Friday, August 17, 2012- Litany Lane:
inviolable, Aesthetic, Isaiah 12:2-6, Matthew 19:3-12, St. Clare of Montefalco, Order of Saint Augustine, El Escorial
Good Day Bloggers!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7..
We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well,
make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Today's Word: inviolable in·vi·o·la·ble [in-vahy-uh-luh-buhl]
Origin: 1400–50; late Middle English < Latin inviolābilis. See in-3 , violable
adjective
1. prohibiting violation; secure from destruction, violence, infringement, or desecration: an inviolable sanctuary; an inviolable promise.
2. incapable of being violated; incorruptible; unassailable: inviolable secrecy.
3. That must not or cannot be transgressed, dishonoured, or broken; to be kept sacred: an inviolable oath
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Isaiah 12:2-6
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Today's Snippets: Order of Saint Augustine and El Escorial
Snippet I: Order of Saint Augustine
The Order of St. Augustine (Latin: Ordo Sancti Augustini, abbreviated as O.S.A)—historically Ordo Eremitarum Sancti Augustini", O.E.S.A.), generally called Augustinians (but not to be confused with the Augustinian Canons Regular) is a Catholic Religious Order, which, although more ancient, was formally created in the thirteenth century and combined of several previous Augustinian eremetical Orders into one. In its establishment in its current form, it was shaped as a mendicant Order,
one of the four great Orders which follow that way of life. The Order
has done much to extend the influence of the Church, to propagate the
Roman Catholic Faith and to advance learning. The Order has, in
particular, spread internationally the veneration of the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Mater boni consilii).
History
Foundation
As is well known, St. Augustine of Hippo, first with some friends and afterward as bishop with his clergy, led a monastic community life. Religious vows
were not obligatory, but the possession of private property was
prohibited. Their manner of life led others to imitate them.
Instructions for their guidance were found in several writings of St.
Augustine, especially in De opere monachorum (P.L., XL, 527), mentioned in the ancient codices regularum of the eighth or ninth century as the "Rule of St. Augustine".
Epistola ccxi, otherwise cix (P.L., XXXIII, 958), contains the early
"Augustinian Rule for Nuns"; epistolae ccclv and ccclvi (P.L., XXXIX,
1570) "De moribus clericorum". This system of life for the cathedral
clergy continued in various locations throughout Europe for centuries.
As the first millennium came to an end, the fervor of this life began
to wane, and the cathedral clergy began to live independently of one
another. At the start of the second millennium, there was a revival in interest in the stricter form of clerical
life. Several groups of canons were established under various
disciplines, all with the Augustinian Rule as their basis. Examples of
these were the Congregation of canons in Ravenna, founded by the Blessed Peter de Honestis about 1100, as well as the Norbertines. The instructions contained in Augustine's Rule formed the basis of the Rule that, in accordance with the decree of the Lateran Synod of 1059, was adopted by canons who desired to practice a common apostolic life (Holstenius, Codex regularum, II, Rome, 1661, 120), hence the title of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine.
Around the start of the 13th century, many eremetical communities, especially in the vicinity of Siena, Italy, sprang up. These were often small (no more than ten) and composed of laymen, thus they lacked the clerical orientation of the canons. Their foundational spirit was one of solitude and penance.
With time, some of the communities adopted a more outward looking way
of life. As the number of hermit-priests increased, assisting the local
clergy in providing spiritual care for their neighbors became a larger
part of their lives. In 1223 four of the communities around Siena joined
in a loose association, which had increased to thirteen within five
years.
In 1231, two such associations of eremetical communities requested of Pope Gregory IX that they be allowed to share in following one of the approved monastic rules. The Pope charged Bonfiglio, the Bishop of Siena
(1215–1252) to work on this request. Eventually they all adopted the
Augustinian Rule, either voluntarily or by command of the Pope, without
giving up certain peculiarities of life and dress introduced by the
founder, or handed down by custom. These differences led to their being
confounded with other Orders (e.g., the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance, which was also of eremetical origin) and gave rise to quarrels.
