Background to the Artwork in the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham Notes on the Murals for the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham
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The Brock Review Volume 10 (2008) © Brock University Greenscape as Screenscape: The Cinematic Urban Garden 1 Nina Gerlach Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Abstract : The relationship between city and garden appears in many feature films in order to visualize narrative dualisms. In particular, the character of the boundary - as a fundamental medial characteristic of gardens - determines the meaning of the represented space. According to the Western representation of ideal places and the historically-developed antagonism of city and garden, the boundary defines the latter as the diametrically opposed utopian antithesis to urban life. This antagonism is used, for example, in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970) in the political context of World War II, or as in Being There (1979), embedded in a philosophical discourse centered on Voltaire and Sartre. The dystopian city of Los Angeles in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) lacks space not only for gardens, but for any natural environment in general. The only garden that remains, exists as a kind of Paradise Lost , a placeless topos with a unicorn, banished into and limited by the world of imagination of the protagonist. As this example indicates, the cinematic garden and particularly the more specialized topic of the relationship between the garden and the city within cinema is still an under-examined realm of the research of garden history.2 In cinematic genres where the city is usually presented as the essential character -- such as in Neorealism, Film Noir, and dystopian science fiction -- garden space is hardly discovered. 3 These types of films frequently transport an extremely negative connotation of the city. -
Thames Valley Papists from Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829
Thames Valley Papists From Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829 Tony Hadland Copyright © 1992 & 2004 by Tony Hadland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from the publisher and author. The moral right of Tony Hadland to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0 9547547 0 0 First edition published as a hardback by Tony Hadland in 1992. This new edition published in soft cover in April 2004 by The Mapledurham 1997 Trust, Mapledurham HOUSE, Reading, RG4 7TR. Pre-press and design by Tony Hadland E-mail: [email protected] Printed by Antony Rowe Limited, 2 Whittle Drive, Highfield Industrial Estate, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QT. E-mail: [email protected] While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss or inconvenience arising from errors contained in this work. Feedback from readers on points of accuracy will be welcomed and should be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed to the author via the publisher. Front cover: Mapledurham House, front elevation. Back cover: Mapledurham House, as seen from the Thames. A high gable end, clad in reflective oyster shells, indicated a safe house for Catholics. -
1 Cloisters As a Place of Spiritual Awakening
Cloisters as a Place of Spiritual Awakening | by Manolis Iliakis Workshop DAS | Dance Architecture Spatiality in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert © Manolis Iliakis The crossroads of daily and spiritual life in medieval monasteries of the West The English word for enclosed garden (cloister) is derived from the Latin parent word claustrum, meaning a bolt which secured the door. The more recent latch is the contemporary version of this bolt. This seems to be symbolic of the monks' isolation from the outside world, facilitating contact with the inner consciousness. The word is also associated with the footpaths outside the monastery courtyard, which were often used by monks for a kind of walking meditation. The English words cloistered and claustral describe the monastic way of life. The metonymic name “Kloster” in German means monastery. The German word for enclosed garden is Kreuzgang (meaning crossroads). Around the perimeter of an outdoor garden, a roofed portico (porch-like gallery) was constructed, its columns terminating in arcades. In larger monasteries, a second-level perimetric portico was built. Often, there was a well, fountain or water basin. This element was not always placed at the centre, as for example at the monastery of Ganagobie Abbey1. The resulting asymmetry, emphasized by the placement of plants and trees, brought another architectural aspect to the typically square floor plan. This typology is a characteristic of most Western medieval monasteries, as well as cathedrals. These spaces were adjacent to the main church or a chapel and are the heart of the monastery. A gateway facilitated direct access from one space to another, the sense that one has in the closed space of the church being conveyed to the cloister and vice-versa. -
The Pre-Raphaelite Garden Enclosed Dr. Dinah
