Icon of Seasons

"Icon of Seasons" Replaces Crucifix at Xavier Chapel
St. Robert Bellarmine Chapel Reopens
(from the November/December 1998 issue)

ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE CHAPEL at Cincinnati’s Xavier University reopened this Fall—newly renovated with an emphasis on "community." Although the renovation was not as invasive as the proposed changes to St. Philip Church in Morrow (as well as other parish churches in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati) many people are understandably upset by some of the changes at the university’s chapel.

"When I went to see the new Bellarmine," wrote Rebekah Sanford in the editorial pages of Xavier’s student newspaper, Newswire, "I did think it beautiful, but I did not think it Catholic. Perhaps the main reason I did not think the space appeared Catholic was the prominent absence of a crucifix, one of the central themes of our faith."

In addition to the removal of the crucifix, which once hung large behind the altar, the completed renovation included removal of the stations of the cross, the statue of St. Robert Bellarmine and the saint’s relic. The tabernacle had been removed from the main body of the chapel some years ago, and remains in a separate small room equipped with a dozen cushioned chairs and no kneelers.

Although the new altar now sits further into the congregation, it is clearly situated in a space articulated as a "sanctuary." The new circle of lights—perhaps reminiscent of the crown of thorns or the corona of glory—which hovers above the altar accentuates the sanctuary as a place distinct from the congregation. The altar is surrounded on three sides by traditional wooden pews, kneelers included.

From crucifix to cross, or what?

The large crucifix which once graced the sanctuary at Bellarmine is, according to Newswire, "now waiting to be installed in the Mater Ecclesia Community and Institute in Hyde Park."

The renovation design committee decided to replace the traditional crucifix with a "cross." Chris Potter, director of campus ministry and a member of the committee, told Newswire that it did not even consider retaining the crucifix because the committee wanted "to emphasize the risen Christ rather than the dead Christ."

Fr. Leo Klein, S.J., vice president of spiritual development at Xavier, defended the use of a cross in the chapel by appealing to history. He told Newswire that the ancient symbol of Christianity is the cross, not the crucifix. Some crosses have that replica of the body of Jesus, but not all of them do." Klein explained that the corpus was not added to crosses until the 12^th century.

Klein’s view, however, is at odds with history: The earliest symbol of Christianity is neither the cross nor the crucifix; it is the Agnus Dei—the Lamb of God. Representations of Our Lord nailed to a cross began to appear in Christian works of art in the 5^th century, after Christianity emerged from the catacombs and became a "public" religion. When Christianity was a persecuted religion, prior to the conversion of Constantine (A.D. 312), when crucifixion was still used as a common means of capital punishment, Christians did not use the crucifix as an icon. It was simply too conspicuous.

The Council of Constantinople in A.D. 629 ordered: "That, instead of the lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ will be shown hereafter in His human form in images so that we shall be led to remember His mortal life, His passion, and His death, which paid the ransom for mankind"—this image was the crucifix.

As the Church developed in its devotional piety and customs, the crucifix came to be recognized as the universal symbol of Christianity. Reformation Protestants in the 16^th century, however, rebelled against the use of the crucifix, abandoned the true Church, stripped the corpus from the cross, and splintered off into their own factions, each with their own theologies. Thus, the crucifix came to be identified specifically with the Catholic Church, the bare cross with the "Reformers."

Nevertheless, whether Fr. Klein’s claim is true or false, the final renovation plans replaced the sanctuary crucifix not with a "cross," but with an "Icon of Seasons." Designed by Loveland artist William J. Schickel (who also recently designed the 30-ton totem poles—"Totems of Salvation"—at the Mercy Wellness Centers; see SCR, Sept.-Oct. 1998), this tapestry holder displays seasonal works of "art."

Schickel and other supporters of the renovation make a claim that this Icon of Seasons is somehow a "cross." Although the structure is composed of two intersecting pieces, four multi-colored square cloths obscure the cruciform. "To me it simply appears as a four-paneled painting," commented art educator Caroline Hofmann. "The cross is so obscured, so inconspicuous, it is not recognizable as such," she added. "An abstract painting of the sun, birds, and wheat no better symbolizes a ‘risen’ Christ than a ‘dead’ Christ."

Schickel explained to Newswire, that his work of art uses the "Greek cross"—the shape of a plus-sign. Hofmann commented that her kitchen window also uses the Greek cross, but when the four glass panels are added to it, the cross looses its "Greek cross" effect and becomes a square window with four panes.

Toward a "feel good" religion

Some critics feel that the former crucifix of Bellarmine Chapel was the last remaining open display of the Catholic faith on campus. Rebekah Sanford expressed this feeling well in her September 23 Newswire editorial:

"The crucifix symbolizes one of the great mysteries of the Catholic faith. That is, Jesus Christ, God in the person of man, suffered a painful and humiliating death on the cross in order to save all of humankind from their sins. He was the ultimate sacrifice to God… So in the new Bellarmine we have removed this symbol of God’s love and sacrifice for us and replaced it with a cross-shaped tapestry holder."

Further, Sanford relates the renovation to the faith life at Xavier. She writes, "The attitudes toward religion that I have observed at Xavier reflect those I see in society at large: Religion is great! It helps people to love each other, to have great fellowship with each other, to get along together. But what about God, the Truth of religion and faith? So many of our student Masses, retreats, and other religious organizations focus on the ‘feel-good’ aspects of religion. That is: ‘God is love. Love one another, love makes the world go around.’"

Xavier Jesuits respond

In Newswire’s September 30 issue, professor of history, Fr. John LaRocca, S.J. took issue with Sanford’s opinion that the renovated chapel did not seem to her Catholic. "The new worship space," writes LaRocca, "fits the norms established by the United States Roman Catholic bishops in their publication Art and the Environment in Liturgy [sic, "Environment and Art in Catholic Worship"]. The Cincinnati Archdiocesan Worship Committee approved the design of the new space that was blessed and dedicated by the Archbishop."

"How can the building not be ‘Catholic’," asks LaRocca, "if it was approved by the Worship Committee and blessed by the Archbishop?" He goes on to suggest an answer: "The only other basis for a claim that a building isn’t ‘Catholic’ is if the people who worship there are either schismatics or heretics."

Fr. Richard Bollman, S.J., pastor of Bellarmine Parish, clarified that the Stations of the Cross which were removed will be replaced before next Lent. "We are waiting to obtain a new set," he wrote. As for the whereabouts of the St. Robert Bellarmine statue, Bollman writes that it "is in storage to see if an eventual home can be found for him" when the Schmidt building on campus is renovated.

—Michael S. Rose

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