Month: October 2011

Fra Angelico and Your Mission as a Sacred Artist

On By Deacon Paul O. IaconoIn Catholic Art, Catholicism, Fra Angelico, Fra Angelico's Paintings, Images of the Infant Jesus, Roman Catholic, Sacred Images, Uncategorized2 Comments

The following is a homily that I gave during the Inaugural Mass of the Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts which occurred on Friday October 28, 2011 at St. Francis of Assisi Church (Diocese of Providence) in Wakefield, Rhode Island USA. The Institute can be contacted at frainstitute@cox.net  for membership information. We are on Facebook at Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts.

Tonight’s inaugural Mass of the Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts falls on the feast day of two Apostles – Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus. The Gospel for today’s feast, speaks of how Jesus called the disciples together and selected twelve of them to be Apostles. They traveled with Jesus during His ministry, received the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and were sent to preach the Good News of the truth, goodness, and beauty of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus, along with the other Apostles, had the courage, and the fervor, to lead people to the faith and to support them in their understanding of its meaning for their lives. Their witness cries out to us – “Continue our mission.”

When my wife Jackie and I founded the Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts in 2009 we knew it would be a missionary effort; and that as a lay apostolate of the Church, with a cleric – myself – as its director, it exercises a specific ministry through the permission and blessing of His Excellency Bishop Thomas Tobin, our pastor Monsignor Paul Theroux, and our chaplain Father Joseph Upton.

The document entitled Apostolic Activity, the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, defines the mission of all adult Catholics to “lead non-believers to the faith and to instruct, strengthen, and encourage the faithful to a more fervent life; [so that they may understand that] God’s plan for the world is that men [and women] work together to renew and constantly perfect the temporal order.”  The Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts was formed primarily to contribute to accomplishing these goals.

But how do we do that?

Our mission is to deepen the prayer life of all our participants by evangelizing the truth, goodness, and beauty of God through the understanding and creation of sacred art.  I emphasize creation of sacred art because, as artists, novice or veteran, we have been given the grace to appreciate, care for and the desire to create sacred art in all it’s various forms.  Our Institute has twelve Guilds within it and each Guild is a specific branch of art in which the artists produce sacred art at their own pace, with complete freedom, and with the understanding that their final product should reflect and promote faith in the truth, goodness, and beauty of God as taught by the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

We cannot help but reflect that the Florentine artist whose name graces the title of our Institute – Fra Angelico – and whose actual name in religious life was Brother John of Fiesole  – Fra Giovanni – as he was known by his fellow friars, quietly worked as a Dominican in and around the city of

Florence during the early and mid 15th century, painting and illuminating masterpieces whose beauty haunts us to this day. His art radiates stunning simplicity and has a profound ability to preach the truth, beauty and goodness of God, His angels and His saints.

A Third Order Dominican – Eleanor Carlo has written:

               “Preaching and religious art are related in that each is concerned with communicating truth and beauty. Since Dominicans are called to preach the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith, not only by word and example, but also in every possible way; it follows that if one happens to be an artist in the Dominican Family, he [or she] will endeavor to lead others to God through [their] art.   As St. Catherine of Siena relates in her Dialogues there are many roads and ways that God uses through His love to lead people to Him. [Sacred] Art is the way of beauty, a road that leads directly to Him, if we are so blessed as to be led along this road.   Because their inspiration comes from God, the preacher and the artist communicate with a sense of mission. Mission implies the giving of self – and the motive of the mission is Love.  [Sacred] artists are ardent preachers who have been inspired by God and have been given gifts for interpreting the Gospel and spiritual reality.  Fra Angelico is among those who point out things we often fail to see without their help.” (Ms. Carlo’s remarks were taken from part of an address given in March 1978 at Providence College entitled Creative Preaching Through Art: The Dominican Contribution)

Yet , as foundation stones of this Apostolate, it is our belief that this mission is not just for artists within the Dominican Order. All Catholic artists – ordained, professed religious, or laypersons have the ability to reach deep within the human mind and soul and restore the fires of faith and love for God. Like Saints Simon and Jude – we have been called to continue the mission of the Apostles in a special way. Catholic artists, in the state of grace and creating art for the sake of evangelization – their own and others – have the power to change the perspective and habits of the most hardened soul, and that is the hope of this Institute: to study, pray, and produce art that inspires others to a greater love for God and His Kingdom.

May God bless you for your sincere interest and participation in this Institute; and may saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus, and Blessed Fra Angelico, pray for us.

The painting above of the infant Jesus is by Fra Angelico and it is a close-up of the painting entitled Madonna delle ombre (Madonna of the Shadows), painted around 1450. It is a fresco painted in egg tempera. It is located in the Museo di San Marco in Florence. 