Naturally Artificial: The Pre-Raphaelite Garden Enclosed Dr. Dinah Roe 2 Garden historian Brent Elliott tells us that the mid-Victorian revival of the enclosed garden “was not primarily a scholarly movement” but an artistic one, and cites depictions of such gardens in the pictures of “many of the Pre-Raphaelite circle” as evidence.1 WH Mallock’s satirical 1872 “recipe” for making “a modern Pre-Raphaelite poem” also recognizes the prominence of the walled garden motif in Pre-Raphaelite work. Among his key ingredients are “damozels” placed “in a row before a stone wall, with an apple-tree between each, and some larger flowers at their feet.”2 He is probably thinking of the frontispiece of William Morris’s The Earthly Paradise, a volume whose title evokes an enclosed garden; as landscape architects Rob Aben and Saskia De Wit point out, the word “Paradise is derived from the Persian word Pairidaeza, literally meaning “surrounded by walls.”3 I want to demonstrate that it is this sense of what garden theorist Elizabeth Ross calls “surroundedness” that attracts Pre-Raphaelites to the enclosed garden. Ross writes that “being surrounded” provides “a basic sensory and kinesthetic” experience signifying “comfort, security, passivity, rest, privacy, intimacy, sensory focus, and concentrated attention.”4 Walled gardens, in other words, provide the material and metaphorical conditions for experiencing and making art. Focussing on Christina Rossetti’s poems, “On Keats” (1849) and “Shut Out” (1856); Charles Collins’s painting Convent Thoughts (1851) and William Morris’s poem, “The Defence of Guenevere” (1858), I want to examine the ways in which Pre-Raphaelitism begins to conceive of the walled garden as an analogue of both contemporary art and artistic consciousness.5 I will argue that the Pre-Raphaelite revival of the enclosed garden modernizes what was once a medieval space by remaking the traditional hortus conclusus in the image of the nineteenth-century artistic mind. -
Reading for Modern Pilgrims
1 2 8 9 10 ST JAMES’ WAY READING FROM READING TO Reading for SOUTHAMPTON Modern Pilgrims THATCHAM St James’ Way and The Camino Inglés BASINGSTOKE WINCHESTER 3 4 5 11 11 SOUTHAMPTON PORTSMOUTH From Reading to Santiago via the 6 7 12 13 St James’ Way and The Camino Inglés The English Way (Camino Inglés in Spanish) was the most popular route for pilgrims heading to Santiago de Compostela from England during the 12th to the 15th centuries. After leaving Reading, travellers would sail to Galicia in north-west Spain from English ports such as Southampton and Plymouth and from the Galician coast continue on foot to Santiago in order to visit the shrine of the Apostle Saint James. Reading, whose grand Abbey was the centre of the St James’ cult in England, would have played a crucial role in the pilgrimage to Santiago, with pilgrims Reading and Caversham 7 De Montfort Island – Now known as Fry’s Island, a trial by combat was visiting, to then continue towards Southampton, along what we know today held on the island in 1163, witnessed by King Henry II, between Robert as St James´ Way. de Montfort and Henry of Essex. Essex, believed dead, was taken to Pilgrimage Sites For modern-day pilgrims and walkers, the St James’ Way is a 68.5 mile mostly Reading Abbey where he recovered and became a monk. The island now flat route that, after starting in Reading, follows rivers and canals through 1 St James’ Church – Reading’s C19th Roman Catholic church, dedicated houses a boatyard and a bowling club, both accessed by boat from the beautiful parts of the country as well as historic sites in Bramley, Upper Wield, to St James, was built by AW Pugin in the Abbey Precinct, near the north south bank. -
The One Winged Angel: an Old English Legend Tells About a One Winged Angel Who Brought the Holy Spearhead of the Crucifixion to Caversham
Artist’s notes on the art work for the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham. This explanation has been written by the artist, Marcelo Lavallen, who dedicated the summer of 2017 to decorating the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham, to help those who travel here to pray and to leave their petitions with Our Lady of Caversham. The Bridge Mural In the centre is the old Caversham Bridge spanning the River Thames and its swans, with Saint Anne’s Chapel on one end; this chapel was built from 1219-1231 by Reading Abbey and the Lord of the Manor of Caversham. Nobles, religious, peasants and ailing characters crossing the bridge represent the history of pilgrims travelling to Caversham through the ages. 1. King Henry II, 1207-1272 : he donated, among many gifts, the oak for ferries to carry pilgrims to Caversham and for the roof of the original shrine. Notice the oak pattern on his robe. 2. William Marshal. Earl of Pembroke, 1147-1219, with a burning lamp in his hand, as his requested condition for the donation of land. 3. Queen Catherine of Aragon, 1485-1536, a devotee of Our Lady of Caversham; holding a pomegranate, her heraldic symbol, chosen when still a princess, from her parent’s heraldic arms. Isabel and Fernando added the pomegranate to the arms following the conquest of Granada. 4. Blessed Abbot Hugh Faringdon, martyr, and the last Benedictine abbot of Reading Abbey, 1539. 5. Royal Boat, with Dr John London, envoy of Thomas Cromwell sent to close down the shrine (Sept 14th 1538) and ship all religious images to London. -
Hortus Conclusus: a Visual Discourse Analysis Based on a Critical Literacy Approach to Education
