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Blogging
2009-09-08 22:28:00
I shall be on holiday. Blogging will be intermittent (if at all) for the next ten days

The Long Lost Diptych
2009-09-08 22:02:00
Lorenzo Monaco 1370-1425Diptych: Madonna of Humilityc. 1420Panel, 22,8 x 17,8 cmThorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen Lorenzo Monaco 1370-1425Diptych: St Jeromec. 1420Panel, 32 x 18 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam  The Diptych as perhaps once seen Both panels (now hundreds of miles apart) originally formed a diptych: the Madonna of Humility in Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen; the St Jerome in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. They are meant for private devotion. It is believed that the diptych of St Jerome and the Virgin was used as a visual aid by a learned monk in the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, where Lorenzo also lived and for which he made many works of art. The devotional theme of the Madonna of Humility ("Madonna dell'Umiltà") arose in the late 13th century, spreading across Italy during the next century and becoming particularly popular in cities such as Siena. From Italy it spread to other countries including Spain, where it was widely accep...
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Mary: What`s in a Name ?
2009-09-07 22:14:00
Melchior Broederlam (active 1381-1409)The Annunciation (detail)1393-99Tempera on woodMusée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon We know her as Mary : "26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin's name was Mary." (Luke Chapter 1, verses 26-27) The name of "Mary" seems to have attracted a great deal of scholarly attention See: Maas, A. (1912). The Name of Mary. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved September 7, 2009 from New Advent Wikipedia on Mary (mother of Jesus) states: "Mary (Aramaic, Hebrew: ????, Mary?m Miriam Arabic:????, Maryam), usually referred to by Christians as the Virgin Mary or Saint Mary, was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, identified in the New Testament [Matt. 1:16,18-25] [Lk. 1:26-56] [2:1-7] as the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Muslims also refer to her as the Virgin Mary or Syeda...

Sta Maria degli Angeli. Florence
2009-09-06 20:24:00
Don Simone Camaldolese active c.1378 to 1405CHRIST IN GLORY, in an initial B on a leaf from a choirbook (c. 1380s) Psalter (Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus domino meo)Manuscript on vellum514 x 382mm (leaf), 128 x 138mm (initial). Private collection Originally from Siena, Don Simone was a Camaldolese monk at Sta Maria degli Angeli in Florence His near contemporaries there were Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci and Lorenzo Monaco, who is thought to have been partly trained by Don Simone This leaf carries Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus domino meo, the first Psalm for Sunday Vespers Note the acanthus leaves of pink, green, blue, grey, yellow ochre and orange Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-99)Leaf from a gradual with an initial S (1392-1399 )Water-based pigments, gilding and ink on parchmentHeight 575 mm x Width 400 mmHeight 420 mm (written space) x Width 265 mm (written spaceThe Victoria and Albert Museum, London Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-99) illuminated works not only for Santa Maria d...

The Birth of the Virgin
2009-09-06 14:01:00
Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (Italian, 1339?1399)Initial G with the Birth of the Virgin , ca. 1375From a gradual created for the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, FlorenceTempera, gold, and ink on parchment; 11 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. (29.2 x 29.8 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This initial G was the first letter of the Introit to the Mass for the feast commemorating the Birth of the Virgin. As a Camaldolese monastery, it would be expected that the inspiration was similar books from the mother house. The iconography is not Florentine but Siennese. Note the walls and ceiling, the delicacy of the details in each figure, the lilies in the border, and the figure leaving the room. The leaf comes from a series of choir books made for the use of the monks of Santa Maria degli Angeli, a Camaldolese monastery in Florence, of which Don Silvestro was a member. He later became prior in 1398 The importance of the scriptorium was noted by Vasari in his Vita of Lorenzo Mon...

Pius VI and Viterbo
2009-09-06 11:26:00
Print made by Pietro Bonato 1765/6-1820/7After Luigi Scotti (Active c 1800)Life of Pope Pius VI / S.S.Pio VI. baccia la mano dell'incorotto corpo di S.Rosa in Viterbo/Santa Rosa of Viterbo Has Her Uncorrupted Hand Kissed by Pope Pius VI c1800Print386mm x 468mmThe British Museum, London Viterbo has seen many Popes in its long history. Sometimes they resided more in Viterbo than in Rome A number of Popes are even buried in Viterbo and conclaves to elect new Popes were held in the city. It is truly a Papal city. Pope Pius VI (1717-1799) reigned during a period of reform, instigated by Joseph II, which restricted papal power. He failed to save his territory from capture by Napoleon, and died a prisoner of the French army. Pope Pius VI was escorted out of Rome on 20 February 1798 and began his exile. This print shows Pope Pius VI kneeling at tomb of St. Rosa, surrounded by nuns of Viterbo abbey. Santa Maria Rosa is the patron saint of Viterbo. The legend of Santa Rosa (1235-1252) is...

