https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7vhEICgj_c

The Principles of Sacred Architecture

Our Parish Master Plan Prayer

Come Holy Spirit,Enter our hearts and our lives,Be powerfully present in our deliberations.Grant us wisdom, courage and insight.Lead us as we journey forward, to meet the challenges of pastoral care and planning, and form an ever-more vibrant community of faith. Awaken us to respond to the call of the Gospel, and through the witness of our lives, help us to respond to the vulnerable in our town and so shape a better world. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ArchitecturalPrinciples Sacred

Imitation

Marriage of Heaven and

EarthOpen to the

Transcendent

The Ordering of the

Christological Principle

Appropriate Symbolism

Sacred Architecture• Vatican II

• Living Tradition•Architectural Principles

• Vatican II• Living Tradition

•Architectural Principles

• Vatican II• Living Tradition

•Architectural Principles

• Vatican II• Living Tradition

•Architectural Principles

• Vatican II• Living Tradition

•Architectural Principles

• Vatican II• Living Tradition

•Architectural Principles

RitesRitualSymbols

Sa

cram

ents

Through our senses, we encounter a physical world every day,And yet we are a spiritual people.

We need help to encounter the spiritual.This help comes through rites, ritual, symbol -- the sacraments.

-so we can see the deeper realities, the things of the spirit.

Deeper realitiesOf God,

God’s loveGod’s incarnation

Human dignityLie just below the surface.

We are a sacramental people,But sacraments can be very effective or very ineffective.

Sacred Architecture

Vatican II• Vatican 2 establishes the context for sacred art and

architecture in our time – • Vatican 2 desires sacredness in all things pertaining

to the liturgy – for which its protection and nourishment was a central concern.

• Sacred architecture has a sacramental nature – by such tangible realities our redemption in Christ is mediated.

• Something is sacred when it acknowledges and responds to the divine

• The church acknowledges the crucial role that sacred art and architecture play.

Sacred Architecture

Living Tradition• The architect must be in love with the living tradition,

for it is from this well that understanding comes.• The living tradition is animated by the Holy Spirit.• Sacred tradition and sacred scripture have the same

divine wellspring and the same end.• Through the Holy Spirit, the Church adapts to its time

so architecture is never locked into an historical style, but open to its time.

• The Church building is a symbol of the faithful gathered.

• Truth, goodness and beauty are hallmarks of sacredness. Truly sacred architecture leads to adoration, prayer and love of God.

Sacred Architecture

Architectural Principles• It is the inspired application of the science of

symbolism by the architect that leads people to stand in awe.

• Sacred architecture generates a sense of the sacred in those who are ‘open’ to the sacred.

• Sacred architecture enables the sacramental rites. - by ordering space through the use of the science

of geometry and material configuration.• God created the world to show forth God’s glory.• Sacred architecture will radiate beauty if it is

focused on the divine.

Question

The church adapts to its time.

What is ‘our time’ and what

architectural features might this

give rise to?

The Orderin

g Christologic

al Principl

e

Vatican 2• Christian architecture begins with Christ.• By the greatness of his power he rules the things in

heaven and the things on earth, and with his all-surpassing perfection and way of acting, he fills the whole body with the riches of his glory.

• The church building thus becomes a material manifestation of the body of Christ.

How can this be shown this in architecture?

The Orderin

g Christologic

al Principl

e

Vatican 2• Christian architecture begins with Christ.• By the greatness of his power he rules the things in

heaven and the things on earth, and with his all-surpassing perfection and way of acting, he fills the whole body with the riches of his glory.

• The church building thus becomes a material manifestation of the body of Christ.

How can this be shown this in architecture?

The Orderin

g Christologic

al Principl

e

Living Traditionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LYQQO5uFtA

• Christ is the pattern to which the building needs to be fashioned – Christ the door, way, truth, life

• Christ is the foundation• Christ is the keystone• Christ is the cornerstone

The Orderin

g Christologic

al Principl

e

Architectural Principles• The controlling (or ordering) idea is the formal

principle. It must be prayerfully discerned – by us!!• The building will be ordered by, centered upon and

controlled by this central idea, which comes from and leads to Christ.

• A work of sacred architecture, is a whole that is immeasurably greater than the sum of its parts.

• Every part of the sacred building must make its contribution to the unity of the whole.

• Christ… encompasses the totality of the Cosmic order• The Christological Principle must be seen to determine

and call in to unity all the parts and their arrangement, celebrating and reflecting a unified whole.

The Orderin

g Christologic

al Principl

e

Architectural Principles

• What principle is revealed for us in this piece of architecture – when we read it, what does it say?.

Question

2. What can we do to give rise to the

controlling idea or formal

Christological principle for our

building?

Appropriat

e Symbolism

Vatican II• Sacred architecture embraces the divine, the

human, the cosmic; the building can only be guaranteed sacred when these aspects are fully present.

• Symbolism is the only way by which these mysteries are accessible to the human spirit.

• The church calls us to set apart things for use in divine worship – they should be truly worthy, becoming and beautiful signs and symbols of the supernatural world.