UDC 378.147::811.111](497.11) Milica Stojanović University of Belgrade, Serbia HORTUS CONCLUSUS: A VISUAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS BASED ON A CRITICAL LITERACY APPROACH TO EDUCATION Abstract Some form of critical literacy seems to have become essential to all students today, irrespective of where they are studying, at what level, or what their academic field is. Indeed, in even greater need of developing their critical literacy abilities appear to be students of the Humanities for it is in these areas of study that some critical, cultural and historical perspectives are constantly being re-examined, reassessed, deconstructed and reconstructed in accordance with our age/postmodern/modern theories. By way of illustration, and taking as its premise the assumption that all knowledge is, at least to a certain extent, ideological and related to power, this paper attempts, within the theoretical framework of critical literacy, an analysis of a specific visual discourse relevant to art history studies – the iconography of Hortus Conclusus (Enclosed Garden). Methodologically speaking, the benefits from this kind of approach could be manifold. Students are and feel empowered to critically acquire/deconstruct/reconstruct knowledge in specific content areas – a fact which in itself provides higher motivation in an EAP class (they are primarily focused on gaining knowledge in English rather than that of/about English). All the stages of the above demonstrated process are conducted in English, which gives the teacher an excellent opportunity to cater for the students’ specific needs (e.g. employ concept and semantic mapping and other vocabulary-building strategies relevant to their fields of study). -
Sensory Reality As Perceived Through the Religious Iconography of the Renaissance
Sensory reality as perceived through the religious iconography of the Renaissance Maria Athanasekou, Athens In Della pittura, Leon Battista Alberti wrote: “No one would deny that the painter has nothing to do with things that are not visible. The painter is concerned solely with representing what can be seen.”1 What Alberti does not mention is that during the Trecento, as well as in his own time, painted surfaces were populated with things that are not visible, with saints and angels, seraphims and cherubims, even the Madonna, Jesus and the Almighty God. The reality of all religious paintings of the Renaissance is virtually inhabited by heavenly and otherworldly creatures, taking the viewer onto a metaphysical level of experience and mystical union with the celestial cosmos. Physical space is intertwined with the supernatural environment that holy fig- ures occupy, and religious paintings systematically form another ac- tuality, a virtual reality for the viewer to experience and sense. In most cases this dynamic new world is the result of the com- bined efforts of the artist and the client (or patron), as specific details regarding the execution, content, materials, cost and time of delivery were stipulated in contracts. Hence, the scenographic virtuality of sa- cred images was produced by real people who wished to construct an alternative sensory reality in which they are portrayed alongside holy men and women. During the period ranging from the later Middle Ages to the end of the seventeenth century, Europeans believed that their heads contained three ventricles. In these, they were told, their faculties were processed, circulated and stored the sensory 1 Alberti 1967, 43. -
Cloister Gardens, Courtyards and Monastic Enclosures
CLOISTER GARDENS, COURTYARDS AND MONASTIC ENCLOSURES 1 Editor Ana Duarte Rodrigues Authors Ana Duarte Rodrigues Antonio Perla de las Parras João Puga Alves Luís Ferro Luísa Arruda Magdalena Merlos Teresa de Campos Coelho Victoria Soto Caba Design| Conception| Layout Maggy Victory Front cover photograph by Luís Ferro Published by Centro de História da Arte e Investigação Artística da Universidade de Évora and Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia ISBN: 978-989-99083-7-6 2 CLOISTER GARDENS, COURTYARDS AND MONASTIC ENCLOSURES Ana Duarte Rodrigues Coordination CHAIA/CIUHCT 2015 3 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE by Ana Duarte Rodrigues, 7 PART I – CLOISTERS BETWEEN CONTEMPLATIVE AND ACTIVE LIFE Ana Duarte Rodrigues Beyond contemplation, the real functions held at the cloisters, 13 Luís Ferro The Carthusian Hermitage Space. Santa Maria Scala Coeli’s cloister architecture, 37 João Puga Alves The Convent of Espírito Santo. A new approach to the study and dissemination of the convent spaces, 55 PART II – CLOISTERS AND COURTYARDS: FUNCTIONS AND FORMS Antonio Perla de las Parras and Victoria Soto Caba The Jardines de crucero: a possible study scenario for the gardens of Toledo, 77 Magdalena Merlos Variations around one constant: The cloister typology in the cultural landscape of Aranjuez, 97 PART III – CLOISTER GARDENS AND MONASTIC ENCLOSURES Teresa de Campos Coelho The Convent of St. Paul of Serra de Ossa: the integration in the landscape and Nature’s presence in its primitive gardens, 121 Luísa Arruda The Convent of Saint Paul at Serra de Ossa (Ossa Mountains). Baroque Gardens, 137 5 6 PREFACE by Ana Duarte Rodrigues We often share a feeling of quietness when strolling through cloisters, sometimes contemplating their puzzling image of both glory and decay, sometimes enjoying the perfume and the colors of their garden, listening to the mumbling water, or trying to decipher the tombstones’ inscriptions on the pavement beneath our feet. -
Notes from the Chaplain
