Hugo Schnell’s 'votum' for the Liturgical Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council (1961): Towards a definition of the relationship between ecclesiastical client and artists

Fernando López-Arias; Juan Rego

doi:10.17979/aarc.2024.11.11183

Authors

Fernando López-Arias Pontifical University of the Holy Cross https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5290-4357
Juan Rego Pontifical University of the Holy Cross https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8059-7289

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17979/aarc.2024.11.11183

Keywords:

Hugo Schnell, Vatican Council II, sacred art, client, art formation

Abstract

The Munich art historian and publisher Hugo Schnell (1904-81) was appointed in 1961 as an external consultant to the Liturgical Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council (1960-62). He was asked to collaborate in the drafting of the chapter on sacred art of the future constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. To this purpose, Schnell wrote an extensive votum (report). In it, among other topics, he urges ecclesiastical clients to respect contemporary culture and styles, stresses the importance of prudence in this area and the need to cultivate an objective Christian mentality among artists and architects. However, it seems that Schnell's recommendations had a rather limited impact on the final text of Sacrosanctum Concilium.

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Author Biographies

Fernando López-Arias, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross

Fernando López-Arias, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Liturgy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome. He is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei. He has a PhD in Liturgical Theology (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, 2013). He is an Architect (ETS de Arquitectura de Madrid, UPM, 2007) and has a PhD in Architecture (Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, 2020). He is Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome), and has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Notre Dame (USA) and the University of Navarra (Spain). His main areas of research are liturgical space, sacrament of Penance and the liturgical Reformation after Vatican II. He is currently working in research on Vatican II and liturgical space.

Juan Rego, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross

Juan Rego Bárcena, holds a PhD and serves as an Extraordinary Professor at the Institute of Liturgy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Born in Madrid, he is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei. Having obtained a degree in Art History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, he completed his theological studies at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain), the University of the Holy Cross in Rome (STL), and the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo (STL and PhD in Sacred Liturgy). Additionally, he holds the position of a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He has been Visiting Scholar in Washington DC (CUA), Bonn (KTF), and Paris (ICP). At present, he serves as the Assistant Director at the Institute of Liturgy of the University of the Holy Cross. He teaches Fundamental Liturgical Theology, Liturgical Aesthetics, and Anthropology and Liturgy. Beyond his academic roles, he is a member of the Council of the National Liturgical Office in Italy (CEI), and collaborates on projects aimed at fostering dialogue between artists and theologians.

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