To remedy confusion and to ensure harmony and unity among the various religious congregations, Pope Alexander IV
sought to unite them into one Order. For this purpose he commanded that
two delegates be sent to Rome from each of the hermit monasteries, to
discuss, under the presidency of Cardinal Richard di Santi Angeli,
the question of union. The first meeting of the delegates, on 1 March
1256, resulted in a union. Lanfranc Septala of Milan, Prior of the
Bonites, was appointed the first Prior General of the newly-constituted Order. The belted, black tunic of the Tuscan hermits was adopted as the common religious habit, and the walking sticks
carried by the Bonites in keeping with eremetical tradition—and to
distinguish themselves from those hermits who went around begging—ceased
to be used. The Papal Bull
"Licet ecclesiae catholicae", issued on 4 May 1256 (Bullarium
Taurinense, 3rd ed., 635 sq.), ratifying these proceedings, is regarded
as the foundation-charter of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.
Furthermore, the pope commanded that all hermit monasteries which had
sent no delegates should conform to the newly-drawn up Constitutions.
Privileges of the Order
Ecclesiastical privileges were granted to the order almost from its beginning. Alexander IV
freed the order from the jurisdiction of the bishops; Innocent VIII, in
1490, granted to the churches of the order indulgences such as can only
be gained by making the Stations at Rome; Pope Pius V placed the Augustinians among the mendicant orders and ranked them next to the Carmelites. Since the end of the 13th century the sacristan of the Papal Palace was always to be an Augustinian friar, who would ordained as a Bishop. This privilege was ratified by Pope Alexander VI and granted to the Order forever by a Bull issued in 1497. The holder of the office is Rector
of the Vatican parish (of which the chapel of St. Paul is the parish
church). To his office also belonged the duty of preserving in his oratory a consecrated Host,
which must be renewed weekly and kept in readiness in case of the
pope's illness, when it is the privilege of the papal sacristan to
administer the last sacraments to His Holiness. The sacristan must
always accompany the pope when he travels, and during a conclave it is
he who celebrates Mass and administers the sacraments. He lived in the Vatican with a sub-sacristan and three lay brothers
of the Order (cf. Rocca, "Chronhistoria de Apostolico Sacrario", Rome,
1605). Augustinian friars, as of 2009, still perform the duties of
Vatican sacristans, but the appointment of an Augustinian
bishop-sacristan lapsed under Pope John Paul II with the completion of
the term of Petrus Canisius Van Lierde, O.S.A., in 1991. The Augustinian friars always fill one of the Chairs of the Sapienza University, and one of the consultorships in the Congregation of Rites.
Missions
The value set upon learning and science by the Augustinian friars is
demonstrated by the care given to their missionary work, their libraries
and by the historic establishment of their own printing-press in their
convent at Nuremberg (1479), as well as by the numerous learned
individuals produced by the order and still contributing valuable
additions to knowledge. The order has produced many saints, for example Clare of Montefalco, Nicholas of Tolentino (d. 1305), Rita of Cascia, John of Sahagún (a Sancto Facundo) (d. 1479), and Thomas of Villanova (d. 1555). Stefano Bellesini (d. 1840), the Augustinian parish priest of Genazzano, in the Roman province, was beatified by Pius X on 27 December 1904.
Augustinian Devotional Practices
The particular devotional practices connected with the Augustinian
Order, and which it has striven to propagate, include the veneration of
the Blessed Virgin under the title of "Mother of Good Counsel" (Mater
Boni Consilii), whose miraculous picture is to be seen in the
Augustinian church at Genazzano in the Roman province. This devotion has
spread to other churches and countries, and confraternities have been
formed to encourage it.
Several periodicals dedicated to the honour of Our Lady of Good Counsel
are published in Italy, Spain and Germany by the Augustinians (cf.
Meschler on the history of the miraculous picture of Genazzano in
"Stimmen aus Maria-Laach", LXVII, 482 sqq.).
Besides this devotion, the order traditionally fostered the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Consolation. Traditionally, the girdle confraternity, members of which wear a blessed girdle of black leather in honour of Saints Augustine, Monica and Nicholas of Tolentino,
recite daily thirteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys and the Salve Regina,
fast strictly on the eve of the feast of St. Augustine, and received
Holy Communion on the feasts of the three above-named saints. This
confraternity was founded by Pope Eugene IV at San Giacomo, Bologna, in 1439, made an archconfraternity by Gregory XIII, in 1575, aggregated to the Augustinian Order, and favoured with indulgences. The Augustinians, with the approbation of Pope Leo XIII, also encourage the devotion of the Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel and the propagation of the Third Order of St. Augustine for the laity, as well as the veneration of St. Augustine and his mother St. Monica, to instill the Augustinian spirit of prayer and self-sacrifice into their parishioners.
