Day #88: The Calling of St. Matthew

The Calling of St. Matthew by Caravaggio

It has been a rather quiet week aside from the usual school work. I have an ethics paper due on Tuesday, but it's coming along rather well -at least I think it is. But I thought in the meantime that I would post a little about a significant piece of art I had the opportunity to experience during my travels around Rome. 

This is one of my favorite pieces of art from the semester. It is from the Baroque period as part of the reaction in the Catholic culture to the Protestant Reformation. It portrays the scene from the Gospel where Our Lord sees Matthew with his fellow tax collectors and tells Matthew, "Come, follow me." It is located in a beautiful side chapel in a church of St. Louis of France in Rome, alongside two other paintings from the life of St. Matthew by the Baroque painter Caravaggio. 

First, let me tell you a little bit about the painter, Caravaggio. Caravaggio was a controversial artist from Milan. He was born wealthy, but he was orphaned at age ten. Towards the end of the 1500s, he arrived in Rome as the typical starving artist. With his painting of The Calling of St. Matthew, however, he was catapulted into success. His style was ignobility in art, for which he was a contentious figure. He had a violent temper, but he was also a follower of St. Philip Neri, a great preacher and a contemporary of his. St. Philip Neri had just founded his oratory, so it is possible that Caravaggio may have come to hear him preach.

Caravaggio introduced into his paintings the use of heavy contrast between light and dark to bring drama to the painting. He would set up lanterns as spot-lights on his work to help exaggerate the shadows and the light in his work. This technique may be contrasted with the style of Michelangelo's use of light and shadows. The use of light and shadow is what shows pre- and post- Caravaggio. The style of Caravaggio is also in the same spirit of the Italian artist Giotto, who painted the beautiful frescos of the life of St. Francis for the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Giotto used modeling and gestures to help tell the story of the painting.

Now, to discuss the painting itself. The light is not coming from the window. It is not from the natural world. The hand of Christ is modeled after the hand of Michelangelo's The Creation of Man, one of the most  famous fresco which adorns the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Which hand Caravaggio is imitating (God the Father's or Adam's) is debatable. St. Peter is in front of Christ, and is portrayed often in Baroque religious art because this art is proclaiming the primacy of Peter and Catholicism as the true faith. Christ and St. Peter are clad in their traditional garb, while Matthew and his fellow tax collectors are wearing the garb of the day, thus relating the viewer to the scene in the painting. One tax collector is using his fingers to stack the coins, while another is adjusting his spectacles. Each has a different reaction  to Christ. Matthew has heard and is pointing to himself as if to say, "Me, Lord?" The light is cast on his face, drawing the viewer's eye to him as the focal point. The two figures on the left are unaware of Christ's call. As for the two figures on the right: one is unsure and is ready to draw his sword. The other, looking askance, appears curious and casual as he leans on St. Matthew. One gets the impression that he may do whatever Matthew does. Caravaggio brings you into the scene, and forces us to ask the questions, Where is Jesus calling me, and what is my response? 

I think part of the reason why this painting is so meaningful to me is because of the different reactions of the men in the scene, and its reference to the poem on the right side of my blog, how "Only those who see take off their shoes - the rest sit around and pluck blackberries." St. Matthew was willing to see in this scene, and has been given the grace to see. The other tax collectors are partially or completely oblivious to the call of Christ. St. Matthew has seen and is about to take off his shoes. So as this Lent draws to a close, how aware are we of Christ's presence in our lives? How aware are we of His presence in our souls at every given moment? His presence in nature, in the people around us, the churches, beautiful artwork and music? He is all around us - it is up to us to awaken ourselves to His presence. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, The world will never suffer for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder.

Days #48-49: ROME!

