man is made manifest in Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Incarnate Christ reveals the Trinitarian nature of God. Thus, Christ is shown between the Father and the Holy Spirit. The fresco also depicts figures from throughout the Church’s history: Saints Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure, Dante Alighieri, and even Savonarola. Far more than a “disputation” about the Eucharist (the name given the fresco by the art historian Giorgio Vasari), the painting celebrates the union of the Church on earth with the Church in heaven in common praise and thanksgiving. Together, The School of Athens and the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament symbolize the Catholic intellectual tradition’s search for the truth about both human reality and heavenly
Mystery—truth ultimately to be found in the person of Christ. Raphael affirms, through striking artistic forms, that this ongoing quest fascinates and transforms those who undertake it. His paintings have nourished and inspired the Catholic imagination through the ages. They continue to do so today. ■ Text by Nathaniel Peters and Robert Imbelli. photo credits:
Page 24: School of Athens. Ca. (1510-
1512.) Fresco. Stanza della Segnatura, Stanze di Raffaello, Vatican Palace. Scala / Art Resource, NY. | Page 25: The Disputa of the Sacrament. Fresco, 1509-1510. Stanza della Segnatura, Stanze di Raffaello, Vatican Palace. Scala / Art Resource, NY
Learn more about the C21 Center’s “Handing on the Faith” series: bc.edu/c21faith
Raphael was one of the supreme artistic geniuses of history. Aside from his great frescos, his portraits and drawings are renowned. He was also an accomplished architect, appointed in the last years of his life chief architect for St. Peter’s Basilica still in the early stages of construction. Raphael’s early death, at age 37, deprived humanity of countless further masterpieces. He was buried in the ancient Roman edifice, the Pantheon, which had been converted into a church. The Latin epithet on his tomb was composed by the Renaissance humanist and cardinal Pietro Bembo: “Ille hic est Raphael timuit quo sospite vinci rerum magna parens et moriente mori.” “Here lies that (famous) Raphael. While he lived, mother nature feared to be surpassed; now dead, she fears she herself will die.”
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