Rococo "worldliness" and The Roman Catholic Church
An interesting illustration of the hostility sometimes aroused by this style (similar to that of early Modernists to High Victorian style) can be found in the critical view of Rococo taken by the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, especially on the unsuitable nature of Rococo for ecclesiastical contexts. due to the style's lack of simplicity, its outwardness and its frivolity, all of which tend to distract from prayer and recollection.
When the outwardness of the style was toned down it became more acceptable in religious environments and contexts. As such, Rococo decoration was able to be incorporated in sacred architecture, although, due to the style's garishness, even when religious motifs were used the results might not have always been pleasing.
In the interiors of churches the style could be tolerated, especially when its elements were small or did not command too much attention. It was more consonant with the sacristy and other not-for-worship areas than with the church proper. Rococo is incompatible with the solemnity of the Divine Office, nor is it suitable for the elements of worship such as the Tabernacle, the altar or the pulpit. In regards to larger structures and objects, Rococo might be appealing –although perhaps only because of its baroque roots that eventually become apparent–, but its fantastic overtones and features are not suitable for the large walls of most churches.
Read more about this topic: Rococo
Famous quotes containing the words catholic church, rococo, roman, catholic and/or church:
“The Catholic Church has never really come to terms with women. What I object to is being treated either as Madonnas or Mary Magdalenes.”
—Shirley Williams (b. 1930)
“Everything ponderous, viscous, and solemnly clumsy, all long- winded and boring types of style are developed in profuse variety among Germans—forgive me the fact that even Goethe’s prose, in its mixture of stiffness and elegance, is no exception, being a reflection of the “good old time” to which it belongs, and a reflection of German taste at a time when there still was a “German taste”Ma rococo taste in moribus et artibus.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, “Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful?” holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. “Yet,” added he, “none of you can tell where it pinches me.””
—Plutarch (c. 46–120 A.D.)
“Through my fault, my most grievous fault.
[Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.]”
—Missal, The. The Ordinary of the Mass.
Missal is book of prayers and rites used to celebrate the Roman Catholic mass during the year.
“The legacies that parents and church and teachers left to my generation of Black children were priceless but not material: a living faith reflected in daily service, the discipline of hard work and stick-to-itiveness, and a capacity to struggle in the face of adversity.”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)