Post intelligent and civil comments. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the NLM
I have always loved these Spanish monstrances (but then I am particular to Spanish Catholicism in general).
However, as far as I am aware, and Spaniards may correct me, the word "custodia" is not as specific as to only mean those great outer structures around the monstrance proper, but is also simply is the Spanish term for a monstrance itself, no matter of which form.
Sorry, I cannot help but think of the R.O.U.S.s in the Princess Bride.
What about the R.O.U.S.s?"
"I don't think they exist."
Beautiful. Let's not forget though the magnificent monstrances at EWTN; the original one in the chapel used by the Brothers, and the grand one at Mother Angelica's convent.
Readers may want to investiage the new monstrance at Saint Stanislaus Church in Chicago. You can see at www.Amothersplea.org.
Gregor - you're correct in your understanding of the meaning and use of "custodia." It is the general term used for monstrance in Spanish. The tabernacle is commonly refered to as the "sagrario" or simply "tabernáculo."
When I was visiting Seville in the Summer of 2005, this giant "custodia" was on display without the blessed sacrament exposed in it - so it makes me wonder if it is used also on some other occasions apart from Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi?
Building off thetimman's comment:
I must say "Monstrances of Unusual Size" is the greatest post title ever.
Apparently, M.O.U.S.'s DO exist.
I recall seeing an extremely large (greater than 6 feet tall) monstrance at the National Gallery of Art in the '94-'96 time frame, part of an exhibition on Portuguese baroque. Unfortunately, some googling around this morning has not yielded an image or a name. Perhaps someone else recalls this monstrance?
Don't forget the Prague Sun in the Loreto Church--I'm not sure how big it is, but it has 6,222 diamonds!
Aric - that's great if so many people were exposed to this there..but I personally object to paraments intended for liturgical use be used in travelling or secular art exhibitions. These items could be on display in sacristies, where they are safe and belong, as they often are in Europe. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but I read this story today concerning unreturned sacred art borrowed from the Diocese of Lleida, Spain - over at CWN. Sad story.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/views...fm?
recnum=58860
Heaven is Missa Cantata before the Blessed Sacrament exposed
Gregor--thanks for the correction. The few sources I was able to run to earth on the subject used the term in such a way I assumed it meant "large monstrance," but that was due probably to me misunderstanding them. There is the possibility it is used more specifically in English than in Spanish as an art-historical term but I could be wrong. I'll be more careful in future.
Emilio--from what little I know I get the impression the empty monstrance sits out on display most of the time in the Cathedral. I presume it must get some use as well, though I don't know anything for certain.
At Marytown outside of Mundelein Seminary, which is currently run by the Conventual Franciscans though it used to be staffed by Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, they have a rather large monstrance that is almost always exposed. It is somewhat similar to the one in the bottom picture.
When I was young and lived in Sevilla, we always called the monstrance "custodia" and the great one in the Cathedral was then used four times a year. Corpus Christi is the feast I remember most clearly, but if memory serves back then it was also used for Benediction at Nativity, Epiphany, and Easter Day.
Gregor, you're right: "custodia" is the name for every type of mostrance. And speaking about the fact of the procession of Corpus Christi, most of the cities have his "custodia" for processions like in Seville or Toledo.
Spanish guy--any other photos of similarly "big custodia"/monstrances?
Regarding St. Jean-Baptiste church, its schedule:
http://www.sjbrcc.net/mass.html
Speaks of a "Solemn Mass" every Sunday at 12 noon. Is this a TLM or a Latin Novus Ordo? Does anybody know if this parish has embraced the "Reform of the Reform"?
In Spanish there are two words for "monstrance" in English:
- normal monstrances, regular size, are called "ostensorios"
http://fotolog.miarroba.com/f/2/...4/430274/
59.jpg
(the Bishop of Bilbao with an ostensorio "bajo palio (canopy)")
- big monstrances, as the Toledo one, are called "custodias".
Javier, permiteme corregirte: en toda Espana se usa exclusivamene el termino "custodia". "Ostensorio" es un galicismo raramente usado, excepto para designar a la custodia menor que se inserta en la grande de procesion.
Javier is wrong. Custodia is the usual term in Spain.
In fact, if you Google in images "custodia catedral" you will find quite a good number of interesting pictures. since almost every Spanish cathedral has a monumental monstrance. You may be lucky as well on YouTube if you search "procesion corpus" or "procesion corpus custodia".
Here in Sydney The Blessed Sacrament Fathers in Haymarket have a church sometimes cheekily referred to as the "Temple of the Sun God". St. Peter Julian's Church has an enormous monstrance which somehow does not sit well with the Vatican II
"direction" of the church itself.
I would be pleasant in sending the pictures of the Corpus Christi procession in my parish. Here in Spain the custodia (monstrance)is in use most in the Corpus C.processions or expositions with the Blessed Sacrament, but in the villages, the big ones are in use in certain cities -in concrete, those which have the tradition or rather the privilege to bear the Monstrance. This privilege was given by the Pope to the Spanish Kingdom.
No estoy equivocado, lo que pasa es que cada vez se pierde más precisión en la lengua castellana. Del diccionario de la RAE:
Ostensorio:
Custodia que se emplea para la exposición del Santísimo en el interior de las iglesias o para ser conducida procesionalmente llevada por el sacerdote.
Custodia:
En el culto católico, templete o trono, generalmente de plata y de grandes dimensiones, donde se coloca la custodia para trasladarla en las procesiones.
Aunque estoy de acuerdo en que el término genérico es "custodia".
