Pope Benedict XVI marks 500th anniversary of Sistine Chapel ceiling
November 1, 2012: 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.