The Saint Barnabas’ Blog

Take a peek at the image above and then at the ones of her below. You notice that our lady comes in a range of colours – most usually blue, often red and occasionaly white. What a parishioner asked on Sunday, (and I was unable to answer with authority), was this: ‘Why does Mary wear blue and when and why did this overtake the earlier custom of depicting her in red?’

I am not sure if it is an historical thing at all. But a search online has not provided much else in the way of answers. The more silly suggestions included the idea that blue is worn as Mary supports Everton (ludicrous, we all know she adores Norwich City FC) and a more intelligent offering suggested that red was favoured by Eastern Christian tradition and blue by Western tradition….though again I am not sure I agree, after all Da Vinci often chose red over blue!

It is of course entirely possible that different colours are used for different emphasis. I believe red was the colour of nobility/dignity and of importance in ancient Jewish culture. Blue is often associated with the sky and the heavenly realm and was also a very expensive pigment. White is, by all accounts, the colour Mary has been wearing in most authenticated visions.

So not much of an answer from me, just a few suggestions being thrown about. Surely someone who reads our blog can do better…I await something genius in the comments box! Uber-Catholic credibility for the first to offer something utterly convincing….

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) was one of the most important figures in Spanish Baroque painting. Although best known for religious works, he also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children which make a charming record of the everyday life of his times. Murillo began training in Seville adopting a realist approach. In 1642, at the age of 26 he moved to Madrid, where he seems to have encountered the work of Velázquez, whose influence can be seen in his work from this period. He returned to Seville in 1645 where he painted thirteen canvases for the monastery of St. Francisco el Grande which gave his reputation a well-deserved boost. Following the completion of a pair of pictures for Seville Cathedral, he began to specialise in themes that brought him his greatest successes, the Virgin and Child, and the Immaculate Conception.

Later in life he became one of the founders of the Academy of Art, sharing its direction, in 1660, with the architect, Francisco Herrera the Younger. This was his period of greatest activity, and he received numerous important commissions, among them the altarpieces for the Augustinian monastery, the paintings for Santa María la Blanca (completed in 1665), and a series of six paintings depicting biblical works of Charity to be displayed in the chapel of the Hospital of Charity in Seville.

It is one of these fine paintings, ‘Christ healing the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda’ (pictured below), which my wife Hayley is currently cleaning and restoring as part of her work for the National Gallery. This exciting project meant that she spent last Mon-Fri in Seville and Madrid respectively, examining other examples of Murillo’s work. It is a tough life for some isn’t it?! Apparently I cannot grumble because I went to Bognor Regis on the Diocesen Conference. Hmmm? Now why do I feel cheated?!

On this Second Sunday in Lent let us remember the reason WHY we are working so hard at spiritual renewal, self discipline and confession. We do so to grow closer to Jesus who, in his acts of charity, showed such love to the world. Why not examine the painting with eyes of faith?

Picture yourself as that poor broken soul on the ground- crippled by your weak will, many sins and flaws of character. And now see Christ before you, reaching out, with a heart ablaze with love. Will you take that hand this Lent? Will you grasp hold of the author of life? Will you allow him to bring to you His healing and grace? I pray that together we will.

This Sunday our Director of Music, Hilary Davan Whetton, stands down due to his many commitments on the national and international stage. We are extremely grateful for all he has done at S. Barnabas’ and are delighted that he will remain on the organist rota and be on hand to help with our concert repertoire, should the incoming Director of Music so desire.

So once again the process of seeking that ‘right person’ to lead music at S. Barnabas begins. And what a tricky process it is! A task which only gets harder as the years progress. Fortunately for S. Barnabas’, I am in conversation with one outstanding candidate who could really move things forward…but that is not the case for many others. And even here, I am only in conversation at present, only too aware that it is a buyer’s market…I will need all my charm and persuasion to get that signature on the dotted line! Your prayers please.

