“On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the paschal lamb, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you wish us to go to prepare the Passover supper for you?’ He sent two of his disciples with these instructions:‘Go into the city, and you will come upon a man carrying a water jar, follow him, whatever house he enters, say to the owner, “The Teacher asks, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” Then he will show you an upstairs room, spacious, furnished, and all in order. That is the place you are to get ready for us.’ The disciples went off. When they reached the city, they found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover supper (Mark, Chapter 14:12-16).”
Gospel of St. Mark
Architecture and Liturgy
The account in the Gospel cited two elements: first, a house with an upstairs room where a man who is carrying a jar entered. Second, the Passover meal, a significant and specific occasion Jesus planned to celebrate, later called the Last Supper. Over time, the kind of interior environment of this room found to be spacious, furnished, and all in order, has evolved into a place of gathering for the baptized followers of Christ. The size increased, and function was replicated, now built as a parish church.
That Passover meal celebrated by Christ with his disciple now re-enacted and becomes the meal aspect of the Eucharistic Liturgy. This celebration is the point where Christ’s faithful becomes united as His one Body. The Gospel also tells that the place was first identified, prepared, and organized before the celebration was held. Like when parish churches ring their bells, they give a signal that the place is ready, furnished, and all in order, calling parishioners to assemble to be with Christ in their midst.
Architecture is commonly and universally defined as the art and science of designing buildings. What learned in school, practicing the profession of architecture, basically consider the three Vitruvian precepts -function, beauty, and strength. The famous dictum form follows function became a common universal foundation in the theory of design.
Places of worship, like pagan temples and Christian basilicas, became significant points of reference in the history of architecture. Each architectural style, whether it is religious or secular structure, speaks for the period of its history. These buildings reveal how they were built due to the influences of the place, be it geographical, geological, socio-religious, climatic, and cultural. The Domus- ecclesiae or the house-church was a notable venue in the evolution of worship places where early Christians met and, in the earliest times they met in the catacombs.
Generally defined, Liturgy comes from a Latin word, “liturgia”; and from Greek “leitos,” of people + ergon, work: leitourgia, public duty, public worship. In Christian use, it means the Eucharistic Sacrifice, Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or the Sacred Liturgy, referred to as the official public worship of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic faithful comes to the Sunday mass in their respective parish churches to participate in this heavenly banquet.
Significant Documents
There are two essential references to take note of in understanding the relationship between architecture and Liturgy. The primary church document is the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy (CSL), in Latin, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), which was promulgated by His Holiness the late Pope Paul VI (now St Paul VI) on December 4, 1963. CSL has seven chapters and Chapter VII- Sacred Arts and Furnishings (No. 122 – 130), provides guidelines in dealing with the treatment of existing churches and in the construction of new ones.
The second is the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) in the Latin original, Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (IGMR). This document contains the details in governing the celebration of Mass of the Roman Rite since 1969 is its standard form now on its third edition.
These two documents are binding and symbiotic when it comes to the planning of liturgical spaces to achieve a “fully conscious and active participation of the faithful.”
While the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) issued a guideline Built of Living Stones on November 16, 2000, the Pope Paul the VI Institute of Liturgy(PIL) in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Philippines published a Liturgical Guidelines on Church Architecture (LGCA). The Episcopal Commission approved this on Liturgy on November 12, 1999. The guideline says that the purpose is to disseminate basic information about construction, restoration, remodeling, and interior arrangement of the church. This guideline gives some practical suggestions concerning the proper planning or appropriate arrangement of liturgical spaces.
The participants of this LGCA view ”with concern the state of church architecture in the Philippines, particularly the condition of old churches which are part of the national patrimony, and the present-day church do not adequately conform to the requirement of the Liturgy.”
What is going on?
The building of churches or planning of liturgical spaces for the Sacred Liturgy demands a thorough or careful study to make the place functional and suitable to the existing norms of the celebration. A place like the one mentioned in St. Mark’s Gospel, a spacious upstairs room, furnished and all in order, is the desire for the kind of liturgical environment the present form of the Liturgy wishes to achieve. Until today, the loud absence of church buildings fully catering to the norms of the reformed Liturgy is a reality.
In the Philippines, for example, some Catholic churches built recently in the region are not wholly satisfactory to meet the needs of the liturgical celebration, vis-a-vis CSL, and GIRM. Probably, attention was given much only to the external beauty, or just more time spent on the impressive external looks of the building. Enough, when architectural period styles were adopted to resemble the character of the original European classic architecture but with lesser attention given to spatial planning catering to the nature and actions of the Liturgy to effect active participation.
It is understandable when a particular church archetype is imprinted in the minds of the parishioners or even among architects because of a strong subliminal influence of European church models that are still visible in the immediate regions mostly in mission areas. This issue is evident even in the newly constructed churches with Baroque style because this is the building character dominant in the Philippines. For sure, this design character found in some parish churches is the result of lessons learned in school from the subject History of Architecture, the same title of the famous book by Sir Banister Fletcher. Further, volumes of magazines feature these fascinating churches so tempting to replicate their design qualities. These established churches are undeniably beautiful and magnificent, bearing significant value in the history and faith of the Catholic church.But it seems that the design character template for church architecture is simply “Eurocentric.”
In some cases, there are some church designs with motifs incorporating elements depicting religious beliefs and devotions, icons, sacred gestures, signs, and symbols as design or cultural expressions. This attempt can be more appreciated because it exposes the cultural values of the place and the faith expression of the people. In this regard, the CSL 123 affirms that:
“The church has not adopted any particular style of art as her own. She has admitted styles from every period, in keeping with the natural characteristics and conditions of peoples and the needs of the various rites. Thus in the course of the centuries, she has brought into existence a treasury of art which must be preserved with every care.The art of our own times from every race and country shall also be given free scope in the church, provided it bring to the task the reverence and honour due to the sacred buildings and rites. Thus it is enabled to join its voice to that wonderful chorus of praise in honour of the Catholic faith sung by great men in past ages.
CSL 123
Taking the CSL position mentioned above, now is the time to focus and bring forward a church architecture that integrates the culture of people and make them alive and visible. Inculturation of texts and music and other parts of Liturgy is already at hand. However, to create a culture-oriented environment for worship through building design and other art forms are still the areas in need to address at all times.
While the SC laid down the tenets of the Liturgy and the proper treatment in the building churches, GIRM provides a way to track the spatial requirements and their relationships. On this matter, GIRM lays down the instruction to note:
“The People of God which gathered for Mass is coherently and hierarchically ordered, and this finds its expression in the variety of ministries and the variety of ministries and the variety of actions according to the different parts of the celebration.Hence the general arrangement of the sacred building must be such in some way it conveys the image of the assembled congregation and allows the appropriate ordering of all participants, as well as facilitating each in the proper carrying out of his function. (GIRM Chap V-No 294)
GIRM Chap V-No. 294
But still SC poses this challenge :
And when churches are to be built, let great care be taken that they be suitable for the celebration of liturgical services and for the active participation of the faithful”.
SC-Chapter VI, No 24, Par 3
For more than five decades, it is almost 57 years passed since the making of SC. Yet, the Vatican II unceasingly aspires to see that local churches could establish a worship environment suitable to the celebration of liturgical services. In this way, fully conscious and active participation of the faithful can be a fulfilling reality.
There are plenty of discussions, arguments, propositions, standpoints, scholarly dispositions among liturgists, planners, architects, or designers in the global discourse. But amidst these issues on Catholic church architecture in the Philippines, where is this now headed?