References:
- Augustine of Hippo, The Rule of St Augustine Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum S. Augustini (Rome 1968)
- Canning O.S.A, Rev. R. (1984). The Rule of St Augustine. Darton, Longman and ToddZumkeller
- O.S.A., Adolar (1987). Augustine's Rule. Augustinian Press, Villanova, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
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Snippet II: El Escorial
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| Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial |
The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the King of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school. It is also known shorthand as El Escorial or the Escorial.
The Escorial comprises two architectural complexes of great
historical and cultural significance: the royal monastery itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda,
a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five kilometres away.
These sites have a dual nature; that is to say, during the 16th and 17th
centuries, they were places in which the power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation. El Escorial was, at once, a monastery and a Spanish royal palace. Originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Philip II of Spain, reacting to the Protestant Reformation
sweeping through Europe during the 16th century, devoted much of his
lengthy reign (1556–1598) and much of his seemingly inexhaustible supply
of New World gold to stemming the Protestant tide. His protracted efforts were, in the long run, partly successful; however, the same counter-reformational impulse had a much more benign expression thirty years earlier in Philip's decision to build the complex at El Escorial.
Philip engaged the Spanish architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo,
to be his collaborator in the design of El Escorial. Juan Bautista had
spent the greater part of his career in Rome, where he had worked on the
basilica of St. Peter's, and in Naples,
where he had served the king's viceroy, whose recommendation brought
him to the king's attention. Philip appointed him architect-royal in
1559, and together they designed El Escorial as a monument to Spain's
role as a center of the Christian world.[2]
On November 2, 1984, UNESCO declared The Royal Site of San Lorenzo of El Escorial a World Heritage Site. It is an extremely popular tourist attraction, often visited by day-trippers from Madrid - more than 500,000 visitors come to El Escorial every year.
Design and conception
El Escorial is situated at the foot of Mt. Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama. It is a bleak, semi-forested, wind-swept place that owes its name to nearby piles of slag or tailings, called scoria, the detritus of long-played-out iron mines in the Guadarrama.
This austere location, hardly an obvious choice for the site of a
royal palace, was chosen by King Philip II of Spain, and it was he who
ordained the building of a grand edifice here to commemorate the 1557
Spanish victory at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy against Henry II, king of France.[3] He also intended the complex to serve as a necropolis for the interment of the remains of his parents, Charles I and Isabella of Portugal, himself, and his descendants.[3] In addition, Philip envisioned El Escorial as a center for studies in aid of the Counter-Reformation cause. The building's cornerstone was laid on April 23, 1563. The design and construction were overseen by Juan Bautista de Toledo, who did not live to see the completion of the project. With Toledo's death in 1567, direction passed to his apprentice, Juan de Herrera, under whom the building was completed in 1584, in less than 21 years.
Since then, El Escorial has been the burial site for most of the Spanish kings of the last five centuries, Bourbons as well as Habsburgs. The Royal Pantheon contains the tombs of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (who ruled Spain as King Charles I), Philip II, Philip III, Philip IV, Charles II, Louis I, Charles III, Charles IV, Ferdinand VII, Isabella II, Alfonso XII, and Alfonso XIII. Two Bourbon kings, Philip V (who reigned from 1700 to 1746) and Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), as well as King Amadeus (1870–1873), are not buried in the monastery. The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. The traditional belief is that this design was chosen in honor of St. Lawrence,
who, in the third century AD, was martyred by being roasted to death on
a grill. St. Lawrence’s feast day is August 10, the same date as the
1557 Battle of St. Quentin.[3]
In fact, however, the origin of the building's layout is quite
controversial. The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until
Herrera eliminated from the original conception the six interior towers
of the facade, was, by no means, unique to El Escorial. Other buildings
had been constructed with interior courtyards fronting on churches or
chapels; King's College, Cambridge, dating from 1441, is one such example; the old Ospedale Maggiore, Milan's first hospital, begun in 1456 by Antonio Filarete,
is another grid-like building with interior courtyards. In fact,
palaces of this approximate design were commonplace in the Byzantine and
Arab world. Strikingly similar to El Escorial is the layout of the Alcázar of Seville and the design of the Alhambra at Granada
where, as at El Escorial, two courtyards in succession separate the
main portal of the complex from a fully enclosed place of worship.
