COVER STORY VISUAL MARIOLOGY?

THE LADY OF ST MARY’S REDEMPTORIST , CLAPHAM

WITH IMAGES, TEXTS AND MOTIFS DEVOTED TO OUR LADY, THE BEAUTIFUL LADY CHAPEL IN CLAPHAM HAS BEEN TENDED BY THE LONDON REDEMPTORIST PROVINCE FOR MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS.

12 BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR 13

Lady Chapel is a separate Lady Chapel. Spread its copy in December 1867 and The the jewel of the of devotion to the icon of Our exposed it for veneration on Redemptorist Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help among St Joseph’s . In 1883, John Immaculate Lady of Victories, Redemptorists following the Francis Bentley was asked to better known as St Mary’s gift of the icon to them by design a new Lady Chapel, the Clapham, London. It is also Blessed Pius IX in 1866 led cost of which was borne by Mrs one of the masterworks of its to the dedication of altars or Jane Louis, in memory of her architect, John Francis Bentley. to Mary under this husband William John Louis, Bentley used traditional material new title wherever there were whose copy is enshrined on the and images, but many features Redemptorist monasteries. St altar of the chapel. of the chapel, not least the use Mary’s Clapham was originally of liturgical texts and hymns in built at the expense of Fr Edward THE ARCHITECT honour of the Virgin Mary in the Douglas. He later bore the cost of John Francis Bentley (1839- decoration, are a witness to his the Redemptorist Roman church 1902) is best known as the own faith. of St Alphonsus where the icon architect of Westminster As it was dedicated to Our was exposed for veneration. The , London. Recovery Lady, the church did not need Clapham community received from a serious illness, which he

