FULL MANY A GEM

In my early years on this earth my parents subtly introduced me to religious observance, things artistic and creative and an appreciation of literature. In particular, my father was always likely to draw parallels from the writings of Charles Dickens to our own family condition during the depressed years before the last war. He was, himself a talented artist and a man of considerable literary taste and ability, albeit largely self taught. On his bookshelf he had an array of volumes among which was Imitatio Christi by Thomas à Kempis. I did not begin to understand this at all - for many years having difficulty with the title until its re-reading in later years made it much clearer. I was also counselled to read De Officiis by Cicero, which did have an immense effect on my conduct in life - the message received was that before claiming and exercising rights, the citizen must first accept and practise duties and responsibilities.

Also left lying around was a small anthology of poetry. Here is a fragment which my father inscribed in my first autograph book:

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

- taken from Elegy written in a country churchyard (Stoke Poges, in Buckinghamshire), by Thomas Gray. On pondering this extract I felt that this was a commentary on his own life, his artistic and creative talents going largely unsung. My debt to him is now acknowledged (40 years too late!). The moral here is "Show your appreciations to the living rather than wait till after their death."

In direct consequence of these cybernetic aphorisms, hints and advisings, I try to probe and am ever curious to find talent and genius in people and places. It is often to be discovered where it is least expected, in much the same way as amateurs and practitioners of lowly professions are known to produce many of the world's most useful inventions, and make the most enterprising of discoveries.

The active and lively visitor to a new district will visit places of interest. In my own case I like to see the church, cathedral or basilica, visit the museum and art gallery, and browse among castle, fortress or ecclesiastical ruins. On one such journey I came across a church in a wilderness area of Victoria in Australia. Most of the places of worship in that beautiful country are poor quality wooden buildings, of indifferent merit but of reasonable utility. This one was utterly different. In travels I have marvelled at the Great Rose Window in Chartres Cathedral, examined the frontage (painted many times by Monet) of Rouen Cathedral, been impressed with the spires and general architecture of Salisbury Cathedral and enthralled by the majesty of York Minster. I have seen elements which are beautiful in such places as the Church of St Joan of Arc in Rouen (the modern stained glass), Boulogne Basilica (the marble altar), the view from the Basilica at Lisieux and the Dome of St Paul's in London. There are abounding expressions of artistry wherever one is concerned to look and to probe.

Whilst motoring with my brother in the wilderness and lakes area of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia I stopped for relaxation and refreshment and decided to visit the local church. On entry to St Mary's (RC) Church on Main Street (Princes Highway), Bairnsdale, I was confronted with an interior of such uplifting beauty that it rendered me (for once!) quite speechless and I trembled with excitement. The exterior of the building lends some recognition to a modern form of Byzantine architecture, built of red-brick, imposing but not over-remarkable. But inside.....

The most famed of paintings of the interiors of religious buildings is probably the Sistine Chapel, done by Michelangelo. There is a very competent copy (two-thirds scale) in the Church of the English Martyrs in Goring by Sea, in Sussex, rendered by Gary Bevans. In St Mary's Church, Bairnsdale the visitor is greeted with paintings, stained glass, statues and other religious objects in total profusion. The chancel, including pillars, arches and the barrel-vaulted roof, is exquisitely painted with heavenly and devotional subject-matter. There are similar paintings and decorative effects in the nave and indeed, in every corner of this lovely church. Some areas are patterned, some symbolic and some representational. The viewer is drawn to examine and derive pleasure everywhere within, and is spiritually uplifted by the atmosphere. I discovered that people come in their coachloads to the church and the decoration has been acknowledged by the Australian authorities, though described with some parsimony as, "...distinguished most of all by the remarkable decorative scheme over the whole barrel-vaulted interior in the form of paintings of mediocre quality but in overwhelming profusion.."

In 1931 a poor Italian migrant, Francesco Floreani, who had lost his job as a house painter in Melbourne, knocked at the door of the parish priest in Bairnsdale, seeking work. He was allowed to re-furbish some religious statues and then commissioned to paint some murals. On that work he covered the entire ribbed and barrelled ceiling with garlands of flowers and over three hundred seraphim and cherubims, each with a different face. The side altars, sanctuary and upper parts of the nave took a further three years and payment was made to Floreani from the priest's own purse. The association continued for about thirty years. The inside of the church was totally transformed from a plain washed aspect into an expression of genius ad gloriam dei.

It is a duty for us all, to acknowledge and encourage talents and merits in others, to foster them and give praise where it is due. In ourselves, we ought to use those blessings we have to the glory of God, recalling also the scriptural saying:

"Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you."

This was certainly true in Bairnsdale!

Rod Dawson