DOI article:
Krasny, Piotr: Exempla viva: the prelates of the Roman Catholic Church as inspirers of Charles Borromeo’s instructions on shaping sacred srt
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38234#0054
53
that this solution be imitated in other churches of the city
and in the entire Metropolis of Milan. Into the decrees
of the fourth synod of the Milan province, summoned in
1576, he introduced a regulation stipulating that in order
to enable the faithful to view and venerate the sacrament,
it should be exposed in the tabernacle located on the high
altar or on other altar, if allowed by the bishop’.109 He repe-
ated this directive a year later in his Instructiones fabricae
et supellectilis ecclesiasticae, but this time without sugge-
sting any exceptions to the rule.110 And in one of his Eu-
charistic homilies he explained, by means of a sequence of
rhetorical questions, that the tabernacle must be exposed
on the high altar, that is, in the most important place of
the church, because it constantly reminds the faithful that
the church is a true house of God who comes to his con-
fessors. ‘If Salomon was so astonished’, he preached, ‘that
the Lord should make his dwelling in that Temple [that he
had constructed] [2 Chr. 6,18] (which was merely a pré-
figuration, once the Ark, the Tabernacle and all liturgical
vessels, had been placed in it), what, then, should we do,
who have the possibility of rejoicing in our church, be-
cause the true and saint Body of the Lord is present in
our churches, reposing in the tabernacles in the form of
the Blessed Sacrament? If Salomon [...] had marvelled so
much that his tiny structure was able to accommodate the
majesty and power of God, what can we do, who receive
Him in a temple not so sumptuous and rich as that of Sa-
lomon, but in our unworthy and sinful selves?’* * 111
Borromeo’s vigorous promotion of locating the taber-
nacle on the high altar does not mean, however, that it
was him who had conceived this method of preserving
the sacrament. As early as at the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury, monumental tabernacles had been erected on the
high altars of the cathedrals in Volterra (1471) and Prato
(1487)112, and in 1506 the Siena Cathedral Chapter ordered
109 ‘tabernaculo expositum in maiori, alioque, si episcopus censuerit,
altari propalam collocetur’, see ‘Constitutiones et decreta condita
in Provinciali Synodo Mediolanensi IV’, in Acta Ecclesiae
Mediolanensis a Carolo Cardinali Sanctae Praxedis Archiepiscopo
condita, ed. by F. Borromeus, Mediolani 1599, p. 137.
110 C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, p. 36 (as in note 8).
111‘Se Salomone si stupiva così tanto’, he called, che il Signore si
degnasse di abitare in quel Tempio [2 Krn 6,18] (che era soltanto
una prefigurazione, essendovi collocata l’Arca, il Prepizatorio e
tutti gli arredi sacri), che cosa dovremo fare noi, che abbiamo la
possibilità di godere effettivamente di questo tempio, perché nelle
chiese è presente il Suo Corpo vero e santo, riposto nei tabernacoli
e nelle custodie del Santissimo? Se Solomone [...] si merovigliavia
che quella piccola costruzione potesse racchiudere la Maestà e la
grandezza di Dio, che cosa faremo noi che lo riceviamo non in
tempio sontuoso e ricco come quello, ma in noi stessi, indegni
e pieni di peccati?’, C. Borromeo, Omelie sull’Eucarestia, ed. by
F. Carnaghi, Milan, 2005, p. 226.
112 H. Caspary, Das Sakramnetstabernakel in Italien bis zum Kon-
zil von Trient. Gestalt, Ikonographie und Symbolik, kultische Fun-
ktion, Munich, 1969, pp. 52-67; U.M. Lang, ‘Tamquam cor in
19. High altar in Siena Cathedral, 1506. Photo: M. Kurzej
to remove Duccio’s Maestà from the chancel of the ca-
thedral and replace it with an altar table surmounted by
a large bronze ciborium moved from one of the lateral
chapels (Fig. 19).113 Regrettably, the initiators of these ac-
tions did not comment on the meaning of the new loca-
tion of the sacrament in the church interior, if not count-
ing the assertion that the measures had been taken in or-
der ‘to enhance the decoration of the said church and for
greater comfort of the officiating clergy’.114
A more profound substantiation of the Tuscan formula
of arranging cathedral chancels was put forward only by
Giberti, after transplanting this practice to north-Italian
Verona. Having installed a tempietto tabernacle in the
pectore. The Eucharistic Tabernacle Before and After the Council
of Trent’, The Sacred Architecture, 15, 2009, no. 1, pp. 32-34.
113 F. Nevola, Siena. Constructing the Renaissance City, New Haven,
2007, p. 205; U.M. Lang, ‘Tamquam cor in pectore’ (as in note
112); M. Butzek, ‘Un dibattito sul luogo idoneo del coro dei ca-
nonici e sull’altare maggiore nel Duomo di Siena (1492)’, in Honos
alit artes. Studi per il settantesimo compleanno di Mario Ascheri,
ed. by P. Maffei, G.M. Varanini, Florence, 2014, pp. 171-172.