Nonetheless, the most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by the Judeo-Roman historian, Flavius Josephus:
a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second
portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed
passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica
of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true
origin of the design. A more personal connection can be drawn between
the David-warrior figure, representing Charles V,
and his son, the stolid and solomonically prudent Philip II. Echoing
the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorial's library, a
reminder of Solomon’s legendary wisdom, affirms Philip's preoccupation
with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and
his extraordinary monumental temple.[4]
The Temple-of-Solomon design, if indeed it was the basis for El
Escorial, was extensively modified to accommodate the additional
functions and purposes Philip II intended the building to serve. Beyond
being a monastery, El Escorial is also a pantheon, a basilica, a
convent, a school, a library, and a royal palace. All these functional
demands resulted in a doubling of the building's size from the time of
its original conception.
Built primarily from locally quarried gray granite, square and
sparsely ornamented, El Escorial is austere, even forbidding, in its
outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or
palace. It takes the form of a gigantic quadrangle, approximately 224 m
by 153 m, which encloses a series of intersecting passageways and
courtyards and chambers. At each of the four corners is a square tower
surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller
than the rest) rise the pointed belfries and round dome of the basilica.
Philip's instructions to Toledo were simple and clear, directing that
the architects should produce "simplicity in the construction, severity
in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation."
Aside from its explicit purposes, the complex is also an enormous storehouse of art. It displays masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto, El Greco, Velázquez, Roger van der Weyden, Paolo Veronese, Alonso Cano, José de Ribera, Claudio Coello and others.[6] The library contains thousands of priceless manuscripts; for example, the collection of the sultan, Zidan Abu Maali, who ruled Morocco from 1603 to 1627, is housed at El Escorial. Giambattista Castello designed the magnificent main staircase.
Sections of the building
In order to describe the parts of the great building in a coherent fashion, it may be useful to undertake an imaginary walking tour, beginning with the main entrance at the center of the western facade:Courtyard of the Kings
The first thing you find upon arriving to El Escorial is the main
Façade. This has three doors: the middle one leads to the Courtyard of
the Kings (Patio de los Reyes) and the side ones lead to a school
and the other to a monastery. On the façade there is a niche where the
image of a saint has been placed. The courtyard is an enclosure that
owes its name to the statues of the Kings of Judah that adorn the façade
of the Basílica, located at the back, from which you can access from
the courtyard. This spectacular basilica has a floor in the shape of a
Greek cross and an enormous cupola inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome. The naves are covered with canyon vaults decorated with frescoes
by Lucas Jordán.
The large chapel is one of the highlights in the basilica, presided by
steps of red marble. Its main altarpiece is 30 meters high and divided
in compartments of different sizes where are find bronze sculptures and
canvas authored by Tibaldi, Zuccari or Leoni. In the Capitulary and the
Sacristy Rooms, painting such as Joseph's Coat by Velázquez, The Last Supper by Titian, or The Adoration of the Sacred Host by Charles II by Claudio Coello are on exhibit.
Under the royal chapel of the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon. This is
the place of burial for the kings of Spain. It is an octagonal Baroque
mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles
I have been buried, with the exception of Philip V, Ferdinand of Savoy,
and Amadeus of Savoy. The remains of Juan de Borbon, father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain,
also rest in this pantheon despite the fact that he never became king
himself. The enclosure is presided over by an altar of veined marble,
and the sarcaphogi are bronze and marble. also find the Pantheon of the
Princes, where the bodies of the queens who did not have a crowned
succession and the princes and princesses were laid to rest. This part
was built in the nineteenth century.
After the basilica is the Courtyard of the Evangelists. This is a
gardened patio in whose center rises a magnificent pavilion by Juan de
Herrera in which you can find sculptures of the Evangelists. Around the
courtyard are the galleries of the main cloister, decorated with
frescoes in which scenes from the history of the Redemption are
represented. In the East gallery, you find the splendid main stair case
with a fresco-decorated vaulted ceiling depicting The glory of the Spanish monarchy.
