In The Sacred and the Profane, Mircea Eliade traces the existence of sacred spaces and what characteristics each area follows to determine what defines a sacred space. Eliade has identified five elements of every sacred space. For a place to be sacred, there has to be a hierophany, cosmogonic qualities, a threshold, and where heavenly and earthly come to meet and has to have a break in the homogeneity of the space. To examine further, we explored Stonehill’s Chapel of Mary to see if it qualifies as a Sacred space through the words of Eliade. Based on the criteria presented by M. Eliade in The Sacred and the Profane, the Chapel of Mary at Stonehill College is a Sacred Space. The first characteristic of a sacred space would be somewhere where
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These conditions can be found in the healing nature of the mass itself as well as more specifically in the acceptance of communion. A cosmogonic quality is a healing quality of turning chaos into calm and often embedded in hierophanies, “…the manifestation of the sacred in space has a cosmological valence; ever spatial hierophany or consecration of space is equivalent to a cosmogony” (63). A hierophany such as a communion turns one’s personal chaos, evil into calm, resolving evil to become refreshed. In the Chapel of Mary, students can obtain the sense of cosmogony by attending mass. The process of attending mass in general, is cosmogonic, entering surrounded by chaos to leave …show more content…
Sacred spaces are places where there is a break from the reality to the divine, and this is obtained through hierophanies. “When the sacred manifests itself in any hierophany, there is not only a break in the homogeneity of the space; there is also revelation of an absolute reality…” (21). Eliade states that this break is created by a hierophany often placing the subject not only into a sacred space but also entering a sacred time. Through communion, once the priest consecrates the bread, Christ becomes present, and the Sacred is showing itself breaking the
These conditions can be found in the healing nature of the mass itself as well as more specifically in the acceptance of communion. A cosmogonic quality is a healing quality of turning chaos into calm and often embedded in hierophanies, “…the manifestation of the sacred in space has a cosmological valence; ever spatial hierophany or consecration of space is equivalent to a cosmogony” (63). A hierophany such as a communion turns one’s personal chaos, evil into calm, resolving evil to become refreshed. In the Chapel of Mary, students can obtain the sense of cosmogony by attending mass. The process of attending mass in general, is cosmogonic, entering surrounded by chaos to leave …show more content…
Sacred spaces are places where there is a break from the reality to the divine, and this is obtained through hierophanies. “When the sacred manifests itself in any hierophany, there is not only a break in the homogeneity of the space; there is also revelation of an absolute reality…” (21). Eliade states that this break is created by a hierophany often placing the subject not only into a sacred space but also entering a sacred time. Through communion, once the priest consecrates the bread, Christ becomes present, and the Sacred is showing itself breaking the