“Heirs of a Living Tradition” | Postcards from Rome 2026

As the United States prepares to celebrate her 250^th birthday, I, like any patriotic American, have been considering what an achievement that is for our country. The preparations for our semiquincentennial were juxtaposed this week with our classes on the history of Christian art, taught by Dr. Elizabeth Lev. These classes were a whirlwind tour through 2,000 years of Christian art. Interestingly, almost all of the many beautiful pieces of art we considered were produced long before the USA was founded! This should not minimize the importance of our country’s anniversary; rather, I was given a newfound appreciation of the Church’s endurance throughout history.

Dr. Lev was able to trace the many developments of Christian art, from early Christian to Gothic to Baroque. There were certainly many changes in art over time, but the overall theme was one of continual refinement and stability of certain basic principles of art. We are today the beneficiaries of 2,000 years of the best and brightest artists and thinkers hashing out what exactly it means for Christians to produce art; in other words, we are heirs of a living tradition. The importance of this tradition is one of the great takeaways I have received from my time in Rome. In the Eternal City, we are constantly surrounded by testaments to the saintliness and struggle of our ancestors in the faith, from the very beginning to the present day. We have seen the catacombs of the earliest Christians, admired the beautiful churches constructed and rebuilt during the Counter-Reformation, and celebrated with Pope Leo XIV, the 266^th successor of St. Peter.

Our tradition is not something which binds or restricts the creativity of the present moment or our ability to respond to current circumstances. Rather, we benefit from the treasury of the experiences of those who have come before us. My time in Rome has given me the sense that I am not the center of my own universe. Rather, I am part of something much larger than myself, which extends throughout the world in the universal Church on earth and beyond space and time in the Communion of Saints. In my priestly ministry, I will not have to place on myself the pressure of figuring everything out from scratch. Rather, I can stand on the shoulders of the giants in our tradition who have come before me in any area I could imagine: prayer, art, music, architecture, theology, and, above all, love of God. One of the great graces of this trip has been a deep sense of gratitude for the immense blessing of being a member of the Roman Catholic Church!

Matthew Sie
Diocese of Charlotte