the splendor of her walls, and among her poor is destitution; she clothes her stones with gold, and leaves her children naked. * * * Finally, so many things are to be seen, everywhere such a marvellous variety of different forms, that one may read more upon the sculptured walls than in the written Scriptures, and spend the whole day in going about in wonder from one such thing to another, rather than in meditating upon God's law."[1] The art might have suffered seriously from such uncompromising opposition as St. Bernard made, had not Suger, the great abbot of St. Denys, taken up its defence and supported it by his patronage and by his eloquence. "Let each one have his own opinion," he writes, "but I confess it is my conviction that whatever is most precious ought to be devoted above all to that holiest rite of the Eucharist; if golden lavers, if golden cups, and if golden bowls were used, by the command of God or of the prophet, to catch the blood of rams or bullocks or heifers, how much more ought vases of gold, precious stones, and whatever is dearest among all creatures, ever to be set forth with full devotion to receive the blood of Jesus Christ!"[2] By such arguments Suger defended the rightfulness and
- ↑ "Fulget ecclesia in parietibus, et in pauperibus eget. Suos lapides induit auro, et suos filios nudos deserit. * * * Tam multa denique, tamque mira diversarium formarum ubique varietas apparet ut magis legere libeat in marmoribus, quam in codicibus, totum diem occupare singula ista mirando quam in lege Dei meditando." Sancti Bernardi opera omnia. Recognita, etc., curis Dom. J. Mabillon. 4 vols. Paris, 1839; vol. i, col. 1242-1244. Apologia ad Guillelmum. cap. xii.
- ↑ Abundet unusquisque in suo sensu, mihi fateor hoc potissimum placuisse ut quæcumque cariora, quæcumque carissima, sacrosanctæ Eucharistiæ amministrationi super omnia deservire debeant. Si libatoria aurea, si fialæ aureæ et si mortariola aurea ad collectam sanguinis hircorum aut vitulorum aut vacca
