FRIDAY POTPURRI: DEFINING YOUR PARISH PART II

Thus far you have collected all readily available material. Now some further research should be done. Let us start with the windows. Your information may not be complete or it might not appear to be quite correct. There are a number of avenues to help you out. One is to figure out what the general theme (if there is one) of the windows are. For example, if a series of windows depict the Beatitudes or the Ten Commandments, you may be able to figure out what a window is supposed to be but not necessarily why.

It is a good idea to record all the symbols in a window. Some may have been glossed over by previous persons doing your project. If the artists used traditional symbolism there are a few good references that you might employ to assist you in deciphering the window.

My favorite book is “Signs and Symbols in Christian Art” by George Ferguson. It is very user friendly and unlike many books out there concentrates on Catholic/Christian specifics. It has been in print since 1954 so may have to search for it though my addition was printed in the 80s I believe. Another book is “Saints, Signs, and Symbols” by W. Ellwood Post. While not exhaustive, these books have most of the basics.

There are some excellent websites as well. Seiyaka.com has a lot of great information. Fish Eaters is pretty good, and Christiansymbols.net is excellent.

There are times, however, when these resources will fail you. It might be because the artist has chosen to use innovative symbols that unless you are familiar with the artist’s intent they may confound you. For example, at one parish the windows were depicting the Ten Commandments and artist used red circles to mean “don’t!” Fortunately we came across an old paper that told us of this. (Don’t covet was interesting.) But how would we have known otherwise?

That leads us to your next step if you are desperate (and lucky.) In the corner of one of your windows (assuming they are all made from the same company) there very well may be (usually in the lower right hand corner) the name of the company responsible for the windows. At one parish it was the choir loft window, at another that last in a series in the nave of the church, at St. Sebastian it is in window off to the side of the sanctuary. It might be the artist and his studio itself, or the company that hired the studio to make them and then they stuck their own name on it. In any case this will give you some information. At the very least it will provide some historical data for you. If you are lucky, it might give you everything you want to know.

There was one set of windows that confounded me to no end. The artist was very creative and once you got into his mindset they made a lot of sense – but we needed a key. I found the name of the creator of the windows and then found someone at the company that would sneak out the blue prints for me. I ran down to the library and copied them as quickly as possible along with the artist’s notes. (Can you imagine trying to copy blueprints on 8 ½ by 11 sheets? – the taping together later was horrendous!) But the result was great! All the mysteries of the windows were cleared up and they became great tools for catechetical instruction.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: SIGN LANGUAGE

Well here’s a new one on me. Fr. Gene Fulton made me aware of it and Wikipedia confirmed it.

If you have seen the icon for the year of the priest you may have noticed Jesus’ hand. He is giving us a blessing but He is not doing it in a fashion that at least we westerners would be familiar with. Notice his middle fingers are bent and touching His thumb. This is not merely an affected position that the artist thought would be cool. It has deep meaning.

If you were at an Orthodox liturgy (I apologize if Eastern Catholics also do this, I did not have time to find out) you will find priests blessing the people with the same hand position. They are forming letters with their fingers: “IC XC”. This is a Christogram for Jesus Christ. I’ve seen two different versions of this but the one that seems to be upheld predominantly on line is one in which the pinky and index finger remain extended and the two middle fingers are touching the thumb. The pinky forms the “I”, the second finger and the thumb suffice for a “C”, the index finger and pinky form the top half of the “X” and the forefinger and thumb finishes it off with the “C”. So infect you are being blessed with the name of Jesus Christ.

Pretty cool.

If not correct this is pretty close. If anybody has some corrections to this it would be most appreciated.

FRIDAY FAIR - BUT WHERE DOES THE STORK GET IT FROM?

Storks are an interesting animal. According to George Ferguson’s book, “Signs and Symbols in Christian Art” they symbolize prudence, vigilance, piety, and chastity, but it does not say why. Why this particular bird (perhaps because of its stateliness and call) is picked out to be the announcer of spring among all the birds is also a mystery to me. But because it is the announcer of spring and new life it also is associated with the Annunciation and the coming of Christ and thus, Ferguson surmises might be the origin of fable of the stork bringing babies to new mothers and fathers.

This may or may not be the case as there was recently a story on the radio that explained that storks used to roost in the straw roofing of people’s homes. More babies meant more homes meant more storks meant the association of each. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle.

FRIDAY FAIR - IN A PEAR TREE

The partridge can represent the Devil or in more general terms deceit and theft. But can that explain the ratings of the television show?

The sparrow is one of my favorites. Sitting at an outdoor table of a coffee shop they come and keep company and clean up any crumbs I might accidently drop. Very serviceable, humble, and friendly bird. It may not surprise you then that it is the very symbol of humility because of its ordinariness and brown color. Perhaps that is why he is so often associated with Saint Francis; they have the same tailor. This bird also represents the humble who are none-the-less special in God’s eyes and are under his protection.

