| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
| « | May 2010 | » | ||||
 |
||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
Hence We wish to expose once more in a brief synthesis the principles of atheistic Communism as they are manifested chiefly in Bolshevism. We wish also to indicate its method of action and to contrast with its false principles the clear doctrine of the Church, in order to inculcate anew and with greater insistence the means by which the Christian civilization, the true civitas humana, can be saved from the satanic scourge, and not merely saved, but better developed for the well-being of human society.
The Communism of today, more emphatically than similar movements in the past, conceals in itself a false messianic idea. A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and fraternity in labor impregnates all its doctrine and activity with a deceptive mysticism, which communicates a zealous and contagious enthusiasm to the multitudes entrapped by delusive promises. This is especially true in an age like ours, when unusual misery has resulted from the unequal distribution of the goods of this world. This pseudo-ideal is even boastfully advanced as if it were responsible for a certain economic progress. As a matter of fact, when such progress is at all real, its true causes are quite different, as for instance the intensification of industrialism in countries which were formerly almost without it, the exploitation of immense natural resources, and the use of the most brutal methods to insure the achievement of gigantic projects with a minimum of expense.
The doctrine of modern Communism, which is often concealed under the most seductive trappings, is in substance based on the principles of dialectical and historical materialism previously advocated by Marx, of which the theoricians of Bolshevism claim to possess the only genuine interpretation. According to this doctrine there is in the world only one reality, matter, the blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter, evolving in the same way. By a law of inexorable necessity and through a perpetual conflict of forces, matter moves towards the final synthesis of a classless society. In such a doctrine, as is evident, there is no room for the idea of God; there is no difference between matter and spirit, between soul and body; there is neither survival of the soul after death nor any hope in a future life. Insisting on the dialectical aspect of their materialism, the Communists claim that the conflict which carries the world towards its final synthesis can be accelerated by man. Hence they endeavor to sharpen the antagonisms which arise between the various classes of society. Thus the class struggle with its consequent violent hate and destruction takes on the aspects of a crusade for the progress of humanity. On the other hand, all other forces whatever, as long as they resist such systematic violence, must be annihilated as hostile to the human race.
Communism, moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse. There is no recognition of any right of the individual in his relations to the collectivity; no natural right is accorded to human personality, which is a mere cog-wheel in the Communist system. In man's relations with other individuals, besides, Communists hold the principle of absolute equality, rejecting all hierarchy and divinely-constituted authority, including the authority of parents. What men call authority and subordination is derived from the community as its first and only font. Nor is the individual granted any property rights over material goods or the means of production, for inasmuch as these are the source of further wealth, their possession would give one man power over another. Precisely on this score, all forms of private property must be eradicated, for they are at the origin of all economic enslavement .
Refusing to human life any sacred or spiritual character, such a doctrine logically makes of marriage and the family a purely artificial and civil institution, the outcome of a specific economic system. There exists no matrimonial bond of a juridico-moral nature that is not subject to the whim of the individual or of the collectivity. Naturally, therefore, the notion of an indissoluble marriage-tie is scouted. Communism is particularly characterized by the rejection of any link that binds woman to the family and the home, and her emancipation is proclaimed as a basic principle. She is withdrawn from the family and the care of her children, to be thrust instead into public life and collective production under the same conditions as man. The care of home and children then devolves upon the collectivity. Finally, the right of education is denied to parents, for it is conceived as the exclusive prerogative of the community, in whose name and by whose mandate alone parents may exercise this right.
Voice Recital by Michelle Mitsui
Now here is something unlike anything I've drawn previously. This ink and gouache drawing of St. Michael fighting the devil was commissioned by a priest of the Maryknoll Missionaries, an order with a long history of missionary activity in Japan. He asked whether I thought it possible to create an image of the archangel in the style of traditional Japanese art without the result being kitsch.
I was certainly willing to make an attempt. While inculturation is not something that I have consciously attempted in the past, I was eager to explore some of the illustrative ideas in Japanese woodblock printing. Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of my favorite artists, provided most of the inspiration here.
I was also curious to see how successfully I could maintain the western iconographic traditions in the content and arrangement of religious pictures while using an eastern style of illustration.
I am pleased with the result - enough that I plan to issue a limited-edition giclee art print of the drawing soon. Please e-mail me if you are interested in purchasing one; the response will help me to decide the size of the edition.
I am also thinking about making more religious drawings in this style, showing major events in the history of Japanese Christianity - the arrival of Francis Xavier, the martyrdoms at Nagasaki, et cetera.
I also experimented for the first time with authentic gold leaf, using it for Michael's halo.
I also finished another of my large butterfly drawings. Click on the images above to see more biological illustrations.
Limited-Edition Art Prints
My wife is a classical singer, most often heard at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, where she sings in five of the choirs. As a fundraiser for the parish music program, she will be giving a recital of art songs (all written in 1910 by French composers) on June 5th.
