CHRISTIAN ART IN THE CONGO " Inexhaustible Treasure"

The subject of native Christian art in the Belgian Congo was again brought to the fore by the. apostolic delegate, Archbishop Joseph Dellepiane, in an address delivered at the inauguration of the new quarters of a women's mission-aid association at Leopoldville. The new building is the workshop of a group of European women of Leopoldville who make vestments and other articles for the missions of the Congo.
Commenting on the architecture of the building, which is in strict conformity with its surroundings and the exigencice of the climate, the apostolic delegate said that elements of real native art can be found in the Congo.
"The Catholic Church is not Belgian, nor French, English, Italian, nor American,he said. "It is Catholic, and that is Belgian in Belgium. French in France, Italian in Italy In the Congo it must be Congolese; in the construct:en of sacred edifices, in the manufacture of objects for use in liturgical functions, the lines and colours and all the elements. of Congolese art must be scrupulously observed. There is an inexhaustible treasure of possibilities offered by native art here. The designs used in mattings, textures and the manufacture of weapons, furnish ornamental motifs of great beauty, of delicate finesse with extraordinary and truly artistic effects. It is simply a question of kne eing how to find them and of adapting them intelligently. When the natives are in church they must not feel that they are in a strange house; they must feel that they are in their own church."