Introduction. estimates rise as high as 3,000 if you take account of publicity images.

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1 Pontifical University of the Holy Cross - School of Church Communications 10 th Professional Seminar for Church Communication Offices Participation and sharing: managing Church communication in a digital environment Rome, April 26-28, 2016 Introduction The Communicational Power of Mercy Emmanuel Edwards Sister of the, Faith and Art Itinerary of the Vatican Museums, UK Good morning everyone, my name is Sr Emanuel of the based here in Rome. As you can see I have a green habit and so, not suprisingly, we are often referred to as the Green Nuns or even the ecological sisters or, in an ecclesial environment, the Sisters of Ordinary Time! However, the reason we wear green is because Our Lady, under the title of Virgin of Revelation, appeared in Rome in 1947 to a protestant and converted him. She wore a green mantle and so as we were born from this history, our habit is green! Our mission is to participate in the New Evangelisation. We have the great honour of being the official guides for the Art and Faith itinerary in St Peter s Basilica and the Vatican Museums. Today I am going to talk about the Communicational Power of Mercy and there are two parts to my presentation. In the first part, I want to talk about the power of art to transmit the faith - I would like to show you the source of its often untapped potential. In the second part, we will have a look at some masterpieces to help you in your work during this Jubilee of Mercy. I am delighted to follow Padre Sicari because according to the then Cardinal Ratzinger great witness is [given] to the Risen Lord by the splendour of the holiness [of the saints] and [in] art 1. We have just heard the splendour of the saints and so now we turn to art. We live in a society of images the digital age has intensified the use of images in our everyday lives such that it is estimated that an average person sees about 247 images 2 every day. Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately) we cannot comprehend the meaning of all these images and so communicators have a challenge to get the message through! The use of images is good news for us! For 2,000 years the Church has used images to transmit the contents of the faith. Where not some of the first logos Christian symbols? We have a head start on the digital age because we have the material! We have a large patrimony of Christian art, sculptures and architecture to draw from in order to communicate God s message of mercy in our time. Think about your own diocese As Church communicators the challenge you face is how to communicate in a way that leads people to an encounter with God - it is an encounter that resides in the heart. From my experience, I believe that art holds a secret key that may help you. 1 Messori V, The Ratzinger Report, Ignatious Press, San Francisco, 1985, P An estimate by David Lamorex, Creative Media Strategist, in The actual number may well be higher. Some estimates rise as high as 3,000 if you take account of publicity images.

2 Let me ask a question: What happens when someone is before a masterpiece of sacred art? For example, the Creation of Adam by Michael Angelo. All the Sisters share the same experience when giving tours of the Vatican Museums. People come from all over the world, they are not necessarily religious or even believe in God and they just want to see the Sistine. Masterpiece by masterpiece, they experience a transformation. First shock, even boredom, then interest, then emotion and, at the end, a question about God. For example, I remember a young artist far from God, before the Creation of Adam, pondering the existence of God. The encounter with the Lord is just there in that moment, between the person and God even in a Museum!!!! I would add, if it can happen in a museum, it can also happen on-line! What is the secret? We are moved by sacred art because it has the key to man s very core. This core is that scintilla conscientiae, or what St Thomas called sinderesis, which can be defined as the most secret core and sanctuary of man where he is alone with God (Gaudium et Spes n16). This is a part of man s consciousness that doesn t involve rationality and therefore it is not conditioned by life experience or thought processes. Here God speaks to the heart of man and gently calls him towards who he was born to be. Art s non-verbal, universal language of beauty resounds in the precisely in this place. Sacred Art can be thought of as a powerful form of silent preaching because the religious masterpiece imprints man s inner being with the direct message of God s love and mercy for him and this message resonates directly in his heart and calls him to respond. Faith, conversion, a real encounter with God, a vocational call - it depends on the person. We have personally experienced all these things in those who take part in our visits. Let s now consider how art has this ability to speak to us. Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, who was a significant figure during the Council of Trent and played a prominent role defining how art can be used to transmit the faith, believed that art has the same power as literature or the rhetoric because religious works are able to inform and persuade the person moving them towards God. 3 If anything, he believed art was more powerful at causing a transformation than speech or text because it speaks to the core of man. He wrote, it is impossible to fully express how fruitful images are, for they instruct the intellect, move the will and refresh the memory of divine things They present before our eyes, while simultaneously stamping onto our hearts heroic and magnanimous acts 4 There are four ways that art can be helpful to the transmission of the faith: Firstly, the great masterpieces are a memorial because they allow us to recall an event, like a martyrdom, or a biblical theme. Secondly, art is a form of Biblia Pauperum because it presents the Holy Scriptures in a way that is accessible and attractive to all. Thirdly, art can arouse our religious emotion and help move our free will towards God. 3 Cfr. Gabriele Paleotti, Discourse on Sacred and Profane Images, Getty Publications, 2012, p Ibidem, p 109 Page 2 of 5

