Editorial: Virtual visit to Vatican

Sydney
13 July 2003

Sleepless nights, then it was music to the ears of cathedral worshippers

Outrage at ‘bishop’ ad on TV

Church watchdog reviews Towards Healing protocol

Union bid to slash Catholic school funds

Susie a winner at St Cecilia’s

Foodbank sales break $1m barrier

Spiritans mark 300 years

Editorial: Virtual visit to Vatican

Letters: Vernacular

Conversation: Ryan Macalyk - student at St Ignatius College, Riverview - Great days and good knights for ‘Wheels’

Biblical perspective on life’s problems

Mysteries of Light CD will aid Emmaus in Perth

Kids starve in East Timor

House of Welcome open

Sylvester II - Pope from IM to 1003

Child’s Bible passes landmark with 40 millionth copy

Schools rally to call for Winter Appeal

Editorial: Virtual visit to Vatican

In earlier times, when many people were illiterate, beautiful religious paintings and stained glass windows gave the ordinary person a glimpse of heaven and probably something to meditate upon, too, for they could not follow the Mass in the missal.

Even now such paintings give us a glimpse of the divine, and the paintings and frescoes of the Sistine Chapel are among the most evocative of such religious paintings. The fact that one image from the chapel - Michelangelo’s depiction of Adam stretching out to touch the finger of God - has been endlessly reproduced is testament to this.

But for antipodeans to view God touching Man in this way involves far more than stretching out a finger; they might have to stretch out an arm and leg financially, too.

This is why the new website featuring the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican museums and other Roman art treasures is such a joy. The site requires a reasonable amount of computer memory to view the images, not least because one can zoom in and out to view them in detail. This is necessary as Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, for instance, is both a large and very busy painting, featuring multiple figures.

The images via computer might not have the same overwhelming quality as the originals - viewing them in reality gives a glimpse of what man and woman might aspire to - but the virtual reality images are still worth viewing online.

The descriptions and commentaries are worthwhile, too, as they reveal that human conflict is ever-present - even during the creation of masterpieces.

Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, for instance, came in for criticism because of his liberal use of nudes. One contemporary declared some of them to be more suited to the tavern than the chapel. Draperies were painted over many of them.

Michelangelo apparently needed some persuading to undertake the later painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Perhaps such rows had something to do with his reluctance.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says that the artistic challenge for him was to blend the Christian doctrine of the Fall of Man and the need for salvation with the Neoplatonist ideas that obtained in Renaissance Italy.

Michelangelo represented these ideas visually with his beautiful nude youths. The Neoplatonists saw the beauty of the human form as a reflection of God’s beauty.

But Michelangelo’s youths are depicted as restless, too - restless in their desire to transcend their human form and be reunited with God.

To view the Vatican’s treasures, go to www.vatican.va, click on Vatican Museums and take a virtual tour.