Book Notice: A Masterful Defense of Gothic Cathedrals and Their Traditional Worship

In keeping with much recent news about the renovations of Notre Dame Cathedral, it’s worth mentioning a beautiful new title just released by the Catholic publisher Wiseblood Books: Death Comes for the Cathedrals.

The heart of this book is a translation of Marcel Proust’s influential 1904 essay in Le Figaro that brilliantly argued from a cultural and philosophical viewpoint against the total secularization of churches in France, and led to less extreme measures being taken by the anticlerical French government. The essay is preceded by an historical introduction from its translator, Dr. John Pepino, and followed by an Afterword that I was invited to contribute, describing my experience of Chartres cathedral and the lessons I learned from it about the primacy of traditionary excellence over the suicidal embrace of modernism.

The text is complemented by full-color images of the glories of Chartres’ architecture, stained glass, and statuary. A gorgeous hardcover book — and, thanks to a generous benefactor who supported the project, priced at $12 from the publisher (or $15 at Amazon).

And how timely is the Proust! Just over a week ago, more than a hundred French cultural figures signed a manifesto (published, of course, in Le Figaro) protesting the proposed vandalization of the interior of Notre Dame — this time not by anticlericals, but by the archdiocese of Paris. Somehow, one is not surprised... since the revolutionaries are now the ones in charge.

Publisher’s Description

“Suppose for a moment that Catholicism had been dead for centuries, that the traditions of its worship had been lost. Only the unspeaking and forlorn cathedrals remain; they have become unintelligible yet remain admirable.”

So begins Marcel Proust’s Death Comes for the Cathedrals (La mort des cathédrales), originally published in Le Figaro (1904). Proust addresses the political and religious debate concerning the “the Briand bill,” a parliamentary proposal which imperiled the fate of French Cathedrals, “the first and most perfect masterpieces” of Gothic architecture. The great author of In Search of Lost Time gives prophetic voice to his own fear that “France would be transformed into a shore where giant chiseled conches seemed to have run aground, emptied of the life that inhabited them and no longer bringing an attentive ear to the distant murmur of the past, simply museum objects, themselves frozen.” As Proust makes plain, though the cathedrals of France and the traditional liturgy of the Roman rite are the spiritual inheritance of the Church, they are part of the patrimony of all humanity and, pending preservation, their loss would leave all the world impoverished.

This Wiseblood Books edition of Death Comes for the Cathedrals includes an introduction by its translator, Dr. John Pepino, and an afterword by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, who wonders whether life may yet return to the cathedrals. Throughout, beautiful color images of Chartres and its architectural features grace the pages.

HARDCOVER $12
     52 pp. | 6 in x 9 in
     978-1951319687
     December 8, 2021
     Link

Wiseblood Books is offering a coupon for December:

The History of the Church - An Antidote to Today’s Orwellian Re-Writing of History

We live in an age in which history is being re-written, it seems, by the minute. The neo-Marxist theory that is behind the constantly changing, politically-correct view of history does not care for the factual information of history because those who hold it do not believe in objective truth. They say that all we believe to be true is the product of culture. The only people who can step outside the false grip (as they see it) of cultural influences are the enlightened few who have accepted the faith of scientific socialism - Marxism. These modern-day gnostics hold deeply to their atheist-materialist narrative. When the truth or reason contradict it, they invent facts and rationales to suit themselves and create a “history” that corresponds to what they would like it to be. They are afraid of truth and reason and so must destroy adherence to both.

As Christians, our narrative is salvation history, and unlike the Marxists and their allies in politics, education, and the press (who are either complicit in the deceit or fools are manipulated by them), our narrative is rooted in the truth, and the facts of history support all that we believe. History may not always be what we would like it to be, but we know that it conforms to the ultimate end that God has for us. Christians, contrary to the way we are portrayed, are not afraid of the truth or of reason. We all have an obligation, therefore, to be conversant in those facts of history; otherwise it will be forgotten and the revisionists will win. And the history of the Church is at the heart of all history. It is not the whole of history - there is much else that is important to know - but it is a crucial part of the window by which we see and understand who we are and where we are going.

I am grateful, therefore, to Andy Hickman, from the Institute of Catholic Culture for letting me know of a free semester-long course on Church History taught by Dr. John Pepino, who is a professor of Greek, Latin, History, and Patristics at Our Lady of Guadalupe, the FSSP Seminary in Denton, Nebraska. Registration is open now and until July 9th. Dr Pepino is a respected scholar and an inspiring teacher. His most recent publication is his translation into English of Yves Chiron’s, Annibale Bugnini: Reformer of the Liturgy.

Dr Pepino’s course will cover the period from late antiquity to early modernity. Students will learn about the Roman foundations of Christian civilization, the rise of ecclesiastical institutions in the medieval West, the relationship between Eastern and Western Christianity through this period, the medieval conflict between Christianity and Islam, and the rise of modernity.

You can register to audit the class for free here.

The recently-defaced statue of St Junipera Serra, Los Angeles

Dr John Pepino to Teach Online Course for the Institute of Catholic Culture

Dr. John Pepino, who is a professor of Greek, Latin, History, and Patristics at the seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, in Denton, Nebraska, is to teach an extended online history course for the Institute of Catholic Culture, starting this January.

This is the first of a series of courses that can be taken for audit or for a certificate and is free to all who register in advance. Application is required. Applications are being received now up to Sunday, December 15th. Lectures will be on Thursdays, January through June 2020, at 8 pm Eastern Time. 

The course offered by Dr. Pepino (who has published on the Fathers of Church and on contemporary Church history), is called The Ancient and Biblical World. It is intended to give an appreciation of the world and culture into which Our Lord came.

The description of the course on the ICC website says:

The Incarnation of Our Lord, for which the Old Covenant was a preparation, occurred in a world that was united by Roman statecraft and Greek culture and learning. It is the objective of this course to bring that world to life. Taking the truth of Divine Revelation as its methodological starting point, the course traces the history of the chosen people as presented in the Hebrew Scriptures, examines the rise of classical Greek and Hellenistic civilization, and follows the development of the tremendously influential empire of Rome.

Una Voce Canada Meeting on Oct.12, with Guest Speaker Dr John Pepino

The annual general meeting of Una Voce Canada (Vancouver Traditional Mass Society) will be held on Saturday, October 12, following the 9 a.m. Mass at Holy Family Church, which is located at 4851 Beatrice Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information, please see the Una Voce Canda website: https://unavocecanada.org/

The meeting will take place in the parish hall. The guest speaker will be Dr John Pepino, Professor of Greek, Latin, Patristics, and History at the FSSP Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lincoln, Nebraska; the title of his talk is “The Roman Mass from the Eve of Trent to the Present and Beyond: An Overview.” Besides his study of the development of the Roman Mass and writing on the liturgy, he has translated the memoirs of Fr Louis Bouyer and the recent biography of Annibale Bugnini, both published by Angelico Press.