RYOZO PETER KATO



Mike Walsh, MM:

I have found out some interesting things in [the Maryknoll Archives], and met – so to speak — a number of historical personages. One thing I have found intriguing is the life and work of one Mr. Ryozo Peter Kato. Mr. Kato was a stone craftsman and gardener from Japan, and a true autodidact. He grew up on a tea plantation and came to the United States in 1910. In 1941, after Pearl Harbor, he and his family were sent to an internment camp. In 1943 (before the war ended) Maryknoll obtained working papers for Mr. Kato. He lived here at Maryknoll for years. During that time he helped landscape the grounds. At some point he converted to Catholicism; I sometimes think it was largely because it gave him a reason to build Marian shrines, at which he was expert. Examples of his work remain in various parts of the country. I have a manuscript of his in which he describes the art and science of building them: the types of stone, the use of water – that sort of thing. His surviving family members are interested in preserving his legacy.

LATIN MASS in a CHAPEL of TIN CANS, CARDBOARD and VEGETABLE JUICE



Richard Collins:

Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated, on the Feast of the Holy Cross, in a Nissan hut in Henllan, West Wales. The hut is the framework to a small Chapel created lovingly by Italian prisoners of war in the final years of World War II. The original Nissan hut is part of a PoW camp where both German and Italian servicemen were held.

One of the main artists responsible for creating images of St. Joseph, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Papal Flag - Mario Polito - died only this year. He and his fellow servicemen made pigments from vegetable juices and painted the aisle arches in a fresco style and the sanctuary area and pillars (made of corrugated cardboard) with a faux marble effect. Tin, from corned (bully) beef tins was used to make candle sticks which look uncannily three dimensional despite being totally flat. All artwork in the Chapel leads the eye to the primitive painting of The Last Supper in the apse, a lasting testament to the devotion of men held prisoner many miles from their families and loved ones.

The Missa Cantata, in thanksgiving for the second anniversary of the Motu Proprio was celebrated by Father Jason Jones, Rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady in Wales at nearby Cardigan and whose parish embraces Henllan.

SKETCH for an ALTARPIECE by WM. BURGES

IVORY SITULA from MILAN

COVER to the SION GOSPELS

GOZBERT THURIBLE



Sacred Destinations:

This intricately crafted bronze censer was found in the parish church of Buchholz in 1846. It is not known for which church it was originally made, but it must have been a grand one. It was probably made in Trier around 1100.

The censer stands 8.5 inches high and represents the Heavenly Jerusalem. It is shaped like a building with a cross-shaped plan, four apses, and 100 windows. On the four sides of the lower part are four busts: Moses with his staff, Aaron with a censer, and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Atop the gables stand four full-length figures: Abel with a lamb; Melchizedek with bread and chalice, Abraham about to sacrifice his son, and Isaac blessing Jacob instead fo Esau. All eight figures represent Old Testament prophets and events that prefigure the Eucharist. At the top is Solomon on his throne, with a fleur-de-lis crown, sceptre and imperial orb. Fourteen seated lions surround the base of the throne. Numerous Latin inscriptions explain the story of salvation, and one memorializes the bronze caster: You who read this, whoever you are, pray that Gozbertus may live!

The chain holder has four medallions of the apostles Peter, Paul, James and John, with dragons between them. In the center is Christ on his throne.

SERVING VESSELS DESIGNED by WM. BURGES

BATTLE of the LAMB



The Battle of the Lamb, from an early 13th century Spanish manuscript.

CHESS MORALITY

Images from a German language translation of the famous 13th century Chess Morality written by the Dominican Jacobus de Cessolis. The book contains a series of sermons about the duties of men of various ranks and vocations, based on the chess pieces and their play.

VERY STONES CRYING OUT



G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy:

Greek heroes do not grin: but gargoyles do - because they are Christian. And when a Christian is pleased, he is (in the most exact sense) frightfully pleased; his pleasure is frightful. Christ prophesied the whole of Gothic architecture in that hour when nervous and respectable people (such people as now object to barrel organs) objected to the shouting of the gutter-snipes of Jerusalem. He said, If these were silent, the very stones would cry out. Under the impulse of His spirit arose like a clamorous chorus the facades of the mediaeval cathedrals, thronged with shouting faces and open mouths. The prophecy has fulfilled itself: the very stones cry out.

The photographs are of gargoyles on the Cathedral at Ely.