Calvin, Sorry, You Would Have Lost Me
My childhood Canadian Reformed Church building was a giant box of a building. It was much like a hangar and I sometimes wondered how many Twin Otters would have fit inside (2, I think). At other times, sitting in church, I counted the light fixtures or the number of blue windows (we had windows of various colours). Then there were the fans – during the summer, I’d try to keep my eye on a single blade as it went round and round. The distractions were endless, but rather bland.
I recently had the opportunity to finally visit the mother of all Reformed church buildings: St. Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva. As I walked down the nave, the first thing that struck me was how grey it was. Yes, it has that fantastic medieval Romanesque-gothic architecture, but it is rather drab. Before the Reformation it was likely quite different.
Turning around in the nave to face the west entrance, the next thing that grabbed me was the immense pipe organ. Prior to the Reformation, St. Peter’s had an organ, but it was removed during the iconoclastic days of Calvin. However, the “king of instruments” has now been re-enthroned in the west gallery for several decades, since 1965. I doubt Calvin would approve.
But the biggest impression left with me was when I started wandering down the aisles along the side of the building. I peered up at the pillars and up high I saw the most interesting stone carvings, clearly from medieval times. These are called “grotesques.” They depict all sorts of strange creatures and bizarre scenes, none of which are obviously Christian. Amazingly, these grotesques date from before the Reformation and the iconoclasts didn’t damage them.
As I admired these really weird stoneworks, I couldn’t help but imagine myself as an 8 year old boy in the days of Calvin. There he is on the pulpit in his black gown. He is preaching, but I don’t understand what he’s saying. It goes above my head. As I look up, I see these grotesques and my mind takes off in creative flight. I imagine myself in a world of mermaids, monsters, and mighty swordsmen. Calvin might have been preaching his best sermon ever, but I fear those grotesques would have won the competition for my attention. I wonder if anyone thought about 8 year old boys when they built St. Peters.
No, they didn’t, because they didn’t even imagine anyone would ever be listening to long, learned sermons in French in that building. When they built it, long before the Reformation, they just thought congregations would be watching masses in Latin. Who knows, maybe the stonemasons even put up those grotesques as a favour to their kids, thinking that they would at least have something to keep them occupied.
Below I have included some photos of these grotesques. Out of propriety, I haven’t included all of them. These provide a good sample. If you ever find yourself in St. Peter’s Cathedral, don’t forget to look up!
Not sure what is happening in this one, but someone seems like they’re about to have a bad day.
The man’s head appears to be flanked by two birds.
Seems to be some type of three-headed animal. Not sure if that is meant to be a reference to the Trinity (I hope not!).
I believe this is the famous “Green Man.”
Man appears to be riding some kind of animal or mythical monster.
The Green Man again.
This is one of the weirdest ones. I have no idea why adult heads are coming out of backsides.