Trois ballades de François Villon ~ Claude Debussy
La Chanson d'Ève ~ Gabriel Fauré
Chants populaires ~ Maurice Ravel
See this web page for more information.
The recital will be performed at least once again later in the summer, at a different location.
Christmas Cards
St. Columba of Iona
Image size: 8 1/2" x 11 1/9"
Paper size: 9" x 12"
Limited edition (1-6) giclee art print
$120 + shipping
I have issued a print of my drawing of St. Columba. This drawing was made with colored inks and gouaches, in the style of early mediaeval illuminated manuscripts from Northumbria and Ireland. A detailed explanation of its imagery can be read here. The edition is limited to only six prints, one of which has already been sold.
Crucifixion
Image size: 8" x 11"
Paper size: 9" x 12"
Limited edition (1-100) giclee art print
$120 + shipping
I consider this Crucifixion drawing my finest work to date. A detailed explanation of its imagery can be read here.
Tree of Life and Death
Image size: 5 1/4" x 7"
Paper size: 8" x 10"
Limited edition (1-50) giclee art print
$96 + shipping
This drawing of the Tree of Life and Death is based on an illumination in a 15th century Missal owned by Archbishop Bernhard von Rohr of Salzburg.
Printed Universal Bookplates
Tree of Jesse
Card size: 5" x 7"
Blank inside
$1 per card + shipping
Envelopes included
Minimum order of 10
Annunciation to the Shepherds
Card size: 4" x 5"
Blank inside
$1 per card + shipping
Envelopes included
Minimum order of 10
See this page for more information.
Visit my main web site to see more of my artwork and e-mail me (danmitsui [at] hotmail [dot] com) if you are interested in buying or commissioning anything, licensing an image, or selling my work in a store.
Olives
Critters
Maze
Size of printed bookplates: 3" x 4"
Digital prints on white acid-free paper
50 cents each + shipping
Minimum order of 20
When, in 1639, the Prague citizen Georg Baresch wrote to the famous Jesuit scientist Athanasius Kircher that he owned a mysterious book which was written in an unknown script and profusely illustrated with pictures of plants, stars and alchemical secrets, he thought that Kircher would be able to decipher this book for him. He could not have guessed that not only was Kircher unable to do this, but that a long row of vastly more expert codebreakers were equally going to fail. The book has come down to us and even now, more than 360 years later, not a single word from its 234 pages can be understood. Nor was Baresch the first to attempt in vain to read the manuscript. Before him, various scientists which the Holy Roman emperor Rudolf II collected at his court may well have tried their hand. The book is now known as the Voynich Manuscript after its (re)discoverer in 1912. The discovery of the manuscript by Wilfrid Voynich is best told by himself:In 1912... I came across a most remarkable collection of preciously illuminated manuscripts. For many decades these volumes had lain buried in the chests in which I found them in an ancient castle in Southern Europe where the collection had apparently been stored in consequence of the disturbed political condition of Europe in the early part of the nineteenth century... While examining the manuscripts, with a view to the acquisition of at least a part of the collection, my attention was especially drawn by one volume. It was such an ugly duckling compared with the other manuscripts, with their rich decorations in gold and colors, that my interest was aroused at once. I found that it was written entirely in cipher. Even a necessarily brief examination of of the vellum upon which it was written, the calligraphy, the drawings and the pigments suggested to me as the origin the latter part of the thirteenth century. The drawings indicated it to be an encyclopedic work on natural philosophy... The fact that this was a thirteenth century manuscript in cipher convinced me that it must be a work of exceptional importance, and to my knowledge the existence of a manuscript of such an early date written entirely in cipher was unkown, so I included it among the manuscripts which I purchased from this collection... Two problems presented themselves - the text must be unravelled and the history of the manuscript must be traced. It was not until some time after the manuscript came into my hands that I read the document bearing the date 1665 (or 1666), which was attached to the front cover... This document, which is a letter from Joannes Marcus Marci to Athanasius Kircher making a gift of the manuscript to him, is of great significance.The Prague doctor and scientist Johannes Marcus Marci had been a faithful correspondent to Athanasius Kircher for over 25 years, and shortly before his death he sent the manuscript to Kircher. In the letter he explains how he had inherited the MS from a close friend, who had tried to decipher this manuscript till the very end of his life, and had also asked for Kircher's help. He further explains that he learned from one Dr. Raphael how the manuscript was originally bought by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Bohemia (1552-1612) for 600 ducats, and that it was believed (at least by Raphael) that the manuscript was written by Roger Bacon. Voynich wanted to have the mysterious manuscript deciphered and provided photographic copies to a number of experts. However, despite some spectacular claims, none of the proposed solutions has resulted in an acceptable and complete translation. In 1961 the book was bought by H. P. Kraus (a New York book antiquarian) for the sum of $24500. He later valued it at $160000 but was unable to find a buyer. Finally, in 1969 he donated it to Yale University, where it remains to date at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library with catalogue number MS 408.
