History and Art

Download Reading a Church, our booklet describing the church's murals, stained glass, and other sacred art.

Since antiquity, Christians have celebrated the life of Christ and his followers in art, drawing on the stories of the Old and New Testaments. Gregory the Great famously justified art as the “Bible of the illiterate”. Adornment of many churches recalls the content and format of Scripture, and some commentators have gone so far as to show parallels between ancient churches and contemporaneous manuscripts of the Bible. The same concept applies to church decoration of the mid-twentieth century.

The ordered narrative and rich materials inside the church stand in dramatic contrast to the chaotic urban life outside. Exploring St Jude’s causes one to wonder about those who have walked through these spaces. Who saw, understood, and benefited from this artwork? Gregory’s dictum is a reminder that pictures were to serve the illiterate in particular. Yet they have served and been “read” by different people in diverse ways. Residents, for instance, might have years to peruse the pictures, read the captions, and hear references to the decorations in sermons and liturgical celebrations. Others might only pass through for a fleeting glance. To everyone, these pictures are material signs of the invisible, inspiring their viewers to see God in the world and bring his story to all people.