Sorry for this Spanish languaje related off-topic.
Javier,
pero estás citando el diccionario de la RAE selectivamente. Antes de la acepción 5 de "custodia" que alegas, se da la 4 donde se dice "En el culto católico, pieza de oro, plata u otro metal, donde se expone la hostia consagrada a la adoración de los fieles.", y a la cual la 5 hace referencia.
Y ahora volvamos "on topic", ¿de acuerdo? Aunque me alegro mucho que con esta entrada hayamos logrado provocar algunos de nuestros lectores españoles a comentar. Ojalá que vaya a suceder más a menudo.
english please so that all of us may understand.
Jaya,
The Diamond monstrance in the Loreto in Prague, which, I believe, was given to Our Lady's shrine by the diamond merchants (and goldsmiths?) of Vienna. It is of a fairly standard size, and is quite dazzling in its pure opalescent besuty.
On another thread, which may have been treated of elsewhere - how good it is to see the Holy Father wearing a proper cincture - cingulum - at Mass and whenever he wears an alb, in place of the band of material we saw so often before. This band of stuff was fulminated against by the old SCR time and again. It is also excellent to see that it is of the colour of the vestment (though it was orginally part of the linen and may always be made of a linen cord).
I think it's a disgrace that the Church and individuals would spend so much money on such temporal objects while our brothers and sisters go without home and food. I understand that it holds the most sacred body of Christ, but I think that Jesus would want us to spend more money on helping our brothers and sisters who need help.
A beautiful monstrance is beautiful for both the rich *and* the poor, who cannot afford lavish objects for their homes. The rich don't need beautiful churches; they have their palatial residences: for the poor, it's the only beauty they can possess as their own. Spending money on rich architecture should not be an excuse to deplete poor feeding programs, but as far as I know nobody uses that excuse, and prefer to simply ignore it, leaving us mired in quoditian cheapness.
People need spiritual grandeur and art; rich donors will spend money on feeding the poor, for sure, but are they cattle without souls? In the past, we treated the poor as if they had no bodies, and now we treat them, efficiently and blandly, as if they had no souls. Rich folk will always spend their money on both art and charity; better the art be public and dedicated to almighty God than Pollocks for the beach-house.
St. John writes:
"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus,[...] Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? [...] Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always."
I say this not to equate you, of course, with Judas, please forgive me, as you make your comment with great charity and passion for the suffering, but let us just be careful to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just think about it. There are many, many ways to praise God, all of which are necessary for spiritual well-being, and I find it unlikely this day and age that there are poor starving for the sake of a monstrance.
Anyone who thinks that the Church spends "too much money" on temporal objects should take a look here and see what wasting money really looks like.
I know it's an inexact comparison because people invest in movies in the hope that they will make money, but the fact that the money invested in the entertainment industry never seems to be accused of making the poor go hungry, but the money invested in the Church always does, reveals something awfully wrong about our priorities.
In comparison, a high altar fit for a cathedral - artisanally made, of fine materials, to last for centuries, today costs about $2 million dollars.
You could have built 60 (sixty!) of them with the amount of money lost by making the movie Alexander. You could have built 14 of them for the cost of paying a man to play shortstop for a second-to-last-place baseball team this year.
There is plenty of money to feed the poor, and to patronize the arts. As an artist, believe me that it is not to us that all the money is going. Most of it is frittered away on personal entertainment and gadgetry.
The heralds of the gospel have a video of the Corpus Christi procession in Toledo, which is worth seeing for the procession and the traditional costumes alone, but it also has some detailed shots of the monstrance and how it can be disassembled for the eucharistic blessing.
The video can be found on http://tv.arautos.org.br , currently on page 2.
Excuse me, but respect to Seville you are wrong. That picture is not the "Custodia" but the so called "altar del Jubileo" inside the Cathedral. It is an altar and his altarpiece in that Picture. The Custodia of Juan de Arfe, made in silver, is the ones wich go to the streets on Corpus Christi procession. You can view a picture here:
http://www.turismo.sevilla.org/i...aleria/
26_3.jpg
And here another descriptive picture:
http://www.galeon.com/juliodomin.../2002/
escus.jpg
Best Regards
And here you can see the Custodia of Seville in youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6...h?
v=6eiamO0TKhw
The last, during the Corpus Christi procession.
And the last point:
Juan de Arfe and Enrique de Arfe were relatives, yes. Juan de Arfe was the grandson of Enrique de Arfe, who made the Toledo's Custodia.
The Custodia of Juan de Arfe measures 3 meters and weighs 300 kilos (all of silver).
Best regards and congratulations for your webpage.
Juan de Arfe's Custodia of Seville stands almost ten feets and weighs in at 600 pounds (all in silver).
Not a monstrance per se... But Greek Catholics used a ciborum for Eucharistic adoration at one point...
There is another Juan de Arfe custodia in the cathedral museum in Avila, Spain. There is a photo of it here:
http://www.guiarte.com/avila/gal.../
foto_4313.html
It was made in 1564-1571 and was restored in 2004 for an art exhibit in the cathedral. The exhibit was the last of 12 exhibits of Spanish religious art held in various cathedrals. It began with the resurrection and placed the art in chronological order according to the events depicted, following Church history from the apostles through the great saints of Avila, and also included an original drawing of St. John of the Cross.
I couldn't find a YouTube video. I don't know if they still use that monstrance on Corpus Christi. However, it is beautiful and probably as large as the other Juan del'Arfe monstrance you show.
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