There was a time, however, when people were desperate to involve themselves with church music. A delightful photograph in our vestry (pictured above) gives testament to this- we see a great throng of singers led, rather radically for that time, by a dashing young lady in charming dress! I am confident the large majority of those singers, in that Christian age (and before retail parks were open), shared the faith which their dulced tones supported. But not so today…

For whilst there remains a rump of dedicated Christian singers throughout the land (I have been very lucky in both my parishes) they are getting rarer. Our once huge choir now numbers less than a dozen. So where are the others? Why so hard to recruit or find the right combination of dedication, competence and faith? I know I am mentioning the unspeakable….but truly ‘Christian’ musicians seem as rare as the proverbial waste product of rocking horses!!

Perhaps it is because most singers, being drawn from the population at large, now suscribe to the secular philosophy of our age. Simply put -they aren’t interested in Christian faith; prefering to sing in a secular choir on Friday evening than a sacred one on Sunday morning. And so they do not come.

And of those who do -many would not be in Church at all if it was not for the music. That is to say that they worship the semi-quaver above our living God. I am often amazed, when visiting ‘impressive choirs’, at how certain singers can attend hundereds of services without ever ‘getting it’ at all. It is as though grace is reserved for the congregation alone- and so they withdraw hearts from the process in hand! Of course, there are wonderful exceptions- such as the dedicated parish choir who sing for us weekly- but it often rings true nonetheless. I even saw one chorister (at a Cathedral I shall not name) reading the Times during the distribution of Mass. How very rude and symptomatic of what I am driving at!

Of course one route to success is money. Many churches have kept choral tradition alive by paying singers on each occasion they turn up. Now a hard working Director of Music needs to be valued and compensated, especially as music is their livelihood, but there is a fine line here. Why do singers in certain places demand so much? Especially when servers, church warden’s etc give their gifts freely? Such people can hold a church to ransom before long. I know of one priest currently (and his dilemna inspired this post) whose Director of Music, after a lengthy and expensive recruitment process for the parish, just didn’t turn up! He has left that Church with no organist for the coming Christmas period and, to rub salt into the wounds, the only other available organist for Midnight Mass is demanding a hugely inflated fee!! This poor priest and parish must choose between offering much needed funds or trying to run effective liturgy without an organ. It really does seem rough.

So then; to all dedicated and faithful singers (such as our own parish choir, and all Directors I have ever worked with) thank you. To those who only sing occasionaly but do so for love of Church and for free (like the S. Barnabas’ singers, Quintus etc) thank you. Now let us pray for those others whose actions stifle the mission of the church, and ultimately the musical tradition in our Land. May S. Cecelia fan the flame of faith in their hearts, that they may offer their gifts to the glory of God and the advancement of his Kingdom on earth.

Anyone even vaguely interested in sacred art ought to head to the Byzantine Exhibition at the Royal Academy, Picaddily, which ends on March 22nd. It promises to be a veritable treat to those of a traditional disposition especially and I plan to get there just a soon as I can. If interested in further details click here I was especially encouraged by the comment of a parishioner who has been, ‘it made me realise just how in keeping with tradition we are at S. Barnabas!’ Amen to that.

If you do visit the exhibition- be sure to seek out the stunning triptych shown above. It is simply entitled ‘Triptych with Virgin and Child enthroned with angels and Saints’, made in Italy, possibly at Rome, Naples or Sienna. c. 1315-13-40. It is of particular interest to me in that it was lovingly retouched, restored and cleaned by my wife, who is an art conservator at the National Gallery. She did this work in her studio there but on behalf of the National Trust- to whom this triptych belongs. Whenever I visit her studio and/or see the work she does, I am incredibly proud and very impressed! What a talented woman she is….and quite clearly her greatest task of restoration lies by her side each night! Good luck with that one Hayley!

The triptych is of theological fascination in that it depicts S. Dominic alongside S. Francis in the lower right corner- and it is very rare to see these two giants of the Church side by side in art. A tip of the biretta to Fr. Ivan at Sevenoaks for that observation- his admiration of S. Dominic paying dividends on this occasion. (NB: check comments- too much gin when chatting with Fr. Ivan- the unusual factor was the habit worn rather than the saints side by side…)