To visit Italy is to be steeped in Catholicism, as I was for my first twenty years. Few of the hundreds, maybe thousands of religious images I saw--crucifixes, statues, paintings, frescoes, bas-reliefs, altarpieces--were new to me. The subjects varied little: Biblical stories, like those in the Sistine Chapel. Jesus on the cross, the sad, sunken body that had given its all re-created in so many artistic styles. Static tableaux of groups I came to call The Usual Suspects--Madonna and Child flanked by John the Baptist and two or three other saints. Martyrs enduring various forms of torture (one altarpiece included, besides the crucifixion itself, scenes of Christians being flayed, boiled, scalped, and grilled). Pietas, all terribly moving no matter the quality of the art.
But familiarity did not breed contempt, and my usual cynicism about religion in general and Catholicism in particular was no match for the jaw-dropping, humbling splendor of the art and the faith that inspired it. While less noble motives than pure faith were clearly at play in the creation of much of the architecture and art, I always felt the underlying presence of belief in God and the saints, the desire to worship through the creation of beauty, the humbleness and hope that arise from visions of a sublime, eternal world beyond our mundane existence. Did it make a believer out of me? No. But it renewed my faith in belief, if that makes any sense. And it got me to buy a rosary. Will I next return to the confessional? Don't hold your breath! (But I wouldn't mind having this one as a piece of furniture.)
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDV_xhqkHLI for a better slideshow of the Basilica, one I will return to when I need to feel again the peace and beauty of this place. We still need to do much sorting and editing of our own photos. Can't find the ones I want of this place.
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