Vatican succumbs to attack by Italian Government
2009-09-06 00:11:00
Dino Boffo, the editor of the Catholic newspaper 'L'Avvenire', meets Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 The Times reports that an Italian Catholic editor who has been the subject of a sustained media attack by supporters of Silvio Berlusconi for criticising the Prime Minister's "immoral" lifestyle stepped down Dino Boffo, editor of Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), said his name had been besmirched "for days and days in a war of words which has wrecked my family and stunned Italians". He said the "defamatory" attacks by Vittorio Feltri, the editor of Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family, had "violated my life" and amounted to "a desire to desecrate which I could not have imagined existed". Mr Feltri, who is leading an aggressive "counteroffensive" to "unmask" critics of scandals in Mr Berlusconi's private life, had unearthed a 2004 incident in which Mr Boffo paid a fine for alleged telephone harassment of the wife of an unnamed man...
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The Virgin and St Jerome
2009-09-05 17:26:00
Francesco Fontebasso 1707-1769The Virgin Mary Appears to St JeromeOil on canvas, 30 x 22 cmMuseum of Fine Arts, Szépm?vészeti Múzeum , Budapest, Hungary Francesco Fontebasso was one of the most prolific and well known followers of Sebastiano Ricci, with whom he had his earliest training, and also of Giambattista Tiepolo Fontebasso was a renowned fresco painter, and received many important commissions from both within Italy and abroad. Indeed, from 1761 - 62, he worked in St. Petersburg for Catherine II, Empress of Russia. Before he left for St. Petersburg, in 1755, he became a founder-member of the Accademia Veneziana, of which he was appointed president in 1768. Fontebasso interpreted the theme of the Holy Virgin accompanied by angels appearing to the penitent St Jerome in the desert on a number of occasions In this version, St Jerome  finally finds peace in death, lying on the matting with a cross on his breast. St Jerome had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary...

David Roberts 1796 - 1864
2009-09-05 15:12:00
David Roberts 1796 - 1864View of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 1855 Oil on canvas 55(H) x 93(W) The Government Art Collection, United KingdomDavid Roberts 1796 - 1864Chapel of the Annunciation, Nazareth c. 1839Watercolour and white heightening on paper 23.5(H) x 34(W) The Government Art Collection, United Kingdom David Roberts 1796 - 1864Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives with Pilgrims Entering from the River Jordan 1842Oil on canvas 84.1cm x 153cmNorfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, Norfolk, England David Roberts 1796 - 1864St Katherine's Monastery with Mount Horeb 1839Watercolour, over graphite 499mm x 352mmThe British Museum, London Print made by Louis Haghe 1806 - 1885After David Roberts 1796 - 1864Caiphas looking towards Mount Carmel, April 24th 1839Tinted lithograph with hand-colouring610 x 425 mmThe British Museum, London St Jerome wrote:"The Greek historians are understood so much better when one has seen Athens, and the third book of Virgil [of the Aeneid] when...
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The Open Book
2009-09-04 22:46:00
Vincent van Gogh 1853-1890Still Life with Bible or Open Bible 1885Oil on canvas 65 cm (25.59 in.), x 78 cm (30.71 in.)Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Van Gogh was the son of a parson After 1876 he felt a vocation for the church and began to study theology, but gave this up. He became a lay preacher in England and later became involved in missionary work in Belgium. He then volunteered to work as a preacher among the miners of the Borinage. After dismissal from this also, he began to draw seriously in 1880. Open Bible depicts a large gold-leafed family Bible open to Isaiah 53, a small tattered copy of a French realist novel, Emile Zola?s Joie de Vivre (Joy of Life) and a snuffed-out candle in the background Isaiah 53:3-5, foretells the suffering of Christ as the sacrificial lamb Van Gogh?s father had died a few months before Van Gogh continued to study the Bible even after abandoning his ministerial calling. Paul Gauguin, who lived with van Gogh in Arles from October through December of...
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Pilgrimage and more
2009-09-04 20:32:00
Giuseppe Bottani (Italian, Cremonese, (1717?1785)The Departure of Saints Paula and Eustochium for the Holy LandOil on canvas38 3/4 x 22 1/2 in. (98.4 x 57.2 cm)Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Friedman, in loving memory of Milton Friedman, 1991The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The painting is a modello for an altarpiece for the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Milan, dated 1745, and painted in Rome. The altarpiece is now in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. A widow at 31, Paula consecrated her household to an ascetic way of life, together with similar groups of noble Roman women. St. Jerome was their spiritual director. With her eldest daughter Eustochium, she followed Jerome to the Orient in 385, she visited Palestine and the monks of Nitria under his guidance, and in 386 settled in Bethlehem, where she used her wealth to construct a convent for nuns, a monastery for monks, and a guesthouse for pilgrims. Jerome, Paula and Eustochium lived in the adjacent caves, which one ...

The Embarkation of St Paula Romana at Ostia
2009-09-03 23:52:00
Claude Lorrain 1600-1682Embarkation of St Paula Romana at Ostia1637-39Oil on canvas, 211 x 145 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid Left: Claude Lorrain 1600-1682 Coast scene with the embarkation of St Paula, record of a painting in Paris, Louvre, No 318, from the Liber Veritatis Pen and brown ink, with brown wash; on blue paper 197 millimetres x 257 millimetres The British Museum, London Right: Claude Lorrain 1600-1682 Coast scene with the embarkation of St Paula, record of the painting in Madrid in the Liber Veritatis Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash, heightened with white, on blue paper 263 millimetres x 199 millimetres The British Museum, London This work was commissioned by Philip IV, King of Spain, for the decoration of one of the galleries in the Buen Retiro Palace In the front there are two stone tablets with the following inscriptions: IMBARGO STA PAVLA ROMANA PER TERRA SANTA and PORTUS OSTIENSIS A (AVGVSTI) ET TRA (IANI). Following her conversion, the noble Roman ...

Saint Jerome with Saint Paula and Saint Eustochium
2009-09-03 20:52:00
Francisco de Zurbarán 1598 - 1664 and WorkshopSaint Jerome with Saint Paula and Saint Eustochium, c. 1640/1650Oil on fabricOverall: 245.7 x 173.5 cm (96 3/4 x 68 5/16 in.) framed: 264.2 x 192.4 x 9.5 cm (104 x 75 3/4 x 3 3/4 in.)Samuel H. Kress CollectionThe National Gallery of Art, Washington DC It was not only in Italy that there was devotion and veneration accorded to St Jerome. His life and works attracted a following and great influence in Spain especially through the Hieronymites Zurbarán painted a series of paintings in the late 1630s for the Hieronymite monastery of Guadalupe on the Life of St Jerome and Saint Paula, and her daughter Saint Eustochium. This is one of them In this painting the white and brown habits of the saints are those worn by the Hieronymites Saint Paula (347?404) was a widow in Rome and had four daughters Blaesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Rufina, and a son named Toxotius. After the death of Blesilla, Paula and Eustochium left Rome to follow the monas...

St Jerome and Meditation
2009-09-02 22:29:00
Caravaggio, ( Michelangelo Merisi ) (b. 1571, Caravaggio, d. 1610, Porto Ercole)St Jerome in Meditation 1605-06Oil on canvas, 118 x 81 cmMuseum of the Monastery of Santa Maria, Monserrat (Museo del Monasterio de Santa Maria). "In reality, to dialogue with God, with his Word, is in a certain sense a presence of Heaven, a presence of God. To draw near to the biblical texts, above all the New Testament, is essential for the believer, because "ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ". ... Truly "in love" with the Word of God, he [St Jerome] asked himself: "How could one live without the knowledge of Scripture, through which one learns to know Christ himself, who is the life of believers?" (Ep. 30, 7). The Bible, an instrument "by which God speaks every day to the faithful" (Ep. 133, 13), thus becomes a stimulus and source of Christian life for all situations and for each person. To read Scripture is to converse with God: "If you pray", he writes to a young Roman noblewoma...

Sainte-Anne-La-Palud
2008-06-10 19:15:00
Eugène Boudin 1824-1898Pardon de Sainte-Anne -La-Palud 1858Oil on canvas 91.5cm x 151.5cmMusée Malraux, Le HavreCharles Cottet 1863-1924Femmes de Plougastel au Pardon de Sainte-Anne-La-Palud 1903Oil on canvas 120.5 x 160.5Musée des beaux-arts, Rennes Saint Anne is the patron saint of Brittany.One of the biggest pardons in Brittany still in existence is that of St Anne at Sainte-Anne-La-Palud.The Pardon centres around the Sea.Eugène Boudin (July 12, 1824 ? August 8, 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.Boudin was a marine painter. In 1857 Boudin met the young Claude Monet who spent several months working with Boudin in his studio. The two remained lifelong friends. Monet later paid tribute to Boudin?s early influence. Boudin joined Monet and his young friends in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.He was one of the most important precursors to Impressionism.Charles Cottet (1863?1925), French painter, was born at Le Puy-en-Velay and died in Pari...