REALITY JUNE 2017 COVER STORY

devotion to Clapham and its deep Persian blue with patterns Passion, with the cross at the Redemption was daily renewed helper of the faithful (four titles, community: “The passing of in a lighter blue and gold creating centre. through its daily representation including Health of the Sick) and the years was to bring an ever the impression of tapestry. The The mensa, or table of the altar, in the Mass. finally, as Queen (13 titles, for growing intimacy with St Mary’s picture is set within a three-part is made from Derbyshire marble. In the remaining 12 panels, the example Queen of Angels). and on which for as long as the frame (triptych). When open, What is most striking about the predominant symbols are roses The litany continues to provide building may endure, his seal is the inner surfaces of these side- altar is the design on its front. with other plants and leaves, the inspiration for the decoration now indelibly impressed.” panels represent angels swinging The frontal is painted onto slate. set against a light coloured of the walls of the chapel, The chapel is situated off the thuribles towards the icon, a Its predominant colour picks background. Each panel contains particularly the upper arcades south aisle of the church and sign of veneration and respect. up the gold of the reredos. It one of the titles of Mary from formed by the arches. Here the The front of the altar is partly enclosed by an iron When they are closed, on the contains three scenes. The mode the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. colour is lighter, relieving the grille, designed by the architect. outside is an annunciation scene. of depiction and the costuming This litany is associated with the sombre blue that predominates Picked out in gilt letters is Immediately under the picture of the main characters reflect of Christ. Mary and Joseph stand are in order – Eve (‘Mother of the Italian Marian shrine of Loreto, in the lower part of the walls. the Latin inscription: Sancta are seven angels, each carrying the style of medieval Flemish near the manger, hands raised in Living,’ just as Mary is ‘Mother of from where it spread throughout Maria, succurre miseris, iuva one of the instruments of the art. The first depicts the birth ecstasy, while an angel in a blue the Redeemed’), Sarah (mother Europe and featured prominently ARCHITECTURE, HERITAGE pusillanimes, refove flebiles (Holy dalmatic kneels in adoration. of the people of Israel, just as in . The Marian AND FAITH Portrait of John Francis Bentley by Mary, succour the miserable, Picked out in gilt letters is the Latin The central image is apietà , or Mary is Mother of the New titles of the litany are arranged One of the functions of the Lady William Christian Symons, (1902) - help the faint hearted, cheer as it was known in medieval Israel), Rebecca, Rachel and in a number of sets. One set Chapel was to provide a quiet place British National Portrait Gallery those who weep). On the inner inscription: Sancta Maria, succurre England, Our Lady of Pity. Mary Deborah, Ruth, Abigail, Esther invokes Mary as Mother (12 for personal prayer and meditation, side of the grille, a corresponding miseris, iuva pusillanimes, refove holds the bleeding body of her (who saved Israel by her prayers), invocations), another as Virgin and to heighten this sense of ascribed to the prayers of the inscription reads, , flebiles (Holy Mary, succour the son, while on the ground are the and Judith (who risked her life (six invocations), another on ‘holy space’ by its colouring and Blessed Virgin Mary, hastened mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo instruments of the passion – the to slay Holofernes, the enemy biblical symbols (for example decoration. The predominant theme his conversion, and he was et spes nostra salve (Hail, holy miserable, help the faint hearted, crown of thorns and the nails. of Israel). Many of those Old Tower of David, drawn from the to which Bentley returns repeatedly baptised by Cardinal Nicholas Queen, mother of mercy, hail cheer those who weep) The central place given to this Testament prototypes would Song of Songs). Mary is invoked as in his decoration is that Mary is, above 14 Wiseman of Westminster in 1862 our life, our sweetness and our image suggests it is the fulfilment have figured in traditional 15 at the age of 23. Shortly after his hope). Our Lady's Chapel, Clapham of the scene prophesied by icon, Mariology, including the Glories marriage, Bentley came to live The deep blue colour of the when Mary held the child in of Mary of St Alphonsus, founder in the parish of Clapham, where walls is striking. The artist’s the comfort of her arms as he of the Redemptorists, who uses he became well known to the daughter, probably drawing on looked with terror on the cross them to illustrate Mary’s role in Redemptorists. His daughter, her father’s notes, has stressed and crown of thorns which still the history of salvation. Winefride de L'Hôpital, in her that this deep colour is symbolic lay in the future. The third scene The decoration of the ceiling study and of the deep waters of pain depicts the presentation in the is detailed and systematic. It its Architect, attests her father’s through which Mary learned temple, when Simeon took the is divided into 18 panels. The to understand and sympathise child in his arms and predicted panels immediately above the St Mary's Redemptorist with human suffering and that a sword would pierce the altar area depict the six seraphim, church in Clapham which is the key to the title of heart of Mary (Luke 2:35). The each with six wings (cf. Isaiah ‘Perpetual Help’. The sombre old woman, the prophetess 6:2-6), wearing stoles crossed tone of the colour is relieved by Anna, looks on from the side. in front and highlighting the alternating gold decorations, the sacredness of the altar area, just gothic letters MR with a crown THE OLD TESTAMENT AND as Isaiah’s vision of the seraphim (heraldic monogram for Mary), MARY took place near the altar of the and the pomegranate, a symbol The chapel is lit by three temple from which one of them of new life and resurrection. decorated windows. Stained took a burning coal to prepare glass often darkens a church with him for his prophetic ministry. GOLD the predominance of blues and This heightens the sense of the What is most striking is the reds, but this glass is so tinted sacredness of the altar and the golden reredos on the end wall that it allows a silvery-golden space around it. For Bentley, of the chapel. At its centre is light to enter. The theme of the the altar was where the divine the icon. In contrast to the windows is the women of the Old presence was made real through golden colour of the rest of the Testament, who were regarded the Eucharistic elements, reredos, the background is a as prototypes of Mary. Here they and where the mystery of

