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Artykuły
DOI Artikel:Krasny, Piotr: Księgi zapieczętowane, znaki Bożej obecności, środki na przypomnienie o Bożych dobrodziejstwach: o problemach Karola Boromeusza z określeniem miejsca obrazów w życiu Kościoła
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32786#0058
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SUMMARY
Piotr Krasny
SEALED BOOKS, SIGNS OF GOD’S PRESENCE,
AND MEANS OF REMINDING ABOUT DIVINE
BLESSINGS. ON CHARLES BORROMEO’S
PROBLEMS WITH DETERMINING THE PLACE
OF IMAGES IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH
The Instructiones fabricae et supellectiles ecclesiasticae,
issued in 1577 by the Archbishop of Milan Charles Bor-
romeo (1538-1584), was one of the earliest and most im-
portant expositions of sacred art formulated during the
Counter-Reformation period. Among rules concerning
the furnishings of the church interior, there appear also
remarks related to paintings in the church. This fragment
of the instructions (which has aroused particular interest
of art historians) is strikingly terse and imprecise in com-
parison with other parts of the work, which seems to be
an evidence of Borromeo’s reservations about formula-
ting teachings about the place of images in the life of the
Church.
This hierarch was one of the most influential partici-
pants of the last session of the Council of Trent (4 De-
cember 1563) when a resolution was taken that ordered to
place images inside churches and to venerate them. Yet,
in the Instructiones the archbishop did not justify such
practices, but enumerated many dangers related to them
(they introduced to the churches secular elements, false
and inappropriate, which could be harmful to the true
piety because oftheir extravagance). While criticising im-
proper iconographic solutions, he did not, however, give
any hints for the proper ones, and limited his remarks only
to rather general recommendations that scenes depicting
the life Christ should avoid elements taken from the apo-
crypha and that the saints represented in them should bear
their proper attributes. Very meaningful was Borromeo’s
instruction that the images whose iconography was not
obvious, should be elucidated by means of inscriptions
placed within them. Such a solution was likely inspired by
Borromeo’s ancient predecessor on the Milanese archbis-
hopric throne, namely St Ambrose (c. 339-397), and also
St Paulinus of Nola (c. 353-431). Both these hierarchs not
only ordered that the wall paintings they commissioned
be complemented with inscriptions, but also justified this
practice by stating that an image represents religious con-
tents imprecisely and it is only the word that can guaran-
tee that the message of the images be unequivocal.
Borromeo’s pastoral works, which present his views on
the role of images in the Christian life more precisely than
the Instructiones, escape the attention of researchers. In
the Libretto dei ricordi alpopolo della citta e diocese di Mi-
lano (1578), addressed to his lay diocesans, he recommen-
ded that they should have sacred images in their homes
and workshops and that they should stop before them for
a moment of pious contemplation while entering or lea-
ving the premises. Yet, the iconography of these images
would have played a rather limited part in inducing this
contemplation, since the archbishop stated that this part
could have been played by ‘any image’. Saintly images were
to remind the faithful exclusively about God’s presence,
while the object of their reflection in front of the ima-
ge were to be the articles of faith they learned verbally,
especially by means of the popular religious literature
disseminated by Borromeo. In his Lent sermons in 1584
the archbishop encouraged the faithful to contemplate the
image of the Crucified Christ (as he did himself as well),
but he did not forget to instruct his listeners to move from
the emotional meditation on Christ’s suffering to study-
ing the biblical teachings on the salvific role of his Passion
and to fulfil the obligation of every Christian to imitate
Christ’s renouncement of himself.
Although Borromeo ascribed a relatively important
part in stimulating piety to images hung in secular inte-
riors, he decidedly belittled their role if they were pious
images within the church building. The archbishop dec-
lared, namely, that in the latter space God is present in
a special form in the sacraments, and therefore the most
important elements of church furnishings that remind
about this extraordinary grace, are those related particu-
larly to administering sacraments: the altar and baptismal
font. It seems therefore, that in the Libretto dei ricordi
Borromeo consciously did not draw the attention of the
congregation to church paintings, in order not to distract
them from the much more eloquent visible signs in the
church.
A similar attitude was characteristic of many bishops
and clerical humanists in the dioceses in the north of
Italy (Paolo Gustiniani, 1476-1528; Gian Matteo Giberti,
!495-!543; Vittore Soranzo, 1500-1558) who made at-
tempts at an internal reform of the Church aimed, above
all, at consolidating the Catholic sacramentology. It may
be therefore assumed that Italian Catholics, who were not
directly confronted with the iconoclasm of the Reforma-
tion, did not consider the cult of images as one of the most
important traits defining the identity of the members of
the Roman Church. Important enunciations justifying
this practice and indicating the typically Catholic icono-
graphic solutions should not, then, be looked for in the
writings of Borromeo and other Italian hierarchs, but
rather in the works of Catholic theorists from Northern
Europe who were deeply involved in opposing the argu-
ments of Protestants who often described Catholicism as
‘popish idolatry’.