Yvonne Jean-Haffen
2008-06-09 22:18:00
Yvonne Jean -Haffen (October 1895- November 1993)Pardon at Notre-Dame de la Clart 1975Painting on acrylic and canvas . 50, x 73Maison d'artiste de la Grande Vigne, DinanYvonne Jean-Haffen (October 1895- November 1993)Dévotion des pèlerins 1932Pencil on paper 13,x 19Maison d'artiste de la Grande Vigne, DinanYvonne Jean-Haffen (October 1895- November 1993)Après l'office, la foule devant l'église 1925-1935Gouache on board 49 x 31Maison d'artiste de la Grande Vigne, DinanYvonne Jean-Haffen (October 1895- November 1993)Arrivée du pardon à St Samson 1945Pencil on paper 24 x 32Maison d'artiste de la Grande Vigne, DinanYvonne Jean-Haffen (October 1895- November 1993) was a Breton artist who had many skills: painting, drawing, ceramics.She embraced life in Brittany and its culture after her marriage. She depicted pardons, landscapes and seascapes.In 1937 she and her husband purchased la Grande Vigne, near Rance and Dinan. During the second world war 1940-45 la Grande Vigne became ...

Pardons in Brittany
2008-06-09 20:43:00
Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (French, 1852–1929)The Pardon in Brittany 1886Oil on canvas; 45 1/8 x 33 3/8 in. (114.6 x 84.8 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkPascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929)Les Bretonnes au Pardon 1887Oil on canvas 125 x 141 cmThe Gulbenkian Museum, LisbonIn the mid 1880s and in the 1890s, Dagnan-Bouveret turned to religious themes. These became increasingly more visionary and supernatural during the early years of the 20th century. Spiritual themes reflected Dagnan's determined turn toward religious revivalism.It also reflected the powerful influence of his wife whose own devout Catholicism was influential in moving Dagnan toward some of his religious themes. Dagnan's paintings found favour due to tthe Catholic Revival in France.Both paintings have the look of exact photographic verisimilitude. They are the high point of his Naturalist technique.Dagnan-Bouveret visited Brittany in 1886 to gather first-hand information in preparati...

Bénédiction des blés en Artois
2008-06-08 23:40:00
Jules Adolphe Aime Louis Breton (1827-1906)Bénédiction des blés en Artois. (Blessing of the Wheat in Artois)1857Oil on canvas 130 cm - x 320 cmMusée des Beaux-Arts, ArrasIn the French countryside, Catholicism was closely associated with agricultural life.These processions for the blessings of seeds, harvests, requests for rain and the like were interrupted during the Revolution but restarted again in the nineteenth century.Processions outside the church whther it was for the Virgin, Corpus Christi (Fête-Dieu), local saints, were important elements in the culture of the countryside.These events involved both the clergy and the people at the one timeIn the Artois region, pilgrimages to local saints relics were very popular. According to one historian [Y.-M. Hilaire, La Vie religieuse des populations du diocèse d’Arras, 1840-1914, thèse, Paris IV, 2 vol., 1976, p. 924] parish priests in the 1860s embarked on a veritable odyssey to track down the relics of saints for their chur...

Le Pardon de Kergoat
2008-06-08 22:53:00
Jules Adolphe Aime Louis Breton (May 1, 1827 - July 5, 1906)Le Pardon de Kergoat 1891Oil on canvas 1,236 x 2,34 mMusée des Beaux-arts de Quimper, Quimper A Pardon is a Breton form of pilgrimage and one of the most traditional demonstrations of popular Catholicism in BrittanyPardons were a popular subject in 19th century French art. Local people dressed in their elaborate traditional Breton costume for the ceremoniesThe leader of the Pardon, typically a high ranking ecclesiastic, has the title of "pardonnor".Now every year (still) there is a large "pardon" to the Chapel of Notre Dame at Kergoat, near Quemeneven. It takes place on the Sunday after the 15th August. Pictures of the Church as it is today are shown below.Breton was a French Realist painter. His works include many themes with a religious content.

