the objectivity of sex itself, doing so by canceling the word sex itself and inventing a completely new meaning for the word gender, allowing that word to be used in promoting an understanding of human sexuality that denies objectivity and revels in ever increasing modes of radical subjectivity. 

And so when our politicians are confronted with the atrocities that afflict our culture and the deep sadness that follows, especially those that seem contradictory such as the killing of unarmed black people and the killing of policeman doing their duty, they do not rend their expensive clothing and put on the symbolic clothing of sackcloth and ashes.  All they do is to posture and look serious in press interviews and say quasi pious things like that they hope for a time when hatred and killing and all social problems will end.  But there is not a shred of evidence that these words of vague hope have any foundation in human nature.

There is no experimental evidence that man will come of age on his own, that his deep tendency to do the wrong thing can be eliminated by education in the right school or by espousing cheerful liberal principles. Government is necessary and must be supported.  But government can never solve moral problems.  Especially a government that denies the evidence of original sin and the need for redemption.  Repent! Repent and believe the Gospel!  This assertion, this shout, must be heard, but not as if it is only part of a wild Flannery O’Connor evangelical laced story of the deep South, nor in some sort of super traditional Catholic way that denies the reality of the world in which we live by looking to a mythical past, but in that way that will look at the evidence, will look at the data of experience that is human history, and will examine all of this in the light of the two possibilities:  either that man is perfectible on his own as he matures, or that man is in the grip of sin and death that are the results of the Fall, and that the only antidote to this poison is the love and mercy of God seen and experienced in the person of Jesus Christ.  This process of thinking about the situation of mankind and making a decision about what needs to be done, should not happen in some sort of deep existential agony and angst, nor in a professional think tank, nor on social media, least of all in a prestigious university, but, perhaps shockingly to many, rather here, within the beauty of this Traditional Roman Mass, at whose heart is Sacrifice and therefore joy.   And perhaps, later on, a conversation  over a glass of good wine.