Copyright © 2011 Deacon Paul O. Iacono All Rights Reserved

Beauty Built on Gospel Values

On By Deacon Paul O. IaconoIn Beauty built on Gospel Values, Catholic Art, Catholicism, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic BeliefsLeave a comment

David Clayton, artist in residence at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, has written a wonderful essay that capsulizes the essential nature of what Pope Benedict 16th is saying about creating a culture of beauty. It should be required reading by all seminarians, clerics, and laypeople who are interested in evangelization and the recreation of a culture of beauty based on sound Gospel principles and the appeal to our innate sense of the beautiful. Please copy and paste the link below into your search engine bar and it should pop up for you.

http://thewayofbeauty.org/2011/10/the-psalms-and-the-evangelisation-of-the-culture/             

 

Copyright © 2011 Deacon Paul O. Iacono All Rights Reserved

Our Lady of the Rosary

On By Deacon Paul O. IaconoIn Catholic Art, Catholic Devotions, Catholicism, Gospel Reflections, Mary, Orthodox Art, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic Beliefs, Sacred Images, St. Dominic, The Holy Rosary, The Rosary, UncategorizedLeave a comment

All the events of human history have to be backlit by the reality of our faith that God does not abandon His people. An example of this truth is today’s memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. This memorial was established by Pope St. Pius 5th in thanksgiving for the Catholic victory over the Muslim army and navy at the famous battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Many rosaries were said by the European faithful during the battle to stem the tide of the Islamic invasion. The admiral for the Catholic Fleet, Andrea Doria, had the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (seen below) in the stateroom of his flagship. Prior to the battle King Philip 2nd of Spain had given the Mexican icon of the Blessed Mother to Admiral Doria.

Our Gospel today tells us that our Lord God chose Mary, a humble Hebrew teenager, to be the finest being within His creation. She was offered the opportunity to be the counterpoint to the sin and evil that consumed the world. She was offered the opportunity to be the Theotokos- – the Bearer of God – the Mother of the Messiah.

It is God’s will to have beauty and purity, mercy and justice, exist along side the evil that Satan – with man’s complicity – brought into the world; and it is the Father’s will, through the actions of Jesus and His mother Mary, that they overcome and defeat the evil that Satan spawned.

God is an artist. His palette consists of many different colors. He uses the darks as well as the lights to achieve His end. We too, are artists. Like Mary we have a choice. Mary chose to humbly accept the will of God for her life, even though she did not foresee and understand all that was to take place. She decided to paint the structure of her life – and the life of her family – with the colors of faith, humility, love, and joy. Did the masterpiece of her life include the darkness of suffering, pain, and loss; yes, of course it did, but those dark shadows did not muddy the joy and happiness she was to know in doing the will of God – it was not to interfere with her accomplishing her grace filled mission for the family of God.

It is through the humble statement of Mary to the angel Gabriel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” that our salvation was made possible. It is through Mary’s “Yes” that the Holy Spirit, in an intimate and personal encounter with her, was able to accomplish the pledge made to King David that “the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises and preparations [will begin].” (CCC # 484).

As Catholic Christians we understand that the prayer that we call the Holy Rosary was given to St. Domenic (Domingo de Guzman) in 1208 by the Blessed Mother. If prayed with reverence and attention, the Holy Rosary through the recitation of the four great Mysteries: Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious, recount the entire life of our Lord and His ministry to us. Mary gave this prayer to St. Domenic so that it might become a vehicle for meditation and contemplation on all that her Son did for us. It is not meant to be a tool of mindless recitation. To say that would be as callous as saying that Michelangelo used his sculptor’s tools to just break marble.

Mary understood – and understands – that we need a process in which we can reflect on the saving actions of her Son, while at the same time, intoning – either privately in silence or audibly in a group – the beautiful prayer of the angel Gabriel at her Annunciation, the prayer that Jesus Himself taught us, and the famous doxology of the Glory be.

Faith, humility, love, and joy – these virtues will help us become better sacred artists – and better people, and the Holy Rosary is an important tool to help us achieve our goal.

The painting below is by Fra Angelico and shows St. Dominic, the Blessed Mother, and St. John the Evangelist. Fra Angelico inserted St. Dominic into the scene in an attempt to suggest to his fellow friars that Dominic’s prayer was so mystical and so intimate that he united himself to the Cross of Christ – and that he embraced the Cross in faith, humility, love, and joy. It is a worthy suggestion for us to contemplate, too.

Copyright © 2011 Deacon Paul O. Iacono All Rights Reserved