• The church has affirmed its right to pass judgement on the arts, deciding which are fitted for sacred use.

Appropriat

e Symbolism

Living Tradition• Symbolism is fundamental to an understanding

of the sacred.• Symbolism references the divine source of all

things• Symbolism is our God-given means of seeing

that all things are signs of the sacred.• Through this, human intellect can know that all

is held in existence by divine will.• Scripture has many examples for the symbolic

basis of sacred architecture.• Scripture abounds with symbolism that informs

builders.

Appropriat

e Symbolism

Architectural Principle• The desired Christological principle will be

expressed through the symbolism of the building.• There are symbolic numbers, ratios, proportions

and materials that best convey a central idea springing from a particular Christological principle.

• At the level of principle, the essential foundations are laid for a work of sacred architecture.

• Numerical and geometrical determinants should be supported by appropriate materials.

• Meaning is primary.

Question

3. How can we safeguard the place of

symbol in a culture that favours the

practical over the meaningful, the spiritual or the

symbolic?

Sacred Imitation

Vatican II•Sacred architecture is an imitation of creation.

•All artists (architects) … are engaged in a sacred imitation of God the Creator.

Living Tradition• Every artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses

perceive and attempts to interpret hidden mystery.• Creation is ordered and is the image of the invisible

God. Sacred architecture must be similarly ordered.• Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form

corresponds to its vocation, evoking and glorifying the transcendent mystery of God.

• All things have a unique identity, which is a reflection of the absolute unity of the Creator.

Sacred Imitation

Sacred Imitation

Architectural Principles• The pure form (or immaterial reality)… is to be

earnestly sought out and articulated.• Meditating on the created world reveals grand

complementary principles of Essence and Substance; unity & multiplicity / continuity & alternation /

completeness & transformation - these can give great depth to any attempt to imitate God the Creator.

• Choice of materials and the way they are crafted must be governed by the central idea.

• Materials used will be respected and crafted in such a way as to enhance their natural qualities.

Question

4. What aspect of the mystery of God might we want the form of our church

to evoke?

Open To The

Transcendent

Vatican II• The sacred arts are oriented towards the infinite

beauty of God which in some way they attempt to portray.

• Their aim is to turn people’s spirits towards God.• The sacred arts assist the liturgy by ensuring the

faithful are fully aware of what they are doing.• The earthly liturgy is a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy.• The liturgy is the work of the whole Christ (high priest,

mother of God, saints…)• Sacred buildings should be truly worthy and beautiful,

signs of heavenly realities.• http://www.rdgusa.com/projects/prince-of-peace-cath

olic-church

Open To The

Transcendent

Living Tradition• If there is no resurrection of the dead,

Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless (1 Cor 15: 13-14)

• ie the risen Christ is our beginning in all things. • Blessed those who have not seen and yet believe.

Open To The

Transcendent

Architectural Principles• The sacred building made in the image of

Christ (priest prophet and king) and in the image of his kingdom (the new cosmic order, a world without end) must communicate transcendence and immanence both internally and externally.

• Sacred architecture is directed towards the transcendent God – all needs to be ordered towards this principle

Open To The

Transcendent

Question

5. How can we prepare ourselves

to discern if a building conveys a

sense of the transcendence of

God?

Marriage of

Heaven and Eart

h

Vatican II• Just as for the liturgy, offering a foretaste of

heaven is one of the most solemn duties of sacred architecture.

Marriage of Heaven and Eart

h

Living Tradition• Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth ….

then a loud voice is heard saying that this is where God will make a home among people and his name is God-with-them.

• It is in this eternal liturgy that the spirit and Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.

• The universal theme of the Christian life is to fulfil the Father’s will.

• The marriage of heaven and earth has been made manifest through the incarnation.

Marriage of Heaven and Eart

h

Architectural Principles • The marriage of heaven and earth must be clearly

evidenced in the controlling geometrical configuration• The numbers, dimensions, ratios and proportions will

be carefully chosen to reflect the marriage of heaven and earth.

• The symbolism attached to the ancient tradition of the marriage of the circle and the square should be carefully considered.

• The five perfect solids are to be discovered as the fundamental building blocks.

• The duty of sacred architecture is to be a true image of creation, and thereby affect a sacred union of heaven and earth, and therefore must adhere to the principles that govern these solids.

Marriage of

Heaven and Earth

Architectural Principles Five perfect solids• Tetrahedron – a polyhedron with 4 flat faces.• Hexahedron – 6 flat faces• Octahedron - 8 flat faces• Icosahedron – 20 faces• Dodecahedron – 12 faces

Question

6. What will help us to recognise

architecture that achieves a

“marriage of heaven and earth”?

St Joseph Seminary Edmonton Canada

St Jude Bossier City Lousianna

Holy Spirit Chapel Atlanta Georgia

Christ The King Pine Mountain Georgia

Prince of Peace Kearney Nebraska

Church of the Nativity Rancho Santa Fe

St. Luke UK.

Guatemala

St. Joseph’s Jerusalem Whanganui River NZ