Saturday:
Saturday afternoon we arrived in Rome from Siena, just in time for Mass at the church of the Sisters of Reparation of the Sacred Heart, which was right down the street from our hotel, the Hotel of Marcus Aurelius. It was a good thing we arrived in time as, since our music ministry group leaders were late, I had to lead music for Mass with Elizabeth, which was a blessing. The Church was new, and pretty modern in style, but it was nice to have it right down the street. We had a holy hour there every evening during our Rome pilgrimage, which was a beautiful opportunity for prayer and reflection amidst our intense schedule. Saturday evening my roommate Marianne and I invited a couple friends up to the room to watch Batman Begins. I've only seen it once, so it was interesting to watch it a second time, and to philosophically evaluate various points from the movie and its sequel with Joey Walsh and Marianne.
Sunday:

St. Peter's Square again! 

Sunday morning we had Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. The Mass was a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin said by a bishop or a cardinal. The ordinaries and the propers were all chanted with an organ accompaniment. They had a small choir and they used the organ. They used the Pater Cuncta Mass ordinaries, which we learned last semester for the monthly Extraordinary Form Masses on main campus back in Steubenville. Fortunately I happened to have my Parish Book of Chant with me in my backpack so I could follow along with the prayers of the Mass and the ordinaries. They also sang Credo IV, which I vaguely remembered from my Chant class, and I fell in love with it all over again. It's a beautiful setting, I must say - although all of them are... ;-) I LOVE CHANT! The organ accompaniment was wonderful, too. There were two organs, one on either side of the back of the nave at the altar beneath the famous stained glass window of the Holy Spirit. After Mass I met an old friend from my summer working at Catholic Familyland, a Christendom student by the name of Megan Speer, who is studying for a semester in Rome. She goes to daily Mass at the basilica, so she was able to give us the information so we could go to Mass at the basilica one morning while we were here in Rome. Our schedule didn't permit us to go to Mass there until Wednesday, but it was definitely a must-do.
After Mass we said the Angelus in the square with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict. I got to see my Papa! I have now had the opportunity to see two of our popes in person, John Paul II and now Benedict XVI. He greeted the various people in the square according to their language, and the Franciscan students cheered quite loudly when he greeted the English speaking people from America.
Our afternoon was spent touring the Basilica with some of the seminarians from the North American College. It was wonderful seeing St. Peter's again, walking through the square, wandering through the massive church, learning about the architecture and the symbolism of the basilica. (For those of you who didn't know, I had the opportunity to visit Rome and Assisi on a pilgrimage for the Beatification of Mother Tersa). The two central pillars of the church are from the original St. Peter's which was a Roman basilica which was replaced by the Baroque/Renaissance church stands today. The obelisk in the center of the square, originally from Egypt, is from the Roman amphitheater where St. Peter was martyred. The statues on the inside are all built larger than they appear so that they will look life-size to us, when they're actually probably 3x the size they look to our size, as is the lettering around the top of the walls of the basilica. The cupola (the dome) is massive, you can fit the Statue of Liberty or a rocket inside of it. I loved seeing the Pieta again. We learned in Art Appreciation that the statue of Mary if you stood her up next to Jesus, she is actually much taller than Jesus, which is what Michelangelo intended as in real life if a woman held a full grown man in her lap, she would be "crushed" by the size and weight of the man. But Mary's size is hidden by the large folds in her robes. So Michelangelo knew where to make it lifelike and where to make adjustments so that the art still looked beautiful. Genius! Another exciting highlight was the altar where they are going to be placing John Paul II's tomb after the Beatification. They will be moving the tomb of Bl. Innocent (III?) to another altar in the church, and place John Paul at an altar near the side altar of the Pieta.

The Pieta by Michelangelo

Papa Ben!

After the tour we went through the tombs of the Popes. There was one new grave there since the last time I was in Rome, that of our beloved John Paul II. I spent a few moments before his tomb kneeling in silent prayer. I feel so blessed to have seen him at the Beatification of Mother Teresa, and to know have the opportunity to be here for his beatification in a few months. He has done so much for Mother Church in guarding and sanctifying her people, promoting the dignity of the human person through his teachings and his love for God and humanity. I prayed that he would bless our school and asked for his intercession for the Church in America as the new translation of the Roman Missal is promulgated this Advent.

