Patrick Comerford
During this time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:
1, photographs of a church or place of worship;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).
This week my photographs are of seven cathedrals in Italy. This morning (15 June 2021), my photographs are of the duomo or Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca.
Lucca was saved from bombing during World War II, leaving intact the walls, the tiny squares, the narrow streets and the alleyways, with their fountains, statues, and mediaeval churches.
Lucca was the birthplace of Puccini, and there is a bronze statue of the composer in the square close to the house where he was born. The squares of Lucca have statues of Garibaldi and links with Napoleon, and there are many churches in the narrow streets and alleyways, including the Church of San Michele, the duomo or Cattedrale di San Martino.
Lucca Cathedral or the Duomo di Lucca or Cattedrale di San Martino is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. Building work was begun in 1063 by Bishop Anselm of Lucca, later Pope Alexander II.
The great apse, with its tall columns and arcades, and the campanile survive from the original building. The nave and transepts were rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th century. The west front was begun in 1204 by Guido Bigarelli of Como, and has a vast portico of three magnificent arches, with three ranges of open galleries filled with sculptures above.
A small shrine in the nave holds the Volto Santo di Lucca (‘Holy Face of Lucca’), said to be an image of Christ carved from cedar-wood for a crucifix by Nicodemus, and brought miraculously to Lucca in 782. The figure of Christ is clothed in a long sleeveless garment. The cathedral also has works by Matteo Civitali, Jacopo della Quercia, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Federico Zuccari, Jacopo Tintoretto and Fra Bartolomeo.
Each column of the façade is different. According to local lore, when they were about to be decorated, the people of Lucca announced a contest for the best column. Each artist made a column, but the people decided to take all of them without paying the artists and used all the columns.
A labyrinth embedded in the right pier of the portico and is believed to date from the 12th or 13th century, and may pre-date the labyrinth in Chartres. The Latin inscription translates: ‘This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete; all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne’s thread.’
The Church of Santi Giovanni e Reparata in Piazza San Giovanni was the first seat of the Bishops of Lucca, and was the cathedral from the eighth century until the cathedra was transferred to San Martino. Since then, the two churches have retained a close relationship.
The Santa Reparata complex was built in the fifth century on the site of an earlier Roman settlement. The area became a cemetery in the sixth century, and a church was built here in the eighth century.
The crypt dates from the ninth century, and the relics of San Pantaleone were found there in 1714. The church was altered at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, and the present layout dates from rebuilding in the second half of the 12th century.
The new church – with three naves supported by columns with composite capitals, with an apse and transept – was similar in size to the earlier church. The decorative figures on the capitals inside the church include leafy masks, harpies and dragons. However, little remains today of the works from the second half of the 14th century.
The church was refurbished in the late 16th and early 17th century. The most striking result of this work is the new façade, which reuses most of the mediaeval façade. Inside, the coffered ceiling and the decoration of the apse date from this phase.
The Chapel of Sant’Ignazio, one of the most interesting baroque creations of Lucca, dates from the end of the 17th century. It is entirely covered in polychrome marble with fresco decorations in the dome, attributed to Ippolito Marracci, depicting the Glory of Saint Ignatius.
The church was confiscated during the Napoleonic occupation in the early 19th century and all its furnishings were lost in the plans to convert into an archive. When it reopened for worship in 1821, it was a very changed church, with new altars and new paintings.
Matthew 5: 43-48 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (15 June 2021, Beginning of Refugee Week) invites us to pray:
Let us pray for all displaced people, refugees and migrants. May we offer them hospitality and refuge from danger and fear.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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