Subversion of Sacred Symbols in Morgan Library’s Advent Exhibit
Catholic News Agency reports on an Advent exhibit at New York’s Morgan Library featuring the Tickhill Psalter, a 14th-century manuscript from Worksop Priory. The exhibit centers on a “Jesse Tree” illumination depicting Christ’s lineage from David, alongside works including a Flemish triptych of Augustine, the Winchester Bible’s David and Goliath scene, and Thomas More’s annotated prayer book. Curators frame the Psalms through Augustinian allegory, emphasizing David’s “human heart” and personal struggles while celebrating medieval artistry. The article presents these elements as spiritually edifying while remaining silent on their detachment from doctrinal authority.
Naturalization of Prophecy and the Eclipse of Dogma
The exhibit reduces the Psalms to “prophecy” divorced from their Christological fulfillment, stating David’s compositions merely “prefigure Christ, the good fruit of the Jesse Tree” as a “theme common to medieval manuscripts.” This ignores the unitive truth (Jn 14:6) that David’s Psalms are prophetic not through allegorical creativity but through Divine Inspiration (2 Tim 3:16). Pius XII condemns such selective emphasis in Divino Afflante Spiritu: “The interpreter must recur to the literal sense, which is declared and defined by the Church.” The Morgan exhibit instead elevates artistic sentiment over doctrinal precision, echoing Modernism’s separation of piety from truth.
“Augustine’s use of allegory, essential to his understanding of scripture and interpretation of the psalms as prophecy.”
Herein lies the poison: Augustine’s allegorical method, when stripped of its submission to the Church’s magisterium (as affirmed by Vatican I’s Dei Filius), becomes a tool for subjectivism. The exhibit’s featured triptych shows Augustine contemplating the Trinity via a child’s futile attempt to contain the ocean—a naturalistic metaphor implying Divine Mystery is beyond comprehension rather than definitively revealed. Contrast this with Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors condemning the notion that “Divine revelation is imperfect and subject to continual progress” (Prop. 5). By omitting Augustine’s explicit submission to Church authority (e.g., Contra epistulam Manichaei), the exhibit sanctions private interpretation.
The Dangerous Cult of “David’s Human Heart”
Psychological reductionism permeates the portrayal of David and Thomas More. The article claims David’s story appeals to the “human heart,” while More’s prison annotations beside Psalm 87 are framed as a universal model of “thoughts in distress.” This distorts the objective reality of penance and martyrdom. More’s writings in the Tower were not mere emotional outpourings but acts of conformity to Christ’s Passion under ecclesiastical sanction. Similarly, David’s repentance (Ps 51) exemplifies sacramental contrition—not existential angst. The exhibit’s emphasis on “personalized treasures” (e.g., More’s prayer book) reflects the post-conciliar heresy of religious relativism condemned in Quas Primas: “When God is removed from laws and states, society is shaken to its foundations.”
“More’s notes during that time show his preoccupation with the psalms of David’s tribulations.”
This trivializes More’s martyrdom as psychological coping rather than fides quae creditur—the faith objectively professed. Pius XI’s Acerbissimum clarifies: Martyrs die not for “personal conviction” but for “the authority of Christ’s Church.” The exhibit’s silence on More’s defense of papal primacy against Henry VIII exposes its modernist bias.
Silence on the Supernatural: A Heresy of Omission
Nowhere does the exhibit or article mention the sacramental economy that gives the Psalms their efficacy. Medieval illuminations like the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree served not as art for art’s sake but as didactic tools to reinforce lex orandi, lex credendi. The Psalter’s depiction of David defeating lions (1 Sam 17:34-37) allegorizes Christ’s triumph over Satan—a truth meaningless without the Church’s teaching on original sin. Yet the Morgan exhibit, like the article, reduces this to “allegory in the fight against evil,” severing symbol from dogma. This mirrors Modernism’s error condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane: “Truth changes with man, developing with him” (Prop. 58).
The Winchester Bible’s David and Goliath scene is similarly neutered into a “story” rather than a typos of Christ’s victory on Calvary. Augustine’s deathbed meditation on penitential Psalms—described as “gazing at written sheets and weeping“—is stripped of its sacramental context: his tears flowed from contrition perfected by absolution, not sentimental reflection. As the Council of Trent declares (Session XIV), penance requires “sacramental confession to a priest.” The exhibit’s silence on this reduces Augustine’s piety to performative emotion.
Conclusion: Art as Trojan Horse for Modernist Apostasy
The Morgan exhibit epitomizes the neo-church’s strategy: use aestheticized tradition to mask doctrinal corruption. By presenting the Tickhill Psalter alongside Thomas More’s relics and Augustine’s imagery while voiding them of dogmatic content, it enshrines the conciliar sect’s core error—that “faith is ultimately based on a sum of probabilities” (Lamentabili Sane, Prop. 25). True Catholic art, as Pius XII taught in Mediator Dei, “directs the human mind to God“; this exhibit directs it to man’s fleeting impressions. As Advent approaches, let the faithful recall Pius XI’s warning: “Secularism’s fruits are the seeds of discord sown everywhere” (Quas Primas).
Source:
PHOTOS: Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree shines in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 30.11.2025