The Divine Mercy
2008-05-31 11:13:00
The image of the Divine Mercy originates from a vision that Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) had in Plock on February 22, 1931.In that vision Christ expressed His desire to have such an image painted and that the words in the signature beneath it be: Jezu, ufam tobie; Jesus, I trust in You.On 30th April 2000, Pope John Paul II said in his homily at the Mass for the Canonisation of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska:"Sister Faustina Kowalska wrote in her Diary: "I feel tremendous pain when I see the sufferings of my neighbours. All my neighbours' sufferings reverberate in my own heart; I carry their anguish in my heart in such a way that it even physically destroys me. I would like all their sorrows to fall upon me, in order to relieve my neighbour" (Diary, p. 365). This is the degree of compassion to which love leads, when it takes the love of God as its measure!It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenge...

Beuron and The Sacred Heart
2008-05-30 23:53:00
Gabriel Wüger OSB 1829 - 1892/5/Father Lukas Steiner OSB 1849-1906Herz Jesu /The Sacred Heart of Jesus 1873-4The Conception Abbey (Missouri) website has this to say about the Beuronese School of Art and its theorist, Desiderius Lenz:"The most significant principle or canon of the Beuronese school is the role which geometry played in determining proportions.Lenz thought that sacred art should reflect the natural laws of aesthetics through formulae he believed were forgotten after the Greeks and Egyptians.Geometrical proportions determine ideal forms, and the result is an innate harmony comparable to the mathematical relationships in musical composition. ...Other canons of the school include:The orientation of the art is hieratic, speaking to the spirit of the viewer. The art itself worships and invites the viewer to join in the worship of God. As such, it should not stand out boldly of itself but be part of a worshipping environment.Works are anonymous, done by a group effort, and no...

Annigoni and Monte Cassino
2008-05-30 22:10:00
Pietro Annigoni (June 7, 1910 - October 28, 1988)Pope Victor III (Abbot Desiderius) receives from St. Benedict the Rule and the Pastoral Letter 1972Fresco 284x422,Chapel of the Vestry , Monte Cassino Abbot Desiderius (abbot 1058 - 1087), later became Pope Victor III. The monastery reached the zenith of its influence under Abbot Desiderius.Pietro Annigoni (June 7, 1910 - October 28, 1988)The Glory of St. Benedict 1979Fresco 549x391The Basilica at Monte Cassino During the Second World War, the monastery buildings complex was pulverised by aerial bombardments. Restoration followed and the monastery and basilica were re-consecrated by Pope Paul VI in 1964.The restoration work has continued since then.The distinguished artist Annigoni was only one who contributed his services.

El Sagrado Corazón de Jesús
2008-05-28 23:26:00
Salvador Dalí. (1904-1989)El Sagrado Corazón de Jesús/ The Sacred Heart of Jesus 1962Oil on canvas 86.5 x 61 cmPrivate collection "When we practise this devotion, not only do we recognize God's love with gratitude but we continue to open ourselves to this love so that our lives are ever more closely patterned upon it. God, who poured out his love "into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (cf. Rom 5: 5), invites us tirelessly to accept his love.The main aim of the invitation to give ourselves entirely to the saving love of Christ and to consecrate ourselves to it (cf. Haurietis Aquas, n. 4) is, consequently, to bring about our relationship with God.This explains why the devotion, which is totally oriented to the love of God who sacrificed himself for us, has an irreplaceable importance for our faith and for our life in love. "Pope Benedict XVI, Letter on the 50th anniversary of Haurietis Aquas (15 May 2006 )1856 Blessed Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the...

Art is Global
2008-05-28 19:08:00
Miao Xiaochun b.1964The Last Judgement in Cyberspace - Front View 2006C-Print 279 x 240 cmMiao Xiaochun b.1964The Last Judgement in Cyberspace -The Below View 2006C-Print 289 x 360 cmMiao Xiaochun b.1964The Last Judgement in Cyberspace -The Side View 2006C-Print 320 x 120 cmMiao Xiaochun b.1964The Last Judgement in Cyberspace -The Rear View 2006C-Print 288 x 240 cmMiao Xiaochun b.1964The Last Judgement in Cyberspace -The Vertical View 2006C-Print 120 x 354 cm The Saatchi Gallery in London has at present an Exhibiition on contemporary Chinese art which is fascinating.It is entitled THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES: NEW CHINESE ARTWorld attention has focused on the economic development and massive cultural upheavals of China, especially prior to the 2008 OlympicsThe world is only beginning to wake up to Chinese art.Truly due to international trade, travel, media and the Internet, art has become global.Influences from the West have influenced and do influence Chinese artists and vice versa.Wi...
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Consolation
2008-05-27 23:22:00
Jean-Georges Cornelius (1880-1963). Bois.Consolation Oil on woodMusée eucharistique du Hiéron, Paray Le Monial The original Museum of the Eucharist was inaugurated in 1894 at the shrine town of Paray Le Monial. The term "Hiéron" is derived from a Greek term meaning "sacred art".