Inside St. Peter's

The dome! (Cupola)

The Baldacchino by Bernini

The painting of St. Sebastian above the altar where John Paul II 's tomb will be moved

The altar and the current tomb of Bl. Innocent, soon to be the resting place of John Paul II

Sunday night we decided to try and go out to the Carnival - you see, the few days before Ash Wednesday there is a Carnival that goes on in Rome to celebrate the final days before prayer and fasting sets in. If any of you have seen the movie The Count of Monte Cristo, you'll know what I'm talking about. So my friends Joey, Nathan, Marianne, and I set out for the People's Square, the Piazza del Populo, at about 9:30 pm but the festivities were long over by the time we arrived, sadly. So we walked around the fountain and Marianne danced in the square (she used to be a dedicated ballet dancer), then we headed back. We did get to see the Trevi Fountain before going to the Square, which was near our hotel the last time I was in Rome. The Fountain is so gorgeous all lit up! We threw coins in for good measure to ensure that we came back to Rome, and this time I threw it with my left hand over my left shoulder as I was supposed to, and we got right up to the fountain so there was no chance of me missing the fountain. ;-) We ended up staying out later than we wanted though because the metro shut down at 9 pm for construction, which meant taking the bus, which meant waiting for an hour while trying to ignore the awkward Italian couple making out nearby. :-P We got to bed around 1:30 am, so all's well that ends well, but no more late nights in Rome for me. As sketch and packed as the metros can be, I'll take that any day to buses which seem to be a little less dependable, at least here in Rome.

Day #11: A Vector, Snow, and Palestrina

Guten Abendt! Good evening! Classes are going well! German is my favorite, I think. Professor Franz Schneider teaches it. He's a native Austrian, a sweet older man. Today he gave us Mozart Kogel (pronounced Kool), these little truffle candies with Mozart wrappers, because tomorrow is Mozart's birthday! We went over his dates. He said, "How long did he live? Only 35 years! Imagine what he would have done if he had lived longer!" I turned to one of my classmates and said, "The world couldn't have contained such genius!" Some things I've learned in German class: English is the most dominant language b/c of British Imperialism, and that Germans capitalize their nouns!


Physics is so easy it's hard! The professor doesn't give us any math b/c most people don't like it, so he's just giving us concepts to work with. I guess other people appreciate it, but I don't like it. I WANT Math! It doesn't have to be hard. It's simple formulas. Today we had a little. We had our first quiz today. I think I did okay, but not sure. We were learning about pressure, and our professor did an experiment on camera. I had to laugh when we learned about vectors though. "Because I am committing crimes with DIRECTION - and - MAGNITUDE! OH YEAH!" (Despicable Me reference, FYI)

I'm enjoying Art Appreciation. I know a lot of it already, or a lot of it is at least familiar, so it's nice. We're learning about the Ancient Greek Period. It's cool because the art is divided into four major periods: Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern. I know some about the Renaissance period and the dates for the Baroque because of Music History class! It's fascinating how they overlap. Our text book has sections on drama and music along with the art, but we're only supposed to read the specifically art sections. :-( There's so much I want to learn and so little time! I wish I could read them...

Foundation of Ethics is hard, but I like the professor. I have Brian to help me, too, and Joey Walsh. Joey tried to explain the difference between phenomenology and thomism to me a few days ago. We established that evil is the absence of good rather than existing in and of itself. This is what happens when you take a philosophy course: your whole thought process gets turned upside down. Christian Marriage is hard too, but Dr. Asci is a great teacher!

It's been snowing almost every day here. Today and yesterday it was a little warmer though, so it's melted some. To those who live in the Pennsylvania area around Lake Erie, this is like lake effect on crack! SO MUCH SNOW! And it's so pretty! Annie and I walk through the town to go practice at the church in Gaming, and we feel like we're walking through one of those decorative Christmas villages. There's a little winding stream through the village with bridges weaving over it. There's fish in the stream - but you need a license to fish in it. One of the prethes, Josh, is really tempted to fish in it. 


