The holy Synod enjoins on all bishops, and others who sustain the office and charge of teaching, that, agreeably to the usage of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, received from the primitive times of the Christian religion, and agreeably to the consent of the holy Fathers, and to the decrees of sacred Councils, they especially instruct the faithful diligently concerning the intercession and invocation of saints the honour (paid) to relics and the legitimate use of images: teaching them, that the saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, (and) help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Saviour but that they think impiously, who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invocated or who assert either that they do not pray for men or, that the invocation of them to pray for each of us even in particular, is idolatry or, that it is repugnant to the word of God and is opposed to the honour of the one mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus or, that it is foolish to supplicate, vocally, or mentally, those who reign in heaven. On the Invocation, Veneration, and Relics of the Saints and on Sacred Images The following decree confirmed the traditional doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them was paid to the person themselves, not the image: Images are to be approved of by the local bishop! In cases of doubt one is to proceed to Rome. Previous Catholic Church councils had rarely felt the need to pronounce on these matters, unlike Orthodox ones which have often ruled on specific types of images. In the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563, included a short and rather inexplicit passages concerning religious images, which were to have great impact on the development of Catholic art. It is in the Catacombs of Rome that recognizable representations of Christian figures first appear in number. Early Christians also adapted Roman decorative motifs like the peacock, grapevines, and the good shepherd. Early Christian symbols include the dove, the fish, the lamb, the cross, symbolic representation of the Four Evangelists as beasts, and the Good Shepherd. As a persecuted sect, however, the earliest Christian images were arcane and meant to be intelligible only to the initiated. The oldest Christian sculptures are from Roman sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 2nd century. In a broader sense, Catholic music and other art may be included as well.Ĭhristian art is nearly as old as Christianity itself. This includes visual art (iconography), sculpture, decorative arts, applied arts, and architecture. For details about a specific piece of art, one has to try to find a particular decree or pronouncement about it.Ĭatholic art is art produced by or for members of the Catholic Church. Of coarse there are guidelines, but they are merely to be seen as general norms to be followed. Are there rules regarding the content of Roman Catholic artwork?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |