I had always dreamed of seeing Maderno’s great sculpture of Saint Cecilia, but I never could have imagined the emotion it created in me when I finally entered the great church of Santa Cecilia in Rome. The gentle martyr is buried in the crypt of the church just below the figure of the saint. The pure white of the marble shown brightly under the light illuminating it. The image of the saint as she was found incorrupt years after death with head slender neck severed begs one to fall to the knees. Though the statue depicts the body of a youthful beautiful woman dead, so very tragic, yet there was so much more than tragedy in the thoughts that were begging to be heard as I gazed at Maderno’s masterpiece.
Perhaps most one of the most fascinating aspects about the piece is the fact that it possesses a balance, grace, and beauty which is lacking in Maderno’s other works. Knowledge is necessary to come to the truth, as Gadamer discusses. Maderno was able to see the reality of Saint Cecilia, to see her body in its real form, revealing to him truth. This truth he put into his work. Perhaps this is the impact one feels upon seeing the beautiful sculpture, a beauty which reveals truth.
Gadamer presents Hegel’s idea that natural beauty is a reflection of artistic beauty. While it is true that the fine arts and the study of art do certainly aid a person in appreciation of the natural beauty, this is only as the reflection in a mirror helps a person to understand the face which he bears. True beauty must reflect the natural, not the contrary. This sense of the real, the natural is what brings Cecelia to life for the marble of which she is formed is full of movement, as the sculpture skillfully crafted the curves so like the human body. The marble has no life and is an image of a dead saint, and yet there is such a play in the form in the heaviness of the lifeless head and the graceful curve of the delicate fingers. The excessive Baroque movement of the marble, serves no purpose except to be what it has become, the symbol of courageous young Christian, and in this it is beautiful.
The statue clearly is a symbol, but this word symbol also describes the deeper meaning, which adds to the statue’s expression of beauty according to Gadamer’s triad. The statue instantly captured my deepest consciousness, the first time I encountered it, because I saw in it that which I should be. I saw in the dead body of the saint, the lengths to which love will so willingly go. Christians, and indeed all people, can see in the martyrdom of Saint Cecilia the courage, conviction, love, and trust to which we are all called and should always be seeking. To give our lives to love, this is what makes life worth living. The statue does not merely show one moment in time, but rather reveals the truths of man’s entire existence thus achieving the purpose of beauty.
The statue as shows evidence of another important element presented by Gadamer, the ideal of beauty as festival. Cecelia’s partaking in Christ’s glorious triumph over death is a fact which is ever present, but I never experienced the greatness of this glory like I did when I was blessed to attend Mass at the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Rome on her great feast. It was a true festival, for the Italians seem to have mastered the art of tarrying. But a real festival was not necessary to feel the celebration which this statue called for. Any day on which I went to pray at the tomb of the gentle saint, I was swept in by the statue to meditate on the ultimate Heavenly feast at which Cecelia won a seat through her martyrdom. The statue stills has more to teach, and will always reveal such goodness to be seen in the world around.
To be truly festive, it must be truly meaningful. there is no denial that there is truly beautiful meaning packed into Maderno’s sculpture, beckoning one to sit and contemplate. The marvel of the figure is, as I alluded to before, the figure mainly creates in the heart a sense of wonder, rather than disgust at the morbid sight, and even a response of joy, with the certainty that death shall be no more. Certainly, the work is primarily a work of worship, joining in with Saint Cecilia in the divine praise of God, the truest aim of human existence. in her we see the person as they were meant to be, surrendered completely to Love Himself.
Seeing how my beloved sculpture passed with flying colors in the test posed by these theologians, I now demand, as would Kant, everyone’s agreement to the breathtaking eloquence and beauty of this piece.
