Pauline Year Imagery; Match Made in Rome

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, JULY 3, 2008 (Zenit.org).- How blessed Christians are to have seen God! When the Word was made flesh, all of our senses were invited to participate in the experience of the Lord. More than just a recounted story, Jesus came to be seen and touched. Centuries of art have celebrated this happy event: the Incarnation.

And what a sight greeted the faithful at the Mass for the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul last Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica: Christ’s Vicar on earth, Benedict XVI, seated side-by-side with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople upon the high altar over the tomb of St. Peter.

This was the second time in two days the two men appeared together. The evening before they had presided over vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls to inaugurate the Year of St. Paul for the Churches of both East and West.

The city has been abuzz with the meaning of these fraternal appearances. Could it be that we will see the Churches of the East and West united in our lifetimes? Experts are already hard at work analyzing the significant gestures and issues, but I found myself fascinated by the images that these two extraordinary religious figures dwelt upon during the Mass.

As the twins Romulus and Remus founded the Rome that would grow into an empire, so did Sts. Peter and Paul, as Benedict XVI said in his homily. “Through their martyrdom, they became brothers; together, they are the founders of the new Christian Rome.”

As Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I stood on the tomb of St. Peter, it seemed almost as though Paul had returned to Rome, and that the elusive encounter we search for in the Gospels between the two apostles in the Eternal City was happening before our eyes.

Over their heads soared Michelangelo’s dome, with the words of Christ to Peter shimmering in the sunlight: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build by Church” (Matthew 16:18).

From one of the piers supporting the massive dome, the statue of St. Andrew by Francis Duquesnoy faced the two men. Brother to Peter and the first to be called, St. Andrew died in Greece after having spent his last years spreading the Gospel through the Eastern Empire.

One could imagine his joy as he saw the spiritual leader of millions from the lands where he suffered and died reunited with the successor of his brother. Following the Liturgy of the Word, Bartholomew I took a seat near the tribune of St. Andrew.

Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I both drew upon the shared tradition of images in the two Churches during the Mass.

Bartholomew I’s homily gave us a glimpse of Eastern art. Speaking of the icons that are part of the celebrations for this feast day, he described an image of Sts. Peter and Paul exchanging a fraternal embrace.

The patriarch commented that the icon reflects the traditional story recounting the martyrdom of the two saints. When sentenced to their deaths, he reflected, Sts. Peter and Paul exchanged the kiss of peace one last time as St. Paul said: “'Peace be with you, foundation of the Church and pastor of the sheep and lambs of our Lord.'

"Peter then said to Paul: 'Go in peace, preacher of good morals, mediator, leader and solace of righteous people.'”

The patriarch then addressed Benedict XVI saying, “It is indeed this kiss that we have come to exchange with you, Your Holiness, emphasizing the ardent desire and love in Christ, things which are closely related to each other.”

Benedict XVI’s homily also meditated on the same image of the fraternal kiss between the two great Roman apostles, a reflection of harmony in the visual tradition of the Church.

The Roman Pontiff also spoke of the Church of Gentiles and its birth at the foot of Christ’s cross. “The centurion of the Roman execution squad recognizes the Son of God in Christ,” said Benedict XVI, referring to the soldier Longinus who exclaimed, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39).

A few feet away, Bernini’s colossal statue of St. Longinus stood before them, arms akimbo, hair, drapery and musculature rippling as the awe of realization washes over him. His kinetic excitement, his feeling of profound witness of a crucial moment sparkled in the basilica that day.

Across from the Roman centurion, the gigantic statue of St. Helen, the mother of the man who brought the Church to Constantinople, stood in its niche by the altar, reaching out to invite everyone to join Longinus at the foot of the cross and to see and be amazed.

Behind their heads in the apse of the basilica, mosaic letters spelled out Christ’s charge to St. Peter, “Feed my sheep and lambs” (John 21:17) in both Latin and Greek. For many there, it seemed as though Sts. Peter and Paul were joining forces once again to tend to an increasingly threatened flock in this postmodern world.

Addressing the archbishops who were to receive their palliums, Pope Benedict used an image taken from the dawn of Christianity, the Good Shepherd. “When we put the pallium on our shoulders, this gesture reminds us of the Shepherd who puts the lost sheep upon his shoulders -- the lost sheep who by himself can no longer find the way home -- and takes him back to the sheepfold.”