Next is the Palace of the Austrians (Palacio de los Austrias), also known as the House of the King (Casa del Rey),
which is found behind the presbytery of the basilica. The outbuildings
of this palace are distributed around the Courtyard of the Fountainheads
(patio de los Mascarones), of Italian style. Inside the House of the King are the Sala de las Batallas
(Hall of Battles), which contains frescoes of the battles of San
Quintín and Higueruela, among others. The next building contains the
rooms of Philip II and of the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia. Another
outbuilding is that of Alcoba del Rey, housing the bed in which Philip
II died.
The basilica
The basilica of San Lorenzo el Real, the central building in the El
Escorial complex, was originally designed, like most of the late Gothic
cathedrals of western Europe, to take the form of a Latin cross.[7] As such, it has a long nave
on the west-east axis intersected by a pair of shorter transepts, one
to the north and one directly opposite, to the south, about
three-quarters of the way between the west entrance and the high altar.
This plan was modified by Juan de Herrera to that of a Greek cross,
a form with all four arms of equal length. Coincident with this shift
in approach, the bell towers at the western end of the church were
somewhat reduced in size and the small half-dome intended to stand over
the altar was replaced with a full circular dome over the center of the
church, where the four arms of the Greek cross meet.
Clearly Juan Bautista de Toledo's experience with the dome of St.
Peter's basilica in Rome influenced the design of the dome of San
Lorenzo el Real at El Escorial. However, the Roman dome is supported by
ranks of tapered Corinthian
columns, with their extravagant capitals of acanthus leaves and their
elaborately fluted shafts, while the dome at El Escorial, soaring nearly
one hundred metres into the air, is supported by four heavy granite
piers connected by simple Romanesque arches and decorated by simple Doric
pilasters, plain, solid, and largely unprepossessing. It would not be a
flight of fancy to interpret St. Peter's as the quintessential
expression of Baroque sensuality and the basilica at El Escorial as a statement of the stark rigidity and grim purposefulness of the Inquisition, the two sides of the Counter-Reformation.
To decorate the reredos, or altar screens, the king's preferences were Michelangelo or Titian, but both of these giants were already more than eighty years old and in frail health.[8] Consequently, Philip consulted his foreign ambassadors for recommendations, and the result was a lengthy parade of the lesser European artists of that time, all swanning through the construction site at El Escorial seeking the king's favor.
Palace of Philip II
Situated next to the main altar of the Basilica, the residence of King Philip II is made up of a series of austerely decorated rooms. It features a window from which the king could observe mass from his bed when incapacitated by the gout that afflicted him.Hall of Battles
Fresco paintings here depict the most important Spanish military
victories. These include a medieval victory over the Moors, as well as
several of Philip's campaigns against the French.
Pantheon of the Kings
This consists of twenty-six marble sepulchers containing the remains
of the kings and queens regnant (the only queen regnant since Philip II
being Isabella II), of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties from Charles I to the present, except for Philip V and Ferdinand VI. The sepulchers also contain the remains of royal consorts who were parents of monarchs. The only king consort is Francis of Asis de Bourbon, husband of queen Isabella II. The most recent remains in the sepulcher are those of King Alfonso XIII, of his wife, as well as his son Juan, Count of Barcelona. Those of his and daughter-in-law Maria de las Mercedes (the mother of the current king, Juan Carlos I), lie at a prepared place called a pudridero, or decaying chamber.
There are two pudrideros at El Escorial, one for the Pantheon
of the Kings and the other for that of the Princes, which can only be
visited by monks from the Monastery. In these rooms, the remains of the
deceased are placed in a small leaden urn, which in turn will be placed
in the marble sepulchers of the pantheon after the passage of fifty
years, the estimated time necessary for the complete decomposition of
the bodies.