Beyond the plays, bailes, weddings, and songs, Rael's primary interest in the summer of 1940 was the religious music of the Nuevo Mexicanos. Fully half of the collection is dedicated to the alabado hymns of the Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, the Penitente Brotherhood, who for over two centuries have kept the repertory in their living memories and in hand-copied cuadernos or ledger notebooks passed down from generation to generation. Several, like Con mansedumbre y ternura (With Docility and Tenderness) and Por el rastro de la sangre (Along the Trail of Blood), are religious romance ballads dating from seventeenth-century Castille. Musically, some are closely related to even older Gregorian chant, and their modal melodies are indicators of their antiquity. The poetic structures of the alabados indicate that some are of erudite origins and were undoubtedly introduced by Franciscan priests, while the eight-syllable quatrain structure of the majority is an indication of humble, more recent origins locally and in northern Mexico.
In performance, the alabados are a kind of triple meditation, whose power lies in their poetry, their music, and the specific services and devotions with which they are used. For instance, Soy esclavo de Jesús (I Am a Slave of Jesus) is replete with references to the estandarte or holy standard or banner carried in procession. This alabado is therefore sung in processions. Nos dio su cuerpo el Señor (The Lord Gave Us His Body) is set at the scene of the Last Supper and is sung during Communion, on Holy Thursday, and whenever the Hermanos and their families gather to eat together. La Pasión (The Passion) is sung during Viernes Santo, Good Friday services. Considera, alma perdida (Consider, Lost Soul) is sung during the Estaciones de la Cruz, the Stations of the Cross prayer service. In many communities, the Fourth Station is dramatized with a procession of women carrying the statue of the Virgin and singing Madre de Dolores (Mother of Sorrows) who meet a procession of men carrying the statue of Christ, the Man of Sorrows, and singing Por el rastro de la sangre (Along the Trail of Blood) or another alabado describing what they are enacting.
The Penitentes and their families are devoted to the Passion of Jesus, and the alabados bring forth an outpouring of sentiment and remorse, for personal shortcomings and offenses are seen as the cause of the Crucifixion. Of the sixty-nine alabados Rael recorded, nineteen narrate different facets of La Pasión and another seventeen center on the suffering of the Virgin at the sacrifice of her son. Another fourteen are hymns of praise for the Virgin in her various aspects and vocations as Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows; Soledad, Our Lady of Solitude; Guadalupe; Carmel; and Nuestra Señora del Socorro, Our Lady of Succor. Hymns praising the Virgin and saints like San Pedro and San Antonio are sometimes called alabanzas, which like alabado translates into 'hymns of praise'. In the alabados, Jesus appears as Jesú s Nazareno, the Nazarene or Man of Sorrows at the moment of his trial, his scourging, and the way to Calvary; Cristo, the Crucified Christ; El Señor de Mapimí, the Lord of Mapimi, a regional devotion based in Sonora; and El Santo Niño de Atocha, the Holy Child of Atocha or Jesus as a pilgrim boy, another regional devotion based in Zacatecas. Seven alabados are classified as rogativas or entreaties focused on diverse issues like the souls of purgatory, divine mercy, the last judgment, and confession. Several more evoke specific aspects of the liturgy like Communion or Extreme Unction, or musicalize prayers like the Ave María or the Apostles' Creed. Many alabados refer to the devotional practices of the Brothers as they emulate La Pasión.
Like medieval plainsong, the alabados are sung without measure and proceed only as the words and themes progress. They are sung antiphonally, with lead singers alternating verses with group responses, a feature with distinct pedagogical value for missionary priests teaching the stories of the Church. Alabados are sung a cappella, although the pito, a vertically-held flute, is used to play, not melodies, but arabesques that evoke the tears of Mary and the cries of the souls in purgatory. The matraca or cog rattle is also twirled during processions, especially after the bells are silenced after Holy Thursday of Semana Santa (Holy Week).
Alabados are sung in unison to symbolize the unity and devotional convergence of the Brotherhood. Older alabados use modal scales and newer ones use tonal scales. The singing style is highly melismatic, with sometimes four or five notes sung to key syllables in a quavering voice reminiscent of Arabic and Jewish music. To be fully appreciated, the alabados must be heard in their performance contexts, the processions of the Hermanos and the services in moradas, the small chapels scattered in the mountains and canyons of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Juan B. Rael's musical record of them informed his research and initiated inquiry into their origins and evolution. As he often said, they are the musical soul of the Nuevo Mexicanos, and the key to a deeper understanding of a distinct regional culture.
