Press Release - 26 May 2016

The XIVth International Liturgical Conference will be held at the Monastery of Bose (Magnano BI) from Thursday, 2 June, to Saturday, 4 June, 2016. The Conference, organized by the Monastery of Bose and the National Office for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church — Italian Bishops’ Conference, in collaboration with the National Council of Architects, will be dedicated to the theme: SEEN FROM OUTSIDE, the exterior of churches.

The International Liturgical Conference of Bose, now in its fourteenth year, is an annual gathering, in which scholars and experts from various countries discuss themes relating to the relation between liturgy, architecture, and art, offering thus a place of common reflection, in the desire to appreciate fully the value of liturgical space and of Christian art, to the public present, composed of architects, theologians, artists, those in charge of diocesan liturgical offices, of the Church’s cultural patrimony, of construction for places of worship, teachers and students of faculties of architecture.

PRESENTATION

The building for worship is the most visible image that every religious tradition offers of itself in public space. In giving form to its churches, the Church too has given visible form to itself over the centuries, up to creating in contemporary architecture a series of images of churches: tent, boat, mantle, edifice... A church is seen first of

all from outside, and its exterior distinguishes it as much as its interior. What is here at stake, however, is the need for the church to be recognizable as such, even in the plurality of its forms. The architect’s task is to form the body of a church, to give it a posture, to situate it in the city, and to give it a face with its facade. Theologians, historians of architecture and of art express the meaning of the rites outside a church, of the threshold of hospitality, and of the art of the doors. Architects of international fame present their experiences in planning and executing the exterior of a church.

THE SPEAKERS AT THE CONFERENCE

The prior of Bose, ENZO BIANCHI, will open the Conference with an introductory address, and VALERIO PENNASSO, director of the National Office for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church and of the National Service for the Construction of Buildings for Worship — Italian Bishops’ Conference, will greet the participants. Nunzio Galantino, Secretary General of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, will give the opening talk with the title Builders of the church.

Dario Edoardo Viganò, Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications of the Holy See, will speak on The church on the stage. How movies look at churches.
Among the conference speakers will be internationally known architects, such as RAFAEL MONEO, PAOLO PORTOGHESI, and VITTORIO GREGOTTI, who will share their experience as builders of churches. Particularly significant is the participation of ANTONIO PAOLUCCI, Director of the Vatican Museums, who will speak on Art at the doors. Twentieth-century doorways.

Other speakers include historians of art BIRGIT KASTNER of the University of Bamberg and ISABELLE SAINT-MARTIN of the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes of Paris; the liturgical theologians BERT DAELEMANS, SJ, of the Universidad Pontificia Comillas di Madrid, ALBERT GERHARDS of the University of Bonn, PAUL JANOWIAK, SJ, of the Santa Clara University in Berkeley; the historians of architecture FRANCESCO DAL CO of Venice and ANDREA LONGHI of the Politecnico of Turin; architects AIMARO OREGLIA D’ISOLA of Turin and CINO ZUCCHI of Milan.

On Friday evening, 3 June, a concert, THE 12th ROOM, by the pianist and composer EZIO BOSSI, will be given for the participants at the Conference.

THE PARTICIPANTS AT THE CONFERENCE

Among the participants there will be JOB, archbishop of TELMESSOS, in representation of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople; CLAUDIO MANIAGO, bishop of Castellaneta, President of the Bishops’ Commission for the liturgy, the bishop of Biella GABRIELE MANA, the local ordinary; archimandrite ANDREY (YUREVICH), in representation of the Patriarchate of Moscow; CORRADO MAGGIONI, undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacramental Discipline; FRANCO MAGNANI, Director of the National Liturgical Office; FABRIZIO CAPANNI, official of the Pontifical Council for Culture; MICOL FORTI, director of the Collection of contemporary art of the Vatican Museums. The international background of the participants is significant: in addition to participants from Italy, there will be persons from Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.

OFFICIAL MESSAGES

During the opening session messages will be read from Cardinal PIETRO PAROLIN, Secretary of State of His Holiness, who will bring the blessing of the Holy Father, Francis; of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, BARTHOLOMEOS I; of Cardinal ROBERT SARAH, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacramental Discipline; of Cardinal GIANFRANCO RAVASI, Prefect of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

The Scientific Committee, which prepares the International Liturgical Conferences of Bose, is composed of Enzo Bianchi (Bose), Valerio Pennasso (Rome), Emanuele Borsotti (Bose), Goffredo Boselli (Bose), Bert Daelemans, SJ (Madrid), François Cassingena-Trévedy, OSB (Paris), Albert Gerhards (Bonn), Angelo Lameri (Rome), Andrea Longhi (Turin), Keith Pecklers, SJ, (Rome – New York).

All the talks will be translated simultaneously into Italian and English. At the end of the opening session there will be a presentation of the thirteenth volume of the Conference Acts of last year, Architetture della luce, ed. G. Boselli (Edizioni Qiqajon, Magnano 2016) and the volume of Philippe Markiewicz and Ferrante Ferranti, Pietre vive. L’arte nella vita spirituale (Edizioni Qiqajon, Magnano 2016), which volumes are added to the series that includes the Acts of the Liturgical Conferences and other books on subjects dealing with liturgy, art, and architecture. 

INFORMATION