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Apr 11
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Hilary White's avatar

Thank you, and welcome back. But I wish you wouldn't keep praising my "erudition". I don't know anything. All I know is how to ask questions and find things out and report back what I discover. I'm just a reporter, a poor shleb robbed of my heritage, like everyone else, and trying to get it back.

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Skip's avatar

A friend of mine was baptized into the Orthodox Church this past week. Though raised a Christian, he was raised in a very iconoclastic tradition (which was rough because he's an artist). He described he entry into the church as "rediscovering what was stolen from me" and "everything I thought Christianity should have been as a child." Sacred art was foundational for him.

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Ruth Engelthaler's avatar

Hopefully, by God’s grace your friend will find his way to unity with the Catholic Church. I too was raised in an iconoclast tradition. I am so grateful to have been drawn into the Catholic faith where I have been able to connect my artistic vision with my spirituality. Iconography has become a form of prayer for me.

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Fr. Pablo Ormazabal Albistur's avatar

Thank you for this post!

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Lucy C's avatar

This is wonderful! Thank you

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BonjourMonAmi's avatar

The art is wonderful. There was a lot of Apocalyptic imagery because they went through an Apocalypse themselves. They found hope in the promise of a new Kingdom of Heaven after a violent end. Very nice, thanks for posting.

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Carol's avatar

I always learn so much here. In art history we were taught that the rounded arches were strictly Muslim, so nice to see that they "borrowed" the better idea...

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ComfyOldShoe's avatar

I echo the thanks. This is wonderfully educational.

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Gálvez Caballero's avatar

Fun fact: in the war against the muslim taifas, once It was over and the whole peninsula got rechristianised, the liturgy of Córdoba, as mozarabic as you could get, was snuffed like a candle, and nothing remains. It was even in the 1970s that majority of bishops in the south weren't locals too. Much was lost, as it always is in war, and the Victors did do whatever changes they wanted.

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Anne Harriss's avatar

This is thrilling to read, Hilary! I knew nothing of these illuminated manuscripts at all!

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Hilary White's avatar

I only dove into them yesterday, though I've been seeing these images floating around the internet forever. They're just so strange, so completely different from any other kind of Christian art.

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Hans Gruber Central Banker's avatar

I nodded at the Germanic reference.

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Mad Dog's avatar

A well written book of this period - The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise by Darío Fernández-Morera.

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Philip Primeau's avatar

Beautiful post. Thanks.

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Robert C Culwell's avatar

Truly love ♥️🔔 the Icon of the Holy Ascension, grace and peace to you sister. 🌍⛪📿🕯️✝️ 🇪🇸

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linkdonald@hotmail.com's avatar

It should be noted that after the reconquista, Christian Spain carried out some measures against the Muslims and later the Jews for which it is strongly criticized even today. While valid, today's critics fail to understand the conditions that Christians lived under for almost eight centuries and Spain was determined not to allow that to happen again. That is also why the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s was so brutal when the Republicans (Communists) tried to suppress the Church.

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pondering in PA's avatar

This is tremendous information. As you note, most people (including myself) have learned nothing about Mosaic Christianity and its culture. Thank you for this fantastic article.

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Margaret Lindsey's avatar

Thank you for this article. I am so grateful that you give credit to the Visigoths for the distinctive keyhole-arch…that is still seldom attributed correctly. They produced such unique and vibrant—I’d even say astonishing—art. I lived in Iraq in the 1980s and Saudi Arabia in the first years of the 21st century and can relate to the dhimmi status—I must say it greatly concentrates the Faith for those who keep it.

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Ruth Engelthaler's avatar

The Mozarabic manuscripts remind me of the striking intense imagery in the visions of St. Hildegard of Bingen.

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Shannon Rose's avatar

True!

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