Sacré-Coeur
2008-05-26 23:03:00
Said to be the largest mosaic in the world at 475 square metres, the great mosaic in the chancel of the Basilique du Sacré-C?ur de Montmartre depicts the Sacred Heart of Jesus glorified by the Catholic Church and by France.The mosaic was designed by the French painter Luc-Olivier Merson.The mosaic took from 1900 to 1922 to be executed.For a closer inspection of each detail of the mosaic see also:Luc-Olivier Merson : Mosaïques du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre

Images of the Sacred Heart
2008-05-26 17:36:00
Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque or Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (22 July 1647 ? 17 October 1690) who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form was prevailed upon to produce images for the devotion to the Sacred Heart. In her autobiography, the saint describes her first attempts on 20th July 1685 at producing an image. The original is in the Convent of the Visitation in Turin. The monastery at Paray had given it to the Convent on 7th October 1738 as the Convent which had been founded by St Francis de Sales was favoured by the Dukes of Savoy.The word "Charitas" is inscribed in gold letters in the middle. The second image was produced by the Saint in September 1686. It was sent by the saint to Mother de Soudeilles in Moulins. She gave two images: one a large image for placing by a crucifix; the other much smaller which could be carried about for peronal devotion.The original is in the Monastery of the Visitation at Nevers.
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Batoni: The Artist of the Sacred Heart
2008-05-26 14:01:00
Chapel of the Sacred Heart , Church of the Gesu, Rome with the Oil on copper painting of the Sacred Heart painting of the Sacred Heart (1767) by Battoni and Domenico Maria Saverio Calvi Just finished at The National Gallery in London (18th May 2008) is an exhibition of the paintings of Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), "Italy`s Last Old Master". See here.In his day Pompeo Batoni was the most celebrated painter in Rome and one of the most famous in Europe.But only two years after his death in 1787, Sir Joshua Reynolds predicted that Batoni's name would quickly fall into oblivion - and he was absolutely right.Throughout the 19th and for most of the 20th centuries few artists were more completely forgotten - or, if remembered, more thoroughly despised.Amongst his many achievements was to provide a series of paintings that could be used as a model for religious art.His representations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were perhaps essential in the popularisation and spread of the devotion.One of th...
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Prophetic Voice ?
2008-05-26 13:53:00
The controversial Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid [Christopher Murray Grieve, b. August 11, 1892, Langholm - September 9, 1978, Edinburgh] attempted to revive the Scottish language in poetry as a means of asserting Scotland's artistic independence and re-invigorating a literature suffering from sentimentality.He often mourned the fact that his fellow countrymen seemed so obsessed with football rather than culture.In 1935, he wrote the poem Glasgow 1960. Set in the future, MacDiarmid imagines the narrator as a Scottish exile returning to Glasgow. He discovers to his delight that in his absence there has been a cultural transformation.Glasgow, 1960Returning to Glasgow after long exileNothing seemed to me to have changed its style,Buses and trams all labelled 'To Ibrox'Swung past tight as they'd hold with folks.Football match, I concluded, but just to make sureI asked; and the man looked at me fell dour,Then said, 'Where in God's name are you frae, sir?It'll be a record gate, but ...
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Why visit a Monastery ?
2008-05-24 23:08:00
Extract of the Speech of Pope Benedict XVI at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, the Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna woods, on Sunday, 9 September 2007The monastery has existed without interruption since its foundation in 1133, and is thus the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world (the second oldest after Rein Abbey)."The soul of prayer, ultimately, is the Holy Spirit. Whenever we pray, it is he who ?helps us in our weakness, interceding for us with sighs too deep for words? (Rom 8:26).Trusting in these words of the Apostle Paul, I assure you, dear brothers and sisters, that prayer will produce in you the same effect which once led to the custom of calling priests and consecrated persons simply ?spirituals? (Geistliche).Bishop Sailer of Regensburg once said that priests should be first and foremost spiritual persons. I would like to see a revival of the word ?Geistliche?.More importantly, though, the content of that ...
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