DOCUMENTS Alienating Ecclesiastical Property, The Power of, granted to Ordinaries in to his Eminence Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris to Most Rev. Dr. Patrick J. O'Connor, Bishop of Armidale, offering Congratulations on Erection and Consecration of a new to their Eminences Cardinals Gibbons and O'Connell and the other Bishops of the United States Australian Apostolic Delegate, Extension of the Jurisdiction of the Blessed Joan of Arc, Decrees regarding the Canonization of Bishop's Power to Alienate the Votive Offerings of the Faithful to a par- ticular Church, Doubt regarding the Extent of a Custody and use of a Confirmation Book, Dispute regarding the, settled by the Congregation of the Council Constitution of certain Ecclesiastical Tribunals, Doubts regarding the Election of Bishops in Canada, Decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congre- Erection and Constitution of Quasi-Parishes or Missions of certain Dioceses in accordance with the New Code, Declaration regarding the Feast of St. Patrick is retained as a Holiday of Obligation, and the Law of Fast and Abstinence on that day is dispensed by the Holy See Foundation of certain Ecclesiastical Benefices, Doubt regarding the Indult of the Congregation of Rites empowering Ordinaries to Permit 337 510 429 523 524 62 82 159 65, 345 Innocent a Bertio, Priest of the Order of Cappucins Minor, Decree intro- ducing the Cause of Beatification and Canonizaion of the Servant 'Inter reliquas,' How far the Decree (referring to Religious attached to Military Service), is affected by the Promulgation of the New Code Irish Bishops, Statement of the, adopted at the June Meeting, 1919 Statement of the Standing Committee of the, on the pro- posed Education Bill for Ireland Irish Capuchin Martyrs, The-Introduction of the Cause of Fr. Fiacre 172 328 504 Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XV to the Prioress and Community at St. Mary's, Cabra, on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of their Letter of the Holy Father to the German Bishops urging the Restoration of the Work of the Church in Germany after the Sanction of the Louisa de Marillac, Co-Foundress of the Society of the Sisters of Charity, Decree for the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of 257 341 Matrimonial Case, Re-examination of a Decision in a, by the Holy Apos Paula Elizabeth, Foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of the Holy Family, Decree for the Beatification and Canonization of the Philomena Joanna Genovese, of the Third Order of St. Francis, Decree concerning the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of 330 Pious Clerical Missionary Union 'is granted certain Privileges Power of attaching Indulgences to Rosaries, Crosses, etc., Doubt regard- ing the, solved by the Sacred Penitentiary Profession of Lay-Religious in Regular Orders, Doubt regarding the Profession of Nuns according to the New Code, The Rite to be observed Theosophism is not reconcilable with Catholic Doctrine, and its Teaching and Publications are Proscribed for Catholics 'The Society for Procuring the Unity of Christianity,' Decree regarding the participation of Catholics in . Vicar-General, The Right of a, to precedence in a Cathedral Chapter 'Apologetic Studies,' 175; ' Armour of God, The,' 527; 'Bedrock 435; Handbook of Canon Law,' 439; 'Immaculate Con- ception, The,' 527; 'Jesus Christ,' 527; 'Life of St. Francis Xavier, A,' 87; Marriage Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law,' 84; 'M. Minucii Felicis Octavius,' 261; 'Medi- tations on the Psalms,' 526; 'Our Refuge,' 263 ; 'Priest of To-Day, The: His Ideals and His Duties,' 435; 'Rituale Parvum,' 438; 'Studies in Modern Irish,' 348; Supplemen- tum continens ea, quibus ex Codice Juris Canonici Summa Theologiae Moralis,' 526; 'True Apostolate, The,' 87; THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD LEONARDO DA VINCI'S LAST SUPPER' (AN APPRECIATION) BY REV. P. A. BEECHER, M.A., D.D. As this year marks the fourth centenary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (he died on 2nd May, 1519), it may not be out of place to make a few remarks about his Last Supper,' which is known wherever the Catholic faith has penetrated. When Da Vinci painted this picture on the wall of the Dominican convent in Milan, he inaugurated a new era in painting, an era in which it reached a higher perfection than during the 150 'golden years' of Greek painting. Doubtless, the Greeks, in that technique which aimed at painting nature to the point of illusion, still remained unrivalled; but, after all, such illusion not a high motive, and could not for a moment be compared with the lofty aim-soaring even to the Godheadof Da Vinci and his contemporaries. Here, too, as a background, is a something which the Greeks never attempted in their golden period-they did later, with only partial success a genuine piece of landscape. In order to realize what this painting did for that art of which the Church has ever been the patroness and highest inspiration, it is necessary to take a retrospective view. I shall try, however, to be as brief as possible. The early Church was completely dependent for its art on the Romans; and the Romans were largely dependent on Greek artists who came to their shores, they themselves being too utilitarian to have any firm grasp of its secret. We can understand, then, how, with the decay of the Roman Empire, the hand lost its cunning (as we can see in the catacombs, in which the older paintings are the better) and how, after a time, the FIFTH SERIES, VOL. XIV—JULY, 1919. laws of linear and aerial perspective, with their corollary fore-shortening, were completely lost; and, without these laws, painting, as we see amongst the Egyptians, must remain primitive and crude indeed. All through the Middle Ages, even at the time when architecture attained its highest perfection, these laws were hidden in obscurity, and the Church had to be satisfied with a mere symbol, or with the crude conventionalities of the Byzantine style. Cimabue, in the 13th century, made the first great effort to break from this latter,1 and on the day when his enthroned Madonna was unveiled, the picture was carried in triumphal procession through the streets of Florence to the altar prepared for it; and so great was the joy that a square was named Borgo dei Allegri. His pupil Giotto so far surpassed him that he and not Cimabue is commonly named the Father of Modern Painting; but even he had a long way to go. come Over a hundred years elapsed, during which there were many efficient painters, such as Masolino and Masaccio, but none could be said to have so improved on Giotto's work as to constitute a distinct epoch until we to Fra Filippo Lippi, his pupil Botticelli, and his (Filippo's) son, Filippino Lippi. They succeeded, indeed, in giving us beautiful, idyllic Madonnas, and each name, in turn, stands for marked progress; but the laws they were striving for were not yet fully mastered1; so that, in this sense, it is true to say that painting is the youngest of the fine arts. At last, Da Vinci's Last Supper,' which not only put everything up to that time in the shade, but established a new era in painting, an era as marked, in its own way, as that which saw the leap of Greek architecture from its inchoation in Assyrian and Egyptian. Filippino Lippi, the greatest of the three afore-mentioned, acknowledged the supremacy of the master, and later, at Florence, 1 Duccio of Siena should be mentioned also, but instead of trying to break with the Byzantine style he attempted to improve it. 2 Dante represents the illuminator Oderigi as saying: To lord the field; now Giotto has the cry, Purg. xi, 93. 3 I am considering only Italian painters, as it would be going too far afield to refer to Flemish and other artists. 4 They had a good knowledge indeed of those laws, but not mastery, as we see difficult problems in perspective avoided by, for instance, the deft introduction of portions of buildings. |