I am the True Vine

"I am the true vine and my Father is the vinegrower."  This is the first verse of this weekend's gospel reading, John 15:1-8.  It immediately reminded me of one of the two large mosaics in the front of Corpus Christi church, on either side of the apse.  

The two mosaics were installed in 1913-1914, as the Baltimore Sun reported in early August:

“What experts pronounce to be the two finest mosaics in the United States were blessed a few days ago at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Mount Royal and Lafayette avenues, by the Rev. James F. Nolan, pastor of the church. The mosaics are a gift of Michael Jenkins in memory of his wife, who is buried at the church.  [...] The mosaics represent the Eucharistic Christ. They are eight feet high and five feet wide.  Ten thousand pieces were used in the making of each mosaic.  They are the work of the John Harden Company, London, and it took two years to complete.  [...] The hundreds of persons who have visited the church to see the mosaics have been impressed by their great beauty and dignity."[1]

In the mosaic, Christ is wearing a white vestment worn at Benediction.  The large outer garment is called a cope and the white tunic is called an alb.    He is shown treading the wine press and wine from the press flows into three communion chalices below.  Interlacing grapevines form the border of the central figure.  Beneath the mosaic is the text "I am the true vine."   Two angels with blue wings hold up a red tapestry that also includes the first verse of John 15.

[1] "Fine Mosaics Blessed: Those at Corpus Christi Pronounced Best in Country." Sun [Baltimore] 8 Aug. 1914: 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Web. 31 Jan. 2015.

The Annunciation Mosaic at Corpus Christi Church

Today, March 25, marks the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as related in Luke 1:26-38. The Evangelist tells us that the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.    Corpus Christi Church contains a beautiful mosaic of this event which you can see in the apse (though you may need to walk closer towards the High Altar and look to your left).  

The mosaic is part of a series of five, each one each measuring over five feet in width by eight feet in height.  The mosaics were installed in 1896 and represent five of the great subjects in sacred history: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Scene at Lake Galilee.  When you look closely you will see the numberless small tesserae that are set together to form the backgrounds and minor parts of the figures, including the nimbi.  The larger features of the figures however, and the folds of drapery, are painted and vitrified in fire on larger pieces of mosaic glass.   The result, as the Baltimore Sun  described on October 6, 1896, is “that all the richness of effect peculiar to the mosaic process is achieved, with still more that is invaluable in the drawing and expression of features otherwise less completely under control.“  The mosaics, as the stained glass windows throughout the church, were prepared in England by the John Hardman and Company.  It took workers three months to set the thousand pieces carefully in place one by one in the church.[1]

The Annunciation has been one of the most frequent subjects of Christian art.  Richard Taylor, in his book How to read a church, describes its standard representation: 

The key elements in the scene are Mary, the Angel Gabriel (carrying a scepter or lily), and the Holy Spirit descending on Mary in the form of a dove.    As the Annunciation was held to have taken place in the springtime, it is often in or beside a flowering garden, or else flowers (usually lilies) are shown in a vase.  Mary may be reading a book, on which are written the prophetic words of Isaiah, “Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium” (“Behold, the Virgin will conceive and will give birth to a son’; Isaiah 7:14).  Close to Mary may be wool or fabrics, in a reference to her work on the High Priest’s clothes when she lived in the Temple.[2]  

In Corpus Christi’s mosaic we are unable to read the writing in Mary’s book, but the words of Gabriel’s greeting Ave Gratia plena (‘Hail, Full of Grace’) are depicted on the scroll in the Archangel’s hand.  The piece of cloth behind the Virgin alludes to the medieval legend of the Virgin’s upbringing in the Temple at Jerusalem where she would spin and weave the priests’ vestments.  The dove descends on a slanting ray of light that touches the Virgin’s head.    Mary, dressed in blue, is sitting near a Gothic arch with slender molded pillars, symbolizing Christianity and the Church.  She crosses her hands over her chest and her head is slightly lowered, showing her prayerful submission and agreement.    The Archangel Gabriel is winged, dressed in traditional white and appears to be floating in the air.  His left hand is raised in the way one would signify the beginning of an important oration.

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[1] "Beautiful Mosaics." The Sun (1837-1989) 06 Oct. 1896: 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Baltimore Sun. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.

[2] Taylor, Richard. How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals. Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring, 2005. Print.

