Terribilis est locus iste’ are the opening words of the Mass for the Dedication of a Church and the exceeding power of that phrase is perhaps never more completely realized than when one enters for the first time one of the famous old Churches of Western Christendom. Even a slight knowledge of the awesome weight of Christian thought and tradition entering into its creation, overpowers one, for every truly great temple raised to the Glory of God is a meditation of centuries, written in stone. The continuity of development of our Catholic art inspires us with a deep sense of pride in its glorious past and of responsibility to the future. Because it is a real duty to try to appreciate the vast treasure of Christian expression in all its originality and depth of thought, as it is to preserve and to hand on what is best and noblest in our precious inheritance of the fine arts.