The Gothic style acted “powerfully on tendencies, favouring the good, inhibiting the bad and elevating souls towards the beautiful, the grandiose, in short towards God”. Gothic architecture was called “‘Scholasticism in stone'”.
Newsdesk (15/07/2024 11:12, Gaudium Press) In the 13th century, Scholasticism played an important role in the intellectual field, reaching its culmination with St. Thomas Aquinas.
And the Gothic style acted “powerfully on tendencies, favouring the good, inhibiting the bad and elevating souls towards the beautiful, the great, in short towards God.”[1] Gothic architecture was called “Scholasticism in stone.”[2]
Ogives and flying buttresses
Previously, churches were built in the Romanesque style, in which “something of the smile full of affability, majesty and the discreet melancholy of the Gothic was forming.”[3]
However, the heavy semi-circular vaulting required thick walls and narrow windows, filling the naves with shadows. The Gothic eliminated these drawbacks.
The Romanesque arch has the shape of a semicircle supported by two vertical and parallel lines. By divine inspiration, the ogive was discovered, formed by two segments of a circle that join at the top at a more or less acute angle, like praying hands.
The intersection of ogives solved the problem of vaults, making it possible to build churches with up to five naves, and of great height, such as Chartres Cathedral in France, which is 123 metres high, and Ulm Cathedral in Germany, whose spire culminates at 161 metres.
And in order to strengthen the side walls, flying buttresses were placed on the outside, on top of which there were stone turrets.
Cathedral of Sainte-Chapelle, Paris. Photo: Unsplash (Xuan Nguyen)
The scintillation, luminosity and colour of stained glass windows
Wide openings could be made in the walls to install the stained glass windows, which provided greater clarity inside the church and also great pulchritude.
When the sun’s rays fall on them, they are filtered and project the colours of ruby, sapphire, emerald, etc. onto the floor.
Some stained glass windows are so beautiful that “in some way they shine forth, like the ineffable splendours of the Eternal Father, matrixes of all the scintillations, luminosities and colours placed in Creation.”[4]
This is particularly true of the marvellous Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, whose walls are made almost entirely of stained glass.
Sublime elevation of spirit and enchanting grace
“Gothic is, at heart, a magnificent reflection of the immense, inexhaustible and fabulous spirit of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.”[5]
One of the great merits of the Gothic style consisted of building churches that were marvels of order in the deepest sense of the word: an order resplendent with Faith, good sense, sublime elevation of spirit and enchanting grace.
The Gothic style expressed this order not only in ecclesiastical monuments, but also civil ones – such as castles – indicating that there is no divide between the Church and temporal society. The latter must also be inspired, ordered and marked even in its deepest aspects by an ardent spirit of Faith.[6]
Gothic churches played an important role in catechesis
Along their walls there are found sculptural groups, carved in carefully chiselled stone, depicting scenes from the life of Our Lord and Our Lady, such as Christmas, the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the slaughter of the Innocents, the flight to Egypt, the Coronation of the Queen of the Universe.
In the stained glass windows can be seen figures of local people carrying out their professions. If you look at them, you realise that their minds are filled with ideas of a higher order, giving them dignity, balance, recollection and a total preponderance of soul over matter.[7]
The sense of the marvellous
Gothic is the fruit of the sense of the marvellous that the Church has perfected over time.
This sense is closely linked to the love of God, because it is through this sense that we can elevate our souls to the Most High, the purpose for which marvellous things were created. (…)
The marvellous is not only expressed in things created directly by God, such as the splendour of Niagara Falls, for example. The greatest marvel to emerge from His hands was man, and thus the marvels made by man, who is God’s masterpiece, ultimately reflect the greatness of the Divine Artist; man’s creations are indirectly God’s creations.
Dante calls human works of art the grandchildren of God, because they are the daughters of man, who is the son of God.[8]
An example of the search for beauty even in secondary things are the flying buttresses of Reims Cathedral in France. They don’t seem to be there to support the walls, but to be ornaments. Atop each of them is an Angel carved in stone, about to take flight towards Heaven.[9]
Notre-Dame Cathedral: a delight for the whole world
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. Photo: Anyul Revas (CC by-sa 2.0)
About Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Dr Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira said:
“Both in its external and internal aspects, it is such a masterpiece of good taste, of order, of sobriety, that it always leads me to paraphrase in its favour the words of Scripture: it is the church of perfect beauty, glory and joy for the whole world!
“Perfect in every detail, in every sequence of its Gothic colonnades and arches, as well as in its galleries of images of kings or saints, arranged in impeccable sizes, heights and distances.
“Perfect in the great central rose window of its façade, which (…) is a magnificent halo for the most magnificent of all creatures, Mary Most Holy, whose image is presented there for the devotion and contemplation of the faithful.” (…)
“It is also beautiful in the richness of its interior made up of columns and ogives, resplendent in the glorious polychromy of its stained glass windows, or in the enchanting friezes of bas-reliefs that adorn the choir, which, in an exuberant symphony of colour and detail, portray the most significant moments in the life of Jesus.”[10]
There was one man who dared to make an addition to Notre-Dame: Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), who conceived the sublime idea of placing the famous spire on it and achieved it. In the terrible fire of 2019, this spire was completely destroyed.
The Heralds of the Gospel have been reviving the Gothic. The churches they have built – or are in the process of building – in various countries are in this style with a special feature: colour – in addition to the stained glass windows – radiates with joy also on the walls and ceilings.
By Paulo Francisco Martos
from Noções de História da Igreja (Notes on the History of the Church)
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
[1] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Reflexo do inesgotável espírito da Igreja. In Dr. Plinio. São Paulo. Ano II, n. 16 (julho 1999), p. 34.
[2] SEMPER, Gottfried. In WORRINGER, Willelm. A arte gótica. Lisboa: 70, 1992, p. 135.
[3] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Ó Igreja Católica! In Dr. Plinio. Ano XXI, n. 239 (fevereiro 2018), p. 32.
[4] Idem. Maravilha, sonho, realidade! In Dr. Plinio. Ano VI, n. 61 (abril 2003), p. 34.
[5] Idem. Reflexo do inesgotável espírito da Igreja. In Dr. Plinio. Ano II, n. 16 (julho 1999), p. 34.
[6] Cf. CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Catolicismo. Campos dos Goitacazes, n. 97 (janeiro 1959).
[7] Cf. Idem. In Dr. Plinio. Ano XI, n. 123 (junho 2008), p. 34.
[8] Cf. Idem. Obra de homem. Obra de Deus. In Dr. Plinio. Ano XXIII, n. 273 (dezembro 2020), p. 32-33.
[9] Cf. DANIEL-ROPS, Henri. A Igreja das catedrais e das Cruzadas. São Paulo: Quadrante. 1993, v. III, p. 413.
[10] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Beleza perfeita, alegria do mundo inteiro. In Dr. Plinio. Ano V, n. 54 (setembro 2002), p. 32
