Restoration of the Merano Parish Church and Altar Consecration

Supplement to the Katholische Blätter 1845, No. 43.

Tyrol.

Meran, 12 Oct. (Corresp.) As previously reported in your esteemed pages, the renovation of our parish church was supposed to have been completed by the middle of last month; but the calculation proved inaccurate. We are now in mid-October, and there is still much to do. However, by 24 September the church was substantially restored to the extent that the consecration of the altar could take place there the following day with the utmost solemnity. On the evening of the 24th we once again had the good fortune of welcoming our much-revered and beloved Prince-Bishop Johann Nepomuk within our walls. On the 25th at 8 o'clock in the morning, he was escorted to the church by the clergy in a solemn procession, where the sacred rite promptly began, lasting one hour and a half. When, following the consecration, the distinguished dignitary celebrated Holy Mass, the large congregation was filled with joy to see once again at the altar the man who had previously offered the holy sacrifice here so often (as the local town parish priest). In the evening he departed from our town again.

As for the renewal of our parish church, it must be admitted that the sight of the renovated church truly surprises anyone who saw it previously in its grimy state and draped in numerous cobwebs. It appears far more spacious and makes a lively impression. The sandstone colour of the side walls is as fitting for a Gothic church as it is convenient for maintaining cleanliness; the stained glass in the tracery of the pointed window arches produces a very fine effect; the unveiled pulpit with its new Gothic roof and the removal of useless and unsightly furnishings demonstrate progress toward a purer taste. Yet while what has been mentioned deserves every commendation, the vault tinted blue (!) offends all good taste; this is a blunder reminiscent of the "tower whitewashing period" (!) of the people of Meran. It is said that the blue vault is brighter and that the church would otherwise be too gloomy (?). Leaving the former point aside, we merely ask: what is the hallmark of Gothic churches: religious solemnity, or Italian lightness? Decidedly religious solemnity and sacred gloom; for, as we know, Gothic churches are replicas of a living temple of nature — of the sacred, quiet forest. And what led our German forebears to build their temples like forests? Without doubt that magical half-light, that sacred, mysterious dimness that attunes everyone to devotion and elevated sentiments when entering the forest shadows, provided the heart still beats receptively to majestic nature. This half-light is the sublime ornament of Gothic churches; it is this which imparts to them that mysterious venerability that disposes us to solemnity and devotion. There was a desire to lighten this half-light, thereby violating the fundamental law of all restoration, which states: »The restoration shall correspond precisely to the character of the work of art being restored;« — a fundamental law so often transgressed. If one seeks to draw the deep religious solemnity of Gothic churches closer to Italian lightness through all manner of artistic contrivances, it seems to me no different from pressing a red child's cap onto the silvery-white curls of a venerable old man in order to rejuvenate him. — Setting aside the criticized grievance, however, our parish church has on the whole indisputably gained from this year's renewal, even though it is unfortunately beyond our power to make amends for everything sinned against our church in the past century; and when we consider the related errors of our ancestors, we find fresh proof that marring is easier than mending; — a hint to anyone who intends to set hand to the restoration of ancient monuments; — it is all too easy to become a barbarian.