This beautiful new painting by Bernadette Carstensen was commissioned by the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph (Eastern USA) for the 800th Jubilee of the Order which began today, 7th November. It runs until 21st January 2017, and a plenary indulgence has been granted by the Holy Father for anyone who participates in the celebrations, subject to the usual conditions (see here).
A blessed Jubilee to all, and please pray that we Dominicans will be true to our calling. You can join us in praying the Jubilee prayer below, which is one of the prayers to be said to gain the Jubilee indulgence.
Jubilee Prayer:
God, Father of mercy, who called your servant Dominic de Guzman to set out in faith as an itinerant pilgrim and a preacher of grace, as we prepare to celebrate the Jubilee of the Order we ask you to pour again into us the Spirit of the Risen Christ, that we might faithfully and joyfully proclaim the Gospel of peace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Find your own way this week to say “Thank you” to Jesus for giving his life for you, for loving you so much. Maybe it will be through one of the Holy Week liturgies; or maybe it will be during a quiet moment in a garden on Good Friday. Whether you use words, silence, art, or another way, spending some time in gratitude for the great gift of our Redemption is what Holy Week is all about. - source (emphasis mine)
In case you would like to use art to meditate and pray during Holy Week, here are links to my past posts showing images of specific episodes in the Passion of Christ:
Today is Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, and all of this week’s quick takes relate to Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Unfortunately, I am still having problems adding images to my blog posts, so these takes are largely image-free.
The blog Supremacy and Survival considers the role of the donkey in Christ’s life: his entry into Jerusalem, as well as in the events surrounding his birth. Included is a poem by G.K. Chesterton about the donkey:
Fools! For I also had my hour One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet.
Dressed in her finery, she went to Church on Palm Sunday (20 March, 1212) to receive a palm directly from the hands of Pope Innocent III himself
That night she proceeded to the humble chapel of the Porziuncula, where St. Francis and his disciples met her with lights in their hands.
Clare then laid aside her rich dress, and St. Francis, having cut off her hair, clothed her in a rough tunic and a thick veil, and in this way she vowed herself to the service of Jesus Christ.
Today, March 25, is the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Even though it falls during Lent, we celebrate the great “yes” of the Virgin to become the mother of our Savior.
I apologize that there are not more images in this post. My blog is having technical difficulties and I am not able to upload the photos. With any luck, I can edit this post later to add them.
1.
I love this video from Fr. James Martin - although it’s from Advent, it is a reflection on the Annunciation, looking at a sculpture group by the 14th century Siennese artist Marco Romano, located in the Basilica of San Marco, Venice:
Hail, star illumined by the sun, hail: through you creation has been renewed.
You are the heavenly stairway through which God has descended.
You are the earth of the fruit that never perishes.
You are the key to the doors of paradise.
(From the Byzantine liturgy)
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The blog Ad Imaginum Dei has recently been posting a series of essays about the Annunciation as it has been shown in art:
The Annunciation is the foundation of much more than just the Rosary, it is the beginning of the Incarnation of Christ, the re-foundation of the world, the undoing of the sins of Adam and Eve by the new Adam, who isChrist, and the new Eve, who is the sinless Mary. And, for all these reasons, it is one ofthe most frequently depicted scenes in all of Western art history.
…I will endeavor to give you an overview of the iconography of the Annunciation as itappears to me from the images I have seen and studied myself, reinforced byselected reference to some of the vast literature on the subject.
