I would never have one in my home, not because they are not beautiful, but because of the frightening sacriligeous connotation. The article alludes to but doesn't state specifically that the original objects were monstrances - gorgeous gold reliquaries used to house the body of Christ during Benediction - where you can still see them today. They were ransacked and desecrated along with the bones of the saints during the French revolution and wound up on rubbish heaps. Instead of being salvaged for secular purposes they should have been returned to their rightful owners - the parish churches. A true Catholic would interiorly recoil in horror and pity at seeing these sacred symbols used in superficially decorative way.

Interesting history of the sunburst. Thanks for the article awm.

Had to look up monstrance.....
mon�strance
a receptacle in which the consecrated Host is exposed for adoration.

Love this room in the article.

At the society matron's wacky estate sale I attended two weeks ago, an Early Federal convex mirror with associated doo-dads was one of the first antique items to be sold, to one of the most knowledgeable early birds to attend the sale. He left in triumph.

I read the article, and perhaps I missed something, but it didn't allude to anything that I noticed. It clearly stated that the sunbursts were halos that had decorated the statuary. But perhaps monstrances/reliquaries also suffered the same fate.

I am not Catholic, but I am thinking that the objects (like a monstrance) are not sacred, they are merely containers - only what they hold is sacred. And since according to what I read about the Roman Catholic stand on consecrated objects, once they are destroyed or removed to secular use they are no longer considered consecrated, those items have no sacred meaning once they become converted. Like a church that is sold and becomes a restaurant is no longer considered a consecrated place.

However, the lack of respect for the faith of others by those acts of destruction is to be abhorred.

I think the sunburst mirrors are nice, and can add a fun or dramatic touch, but clearly they are overused, and sometimes stuck up on a wall in places to which they are not well-suited.

Les, I disagree. I think almost any room can carry a sunburst, but that's just the drama queen in me speaking!

Well said, Les.

I am a practicing Catholic and couldn't agree with Les more.