I am working on a longer post on the chiaroscuro effect in churches, but yesterday’s post made me shake my head in wonder. PJ’s shot of the side aisle at the Cathédrale Saint Front in Périgueux is perfection. I stare and it is almost like a painting. Photography sometimes makes it difficult to appreciate the […]
“I saw your face; and I felt dizzy and wept, for my eyes had seen that secret and conjectured object whose name is common to all men but which no man has looked upon – the unimaginable universe. I felt infinite wonder, infinite pity. “ “The Aleph” by Jorge Luis Borges I talked in the […]
PJ and I look forward every year to our sabbatical in Europe to photograph the Romanesque and Gothic churches that are the backbone of Via Lucis. Of course we love visiting with our friends there, staying at our favorite hotels, eating the wonderful meals and drinking the wine. The churches themselves are glorious and we […]
The Benedictine Abbey Church of Maria Laach, near Koblenz, Germany was founded in 1093 when Count Palatine Heinrich II of Lorraine and his wife Adelheid donated land at the southwestern shore of Laacher See, and the Archbishop of Trier signed the document of foundation. (Laach is the Old High German word for “lake,” and has […]
A little boy let his attention wander in catechism class and his teacher singled him out for a question. “Andy, where was Jesus born?” The boy thought for a minute and said, “Pittsburgh!” The teacher shook her head and said, “Try again.” “Philadelphia?” “I am so ashamed of you, Andy. You had to know it […]
Adam Nathan’s site on the Camino de Santiago just posted a nice article on Via Lucis at Camino de Santiago Photo of the Week – September 15, 2013. Thanks, Nathan. And for all Via Lucis readers, his site is a great resource for information on the Camino.
“La vérité n’est point a nous, nous n’en sommes que les témoins, les défenseurs, et les dépositaires.” Jean Baptiste Massillon (1663-1742) Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile in Albi is a church of immense contrasts. From the exterior it is a forbidding and dominating fortress. Within, it is a splendid and opulent medieval shrine. The cathedral was built in […]
“Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages …” Geoffrey Chaucer, “Canterbury Tales” Prologue Saint Philibert’s life Chaucer’s work was centered around the pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Thomas a Becket at Canterbury, but it accurately represented the pilgrimage culture throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. One of the most popular saints and the object […]
The story of Notre Dame de Cunault is the story of two saints – Maxenceul and Philibert. Saint Maxenceul was a disciple of Saint Martin of Tours and evangelized the Angers region and built a monastery at Cunault in the fourth century. His relics were kept in his abbey church. Saint Philibert (c.608–684) was the […]
“In truth, Cistercian architecture owes everything to him. Saint Bernard was indeed the patron of this vast building site and, as they say, the master builder. For this art was inseparable from the ethical system of which Bernard was the incarnation.” Georges Duby, “L’Art Cistercien”, Paris 1976. Our recent post on the abbey of Noirlac […]
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