Art & Beauty

Perhaps the most immediately obvious characteristic of churches throughout the world is that they are decorated with beautiful art. Whether paintings sculptures or stained glass windows, the most historic and respected churches are those that are filled with beautiful works of art. Many try to reduce this aspect of church design to mere pragmatism: that these are the ways in which the illiterate would learn the Faith. There is admittedly something to that: back before the ability to read was so common, people had to learn the Bible through the works of art present in the church. 

However, it would be wrong to reduce those works of art to just teaching mechanisms. The sacred (including sacred art) is meant to elevate us, to take us out of earth and into heaven. The Mass, the Divine Liturgy, truly is heaven on earth. When we are at Mass, we experience for ourselves the divine life, including divine beauty. Therefore, the beauty of the church serves as one way in which we are elevated out of the world and into heaven.

But the biggest reason for art in the church actually has nothing to do with its utility. From a purely utilitarian perspective, art has no purpose. It contributes nothing to our survival. Art seems, for all intents and purposes, to be rooted in something beyond this world. We can say that it really stems from our being made in the image of God. God is beauty itself, and we so we find a connection to Him in art. Therefore, the practice of art and its use in the Church is a means of growing in virtue and our connection to God. It is a reflection of our love of God and our desire to be like Him. That is why Michelangelo did not settle for doodles in the Sistine Chapel; that is why the person who designed Notre Dame did not settle for a “simple” church. Again, art is a means of virtue, of growing in our true excellence; and in doing so, we give glory to God through our own works and our lives.