In my description of the iconography of the Annunciation Iwill make some distinctions based on very simple criteria. Among them are: the number of participants, the simplicity or
complexity of the presentation, any references to God the Father, to the Holy
Spirit and/or to Jesus himself, the presence of witnesses, the location of the
event, etc. Some of the elements are
confined to only one category, some of them operate across multiple
categories. I will do the best I can to
separate out some of the main themes that run through the depiction of the
Annunciation event through the history of art from the middle ages to the
Baroque period and beyond, if possible. - source
If you look carefully at the painting above you will see that there is an oriental carpet in the background. In fact, it’s a “small-pattern Holbein” carpet. Many paintings, starting in the 14th century, contain images of carpets, and scholars have explored the varieties of carpets depicted as well as their meaning. An entry on Wikipedia, “Oriental Carpets in Renaissance Painting” is both informative and detailed:
More depictions of Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting survive than actual carpets produced before the 17th century, so the study of these paintings is important for constructing the history of
carpetmaking itself. Such carpets were often integrated into Christian
imagery as symbols of luxury and status of Middle-Eastern origin, and
together with Pseudo-Kufic
script offer an interesting example of the integration of Eastern
elements into Renaissance painting and of Islamic influences on
Christian art. - source
It’s a very detailed article with lots of examples and links for more information.
To learn about the Orthodox perspective on depictions of the Annunciation, see this reader’s guide to orthodox icons:
This
icon marks the crowning of our salvation and the revelation of the
mystery before all ages. For the Son of God becomes the son of the
Virgin, and Gabriel proclaims to the ever-virgin Mary: “Hail, O full of grace, the Lord is with you.”
Friday was the 2nd anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. In Pope-related art stories, the first portrait of Francis was painted in 2014 by Chinese-born artist Shen Jiawei, who was previously a propaganda painter for the Red Guard in his native China. Shen emigrated to Australia after the Tiananman Square massacre.
In working on his painting of Pope Francis (which you can see in the photo above), Shen carefully researched photos of papal audiences to capture faces of the faithful as they encountered the pope:
Basing the portrait on photographs, Shen painted Francis with outstretched arms, a white dove about to land on his shoulder. He is surrounded by people Shen painted from the photos of crowds at papal audiences, slipping in an image of his daughter for fun.
There are several birds in the painting, homage to Francis’ namesake, the nature-loving St. Francis of Assisi. ‘When the pope approved this project and they sent me the photos, (they said) the pope wants a painting with people together,’ Shen said. - source
Work is set to begin this year in Rancagua, Chile on a chapel designed by Antoni Gaudi nearly a century ago. When completed, it will be the only one of the architect’s works to be built outside of Spain:
The project began when the friar, Angélico Aranda, wrote to Gaudí in 1922 asking him to design a chapel for Rancagua. “I wish to build something original – very original – and I thought of you,” Aranda said in his letter to the architect, whom he had met in Barcelona years earlier. He asked Gaudí to provide “some plans as only you know how to do”.
The letter arrived in Spain while Gaudí was building Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica. Aranda’s request reminded him of a chapel he had designed years before for the rear section of the Sagrada Família apse, and he sent the never-implemented sketches to Aranda. “This project will serve as a spiritual fraternity between Spain and America,” Gaudí explained in the accompanying letter. Aranda, in return, vowed to pay for the work “with prayers”. - source
Since becoming, Catholic, however, I have gained a new appreciation for the sacredness of time. The liturgical cycle gives shape and meaning to the year, and each season brings new significance. But the liturgical year is just the beginning. Did you know Mother Church has also assigned meaning to each day and month of the year? It’s true. - source
Father John Saward of Oxford University addressed a full house for the opening lecture of 2014-15 Art of the Beautiful series. Father’s lecture began with the question: “Is there a place for liturgical beauty in what Pope Francis calls ‘the Church that is poor and for the poor’?” - source
2015 marks the 800 year anniversary of the Magna Carta. To commemorate this milestone in history, the British Library, which owns two of the four extant copies of the documents, has mounted a major exhibition. The exhibit took four years to plan, and was officially opened on Friday by Prince Charles. On display at the exhibit is Thomas Jefferson’s manuscript of the Declaration of Independence, on loan from the New York Public Library.
