Journee d'Etude #2

"We are all pilgrims together, finding our way...Let us mark the way well, filled wih new life and license, let us bring the cymbals of light and shadow together and begin again." - Gail Sheehey, American writer

The second and final day of class. The morning session seems to drag a bit, or perhaps it’s jet lag setting in. I’m not alone in my fatigue. Snickers and amused looks react to an older gentleman snoring a couple seats in front of me. But the speaker continues unabated, going into detail about the polychromie (uniform coloration) of the cathedral. They’ve only recently discovered that the Gothic cathedrals in France were likely painted inside and out. Restoration work is discovering multiple layers of paint, colors changing from season to season or perhaps century to century. (The French have always been into changing fashion, n’est-ce pas?) Hues used in Gothic times ranged from a creamy yellow to an ochre in later years. White paint was used to give better definition to the vault ribbing. A second morning speaker has evidently cancelled, as the various professors use the final morning hour to answer questions and comments from the previous day’s lectures.

After lunch, the final speakers talk about the references to light in the Bible and the significance and use of light in various forms of medieval liturgy. I could (and will) do my own study of “light” references in Scripture, and wish the speaker would have expounded more on how theologians of the time interpreted these references to the cathedral’s art and architecture. So it seems I’ll have to research that myself. Dr. Jean-Paul Deremble, the last speaker (and the scholar who also seems to have been the coordinator of the week-end as well as the first presenter), sums up the journées by reminding us once again that the eastern orientation of the Gothic cathedral -- so the entering faithful would face the rising sun -- was to orient the believer toward the true light, the return of the Son. For Christians through the centuries, this has been the hope of each new dawn.

(I took some 26 pages of notes during these lectures, now translated and condensed down to their main points. I'll be happy to share them. Just leave me a request and email address in the comment area.)