The Simple Power of Beauty
by Art Lohsen
Annunciation Chapel in its present form. Photo by the Sisters of Life.
We encounter Christ most directly in the Eucharist. Much has been written, by more enlightened scholars than myself, on the meaning of this Sacrament. And yet, while watching my fellow Catholics in line to receive the Real Presence of their Lord and Savior, I am struck by how much depends on those receiving Him. There is a necessary level of understanding and belief required of each of us to receive the Body of Christ. Yet we are all very different in our formation, intellect, and faith. The Eucharist is dependent upon each of us being able to receive Christ in our heart, mind, and soul. But there is a way in which we encounter God in a similar direct and physiological manner that is much less dependent upon our ability to receive Him.
In the first chapter of Genesis, we learn that God created mankind in his image. We cannot deny this nature; it lies deeply beneath our preferences, beliefs, and thoughts. It is the fabric from which we are woven. That fabric takes the form, color, and texture of beauty. As one of the Transcendentals, along with Truth and Goodness, we perceive God through our experience of beauty.
We are inherently drawn to beauty. It is not an intellectual or even conscious decision, it is a resonance between our nature and that of Him who created us. We cannot help it. We all have a fundamental attraction to beauty, to God. The dearth of beauty that we experience in our daily lives is part of the struggle of our fallen existence. We know that we are missing something vital, but we struggle to articulate what it might be. We yearn for beauty.
That is why a Catholic church must be beautiful. It must reflect the presence of God by being more ordered, proportioned, and sacred – more beautiful – than the world around it. When one enters a church, they must know that they have crossed the threshold into God’s house. They must experience that sanctity through all of the senses. There needs to be an undeniable physical reaction that turns our hearts to God.
We have all had that experience, to one extent or another. But all too often, we do not realize the sanctifying power of beauty. We dismiss it as a luxury, when it is in fact an essential component of our sacramental lives. As an architect, I have seen the evangelical power of beauty, and I have also seen the desolation of its absence. After a career spent bringing beauty to our churches, there is one fundamental thing that I must share: beauty does not have a price tag.
To illustrate this, allow me to describe a project for the Sisters of Life. They had been given an old seminary in New York to use as their Motherhouse. It was rather run down, particularly in its chapel. This room had been stripped to a bare concrete floor dimly lit by a set of lights that had once seemed “churchy”. The windows were made up of uninsulated colored plexiglas panes in a sad homage to Mondrian. In short, it was a mess.
Annunciation Chapel as the Sisters found it. Photo by Art Lohsen.
The Sisters needed a beautiful chapel to be at the heart of their Order. They had very little money and lots of other pressing renovation expenses throughout the rest of the facility. They asked what could be done. The answer, as it turned out, was very little – and quite a lot. By “very little”, I mean the amount of intervention that was done to the chapel. By “quite a lot”, I mean the resulting beauty.
Despite its dilapidated appearance, the proportions of the chapel were not terrible. Not perfect, but it was longer than it was wide and had sufficient ceiling height to feel sacred. From this starting point we would work together to create a foretaste of heaven.
The Sisters found a local flooring company that was willing to help with some marble tile, a noble material befitting the chapel. New translucent insulated glass windows were installed, looking much better, while also eliminating the drafts and making the chapel a much more comfortable place to sit in prayer. The “vintage” light fixtures were removed, and the Sisters commissioned a blacksmith to make custom wrought iron fixtures. The same wrought iron was used for the tabernacle lamp, ambo, and wall candles, bringing a wonderful materiality to the space.
The Sanctuary of Annunciation Chapel. Photo by Art Lohsen.
The Altar and Tabernacle Stand were found in an Archbishop’s residence that was being closed. The Sisters were able to have a local marble company retrieve these beautiful elements and install them in their chapel.
To replace the clothed and rather abstract original crucifix, a priest friend of the Sisters offered a crucifix he had stored in his attic. It not only fit the character and tone of the altar, but it also happened to be the perfect size for the arched alcove above the Tabernacle.
The Sisters relocated marble statues of Our Lady and Saint Joseph from one of their other houses to stand on either side of the sanctuary, correcting the awkward asymmetry caused by the previous location of the Tabernacle. There was no room in the wall, or in the budget, to carve out niches within which these statues could stand. Instead, a simple painted wood moulding was used to define a backdrop, within which was painted a very light blue color. This color was also used in the central panel of the ceiling, subtly lifting its perceived height and helping to accentuate the calm, white on white colors throughout the rest of the chapel.
Pews were salvaged from a closed church and refinished. Photo by Art Lohsen.
In the end, the Chapel of the Annunciation, as the Sisters named it, is a wonderful example of beauty achieved through humility and faith. By being patient in turning down things that were not appropriate to their vision and trusting in the Lord’s providence, the Sisters were able to achieve a remarkably beautiful result. If they had spent a million dollars on their chapel, they would probably not have a better place where they can encounter the Lord on a daily basis. Their chapel stands as an example of how God can be made present to all who enter through beauty.
The next time you walk into your parish church, ask yourself if you feel God’s presence in each of your senses. Do you know that you are in His presence? If not, your church should be more beautiful. Fortunately, this can be achieved, without the need for a Papal budget. It merely takes faith, humility, and an understanding of the importance of beauty.
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