This symbol, whether painted hastily on a catacomb wall or engraved on a stone sarcophagus, has accompanied Christians since the earliest years of developing a visual narrative of the story of salvation.

But from the lips of Benedict XVI, the image seemed as fresh and apt as it must have been to the first community of persecuted Christians.

Faith, history and art, brought together on the tomb of St. Peter, allowed the gathered faithful to bask in the long visual tradition of the Church while looking forward with hope to the future.

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Painting Holiness

Where else but Rome could one put a Lebanese saint and a Russian painter together and end up with a new, stunning work of contemporary art?

Father Giacomo da Ghazir Haddad was beatified on June 22 in Lebanon. A new painting by the brilliant Russian artist Natalia Tsarkova, blessed by Benedict XVI on May 21 now graces the Church of Our Lady of the Sea.

Father Giacomo, born Khalil Da Ghazir Haddad in Ghazir in 1875, was a priest of the Capuchin Order of Franciscans and founded of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross in Lebanon. He died on June 26, 1954.

The saint had a particular calling to help the sick, which he first felt when hearing the confession of a sick priest in a public hospital. Deeply moved, Father Giacomo brought the invalid to his Parish of Our Lady of the Sea where soon others came to join him.

To care for the growing number of infirm, Father Giacomo founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross in Lebanon, which still thrives today. Sister Marie Makhlouf, superior general of the order, worked closely with Tsarkova to help the painter understand the special charism of the saint.

Father Giacomo’s love extended beyond ailing priests to all those who suffered alone. The disabled, mentally handicapped, terminally ill and orphaned all found solace in the works of this tireless saint.

His Hospital of the Cross is now the largest center in the Middle East for treatment of the mentally ill.

Besides his remarkable good works in caring for the sick and marginated, Father Giacomo left a tangible sign of the faith of the Lebanese. On the Jall-Eddib Hill outside of Lebanon he erected a large cross, as a place of prayer for the Lebanese killed in war or forced to leave their homeland.

The last decade has seen several Lebanese saints raised to the altars, such as St. Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini and St. Rafka, but this Father Giacomo is the first to be beatified in his homeland.

To celebrate the occasion, a painting of the saint was commission from Natalia Tsarkova, one of the most sought-after artists in Rome.

Tsarkova, working under a very quick deadline, produced a beautiful image of the saint which stood in the church during his beatification last week.

A richly colored curtain opens in the left-hand corner recalling the embroideries of the Middle East and contrasting with the simple Franciscan robe of Father Giacomo. The saint occupies most of the canvas radiating a golden glow of heavenly light.

Above him, the angel of Divine Providence, upon which the saint reposed much trust, indicates the great hospital he founded at Our Lady of the Sea. Unlike the simple structure that Father Giacomo served in, the building is large and modernized, showing how the saint’s work continues successfully today.

All lines in the work lead to the well worn cross in his hand, a symbol of his constant devotion to Christ’s suffering as well as the great crosses he erected in his homeland.

Father Giacomo tenderly cradles the hand of an ailing priest a reminder of the beginning of his mission to tend the ill, while a Down syndrome child stands at his knee, grateful for his protection and care.

A very sad note to this work is that Tsarkova had terrible difficulties finding a Down child for a model as most are tragically aborted in Italy.

At the feet of the saint, a nurse kneels with a glass of water, reminiscent of Father Giacomo’s instructions to serve the needy on one’s knees. One can faintly recognize the artist in the figure with the modest, downcast eyes and bent shoulders.

To understand the saint’s life better Tsarkova put in many hours of service in a center caring for the mentally disabled near Rome.

The composition is tightly packed with figures like the saint’s life, but a bright red Bible announces its centrality in Father Giacomo’s mission and the coat-of-arms of Benedict XVI will remind the millions who will pray at this altar through the years who beatified this great man.

This work was a departure for Tsarkova, who has been the papal portrait artist for three popes, but she was happy to turn her attention to this new challenge, and to unite this extraordinary story of holiness to the beautiful art of Rome.

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Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University’s Rome campus. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org.

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