THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ART.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 9, 2 March 1899, Page 20

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ART.

In an article on -What is Christmas .' ' llnjnnhlx -\< wspaprr says: — No subject has exercised pen, pencil, or voice more than the birth of Christ. But here comes in a curious fact— that while the Protestant communities have never ceased to dwell upon the virtues and teachings of this marvellous personality, it has been the Roman Catholic Church which has embellished the theme in the most «trikin«- manner. Our own National Gallery, and hundreds ot picture"galleries abroad, aie filled with religious pictures of priceless value The overwhelming majority has been painted by Catholic artists. The sublime churches— poems and pictures in ston e—that decorate Europe, including our own cathedrals and abbey have been the work ot Catholic architects, who have been mostly monks The v,^t bulk of siered music, including the best pieces used in Prote-^uit hive been composed by Catholics Now if people really believe in their religion, they would give the best to God Yet in England we find buildings, erected for secular purpose-, exced in magnificence those devoted to the service of God and that tie Protestant communities have not built a tingle sacred edifice, with the exception of St. Paul's Cathedn.l, which comes within a hundred thousand miles ot the gieat Roman Catholic structure- -uch as Westminister Abbey, the cathedral-, of Peterbomu"li NorAiih Jislnuy, Lincoln, and so on. Indeed, not only i- this" the ca-e. bu> f urthei— m< dern church buildings are the most ghastly, un-ightly. ropul-ive lumps of stone and mortar that the dullnc-s of mankind h...- ever conceived. Tiie-e ai- facts, our readers can draw the moral.