06-12-2012, 03:43 PM
The following is from an email I sent out to my Gregorian schola:
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![[Image: ImageVaultHandler.aspx?~215~Architect:%2...by%20Pugin]](http://www.parliament.uk/ImageVault/Images/id_215/ImageVaultHandler.aspx?~215~Architect:%20Augustus%20Welby%20Pugin)
It's a few months late, but 2012 is the bicentenary of the birth of Augustus Pugin, the Victorian era's greatest Catholic architect and artist, and my personal all-time favorite designer. His most famous work is the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in London, but he converted to Catholicism at the age of 23 and spent the bulk of his life designing churches and spearheading the Gothic revival movement in tracts and other writings, which he considered to be the only true Christian style of architecture. This guy was solely responsible for making it cool to have stained-glass windows inside your house. He also was a strong proponent of Gregorian chant, having written a tract called "An Earnest Plea for the Revival of the Ancient Plainsong". Pugin made a lot of enemies by condemning the architecture of most Catholic churches of his time for being constructed more like concert halls for the purpose of playing opera music and show tunes.
This video shows a BBC report for the bicentenary of Pugin's birth in 1812 with a solemn high Mass at the church where he attended and was buried (which he also designed). The church went on to serve the first Benedictine abbey in all of England since the Reformation.
The sermon preached that day: http://carthusianmartyrs.blogspot.com/20...pugin.html
And there's also an article about him in the Catholic Herald: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XTEAYTYuE1M/T1...-Pugin.png
Pugin died at only 40 years of age, driven mad by how the newly restored Catholic hierarchy in Britain (which had been abolished until 1850) largely rejected his vision of a reborn English Catholic Church that would embrace medieval style, saints, and chant.
Finally, check out the church of Saint Giles in Cheadle, considered his "masterpiece". He was provided unlimited money to build it by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, a Catholic nobleman who shared Pugin's vision. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheepdog_re...177910333/
![[Image: Houses+Of+Parliament+~+Palace+of+Westminster+v2.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dc6KjheJrtE/S0juHiLsmqI/AAAAAAAACvE/PkR7L5s-NX4/s400/Houses+Of+Parliament+~+Palace+of+Westminster+v2.jpg)
Pugin's House of Lords chamber:
![[Image: House-of-Lords.jpg]](http://ayearofservice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/House-of-Lords.jpg)
The library of Pugin's own house in Ramsgate:
![[Image: DSC_3155.JPG]](http://www.mel-thompson.co.uk/Galleries/Architecture%20web/DSC_3155.JPG)
The interior of Saint Giles, Cheadle:
![[Image: 86338_m.Jpeg]](http://www.photo4me.com/uploads/2713/86338_m.Jpeg)
The sedilia at Saint Giles:
![[Image: 2909641784_48e00a327a_b.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oN5K_WcO5JM/Smx40iSgkcI/AAAAAAAAArE/b6WhRvJ4Hfw/s400/2909641784_48e00a327a_b.jpg)
Pugin's "Medieval Court" at the Great Exhibition of 1851:
![[Image: 205263.jpg]](http://images2.bridgemanart.com/cgi-bin/bridgemanImage.cgi/400wm.XYC.2448020.7055475/205263.jpg)
------------------
It's a few months late, but 2012 is the bicentenary of the birth of Augustus Pugin, the Victorian era's greatest Catholic architect and artist, and my personal all-time favorite designer. His most famous work is the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in London, but he converted to Catholicism at the age of 23 and spent the bulk of his life designing churches and spearheading the Gothic revival movement in tracts and other writings, which he considered to be the only true Christian style of architecture. This guy was solely responsible for making it cool to have stained-glass windows inside your house. He also was a strong proponent of Gregorian chant, having written a tract called "An Earnest Plea for the Revival of the Ancient Plainsong". Pugin made a lot of enemies by condemning the architecture of most Catholic churches of his time for being constructed more like concert halls for the purpose of playing opera music and show tunes.
This video shows a BBC report for the bicentenary of Pugin's birth in 1812 with a solemn high Mass at the church where he attended and was buried (which he also designed). The church went on to serve the first Benedictine abbey in all of England since the Reformation.
The sermon preached that day: http://carthusianmartyrs.blogspot.com/20...pugin.html
And there's also an article about him in the Catholic Herald: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XTEAYTYuE1M/T1...-Pugin.png
Pugin died at only 40 years of age, driven mad by how the newly restored Catholic hierarchy in Britain (which had been abolished until 1850) largely rejected his vision of a reborn English Catholic Church that would embrace medieval style, saints, and chant.
Finally, check out the church of Saint Giles in Cheadle, considered his "masterpiece". He was provided unlimited money to build it by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, a Catholic nobleman who shared Pugin's vision. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheepdog_re...177910333/
![[Image: Houses+Of+Parliament+~+Palace+of+Westminster+v2.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dc6KjheJrtE/S0juHiLsmqI/AAAAAAAACvE/PkR7L5s-NX4/s400/Houses+Of+Parliament+~+Palace+of+Westminster+v2.jpg)
Pugin's House of Lords chamber:
![[Image: House-of-Lords.jpg]](http://ayearofservice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/House-of-Lords.jpg)
The library of Pugin's own house in Ramsgate:
The interior of Saint Giles, Cheadle:
The sedilia at Saint Giles:
![[Image: 2909641784_48e00a327a_b.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oN5K_WcO5JM/Smx40iSgkcI/AAAAAAAAArE/b6WhRvJ4Hfw/s400/2909641784_48e00a327a_b.jpg)
Pugin's "Medieval Court" at the Great Exhibition of 1851:
![[Image: 205263.jpg]](http://images2.bridgemanart.com/cgi-bin/bridgemanImage.cgi/400wm.XYC.2448020.7055475/205263.jpg)