I find that Bernini of the vision of St Teresa of Avila rather repellant - marble porn - though to some it is the apogee of Baroque art. Even more off-putting, though, is the imagery concerning "Divine Mercy". I saw it first on a poster at a bus-stop in St Albans, and thought it must be the product of some U.S. sect. Now I discover it is thanks to newly Blessed J-P II that we have this devotion. It's not devotion to the Mercy of God I find difficult; just the way it is depicted.
So is part of the Patrimony an approval for "less-is-more" - one simple image of the Crucified being more moving than a church full of plaster saints? It is easy to write this off as Protestant Puritanism - but is is there in Catholicism too, not just in Savonarola but also in the chasteness of Cistercian architecture.
But of course, there is no arguing where taste is concerned. Just disagreement.