REALITY JUNE 2017 COVER STORY COMMENT

THE YOUNG VOICE TRANSFIGURATIONS DAVID O’DONOGHUE AND TRANSFORMATIONS all, mother and advocate. The use images of Mary to decorate his of beautiful churches that is in danger patrimony of the congregation in the of verses from familiar hymns and chapel. Apart from the icon itself, as numbers decline. St Mary’s has widest sense – books, libraries, art, WE NEED BOTH THE MIRACLES AND THE MISSIVES TO ILLUMINATE OUR FAITH prayers such as the Salve Regina and there are only the three small Gospel been cared for by our confreres of buildings – as provinces grow older the litany underline that teaching. scenes on the altar frontal. What may the London Province for more than and numbers decline, so that the A number of years ago, when nature to my then secular self. life was one I had enjoyed and and illuminate the continued The Salve Regina has a special place be theologically more striking is how one hundred years. It raises the precious witness of the past not be my relationship with Scripture But in my later discovery of absorbed as a child and it was presence of the divine. I began in the spirituality of Redemptorists. he has made its dominant motif that larger question of who cares for the permitted to decay or be lost. was evolving from mere the Transfiguration I found a pleasure to build on it and to see that the Gospel of Christ Religious profession began with of redemption. The symbols of the childhood affection for the the fulfilment of the images deepen my understanding and and the fumblings and foibles of the processional chant of the litany, passion on the reredos pick up the Goliath-slaying King of whom I of beauty and transcendence, application of it in later life. But the early church were not to be and concluded with the Salve. Their similar theme from the high altar of am a namesake, I found myself which through my love of the I simply failed to find the same read in opposition, but as totally founder devoted more than half of his the church. These also are present utterly transfixed by particular work of artists like William beauty and rapture in what complementary in their divine classic book of Mariology, The Glories in the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual parts of the Gospels. I would Blake had led me to reconsider were, to me at the time, a series character. of Mary, to a commentary on it. Most Help, and remind us that its Byzantine gravitate to certain scenes, words and reconfigure my childhood of dry missives to outposts of a I soon came to realise that if of the religious observances each title is Theotokos of the Passion. The and images, as though tracing faith in the first place. And to fledgling faith written by exactly we as Christians are to desire, day concluded with its recitation. phrases from the traditional hymns the brightest stars in a newly an adolescent young man with the kind of elders and authorities as we should, both a social These prayers would also have been show the architect’s familiarity with discovered constellation, loving a love of radical political action, that most teenage boys have a and personal transformation familiar to the congregations of St them. His healing as a result of prayers the illumination of some more this imagery of transcendent fraught relationship with. resulting from grace, we had to Mary’s where Marian devotion was to Mary which resulted in his entry to than others and gaining a greater and immediate transformation But my understanding keep in mind both the miracles a regular feature of the weekly round, the probably left a understanding of the whole was one I could immediately of the Christian desire for and the missives. We had to especially with a short prayer service life-long devotion that was shaped shape by training my eye on the latch on to. I sat and meditated transformation has changed be standing on the mountain, and sermon each Saturday, while the and deepened by his friendship with most beautiful pinpricks of light. with the scene on countless since and so have my attitudes utterly transfixed with awe, and major Marian feasts were prepared by Redemptorists. One of these scriptural moments occasions, even copying the to the Epistles. I began to read also working through the little a novena or triduum. The Clapham Lady Chapel is part of was the Transfiguration, where passage continuously into an these stories and letters not as blessings and love of community Bentley has not chosen many a worldwide Redemptorist heritage Brendan McConvery CSsR is editor of Reality. Christ’s divine nature is radiantly empty notebook until I had all dull, centuries-old arguments formation, conversation and confirmed and his position in the but memorised it. about the strictures and persistent struggle. At different 17 legacy of Hebrew figures such rules to be laid down for the times I have felt myself more in as Moses and Elijah is gloriously In the end all faith is about church, but as documents of love with the mountain or with affirmed. transformation of a kind, of a lively conversation about the missives, but only in bearing Up to this point I had been both the self and our society, divinity, grace and the Christian in mind the divinity of both can most attracted, as many secular and about our desire to social project. As my growing we achieve that change which thinkers before me, to the image experience and spread grace Christianity ran parallel with is representative of Christian of Jesus of Nazareth as merely and beauty as we understand my increased involvement in faith: totalising and glorious, yet an important and wise moral it. These moments with the political activism, I discovered only requiring faith the size of a thinker. I had fixated myself on Transfiguration were my first that my adolescent desire mustard seed to transform us the radiant light of the Sermon moments of linking the divinity for immediate and fiery anew each day. on the Mount, a passage which, of Christ with my own desires political change to mirror the in my mind, makes as good for beautifying and immediate Transfiguration had been naive a socio-political manifesto transformation of society and to say the least. I saw that change today as it did millennia ago. myself. I began to embrace in increments and through warm As I stumbled and sauntered the metaphysical miracles of conversation, and that the real in my journey from adolescent Christ as representative of the source of political pleasure and secular agnosticism to the same kinds of glorious and the struggle for societal justice first flutterings of Christian spontaneous betterment that I comes through the bonds and metaphysics, the Sermon on the deeply desired. In this context I communities we form in these Mount seemed to be the perfect found myself wrestling with the supports. entry point. Here I didn’t need Epistles, where I saw change, any miracles or resurrection, only theology and community All of a sudden I saw a young David O'Donoghue is a freelance journalist the reasoned, academic analysis formation as much messier church, in Acts and the Epistles, from Co. Kerry. His work has appeared in The Irish Catholic, the Irish Independent, and The of philosophical points and the than the startling and powerful desperately scrambling through Kerryman. He is the former political editor of commitment to social justice images I had encountered in the the darkness of persecution campus.ie and holds an abiding interest in all philosophy that were second Gospels. The narrative of Christ’s and violence, to discover itself things literary, political and spiritual.