Giacomo Manzù, Sculptor and Friend of Pope St John XXIII by Dr Michael Straiton KCSG

Out with Trinick, in with Manzù

Dr Michael Straiton KCSG

In Westminster Cathedral one can see a work by one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th-century, Giacomo Manzù. It is relatively inconspicuous, high on the wall to the left at the entrance to the Lady Chapel and is a bronze of St Thérèse of Lisieux. Installed in 1962, during the time of Cardinal Godfrey (1956-63), it replaced a mosaic of the saint by John Trinick that had been widely judged to be unworthy. Manzù (1908-91) was a largely selftaught sculptor. He became famous when, in 1941, he began a series of bronze bas-reliefs of the death of Christ that were on display in Rome in 1942. He became a great friend of Pope St John XXIII, who commissioned him to create the Door of Death, one of the five great gates at the entrance to St Peter's Basilica. In 1940 he obtained a teaching position in the Accademia di Brera in Milan, but later he moved to the Accademia Albertina in Turin. During World War II Manzù taught at Brera and after the end of the conflict he kept his teaching position until 1954 when he moved to Salzburg.

Manzù was from Bergamo in Northern Italy and became a friend of Angelo Roncalli, later to ascend the papal throne. The Roncallis were farmers, whereas Manzù senior was a shoemaker, one of whose responsibilities was to sweep the floor and arrange the chairs in the parish church of St Mary. When Angelo Roncalli was ordained a priest, he gave one of his first sermons in the parish church. In the pulpit the new priest was tongue-tied and faltered, the sermon was almost a failure, but Manzù senior pulled at his cassock and gave him encouragement and urged him on. All went well and this saving gesture was never forgotten.

At the time of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John invited Giacomo to make a sculpture of his head. This provided serious difficulties for the sculptor as a good likeness evaded him

Oremus The Door of Death at St Peter’s Basilica

© Peter H. Feist

with the first head. The Pope understood the difficulty and frequent visits to the Apostolic Palace followed until an acceptable one was achieved. Manzù was at odds with many in the Catholic hierarchy because of his atheism and his mocking figures of Cardinals, yet as a friend of Pope John XXIII he was encouraged to sculpt the mammoth Door of Death. It is so named because Popes are carried through it after their death. After 16 years of work on the Door, Manzù signed the work with an imprint of his right hand. When Pope John died in 1962, Manzù cast the death mask of the pontiff's face, as well as the hand that had signed the great encyclical Pacem in Terris. What the sculptor wanted to do in honour of his patron and his good friend was to change the final panel of the Door. Originally it would have been an image of a saint dying, but he changed the final panel to an image of his friend St John XXIII.

Dr Straiton is Vice-Chairman of the Friends of the Holy Father, who support the Pope through the study of his teaching and raising funds for his apostolic ministry. Further information is available at: www. thefriendsoftheholyfather.org or from the Hon. Sec. 23A Vincent House, Vincent Square SW1P 2NB.