In a related event last month, all four extant copies of the Magna Carta were exhibited together for the first time. One thousand two hundred and fifteen members of the public were chosen by lottery to view the documents - the number chosen to reflect the year - 1215 - the documents were created. Here is a video about the unification:
Lent is a season of penance and ascetical warfare. The enemy is concupiscence, the world, and the devil. The goal is pure hearts so that we can joyfully celebrate the resurrection of our Lord at Easter, the greatest feast of the liturgical year. In a way, Lent should be a microcosm of our entire struggle on earth, just as the Paschal feast of Easter is a microcosm of our heavenly triumph in Christ. Yet, a good Lent takes focus and discipline, and it can easily be wasted. - source
The post contains some good practical suggestions to ensure that your Lent is fruitful and directed to the goal of repentance, turning away from sin and back to God. Read the whole post here.
2.
Cardinal Dolan of New York has a way of making profound points in a few moment’s time, using everyday language and personal examples. Here’s his video “What Is Lent?”
Additionally, every day of Lent, Cardinal Dolan posts a very short video reflecting on the day’s reading - you can find all of them on his blog.
3.
- source
A Coptic artist, Tony Rezk, created a digital icon of the 21 Christians murdered last month in Libya by the forces of the Islamic State. Kathryn Lopez interviewed Rezk about the icon, his art and his Coptic faith:
My ultimate purpose was to honor them and the sacrifice that they made. Tertullian, a Christian apologist from the third century, before he joined a non-Orthodox Christian sect, said, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” We believe that their martyrdom will help the Church grow stronger. - source
4.
Today was the final day of the Winchester Bible exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum had a rare opportunity to display the illuminated Bible along with an illumination in the Morgan Library collection that was originally part of the Winchester Bible.
Objects from the Metropolitan’s collection provided context.
This exhibition features masterfully illuminated pages from two volumes of
the magnificent, lavishly ornamented Winchester Bible. Probably
commissioned around 1150 by the wealthy and powerful Henry of Blois
(about 1098–1171), who was the bishop of Winchester (and grandson of
William the Conqueror and King Stephen’s brother), the manuscript is the
Winchester Cathedral’s single greatest surviving treasure. Renovations
at the Cathedral provide the opportunity for these pages, which feature
the Old Testament, to travel to New York. This presentation marks the
first time the work will be shown in the United States. At the
Metropolitan Museum, the pages of one bound volume will be turned once
each month; three unbound bi-folios with lavish initials from the other
volume—which is currently undergoing conservation—will be on view
simultaneously for the duration of the exhibition. - source
And here are links to some posts about the Winchester Bible on the museum’s blog:
The church of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is still under
construction, more than a century after construction began under the
guidance of its designer Antoni Gaudi. An in-depth exhibition of the
design of the monument is currently being held in New York:
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York
is … host[ing] a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of La Sagrada
Familia, the magnum opus of Antoni Gaudí, the father of Catalan
Modernisme. This is the only time that such a demonstration of Gaudí’s
genius will be featured on American soil. Many institutions have vied
for this singular opportunity, and City College is honored to offer this
extraordinary experience to New York City. The exhibit includes several
architectural models and casts used in construction, and showcases the
3D computer imaging software used to analyze and draw precise
tridimensional geometry. - source
Fr Mark Haydu, the International Coordinator of the Arts in the Vatican Museum, recently wrote a book incorporating works from the Vatican collection with scripture, prayer and meditation. Meditations on Vatican Art contains 28 works and would be suitable for a mini-retreat.
As Fr. Haydu explains in the book’s promitional video:
I wrote Meditations on Vatican Art so that you could meditate on the Vatican collection and be united by its beauty with God. Please use this tool to unite yourself with Him and grow in your spiritual life.
Here’s how the book is described on the Amazon listing:
Deepen your relationship with God as you reflect on art from the Vatican collections and pray the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. Fr. Mark Haydu, International Coordinator of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, serves as the spiritual guide for this exquisite collection of art, contemplation, and prayer. The book follows the four categories of the Ignatian Exercises — 1) Creation, 2) Sin, 3) Jesus Christ, and 4) Resurrection.