3 Finally, there is the joy and delight that comes from viewing a beautiful work of art (gaudium). St Augustine s via pulchritudinis is a path that can guide the mind and heart to the Eternal, to elevate them towards the heights of God 5 In part, the role of the communicator is non-other than helping people to see the wonders of the faith though these images. In this digital age we must facilitate this conversation with the heart. Now I want to explore some practical examples to illustrate how art can be used to inform or to educate and persuade. The Good Shepherd In his latest book about art Pope Francis said, what is the most profound message from this sculpture if it isn t the infinite mercy of God. 6 The Good Shepherd statue forms part of the Pio Christian Museum collection in the Vatican Museums. It is dated to the third century AD and is one of the first ancient depictions of Christ. This statue was originally a pagan symbol that was, we could say, reframed or Christianised by the early Christian community. To the pagans of that time, it represents the roman god Mercury who had a philanthropic attitude towards the human race because he took the souls to the door of the otherworld. This image was used to persuade the early people of Christ s identity and that the Christian God did not just care for man but actually loved him and descended to the earth to save him in His mercy. The statue has the face of the god Apollo who was the son of Zeus. This face was used because when the statue was created there were no iconographical precedence for how to depict Jesus. 7 A pagan image of Apollo was used to show the real God using a familiar image to the people and culture of the time. In the statue, God carries the lost sheep, which represents each individual, and also, all humanity, on his back. This represents the fact that Jesus united Himself to mankind and, took the sins of a fallen mankind upon His shoulders. Indeed, the Good Shepherd is also a reminder of the parable of the Lost sheep in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew (Lk 15:3-7; Mt 18:10-14). In the Gospel the good shepherd leaves the 99 to go in search of the one! Cardinal Van Thuan said that Jesus would fail a mathematics exam because to Him 99 is equivalent to one! 8 We can see how radical this idea is because if I lose one person in a group of 40 I must confess I do not go in search of my lost sheep. By bringing the parable of the lost sheep to mind this precious ancient statue clearly demonstrates God s merciful love. And in our time Even today this image has been selected to speak to us of God s Mercy because it was the inspiration for the logo for this extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Even in a logo format the message is still the same: Misericordes Sicut Pater Merciful like the Father. The Last Judgement 5 Pope Benedict XVI, discourse, 25 Oct Pope Francis, My Idea of Art, Mondadori Libri A.p.A, Milano, 2015, p.36 7 Ultro Umberto in I Musei Vaticani Storia Collezione percorsi didattici, Edizioni Musei Vaticani 2010, p36 8 Cfr. Cardinal Van Thuan, Scoprite la gioia della speranza, Edizioni Art, Roma 2006 p.15 Page 3 of 5