SUMMARY
Piotr Krasny
SEALED BOOKS, SIGNS OF GOD’S PRESENCE,
AND MEANS OF REMINDING ABOUT DIVINE
BLESSINGS. ON CHARLES BORROMEO’S
PROBLEMS WITH DETERMINING THE PLACE
OF IMAGES IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH
The Instructiones fabricae et supellectiles ecclesiasticae,
issued in 1577 by the Archbishop of Milan Charles Bor-
romeo (1538-1584), was one of the earliest and most im-
portant expositions of sacred art formulated during the
Counter-Reformation period. Among rules concerning
the furnishings of the church interior, there appear also
remarks related to paintings in the church. This fragment
of the instructions (which has aroused particular interest
of art historians) is strikingly terse and imprecise in com-
parison with other parts of the work, which seems to be
an evidence of Borromeo’s reservations about formula-
ting teachings about the place of images in the life of the
Church.
This hierarch was one of the most influential partici-
pants of the last session of the Council of Trent (4 De-
cember 1563) when a resolution was taken that ordered to
place images inside churches and to venerate them. Yet,
in the Instructiones the archbishop did not justify such
practices, but enumerated many dangers related to them
(they introduced to the churches secular elements, false
and inappropriate, which could be harmful to the true
piety because oftheir extravagance). While criticising im-
proper iconographic solutions, he did not, however, give
any hints for the proper ones, and limited his remarks only
to rather general recommendations that scenes depicting
the life Christ should avoid elements taken from the apo-
crypha and that the saints represented in them should bear
their proper attributes. Very meaningful was Borromeo’s
instruction that the images whose iconography was not
obvious, should be elucidated by means of inscriptions
placed within them. Such a solution was likely inspired by
Borromeo’s ancient predecessor on the Milanese archbis-
hopric throne, namely St Ambrose (c. 339-397), and also
St Paulinus of Nola (c. 353-431). Both these hierarchs not
only ordered that the wall paintings they commissioned
be complemented with inscriptions, but also justified this
practice by stating that an image represents religious con-
tents imprecisely and it is only the word that can guaran-
tee that the message of the images be unequivocal.
Borromeo’s pastoral works, which present his views on
the role of images in the Christian life more precisely than
the Instructiones, escape the attention of researchers. In
the Libretto dei ricordi alpopolo della citta e diocese di Mi-
lano (1578), addressed to his lay diocesans, he recommen-
ded that they should have sacred images in their homes
and workshops and that they should stop before them for
a moment of pious contemplation while entering or lea-
ving the premises. Yet, the iconography of these images
would have played a rather limited part in inducing this
contemplation, since the archbishop stated that this part
could have been played by ‘any image’. Saintly images were
to remind the faithful exclusively about God’s presence,
while the object of their reflection in front of the ima-
ge were to be the articles of faith they learned verbally,
especially by means of the popular religious literature
disseminated by Borromeo. In his Lent sermons in 1584
the archbishop encouraged the faithful to contemplate the
image of the Crucified Christ (as he did himself as well),
but he did not forget to instruct his listeners to move from
the emotional meditation on Christ’s suffering to study-
ing the biblical teachings on the salvific role of his Passion
and to fulfil the obligation of every Christian to imitate
Christ’s renouncement of himself.
Although Borromeo ascribed a relatively important
part in stimulating piety to images hung in secular inte-
riors, he decidedly belittled their role if they were pious
images within the church building. The archbishop dec-
lared, namely, that in the latter space God is present in
a special form in the sacraments, and therefore the most
important elements of church furnishings that remind
about this extraordinary grace, are those related particu-
larly to administering sacraments: the altar and baptismal
font. It seems therefore, that in the Libretto dei ricordi
Borromeo consciously did not draw the attention of the
congregation to church paintings, in order not to distract
them from the much more eloquent visible signs in the
church.
A similar attitude was characteristic of many bishops
and clerical humanists in the dioceses in the north of
Italy (Paolo Gustiniani, 1476-1528; Gian Matteo Giberti,
!495-!543; Vittore Soranzo, 1500-1558) who made at-
tempts at an internal reform of the Church aimed, above
all, at consolidating the Catholic sacramentology. It may
be therefore assumed that Italian Catholics, who were not
directly confronted with the iconoclasm of the Reforma-
tion, did not consider the cult of images as one of the most
important traits defining the identity of the members of
the Roman Church. Important enunciations justifying
this practice and indicating the typically Catholic icono-
graphic solutions should not, then, be looked for in the
writings of Borromeo and other Italian hierarchs, but
rather in the works of Catholic theorists from Northern
Europe who were deeply involved in opposing the argu-
ments of Protestants who often described Catholicism as
‘popish idolatry’.