114 Ad maiorem ornatum dictae ecclesiae et comoditatem cleri pro
divinis’, M. Butzek, ‘Un dibattito sul luogo idoneo’, p. 172 (as in
note 113).
that this solution be imitated in other churches of the city
and in the entire Metropolis of Milan. Into the decrees
of the fourth synod of the Milan province, summoned in
1576, he introduced a regulation stipulating that in order
to enable the faithful to view and venerate the sacrament,
it should be exposed in the tabernacle located on the high
altar or on other altar, if allowed by the bishop’.109 He repe-
ated this directive a year later in his Instructiones fabricae
et supellectilis ecclesiasticae, but this time without sugge-
sting any exceptions to the rule.110 And in one of his Eu-
charistic homilies he explained, by means of a sequence of
rhetorical questions, that the tabernacle must be exposed
on the high altar, that is, in the most important place of
the church, because it constantly reminds the faithful that
the church is a true house of God who comes to his con-
fessors. ‘If Salomon was so astonished’, he preached, ‘that
the Lord should make his dwelling in that Temple [that he
had constructed] [2 Chr. 6,18] (which was merely a pré-
figuration, once the Ark, the Tabernacle and all liturgical
vessels, had been placed in it), what, then, should we do,
who have the possibility of rejoicing in our church, be-
cause the true and saint Body of the Lord is present in
our churches, reposing in the tabernacles in the form of
the Blessed Sacrament? If Salomon [...] had marvelled so
much that his tiny structure was able to accommodate the
majesty and power of God, what can we do, who receive
Him in a temple not so sumptuous and rich as that of Sa-
lomon, but in our unworthy and sinful selves?’* * 111
Borromeo’s vigorous promotion of locating the taber-
nacle on the high altar does not mean, however, that it
was him who had conceived this method of preserving
the sacrament. As early as at the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury, monumental tabernacles had been erected on the
high altars of the cathedrals in Volterra (1471) and Prato
(1487)112, and in 1506 the Siena Cathedral Chapter ordered
109 ‘tabernaculo expositum in maiori, alioque, si episcopus censuerit,
altari propalam collocetur’, see ‘Constitutiones et decreta condita
in Provinciali Synodo Mediolanensi IV’, in Acta Ecclesiae
Mediolanensis a Carolo Cardinali Sanctae Praxedis Archiepiscopo
condita, ed. by F. Borromeus, Mediolani 1599, p. 137.
110 C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, p. 36 (as in note 8).
111‘Se Salomone si stupiva così tanto’, he called, che il Signore si
degnasse di abitare in quel Tempio [2 Krn 6,18] (che era soltanto
una prefigurazione, essendovi collocata l’Arca, il Prepizatorio e
tutti gli arredi sacri), che cosa dovremo fare noi, che abbiamo la
possibilità di godere effettivamente di questo tempio, perché nelle
chiese è presente il Suo Corpo vero e santo, riposto nei tabernacoli
e nelle custodie del Santissimo? Se Solomone [...] si merovigliavia
che quella piccola costruzione potesse racchiudere la Maestà e la
grandezza di Dio, che cosa faremo noi che lo riceviamo non in
tempio sontuoso e ricco come quello, ma in noi stessi, indegni
e pieni di peccati?’, C. Borromeo, Omelie sull’Eucarestia, ed. by
F. Carnaghi, Milan, 2005, p. 226.
112 H. Caspary, Das Sakramnetstabernakel in Italien bis zum Kon-
zil von Trient. Gestalt, Ikonographie und Symbolik, kultische Fun-
ktion, Munich, 1969, pp. 52-67; U.M. Lang, ‘Tamquam cor in
19. High altar in Siena Cathedral, 1506. Photo: M. Kurzej
to remove Duccio’s Maestà from the chancel of the ca-
thedral and replace it with an altar table surmounted by
a large bronze ciborium moved from one of the lateral
chapels (Fig. 19).113 Regrettably, the initiators of these ac-
tions did not comment on the meaning of the new loca-
tion of the sacrament in the church interior, if not count-
ing the assertion that the measures had been taken in or-
der ‘to enhance the decoration of the said church and for
greater comfort of the officiating clergy’.114
A more profound substantiation of the Tuscan formula
of arranging cathedral chancels was put forward only by
Giberti, after transplanting this practice to north-Italian
Verona. Having installed a tempietto tabernacle in the
pectore. The Eucharistic Tabernacle Before and After the Council
of Trent’, The Sacred Architecture, 15, 2009, no. 1, pp. 32-34.
113 F. Nevola, Siena. Constructing the Renaissance City, New Haven,
2007, p. 205; U.M. Lang, ‘Tamquam cor in pectore’ (as in note
112); M. Butzek, ‘Un dibattito sul luogo idoneo del coro dei ca-
nonici e sull’altare maggiore nel Duomo di Siena (1492)’, in Honos
alit artes. Studi per il settantesimo compleanno di Mario Ascheri,
ed. by P. Maffei, G.M. Varanini, Florence, 2014, pp. 171-172.
114 Ad maiorem ornatum dictae ecclesiae et comoditatem cleri pro
divinis’, M. Butzek, ‘Un dibattito sul luogo idoneo’, p. 172 (as in
note 113).