4 Moving forward chronologically in time we now come to one of the most famous masterpieces of all time: the Last Judgement by Michael Angelo. Specifically, I want to concentrate on the heroic figure of Christ. This is the moment when Christ comes in all His glory to judge the living and the dead. If we talk about mercy there is also the concept of judgement which tends to bring fear. Vasari, writing about this masterpiece, referred to it as terribility this term related to both the power of the images created by Michael Angelo and also the sense of Christ the Judge. Now I want to try a little re-framing because I believe it will be closer to the truth of the Gospel and a more useful way to speak of God s mercy. When we look at the figure of Christ, you can see that Apollean face of the Good Shepherd. Looking even closer, can you see the wounds on Christ s hands and feet that he was inflicted with upon the cross. Finally, whilst Christ raises His right hand in judgement, his left hand indicates the wound on his side. This is the wound from which blood and water flowed in other words, from where His mercy was poured out on mankind. By indicating His side, Christ draws our attention to His mercy. This is the image of the Divine Mercy which was painted under direction of Our Lord to Sister Faustina who said, before I come as a just judge I come as the King of Mercy 9. Perhaps this is the real message that Michael Angelo was transmitting with his magnificent art. The Return of the Prodigal Son - Murillo Now let us turn to the Biblia Pauperum and consider how the biblical parables have the power to persuade. The Prodigal Son speaks profoundly of God s mercy and I think that the Return of the Prodigal Son by Murillo is a fitting meditation for Pope Francis Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. We enter the scene at the point where the repentant son returns to the Father. He literally falls to his knees to signify that he casts himself on the Father s mercy and says, Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. (Lk 15:21) He is the remorseful sinner. His clothes are in tatters, shirt torn and his dirty feet show his vulnerability. He kneels before his benevolent father who looks at him with a gaze of unconditional love. The Father leans towards him, enfolding him in His warn all-encompassing embrace. Even the little dog delights at the return of his lost friend. It is as if to says, you were never forgotten! To the right we can see the servant who is presenting the new robes that are mentioned in the Gospel account. According to St Augustine 10, the blue robe represents the restoration of his lost dignity, the ring represents the return of life giving grace or the restoration of his sonship and, finally, the shoes 9 Sr Faustina Kowalska, Diary, n Cfr Aquinas, The Golden Chain - St Luke Page 4 of 5

5 represent the fact that he is now ready to proclaim the Gospel to tell of the joy of the mercy that he has received. He is clothed by mercy we could say. To the left of the servant we can see the prodigal son s incredulous brother dressed also with a blue tunic to show that his dignity is equivalent to that of the prodigal son. His brother seems to say you are restoring all his inheritance? On the right hand side we can see the servants bringing the fatted calf. The fatted calf, according to St Augustine 11 and other Church Father s, represents Christ s sacrifice for our sins or the Eucharist. It is fatted because our sins are great! Christ is that sacrifice for our sins. This painting is a true meditation on the nature of God s mercy. For a moment, let us just consider the masterpiece s rhetorical power: Firstly, memory, the masterpiece reminds each of us of God s mercy. It is a Biblia pauperum because it faithfully recounts the Gospel scene. It engages our emotions. Before this image do we not feel like the prodigal son? Do we not feel drawn to that look of unconditional love from the Father? In our hearts, it is us being welcomed by the Father in the scene. We are the one who is accepted, loved and called to a new dignity. Finally, delight. This painting is beautiful. It is beautiful of itself and also beautiful for the faith that it evokes. There is one more thing to add for this great work. To the right you can see how the servants bearing the clothes are almost particularly illuminated. That was because of the masterpiece formed part of a series on the Corporal Works of Mercy. This scene represents the corporal work of mercy to clothe the naked. The Return of the Prodigal was commissioned for the chapel of the Hospital de la Caridad in Seville in The hospital was run by the Charity Brotherhood who s mission was to assist the sick, abandoned people. For this reason, Miguel Manara 12 commissioned Murillo, himself a member of the fraternity, to depict the 7 corporal works of mercy on the Hospital Chapel walls. In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, with the emphasis Pope Francis has placed on the corporal works this masterpiece makes for a fitting reflection. Conclusion In conclusion, we can draw on the words of Pope Francis who said: Art, in addition to being a credible testimony to the beauty of creation, is also an instrument of evangelisation In the Church it exists above all else for evangelisation because through art the Church explains and interprets Revelation I think that we have seen the potential of art to transmit the Gospel message. Its common language is accessible to all and has the power to initiate a meeting with God. In the digital age the Church must increase its capacity and expertise in identifying and using our rich patrimony to touch the heart of the on-line world which is ultimately searching for the face of the merciful God. God Bless Us And The Virgin Protect Us 11 Ibidem 12 Mindy Nawcarrow Taggard, Murillo s Allegories of Salvation and Triumph, University of Missouri Press, Colombia and London, 1992,p 68 Page 5 of 5