Each day of prayer includes:
• Vatican Art image with a poetic overview and short descriptive background information about the art
• Scripture passage
• Reflection on the art image and scripture passage
• Concluding prayer
• Reflective questions for the reader to ponder or use as writing prompts
Just this evening I stumbled across this video of the Basilica choir of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, Florida singing “Hail, Holy Queen.” I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:
Although the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany on the Second Sunday of Christmas, the traditional date is January 6. The feast commemorates the story of the wise men, or magi, told in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2:
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; 8 and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; 11 and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
The Epiphany is one of my very favorite feast days and subjects of art. In previous years, I have posted images focusing on different aspects of the story of the magi:
This year my focus is on the part of the story where the magi are warned in a dream to return to their homes by a different route. Although the scriptural account doesn’t elaborate about how they were warned, early apocryphal tradition told of an angel who appeared to the magi as they were sleeping, and delivered the warning.
This vignette, called the Dream of the Magi, was a popular motif in medieval art, and can be seen in manuscripts, carved ivories, and stone sculptures. Here are some examples:
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1.
GISLEBERTUS, Dream of the Magi, 1120-30, Stone, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare, Autun, France
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2.
Adoration of the Magi (scene at top of page) and Dream of the Magi (bottom of page), Lansdowne 420 Psalter, with calendar England, S. E. (London?); 1st quarter of the 13th century
Dream of the Magi, detail of Romanesque portal, 12th century. St-Trophime, Arles, France.
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6.
Dream of the Magi (top of page) and Presentation in the Temple (bottom of page), Arundel 157 ff. 3-131 Psalter, including a calendar (ff. 13-18v) England, Central (Oxford); 1st quarter of the 13th century
Although I didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked in this space in 2014, I did a fair amount of travel to points near and far (along with a few months where I didn’t leave my hometown.) I took boatloads of photos, and thought it would be fun to give a little taste of my year by sharing pictures of one church for each month. I hope to share more photos of these lovely churches in future posts.
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January
Feast of the Epiphany, Holy Archangels, Buffalo, NY
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February
Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, a parish close to my home
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March
I joined the monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey, Covington, LA for Compline
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April
Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary, Austin, TX
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May
Joining the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, GA for mid-day prayer
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June
the Feast of Pentecost at Holy Trinity Church, Buffalo, NY
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July
here’s a photo of a bright morning during our 10 days at the Sanctuary of Lourdes, France
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August
I attended the Latin Mass at St. Anthony of Padua, Buffalo, NY
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September
I was back at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, GA. This is the choir loft
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October
One of the most charming church facades that I saw in Tuscany: the church of Sant'Andrea, Pistoia, Italy
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November
A highlight of our 3 days in Assisi, Italy was this sunset, seen from the Piazza of Santa Chiara
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December
The Cathedral of Christ the King, in Atlanta, was lovely for Christmas Mass. (The LED lights on the trees in the sanctuary were a soft yellow in person but show up weirdly green in photographs)
Today’s quick takes are all related to St. Michael the Archangel. September 29 is the Church’s traditional Feast of St. Michael, also known as Michaelmas. (More recently it has become the Feast of the Archangels, honoring Gabriel and Raphael as well as Michael.)
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1.
As Wikipedia explains:
In Christianity, the Archangel Michael is the greatest of all the Archangels and is honoured for defeating Lucifer in the war in heaven.[2] He is one of the principal angelic warriors, seen as a protector against the dark of night, and the administrator of cosmic intelligence. - source
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2.
A small rocky island off the coast of France has been dedicated to the Archangel Michael since the beginning of the 8th century:
According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet.
But Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel’s instruction until Michael burned a hole in the bishop’s skull with his finger. That did the trick. The dedication to St Michael occurred on October 16, 708. - source
The island is known as Mont Saint Michel. From that original church a Romanesque Benedictine abbey was built, and then modified, and a town grew up around it.
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3.
In July I traveled to France with my husband. After a week of sightseeing in Paris and Normandy we journeyed south to Lourdes where we worked with the North American Lourdes Volunteers. As we left Normandy we spent a night on Mont Saint Michel.
The mount has become one of France’s top tourist sites, and it’s easy to figure out why. Even on first glimpse from a distance across some fields, the island topped with its ancient monastery is stunning. It only gets more impressive from closer vantage points.
Here is a photo showing the gorgeous water setting of Mont Saint Michel:
At the tip top of Mont Saint Michel is a spire, surmounted by a statue of St. Michael the Archangel. I wasn’t able to get a suitable photo of the statue - it is so high above the ground - but here is what the statue looks like up close:
Halfway up Mont Saint Michel on the way to the Abbey, there is the parish church of St-Pierre dating from the 15th-16th centuries. A carved side chapel is dedicated to St. Michael and has a statue of the Archangel slaying the devil in the guise of a dragon (picture above).
When we reached Lourdes we learned that the front gate is named the St. Michael Gate and there is a statue of St. Michael watching over the gate. There are also statues of his fellow archangels Gabriel and Raphael flanking the gate.
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7.
Pope Leo the XIII wrote the St. Michael Prayer:
Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle;
be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, cast into hell,
Satan and all other evil spirits who prowl about the world
- the crucifix at the entrance to the shrine of Lourdes, Franc, July 2014
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. There is such a rich history to this feast and to the tradition of veneration of the Cross. I’m sharing some of my favorite some online resources.
steadfast conjures up an irresistible echo of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood [Cross], in which the cross describes its memories of the crucifixion:
Ealle ic mihte feondas gefyllan, hwæðre ic fæste stod.
“I could have felled all those enemies,” says the Rood, speaking of those who nailed his young Lord to the tree, “but I stood fast.” And again:
Bifode ic þa me se beorn ymbclypte; ne dorste ic hwæðre bugan to eorðan, feallan to foldan sceatum, ac ic sceolde fæste standan.
“I trembled when that man [Christ] embraced me, yet I dared not bow to the earth, fall to earth’s fields; I had to stand fast.”
Forced to take a part in his Lord’s destruction, the loyal Cross is shaken but stands firm; the disciples flee, and he alone is steadfast, rooted in position. … standing fast is one defining characteristic of the cross, 'the still point of the turning world’: Stat crux volvitur dum orbis, the cross stands while the world turns. - source
the holy and life-giving Cross is of supreme importance in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. In each of the Church’s rites the sign of the Cross is made, signifying the gift of God’s grace bestowed on us through the offering of Christ on that very Cross. The saintly parish priest of Ars, Saint John Vianney, tells us that this ‘is because all our prayers and all the sacraments draw from the Cross their power and their virtue’. And this is why, also, the Cross is enthroned above every altar; why the Priest is instructed to gaze at the Cross at particular moments in the Mass. It is the reason the Cross is honoured with sweet-smelling incense and a bow of the head, and why it far from inappropriate for the Cross to be made of precious metals, adorned and ornate; because this is no longer simply the wood of death, but now the glorified ‘ladder by which we may get to heaven’. It has been redeemed and restored, just as we hope to one day be.
- The Dream of the Rood" post on the blog Once I was a Clever Boy has lots of information and links related to the Feast of the Exaltation of the cross from both Catholic and Orthodox perspectives, and also related to the medieval poem The Dream of the Rood.
An inveterate traveler - I spend most of my time at the intersection of art, architecture, history, and my Catholic faith. My passion is old churches.
My daughter once told me, "Your ideal vacation would be an entire city block lined with churches to visit." That pretty much sums me up. And if they're Romanesque, so much the better.
- Nancy
