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Buffalo
Courier Express, January 6, 1935
(The photograph that accompanied this article can be found at the bottom
of the page.)
SOUTH PARK CHURCH ONLY ONE IN U.S. WITH REAL
ANCIENT IRISH DECORATION
Motif
originates in old Celtic manuscripts found in two books
By STEPHEN V. FEELEY
Holy Family Church at South Park Avenue and Tifft Street is said
to be the only church in the country which has authentic ancient Irish
art motifs for its interior decoration. The adornment of the
church's walls is also unique in that they were inspired by two books.
The murals and decorations of the sanctuary were copied from the
famous Book of Kells, which was hand printed and illuminated in the
Eighth Century and is now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
Decorative panels in the nave of the church were taken from the ancient
book of manuscripts known as the Book of Lindisfarne, named for the
island off the coast of England which in the early Christian era was a
missionary center for Irish monks.
Another curious thing about the Celtic embellishments of the
church is that while the majority of the parishioners are of Irish
descent and the pastor, Msgr. John J. Nash is a student of Celtic lore,
the decorations were suggested by a famous Danish artist and executed by
him and a corps of his countrymen.
It is poetic justice that a Dane gave Buffalo and perhaps the
United States, its most authentic restoration of ancient Celtic art, for
centuries ago piratical Danish chieftains led their Norse marauders
into Ireland. In their expeditions of pillage they destroyed much of the
flourishing arts of the country and hampered their development by
forcing the Irish chiefs to abandon peaceful pursuits and repel their
invasions.
Depart From Conventional
The church building was erected in 1907 and is of Romanesque
architecture. The interior wails were painted a plain color with only a
minimum of decoration on them for relief effect. Then in 1912, Holvag
Rambush, a noted Danish artist, came to the parishioners of the church
and asked for the commission to paint the walls. The parishioners and
pastor intended to decorate the church some time, but were content to
have Biblical scenes painted in the somewhat conventional ecclesiastical
art forms.
But the Danish artist
had different ideas. He was bursting with enthusiasm over ancient Celtic
art which he had been studying for years. Around 1885 a revival of
interest in things Celtic began not only in Ireland, Wales, Cornwall,
the Manx Islands and Brittany, but also in Denmark.
Danish antiquarians made frequent trips for research in Ireland
because of the early association of Ireland and the Norsemen. Rambush
went on one of these expeditions to copy he old designs. His interest
was thoroughly aroused and although he had studied for many years among
the antiquities of Ireland, he never had an opportunity to depict them
on walls.
He had been fascinated by the old Book of Kells and the Book of
Lindisfarne. The books contain the four Gospels, written in Latin, and
records of early missionary efforts of monks who had traveled to distant
parts of Europe. What makes these old manuscripts priceless is their
decorations.
Artistry
Symbolical
Into their parchment pages the artists and scholars of the
seventh and eighth centuries poured all their knowledge of hand printing
and painting. These old scholars to conserve valuable space and tell
their message more clearly evolved an intricate system of symbols. But
nobody today has succeeded in deciphering their true meaning. The first
letter of the first word in each chapter occupies an entire page.
Printing and decorating of this one-page Latin letter often took years
to complete. Amazingly intricate serpentine lines weave in and out
around the form of the letter and even these lines are thought to have
symbolical meaning.
Some of the mystery and deep symbolism of the Books of Kells and
Lindisfarne are repeated in the decorations of Holy Family Church.
The dome over the sanctuary contains a replica of one of the many
illustrations from the Book of Kells. The story the men of the early
centuries tell in this illustration is easily discernible, for the
picture is one of the least abstruse in the Book of Kells, but there are
minor portions of it which are still to be deciphered. At the top of
the dome there is the Hebrew symbol for Jehovah. From the circle
surrounding the symbol are wavering lines which drop downward to a dove
which represents the Holy Spirit and from this the wavering lines
continue through the crucifixion. From the foot of the cross the
wavering lines flow out around the dome to symbolical representations of
the four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels and to the Twelve Apostles.
The wavering line represents faith flowing as a river from the Trinity
to the Gospels and the Apostles.
Reproduced
Pages
On the walls of the sanctuary are huge reproductions of pages
from ancient books. While they are taken from pages of the old Gospel
books, the portions of the bible they illustrate is not known because
the symbolism of the designs are not known. The distinctive Celtic cross
is repeated many times in the decorations. The curious serpentine lines
which are drawn as embellishments on the crosses have a meaning but what
the old artisans meant can only be guessed.
In the nave of the church reproductions of illuminations in the
margins of the ancient books are painted in regular design.
Rambush and his Danish assistants faithfully reproduced the
colors used in illuminating the books.
There is a skillful blending of purples, greens, reds, yellows
and gold such as seen in primitive paintings, but in the church murals
there is no clash of colors.
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