SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - FIGURING OUT WHICH WAY TO GO

Size does matter, as does orientation. Take for example Michael Angelo’s David. Notice the size of his hands; they are all together out of proportion to the rest of the statue. This is not an accident or due to lack of talent, but a point is being made, a tie in to his story. The artists wanted you to notice his hands.

If the artist knows what he is doing he will often distort perspective in order to make specific statements. You may have noticed in century’s old paintings an almost complete disregard for perspective. Sometimes this is intentional. Important people in the picture are presented much larger than others who, if this were a snapshot, should have been the exact same size. But the representations are manipulated to make a point about who is most important in the group.

Center and height denote importance and precedence also. Right tends to be better than left. Our word sinister comes from the Latin word for left, sinistir. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. The goats are placed on his left and the sheep on his right.

You can see this played out somewhat in the rear wall of the Sistine Chapel. Heaven is higher, hell is lower, Christ is located in the upper center. When we come to understand this it is of little wonder that so many people became upset (and still are) when the tabernacle is moved from the high, center spot of the large main alter to a side spot. We are messing with the symbolic system and few parishes did it well making inadvertent statements about the Eucharist.

Direction is also very important. (Remember that this symbolic language was developed in Europe so symbolically some of this might not make sense if you live south of the equator.) You don’t put your plants in a north window because we get the least amount of light from the north. It is the direction of cold and night. That is also the direction in which the barbarians lived earlier in the history of the Church.

South is the seat of light and warmth. That is where (for us in the northern hemisphere) where the equator is.

East is where the sun rises, the Son of the universe. It is holy.

West is the seat of darkness, the abode of demons and California. (I realize this is only funny for those living in the east. Sorry.) (Really.)

So Churches before Vatican II were often built facing east. If they were not, they were built facing what was deemed “liturgical east”. For the mass everyone, including the priest, faced east or the Son. The liturgy faced God, uniting them as a people before their God, the priest acting much the same fashion of Moses leading the people through the desert.

The New Testament Epistle was read from the south side of the altar bringing us the light and warmth of the Scriptures. The Gospel was read from the north side of the altar, symbolic of our desire to convert the barbarians.

The rear of the Church faces west, the furthest point away from the Son. The rose window in this wall let the last light of the day shine on the Gospel on the altar, bringing light to those who sit in darkness.

Most interesting however was that axis of many large ancient Churches fell upon the exact line upon which the sun travels on the feast day of the parish. By a clever method, two points would be established on the ground marking exactly where the sun rose and set on the day of the feast after the which the Church would be named. The center of the Church was then placed along this east/west line. So technically, if the name of a parish would ever be forgot, if one could figure out the day on which the sun traveled the spine of the roof, match that day to the Church calendar, the patron of the parish could be discovered.