THE LANGUAGE OF THE ART, NEW WAY OF COMMUNICATION
Here is the fifth of six articles written by Fr Gildasio Mendes, General Councillor for Social Communication, on the theme: 'St Francis de Sales, the Communicator. Interior pilgrimage, wisdom in the art of communicating'.
The language of art, a new way of communicating
Francis had a profoundly humanistic education and lived in an academic environment that bore all the vitality and cultural fruitfulness of the Renaissance. Francis studied Latin and Greek. Through his knowledge of literature, he developed and created his own language, a style of writing that was simple, practical and affectionate. In the Renaissance, art had a great impulse and influence in the fabric of culture. Inspired by the art of antiquity, the Renaissance was a fertile field for the growth of new ideas and projects.
Through his skills and personal interest, Francis de Sales was able to appreciate literature, poetry, painting and music, thus expressing his great artistic sensitivity and integrating the beauty, discipline and significance of art into his cultural and spiritual formation.
Francis lives the artistic experience within his spirituality. He manifests in some passages of his writings how he was drawn towards painting, literature, music and poetry. This is not simply an academic or cultural taste. Art touches his way of thinking, feeling, praying and writing.
Morand Wirth states in this regard:
"Images taken from artists served him first and foremost to illustrate his aims; however, one perceives in Francis de Sales a real appreciation for the beauty of the work of art, as such, and at the same time the ability to communicate his emotions to his readers. He would say, for example, that 'the symmetry of a splendid painting cannot bear the addition of new colours' (C 152) and that 'in canvases and frescoes representing a large number of characters in a small space, there always remains something to be seen and noticed, shadows, profiles, twists' (S II 33). Moreover, would not painting be a divine art? The word of God is not only on the plane of hearing, but also on that of seeing and aesthetic contemplation: God is the painter, our faith is the painting, the colours are the Word of God, the brush is the Church (C 145)".
Francis de Sales also loved singing and music and emphasised the importance of beautiful music in the liturgy to encourage personal and liturgical prayer. Wirth observes:
"It is known that he had praise sung during catechism hours, but we would like to know what was sung in his cathedral. He wrote in a letter in the aftermath of a service in which a text from the Song of Songs was sung: "Ah, how well this was sung, yesterday, in our church and in my heart!" (L IV 269).
As a writer, an artist of the word, St Francis experienced artistic beauty through letters, liturgy, music and poetry. Francis also wrote some religious poems. In 1598, he wrote a poem on the Transfiguration.
We have seen, Lord, this face so clear
Infinitely clearer than the shining sun
When in broad daylight it shines brighter
And the universe looks like a shining eye.
But, if such is the body, how much more brilliant
The glory of thy heart, thou wondrous heart
Of a happiness filled, great and abundant,
Which, from its first birth, made it glorious.
Heart so full of splendour that outside it spreads
Above its own garments shines so brightly
So radiant and white, that snow so shining
Show to our eyes the heavens have no power.
Oh! who will doubt then, that he still radiates
Over his servant clothed in humility
Who amid worldly travails honours him evermore
Remains joined to him as his garment?
O ye who admire with what immense glory
Shrouded is the head of your God, and of happiness so great
Know that the dear price of so much glory
Can only be paid by humility (O I 106-107).
Applying his vision of art to spirituality, St Francis opens a path in which, through the construction of writing, in the choice of words with their meanings, colours and sounds, relating words to their symbols, he develops the linguistic skills that link emotions to words.
Moreover, Francis de Sales is a great storyteller! As we know, narrative is a way of communicating characterised by telling about things and experiences through letters, stories, literature, tales, using images, metaphors, mythical, religious and cultural elements to communicate a message.
Narrative uses simple, human language and deeply touches the imaginative, cognitive and affective aspects, encouraging the reader's involvement in the plot and the story being told.
Unlike a conceptual text which depends on formulations with logical premises and conclusions, narration follows a more informal, figurative and symbolic language, allowing the person to get involved and participate from his or her own experience and formation, in what is being communicated.
St Francis, in his spiritual accompaniment, certainly knew how to use the art of listening starting from the person's narrative, from his experience of God.
