Catholic Sense and Transcendental Sensitivity
Catholic sense, "A fidelity," Dr. Plinio states, "to the first vision and a well–constructed metaphysical structure, incorporated to a type of good sense regarding the Faith." (1) I will set aside the notion of the first vision here for now and focus on how a well-constructed metaphysical structure is incorporated into a type of good sense regarding the Faith, then demonstrate how the exaltation of "Luce" is a fruit of its degradation.
Harmonizing ideas and actions is not a simple task. Yet, this is the key burden of all men, especially the first estate-- the clergy. The clergy are endowed with presumably the finest intellectual and cultural formation, as is fitting for they are above nobility. For, while nobility, the second estate, is the "temporal image of the celestial order", the clergy is "the spiritual image of the celestial order." (2) Thus, because of this formation and their exalted state they must have a well-constructed metaphysical system. If not, they cannot carry out the burden I mentioned, in its most profound analysis, they would fail to make wisdom incarnate.
In Catholic metaphysics, we find conclusions about the nature of reality. The conclusion we are concerned about here is that all creation is true, good, and beautiful. And we do not find it possessed perfectly of these "transcendentals" due to man's fall. From then creation began to suffer from error, evil, and ugliness through his agency and of demons.
Remember dear reader that the clergy is the image of the celestial order, an order where truth, goodness, and beauty exist in their plenitude. This must be taken into consideration, in so far as a layman can, when the clergy speak on matter of truth, goodness, and perhaps the most overlooked and understudied, beauty. But how is beauty overlooked and understudied you may ask? Because no one seems to be concerned with proper taste.
Truth regards the intellect, goodness regards the will, and beauty the taste. The intellect, will, and taste must harmonize as truth, goodness, and beauty do. Furthermore, the diminishing of one implies the diminishment of the others. Where there is ugliness there is falsehood and evil as well as a compromised intellect, weakened will, and corrupted taste.
So Catholic sense, requiring a well-constructed metaphysical structure, must, given what has been said, allow a soul, whether intuitively or wittingly, to perceive in things, circumstances, situations, places, actions, et cetera, the presence of or absence of the transcendentals.
Thus if Catholics are bothered by "Luce" it is due primarily to their sense of the transcendentals and how they regard the Faith. On the other hand, if they do not it is because their Catholic sense has decayed. To what extent varies, all one must do to determine its decay is to analyze their tastes according to the principles of beauty (we will set aside the dispensations allowed by custom for now).
Now we cannot be equipped to assess men's tastes unless we understand some basic principles of aesthetics, the science concerning beauty, the school of taste. For the sake of brevity, we will consider one principle of aesthetics, namely, fitness or proportion. This will supply a sufficiently potent reason to be on guard for the love of the truth about the proponents of "Luce," and in general, those who promote things embarrass the Catholic sense.
Some of these proponents, who, at times appear like, as Counter-Revolutionary Jean Ousset says, "'Pharisees', young or old, whose only talent is that of speechifying. By their words, one would judge them to be champions of orthodoxy, but on closer observation, they prove to have the same tastes, follow the same fashions, react to the same slogans, and are eaten up by the same ambitions and imbued with the same materialist and pleasure-seeking spirit as the world they are seeking to reform. Their orthodoxy is a mere intellectual pastime, when it is not just a class attitude, the "accepted thing" in their environment." (3)
Aesthetics and the Vatican Mascot 'Luce'
In the traditional philosophy of aesthetics, there was a great concern for fitness or proportion. It is intimately tied to truth because when an object was proportional it reminded us of the mind's correct apprehension of reality. The failure to do so we would call an exaggeration. In the moral realm which regards the transcendental of goodness, we would say there is an injustice, there was a failure to give God his due by adequately recognizing his creation.
"‘The beauty of the world’, wrote William of Conches, ‘lies in things being in their own element, such as stars in the sky, birds in the air, fish in water, men on earth That is, the furnishing or fitting out of the world (ornatus mundi) consists in the ordering of creation; it flourishes whenever the matter of creation begins to differentiate itself according to weight and number, and to take on shape and colour in its proper milieu within the universe." (4)
"The Vatican has launched," says Courtney Mares from the Catholic News Agency, "a cartoon mascot unveiled Monday as the cheerful face of the Catholic Church’s upcoming holy year." (5) “Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s chief organizer for the jubilee, described the mascot as part of the Vatican’s goal to engage with ‘the pop culture so beloved by our young people.’” (6)
Is it proportional to make the face of the Catholic Church's noblest celebration an anime cartoon? Does "fun" allow us the dispensation? If the clergy is the spiritual image of the celestial order, and the Jubilee is the noblest of celebrations, a cartoon with impoverished qualities that may be suited to toddlers fails to match the occasion. Maybe, another group could proportionally adopt such a symbol as Luce, but not the Church. Here there is a lack of proportion and thus a fault against the transcendental of beauty, a fault against taste, and a failure to reflect the celestial order upon the earth-- signs of decay in Catholic Sense.
What is "fun" in the face of this objection? Perhaps, a desire to feel through things regarding the Faith rather than think carefully about the Faith. Fun, or rather, lively and jubilee is truly in the court of the one who delights in heavenly things reflected upon the earth. Adapting the language of William of Conches our rejoicing should lie in ordering our art according to the milieu and occasion. If not we would betray Catholic Sense.
Human Process (Summary) by Atila Sinke Guimarães, Page 87.
Society of Souls by Dr. Plinio, Page 33.
Action by Jean Ousset, Page 261
"‘The beauty of the world’, wrote William of Conches, ‘lies in things being in their own element, such as stars in the sky, birds in the air, fish in water, men on earth That is, the furnishing or fitting out of the world (ornatus mundi) consists in the ordering of creation; it flourishes whenever the matter of creation begins to differentiate itself according to weight and number, and to take on shape and colour in its proper milieu within the universe." Extract from Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages by Umberto Eco, Page 34.
Meet ‘Luce’: The Vatican’s cartoon mascot for Jubilee 2025 by Courtney Mares
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