Stations of the Cross at Corpus Christi

During this time of lent it seems appropriate to take a closer look at the the fourteen mosaic representations of the Stations of the Cross which are arranged at intervals around the walls of the church.  The current stations, which replaced the original ones from 1890s, were installed in 1912 as part of the renovations financed by Michael Jenkins.  The Baltimore Sun reported on the beautification of the church in an article on July 26, 1912:

“The extensive improvements being made to Corpus Christi Catholic Church, at Mount Royal and Lafayette Avenues, by Mr. Michael Jenkins, are well under way and will probably be finished by next October.  […]  It is understood that the present Stations of the Cross, which are small and oil paintings, will be superseded by magnificent mosaics in relief, made abroad.  These will be the only ones of their kind in the United States.  Their value is said to represent a small fortune.  Several designs have been submitted and one of particular beauty was placed in the church in order that it might be ascertained whether or not it harmonized with the other decorations."[1]

The Stations of the Cross (also called the Way of the Cross, Via Crucis or Via Dolorosa) represent fourteen episodes in the passion and death of Christ from His judgment before Pilate to His burial in the tomb of Joseph or Aramethea.  The origin of the devotion can be traced back to the Holy Land.  The Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem was reverently marked out from the earliest times and has been the goal of pious pilgrims ever since the days of Constantine.  A desire to reproduce these holy places in other lands, in order to satisfy the devotion of those who were hindered from making the actual pilgrimage, seems to have manifested itself at quite an early date, but one can be relatively certain that the Way of the Cross as we understand it today (i.e. a settled route with special stopping places with indulgences attached) was not known until the 15^th century.  And the erection of the Stations inside churches did not become common until the end of the 17th century.  In 1686, Pope Innocent XI granted the Franciscans, in answer to their petition, the right to erect the Stations in all their churches, and declared that all the indulgences that had ever been given for devoutly visiting the actual scenes of Christ's Passion, could thenceforth be gained by Franciscans and all others affiliated to their order if they made the Way of the Cross in their own churches in the accustomed manner.   By the middle of the 18^th century, all priests had been given the right to erect Stations within their church, and most Catholic Church nowadays contain such treasures. [2]

The standard set from the 17^th century onwards has consisted of 14 representations of the following scenes:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus carries his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets his mother
5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross (Deposition or Lamentation)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

Station 1 [Jesus is condemned to death] depicts Jesus being led away by soldiers while Pontius Pilate washes his hands.  Jesus is wearing the scarlet robe and crown of thorns, as mentioned in Matthew 27:24-29:

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.

[1] "Beautifying Corpus Christi: Heoric Statues in Place, Magnificent Stations Planned." Sun [Baltimore] 26 July 1912: 11. Proquest Historical Newspapers. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

[2] Alston, George Cyprian. "Way of the Cross." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 Feb. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15569a.htm>.

Beautiful Italian-style medieval mosaics - a scoop for Baltimore

I spent the past week reading numerous articles in the Baltimore Sun that chronicle the building and decoration of our church between 1885 and 1914.  The information found there is not always complete and perhaps not always accurate, but it does paint a picture of the various stages of construction.  Corroborating the information found in secondary sources with what can be found in primary sources may take a while.  One article that caught my eye relates to the five large mosaics in the apse of the church. 

 These five mosaics were installed in October 1896 and were supposedly made by a process which originated in Florence, Italy in the Middle Ages.  The features, folds or drapery and other larger parts are painted and vitrified in fire on larger pieces of opaque glass.  The gold background, the nimbi, and other minor parts of the figures were set in the usual mosaic style with small tesserae set together in numberless minute pieces.    

Corpus Christi may be the only known church in the United States to possess mosaics of this kind.  According to the Baltimore Sun of October 6, 1896, they were most definitely a ‘scoop’ in the United States:

“It will undoubtedly be conceded by all lovers and students of mural decoration who have had the advantage and good fortune to be able to study the glories of Venice, Florence and Rome, that no process yet fashioned or devised by the artistic skill of man for this most important province of decorative art can approach in rich effect or brilliant splendor the glass mosaics of which every fine examples are to be found in medieval Italy.  […] Notwithstanding the rapid and splendid growth of ecclesiastical art and architecture in America of late years, few important examples of mural mosaics are yet to be seen in the churches of the land, and it becomes a matter of congratulation to the city of Baltimore that there has recently been completed in one of the most beautiful and monumental of its Catholic churches, Corpus Christi, on Mount Royal Avenue, the Jenkins Memorial Church, a series of five large pictures, each measuring over five feet in width by eight feet in height, representing five of the great subjects in sacred history, the Incarnation and Passion of our Lord, His Resurrection and “Corpus Christi,” the Holy Eucharist."

The mosaics, just as the stained glass windows of the church, were prepared and installed by John Hardman and Co., a firm from Manchester well known for its ecclesiastical work in England. 

The mosaics exemplify the style of the Pre-Raphaelites, a movement that flowered in England in the 2^nd half of the 19^th century.  The artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, as it was initially called, were discontented with the lifeless academic style of painting that tried to imitate the art of the great artist Raphael and yearned to return to the more vivid and intense painting style of 15^th century Italian artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. [1],[2],[3]

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[1] Walking tour, p. 8.

[2] "Beautiful Mosaics: Splendid Examples of the Decorater's Art Placed in Position in Corpus Christi Catholic Church." Sun [Baltimore] 6 Oct. 1896: 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Web. 31 Jan. 2015.

[3] Gettinger, Steve, A Tour of Corpus Christi-Jenkins Memorial Church, p. 8. 1991. TS. Corpus Christi Church Archives, Baltimore, Md.