In the news yesterday there was word that there is a falcon close by that has built his nest too close to the ground and is terrorizing the neighborhood. We have two that have taken up residence in our big bell tower. I think I’ll keep my distance until the little ones have flown away so no more bell tower parties. Wild falcons represent the evil of man who follows his passions. A tame falcon represents the spiritually refined person who has brought his animal instincts under God’s control.

FRIDAY FAIR - THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTIFUL

I received a phone call from a parish in Cleveland recently wanting to know about some symbolism displayed on the high altar. They were putting together a guide to the symbolism in the parish and wanted to make sure they understood what the particular symbolism meant. Since I had the chance to look it up I now share it with you.

The symbol in question is the peacock. The context was needed because like the number 6 depending on how it is used it can have a negative meaning or a positive one. (Six can mean evil – incompleteness since on the 7th day God rested or it can mean completeness since technically the work was done – there was just some resting to do.) So the peacock can imply vanity and pride because of the way it can display itself and “strut its stuff.” But in the right context it can also imply immortality. Once again the Church baptized ancient legend and used it for the glory of God and education of His people. It was once thought that the flesh of the bird never decomposed reminding us of the eternal life we have in Christ.

The symbolic statement in question involved two peacocks drinking out of a chalice. Understanding the above legend we can easily apply the Scripture passage from John in which Christ says, “He who eat my body and drinks my blood has eternal life.” A similar symbol might be the peacocks drinking out of a fountain – Jesus the Well Spring of Life – or even in scenes of the Nativity though I’ve rarely – quite rarely witnessed that.

The design of the feathers can look like they have eyes on them so it can also represent the "all seeing Church." Sometimes ancient depictions of God in other religions show God with many eyes. It is not that they necessarily think that God has that many eyes but that was their way of saying God sees all in much the same way we might have one giant eye representing God's perfect vision of everything.

FIRDAY FAIR - "I LOVE YOU AND YOU ERMINE."

The ermine made it into the symbol lexicon in a rather sad way – or – rather their tails made it in. Have you ever seen the inside of a fanciful king or queen’s cape and there are those little black things amid the white fur. Those, my friends, are ermine tails. I guess better than having symbolic legs . . .

The ermine was known to be extremely clean and so became the symbol of purity. A saying sprung up around the legend of its cleanliness, “Potius mori quam feodari” or “Rather die than be soiled.” The tails seen in the armorial cloak were fastened with a three headed pin. They appear on coats of armor in stylized form. You can see here how they are part of the arms of the Diocese of Cleveland. This coat of arms is based on that of the first settler which became the See City of this diocese. Moses Cleveland’s family crest had added to it the three crosslets which you see here.

Part of the neat things about coats of arms is that they often reference each other. The coat of arms for Saint Mary, Our Lady of the Lake Seminary, the diocesan seminary for Cleveland also has the ermine tails on it simply to show its connection to the coat of arms of the diocese.

FRIDAY FAIR - OF MAN AND BEAST ALIKE

C. S. Lewis once wrote, “When we blame a man for behaving like a beast – we mean he displays characteristics common to man and beast on occasion when those peculiar to man are demanded.” There is a symbol for this idea in Christian art borrowed and baptized from ancient mythology.

The centaur is a fantastical beast with the head and bust of man and the body of horse. You may have seen him recently on a new body wash commercial. This combining of man and horse represents the conflicting passions we can sometimes have; torn between the dignity we have as human beings and the base desires of the animal world.

He is depicted when the sin of passion given license is needed to be expressed particularly when adultery is being suggested. This would be his brute side. But in at least one special case he is shows his dignified side in pictures of Saint Anthony Abbot as he is reported to having appeared to him in the desert pointing out the way to find St. Paul the Hermit.

FRIDAY FAIR - BASILISKING IN THE SUN

The forest of the land of symbolism is filled with wonderful beasts. And not just lions, tigers, and bears. (Oh my!) You might be surprised to see many of them in Christian art. Some of them look like the strange monsters than teen age boys sometimes draw on the back of their notebooks during study hall. Take the basilisk or cockatrice for example. It is a fabulous beast that is half snake and half cock – a combination of figures found on your placemat at a Chinese restaurant. This “king of the snakes” is said to have the body of a snake and the head, feet, and wings of the cock and hatched from an egg laid on a dunghill. He is king because he has a crest on his head that looks like a crown. It is reported to be incredibly venomous, even its glance causing death to its victims.

This mythical beast was one time commonly understood to symbolize the Devil. According to George Furguson’s “Signs and Symbols in Christian Art” this is owing to the Douay version of Psalm 91:13, “. . . thou shall tread upon the adder and the basilisk and trample underfoot the lion and the dragon.”

In order to slay the basilisk (a handy thing to know if you should ever come across him) is to have it look into a mirror to reflect its own venom back onto it. The mirror is the Gospel. Of course, since its very glance can do a man in, it would require you to see it before it sees you! Reports on how good its hearing is and how easy it is to sneak up on it are not provided in any of my books so please exercise extreme caution.