The Norbertine melding of the creative and the spiritual is as old as the order itself.

Shaping and Expressing Faith

by Rob Kaiser

An hourglass representing the passage of time and the many other mysterious images in the stained-glass windows of St. Norbert Abbey, in De Pere, Wisconsin, tell a story. So does the glass itself, whose preserved air bubbles are “the memory of breath,” says Father James Neilson, an art professor at St. Norbert College.

The windows, which have as their main themes the Liturgy of the Hours, the Mass, and the Sacraments, and which can be read, Neilson says, “like the pages of a book,” are a pointed example of an essential intersection in Norbertine life: that of art and spirituality.

“A ‘blessed curiosity’ about the natural world and its delicate interconnectivity has inspired Norbertines across time and place to recognize a sense of the holy in all of creation and the cosmos, in every academic discipline, manual labor, sacramental celebrations and aesthetic endeavors of all kinds,” Neilson says.

Father Andrew Ciferni of Daylesford Abbey, in Paoli, Pennsylvania, who serves as chairman of the St. Norbert College board, distills the relationship of creative and spiritual work into seven words: “Architecture and art shape and express faith.” 

The Norbertine order is celebrating its 900th anniversary this year with an ongoing international jubilee culminating Christmas Day, and its tradition of melding art and faith is just about as long. Consider Tongerlo Abbey, in Belgium – founded in the early 1130s – which houses an early copy of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of “The Last Supper,” a replica said to be in better shape than the original. Another example of the order’s artistic heritage is its guardianship of the Church of St. Foy, and its Romanesque tympanum in Southern France. 

The convergence of art and faith isn’t unique to one religion or denomination. From the Egyptians and the Greeks to Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism, the history of art as it unites heaven and earth by representing the beautiful and sacred, has a strong religious tradition. In fact, religion, with its historical link to the world’s political establishments, has played a vital role in the development of artistic achievement – as has the more ineffable melding of spirituality and creation, with a small ‘c.’ “When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God,” said the American photographer artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Peter Kreeft, a philosopher at Boston College and The King’s College and a convert to Roman Catholicism, said, “We are artists because God is.” 

“Art works at levels of perception and faith that the brain doesn’t necessarily reach,” Ciferni says. “A hymn by St. Thomas Aquinas will touch and express the faith of millions who have never read his theology texts.” 

Though most big-name paintings found their way into museums after the French Revolution, says Father Steve Rossey of St. Norbert Abbey, “most of our Flemish abbeys have paintings by followers of Peter Paul Rubens or Carravaggio, such as Cornelis de Vos, Gasper de Crayer, Anton van Dyke.” Also, master woodcarver Hendrik Frans Verbruggen’s pulpit can be seen at the Mechlin Cathedral, in Belgium, and his confessionals at Grimbergen Abbey, also in Belgium.

In the United States, the Norbertine tradition of bridging art and faith is reflected in events such as Daylesford Abbey’s hosting of an annual art show (whose cancellation the pandemic forced in 2020), and the art in an initiative at Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey, in Albuquerque, New Mexico where Art at the Abbey features paintings, sculptures, icons, and other works. The project strives “to foster solidarity within the larger community by cultivating and continuing our Norbertine heritage of dedication to the promotion of the intersection between art, faith, and culture, according to artattheabbey.com.” U.S. abbeys like Daylesford, Santa Maria de la Vid and St. Norbert also are home to various works of art – and also to Norbertine artists.

Norbertine artists in the United States include Neilson, a mixed media artist whose works can be seen at St. Norbert College and in private collections; Father Hubert Beaudoin of Daylesford Abbey, who painted with watercolors; and Father Timothy Shillcox, who works in ceramics, fabric, and calligraphy, and Father Steve Rossey of St. Norbert Abbey, an enamellist (and the founder of the visual-arts program at Archmere Academy). 

“Faith and art are inseparable in my life,” Rossey says, “as are beauty, truth, and God’s revelation.”

St. Norbert College graphic designer Laura Treichel recently worked with Rossey on a project installed at St. Norbert Abbey in honor of the 900th anniversary that depicts key moments in Norbert of Xanten's life: old illustrations printed on wood panels and newer stained-glass images printed on acrylic and mounted to the front of the wood piece. Treichel’s work also includes the creation of a prayer graphic on the gym wall of the college’s Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center and working with others to commission artist David Griggs to create glass art installations by the main entrance and the pool. “Those two examples illustrate literal and more abstract ways mission work takes form,” she says.

Also informed by the convergence of art and faith are Rossey’s homilies, which often reference well-known works of art. One such homily – delivered on the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time – was informed by Vincent van Gogh’s 1890 painting “The Good Samaritan,” which was printed on the cover of that Sunday’s worship aid for the assembly to view. It depicts a Samaritan helping a recently robbed man get back on his horse. In the background are two men who let the robbery victim lie wounded in the road as they walked past – one was a priest, the other from the house of Levi.

Van Gogh was staying in an institution for the mentally ill in St-Remy de Provence when he painted “The Good Samaritan” work, in May 1890. A former monastery, the sanitarium was located in an area of cornfields, vineyards and olive trees. The artist was so troubled at the time that the townspeople where he previously had lived had given him the name "the red-headed madman." 

In his homily based on the van Gogh masterpiece, Rossey told assembled churchgoers: “Van Gogh’s painting of “The Good Samaritan” is a visual record of the human soul trying to understand its Creator. It is a struggle with life’s afflictions along earth’s road of trials and making its way through eternity’s gate and into the Celestial City.” 

Rossey goes on to point out details in the painting, such as “the priest absorbed in his prayer book and the disturbed, uncomfortable mood in the wildly painted landscape.”

“We get the sense that the mule is ill-at-ease about what has taken place.”

Rossey concluded:

“In this parable, love of God and love of neighbor seem to be two sides of the same coin. Love of God expresses itself in the love of others. Both the Gospel and the first reading suggest that love of God and the love of others is the law of God.

“And so it seems to me that love should be natural to us – not just a love of the world in which we live with its spectacular sights and scents. Not just a love of the world with its energizing sounds and designs, but genuine love of others. 

“But you know as well as I do that selfish love often gets in the way. And so we need constant reminders … of those persons who are most important in life. And then we have to be courageous enough to open our hearts to them. 

“As the Samaritan did.” 

“As Vincent did.” 

March 11, 2021