@Contra Mundum@ Volume XVI, Issue 4 November 2013 The Congregation of St. Athanasius A Congregation of the Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II for the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite http://www.locutor.net NOTES FROM THE CHAPLAIN O YOU KNOW what hell broken, the correct order was sent fire and brimstone and little devils “Dis?” asked Father Terrill and received, and that year’s doll at poking souls with tridents can be with more than a little asperity in his the church bazaar was a great hit. understood as teaching devices. The suffering of Hell is to finally know voice. The poor woman at the other “Do you know what hell is?” that God is the great love of your life end of the telephone connection was “Hell is having everything you do and that you have turned irreversibly hesitant. So the priest continued, not need, but not the one thing you away from Him. “Hell is having everything you do want!” If the definition given on not need, but not the one thing you a hot summer day in Dallas was a The Catholic Church does not want!” And with that he slammed bit wide of the mark, perhaps it can pronounce either way on who may down the phone. be forgiven as being delivered with be damned, or, indeed, if there are Here’s the story, which occurred plenty of exasperation. We might any souls in Hell. But the doctrinal sometime in the 1960s. Father rather say Hell is having everything tradition has always stood against Terrill’s parish in what is now you want but not the one thing you the presumption of exceptionless suburban Dallas, Texas, was need. -
The Martyrology of the Monastery of the Ascension
The Martyrology of the Monastery of the Ascension Introduction History of Martyrologies The Martyrology is an official liturgical book of the Catholic Church. The official Latin version of the Martyrology contains a short liturgical service the daily reading of the Martyrology’s list of saints for each day. The oldest surviving martyologies are the lists of martyrs and bishops from the fourth-century Roman Church. The martyrology wrongly attributed to St. Jerome was written in Ital in the second half of the fifth century, but all the surviving versions of it come from Gaul. It is a simple martyrology, which lists the name of the saint and the date and place of death of the saint. Historical martyrologies give a brief history of the saints. In the eighth and ninth centuries, St. Bede, Rhabanus Maurus, and Usuard all wrote historical martyrologies. The Roman Martyrology, based primarily on Usuard’s, was first published in 1583, and the edition of 1584 was made normative in the Roman rite by Gregory XIII. The post-Vatican II revision appeared first in 2001. A revision that corrected typographical errors and added 117 people canonized by Pope John Paul II between 2001 and 2004, appeared in 2005.1 The Purpose and Principles of This Martyology The primary purpose of this martyrology is to provide an historically accurate text for liturgical use at the monastery, where each day after noon prayer it is customary to read the martyrology for the following day. Some things in this martyrology are specific to the Monastery of the Ascension: namesdays of the members of the community, anniversaries of members of the community who have died, a few references to specific events or saints of local interest. -
St Joseph's, Tilehurst
NEWSLETTER FOR ST JOSEPH’S, TILEHURST St Joseph’s Presbytery, Berkshire Drive, Tilehurst, Reading, RG31 5JJ 0118 942 8632 [email protected] www.st-josephs-tilehurst.org.uk https://www.facebook.com/stjosephstilehurst Registered Charity No. 246871 Parish Priest: Fr Peter Glas Parish Secretary: Safeguarding Representative: Sheila Jones Miriam da Cruz Fernandes Parish Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 0118 943 3524 9 am – 12.30 pm, for telephone and email contact only [email protected] SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – 16TH MAY 2021 SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR OUR CONFIRMATION CANDIDATES As we approach the great feast of Pentecost next Sunday, please pray for our 22 candidates who are going to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is always a wonderful moment in the life of a young person and also a wonderful moment in the life of the Diocese. Last year, we had to postpone the usual arrangements for Confirmation and this year, things will be a bit different. Instead of inviting candidates to the cathedral, Bishop Philip has decided to delegate all parish priests across the Diocese to confer the Sacrament in a Mass or non-Eucharistic liturgy at 3 pm on Pentecost Sunday. This will be simultaneously with the Bishop at the Cathedral conferring the sacrament on candidates from the Cathedral parish and Portsmouth Pastoral Area. We hope and pray we can return to a more normal situation next year, but for now, please say a special prayer for all those preparing, and the catechists and clergy supporting them: Jake Archer Luke Archer Gabriel Armstrong Sophia Armstrong Maria Armstrong Elena Bisoffi Emma Bisoffi Ella Cathrew Lara Cathrew Josephina Chandler Monica Drake Bevyn Fernandez Evie Grayling Marc Guernion Olivia Holeckova Sofia Hopkins Jessna Jery Noah Keevil Skyla Naughton-Roberts Isabella O’Sullivan Tiana Ross Grace Sweeney COLLECTION FOR CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK THIS WEEKEND - 16TH MAY It is important that the voice of the Catholic church be heard in the UK, in the press, radio, TV, and on social media.