Pope marks 500th anniversary of Sistine Chapel ceiling
(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Vespers on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel,
500 years after his predecessor Pope Julius II did the same thing to mark the completion
of Michelangelo’s ceiling masterpiece. Charles Collins reports:
Calling the
Sistine Chapel a “liturgical classroom”, Pope Benedict said he was marking the anniversary
of this “historical and artistic event” with a liturgical celebration because “the
works of art which decorate it, especially the frescos, find in the liturgy…their
living environment. It is the context in which is expressed their beauty, their richness,
and the significance of their meaning.”
“It is as if during the liturgical
action, the entire symphony of figures comes alive, certainly in the spiritual sense,
but also…in the aesthetic sense,” the Holy Father continued. “The Sistine Chapel,
encompassed in prayer, is even more beautiful, more authentic; it reveals all of its
treasures.”
The Pope spoke of what the reaction must have been like for those
who saw the ceiling for the first time, after Michelangelo worked on painting the
more than 1000 square meters for four years, from 1508 to 1512.
Quoting Giorgio
Vasari, he said “This work has been, and truly is, the lamp of our art, which has
given so much good and light to the art of painting; which was enough to illuminate
the world.”
“But it is not only the light that comes from the clever use of
rich color contrasts, or the movement that animates the masterpiece by Michelangelo,”
the Pope continued.
“[It is] the idea that permeates the great work: it is
the light of God that illuminates these frescoes and the entire Papal Chapel. That
light, with its power, conquers the chaos and darkness to give life; in creation and
in redemption. The Sistine Chapel tells the story of light, liberation, salvation;
it speaks of God's relationship with humanity,” said the Pope.