We had our first Music Ministry Mass today with our "traditional" choir as Sister calls it. It went beautifully! I played organ and so did Annie, and we sang hymns and such. I love singing and playing for Mass here: it's like therapy. Our practices are on Monday night, just like Schola back at school! Father Brad, one of the TORs came up to say hi during our rehearsal on Monday and said how lovely we sounded. He asked if we knew any Palestrina and I about died! Palestrina was one of the greatest Catholic composers from the Renaissance Period, although he is rarely heard in the typical Catholic Church these days. He said he loves Palestrina and he wants us to sing some of his music for his birthday! Fortunately I even had a Palestrina piece on hand! We're going to try to learn it, I think. Mark Daniels, Hannah, Annie, Elizabeth, Holly, Brian, and Nathan and I make up the choir. Mark pulled me aside last night, excitedly, and said he had found a Victoria Ave Maria for free online, and he was hoping to try it! It made my heart happy. He and I are looking forward very much to the new translation of the Mass in Advent. 

We're going to be singing for the Friday Mass in Salzburg this weekend, and the bishop might be there! Yikes! Sister is trying to get permission for Annie and I to play the organ. *fingers crossed* I'm excited that we might get to play it, but I hope I don't embarrass myself in front of the bishop of Salzburg! We may get to meet with the organ professor that Dr. Weber put me in contact with while we're in Salzburg as well. I might just stay in Salzburg the whole weekend, rather than going to Munich on Saturday. We'll see. I hate being dragged from one church to another without really SEEING them.

Day #6: Snow + Classes sounds like Steubenville!

The view outside my bedroom window

First day of "B" classes started yesterday (Tuesday, Thursday classes). Today is our first day of "A" classes (usually Mondays and Wednesdays). Christian Marriage looks like a good class, but lots of reading (90 pages of Love and Responsibility). I have my first philosophy class: Foundations of Ethics with Prof. Javier Carreno. He seems like a good professor but very challenging. That one's going to be my hardest, I think. Art Appreciation was this morning. I'm enjoying that one immensely! Today we went over some of the artwork we could see tomorrow in Vienna at the museum. It was a lot of Renaissance art, but some modern stuff, too. I recognized a lot of them from the art memory game we have back at home. Hurrah for good cultural home school education! :-D This afternoon I will have Survey of Physical Science and German 101. Physics is only going to be an hour long, I think, so I'm very happy for that. An hour and a half of class is a lot of note-taking.
We had the opening Mass of the semester yesterday with the bishop! I played the opening hymn for the Mass, Come Holy Ghost, on the organ in the Maria Thron. I also had to teach the congregation before Mass how to sing the Heilig (the German Sanctus). That was a little nerve wracking, but I pulled it off! I'm so glad we had to sing German last semester, it's so good for pronunciation purposes.
Annie and I went to go practice at the church in Gaming yesterday but there was a funeral going on so we had a change in plans. It was interesting to see the funeral though from a distance when they came out of the church. It appeared that some VIP had died, as there was a small brass band waiting outside, which played soon after the priest and the coffin and the congregation moved outside. They were dressed in feathered hats and dark green coats. It was unlike anything I have ever seen in America, and it made me think of Bach's father, who was a town musician (among other things) and who would have played with his music group for funerals and weddings and such. BUT Annie and I visited the flower shop instead, which was lovely. They had orange roses with petals with pointed tips! I also went on my first trip to the Spar (a Gaming grocery store), got my first Melka, and my first Mozart chocolate (but it has Marzipan in it, so I don't know if I'll like it, but I don't care it's Mozart).
Well, tomorrow is Vienna, and I must find where Brahms and Beethoven are buried and directions to the cemetery, plus get a good chunk of reading done before we depart tomorrow morning, so I must go. A trip to Venice the first weekend in February may be in the works as well! *fingers crossed*