When the remains of the Count and Countess of Barcelona are deposited
in the Royal Pantheon, they will, in a sense, constitute exceptions to
tradition. First, the Count of Barcelona was never able to reign, due to
the institution of the Second Republic and the exile of Alfonso XIII
and his entire family, though they are the parents of a King, and their
remains are in the Pantheon. Second, the Pantheon also contains the
remains of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg,
who, although the wife of a King, was never the mother of a king in the
strict sense. Some, however, do consider the Count of Barcelona to have
been de jure King of Spain, which in turn would make Queen
Victoria Eugenia the mother of a king. With the interment of the Count
and Countess' remains, all the sepulchers in the Royal Pantheon will be
filled; no decision has yet been announced as to the final resting place
of the currently living members of the Royal Family. There has already been one exception to this old tradition: Elisabeth of Bourbon
is for the moment the only queen in the pantheon who has not been
mother to a King. That is because her only son, the presumed Heir to the
Throne, died after her. The walls of polished Toledo marble are ornamented in gold-plated bronze. All of the wood used in El Escorial comes from the ancient forests of Sagua La Grande, on the so-called Golden Coast of Cuba.
Pantheon of the Princes
Completed in 1888, this is the final resting place of princes, princesses and queens who were not mothers of kings. With floors and ceiling of white marble, the tomb of Prince John of Austria is especially notable. Currently, thirty-seven of the sixty available niches are filled.Art Gallery
Consists of works of the German, Flemish, Venetian, Lombard, Ligurian and more Italian and Spanish schools from the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Architectural Museum
Its eleven rooms showcase the tools, cranes and other materials used in the construction of the edifice, as well as reproductions of blueprints and documents related to the project, containing some very interesting facts.Gardens of the Friars
Constructed at the order of Philip II, a great lover of nature, these constitute an ideal place for repose and meditation. Manuel Azaña, who studied in the monastery's Augustinian-run school, mentions them in his Memorias (Memoirs) and his play El jardín de los frailes (The Garden of the Friars). Students at the school still use it today to study and pass the time.Library
Philip II donated his personal collection of documents to the
building, and also undertook the acquisition of the finest libraries and
works of Spain and foreign countries. It was planned by Juan de Herrera, who also designed the library’s shelves; the frescoes on the vaulted ceilings were painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi.
The library’s collection consists of more than 40,000 volumes, located
in a great hall fifty-four meters in length, nine meters wide and ten
meters tall with marble floors and beautifully carved wood shelves. Benito Arias Montano
produced the initial catalog for the library, selecting many of the
most important volumes. In 1616 he was granted the privilege of
receiving a copy of every published work, though there is no evidence
that he ever took advantage of this right. The vault of the library's ceiling is decorated with frescoes depicting the seven liberal arts: Rhetoric, Dialectic, Music, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geometry and Astronomy.
The Reliquaries
Following a rule approved by the Council of Trent dealing with the veneration of saints, Philip II donated to the monastery one of the largest reliquaries in all of Catholicism. The collection consists of some 7500 relics, which are stored in 570 sculpted reliquaries designed by Juan de Herrera.
Most of them were constructed by the artisan, Juan de Arfe Villafañe.
These reliquaries are found in highly varied forms (heads, arms,
pyramidal cases, coffers, etc.) and are distributed throughout the monastery, with the most important being concentrated in the basilica.
Adjacent Buildings
Juan de Herrera also designed the Casas de Oficios or Official Buildings opposite the monastery's north façade, and his successor, Francisco de Mora, designed the Casa de la Compaña (Company Quarters).
- UNESCO (2008). "The Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Natural Surroundings". Retrieved 2008-06-05.
- Mary Crawford Volk; Kubler, George (1987-03-01). "Building the Escorial". The Art Bulletin (The Art Bulletin, Vol. 69, No. 1) 69 (1): 150–153. doi:10.2307/3051093. JSTOR 3051093.
- Fodor's Review (2008). "Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial". Retrieved 2008-06-05.
- René Taylor 1. Arquitectura y Magia. Consideraciones sobre la Idea de El Escorial, Ediciones Siruela, Madrid, enhanced from monograph in Rudolph Wittkower's 1968 festschrift. 2. Hermetism and the Mystical Architecture of the Society of Jesus in "Baroque Art: The Jesuit Contribution" by Rudolf Wittkower & Irma Jaffe
- MSN Encarta (2008). "El Escorial". Retrieved 2008-06-05.
- Tenth International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (2004). "El Escorial". Retrieved 2008-06-05.
- The Latin cross, with its long descending arm, is the form most familiar to western Christians as the cross on which Christ was supposed to have been crucified.
- ^ Michelangelo died in 1564, scarcely a year after the first stones at El Escorial were laid, and Titian, when asked to come to Spain, respectfully refused on the basis of his advanced age.
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