A very clear narrative greets us in the Gospel by St. Luke. He tells us that both Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were both righteous before God: walking in all the commandments […]
Gaudete Sunday In Light of the Tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut
Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means, “Rejoice!” – and we visualize this by the rose-colored vestments and candle in the Advent wreath. Yet, it is so difficult to rejoice in light […]
St. Lucy – Patron of the Blind
On December 13th of every year we remember the life and death of Saint Lucy. Lucy was the virgin martyr who was put to death in the year 304 during the great […]
Our Lady of Guadalupe – An Icon of The Woman Who Will Crush The Serpent
Today’s feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of all the Americas, recalls the apparition of our Blessed Mother on the hill of Tepeyac in present day Mexico City. This approved apparition occurred […]
The Immaculate Conception of Mary – The Beauty of the New Eve
We are about to begin the second week of Advent and as you may know the word Advent has its root in the Latin word adventus which means “coming.” The liturgical term […]
What Does Charles Dickens Have To Do With St. Francis Xavier?!
The novels of Charles Dickens have always been a favorite of mine, for contained within them are so many marvelous and accurate observations of human nature. For example, in his novel The […]
The Lumen Christi Award
Teresa Rice, prolific essayist and insightful commentator at the catholibertarian.com blog has nominated The Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts for the Lumen Christi award. This is our fourth award nomination, and […]
Our Blessed Mother’s Poverty of Spirit
Our Gospel today (Luke 21: 1-4) asks us to reflect on how we express our love for God. At first glance, the poor woman in the Gospel looks reckless. Yet, love, regardless […]
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Thought you might enjoy my homily for this weekend’s solemnity of Christ the King: Today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King […]
A Papal Statement: The Beauty Of Faith Is Not An Obstacle To Artistic Creation
Wishing all Americans a Happy Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and all friends and followers of this blog a blessed and creative day. The statement below was released by Pope Benedict 16th this morning. […]
We Are All Blind – We Are All Needy
There are three parts of this morning’s Gospel that we should highlight. The first is that the blind man is petitioning the Lord for His help. The lesson from this is that […]
Bishop Josaphat Kuncevych – A Saint of Forgiveness and Unity
In this morning’s Gospel from St. Luke (17: 1-6) we hear Jesus imploring His disciples to teach and practice the art of forgiveness toward those who hurt and abuse us, our families, […]
St. Teresa of Avila – On Love
On October 15th we celebrate the Memorial of the great Spanish saint and the first woman declared a “Doctor of the Church” – Teresa of Jesus, also known as Teresa of Avila. […]
The Virtues of St. Francis of Assisi – A Model For Sacred Artists
In our celebration of the memorial of St. Francis of Assisi we must pause for a moment and examine the virtues that motivated and energized his life. We can begin by saying […]
St. Therese of Lisieux and the Christian Way of Beauty
On October 1st we celebrate the memorial to Saint Thérèse of The Holy Face, also known as St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St Thérèse – The Little Flower. She was born Therese Martin in […]
St. Vincent de Paul: Seeing the Poor in the Light of Faith
On September 27th the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion celebrate the memorial of St. Vincent de Paul. St. Vincent was born in Gascony, France in 1581. After completing his studies […]
St. Robert Bellarmine, Galileo, and the Glory of God
Today, September 17th, the Church celebrates the memorial of Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. St. Robert was born into a noble Italian family during the crisis filled 16th century – a time of great artistic […]
Our Lady of Sorrows – Seven Sorrows – Seven Graces
Today is the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Roman Breviary tells us that in a sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux he explains that “The martyrdom of the Virgin is […]
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross of Jesus
Today we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. During the first 280 years of its life the Catholic Church was severely persecuted. The symbol of the Cross, the […]
The Most Holy Name of Mary
This is my third post in as many days on Our Blessed Mother Mary. September is an appropriate time to remember the significance of Mary in the life of the Church and, […]
Mary – The Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit and the Wife of Joseph
The question may be asked “How is the word “spouse” used in reference to Mary and the Holy Spirit? We have all read the nativity accounts of St. Matthew and St. Luke […]
The Nativity of Mary – Our Blessed Mother
On September 8th the Church celebrates the feast of the birthday of Mary, our Blessed Mother. Tradition tells us that Mary was the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne. She was betrothed to […]
St. Gregory the Great – Laborer in Christ’s Vineyard
Today is the feast day of Saint Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church. Gregory was born in the year 540 of a noble Roman family who believed in the […]
Saint Monica – Patron of Mothers
Today is the memorial of St. Monica, the extraordinarily faith-filled mother of St. Augustine. In the year 321, Monica was born in Algeria into a family that was devoutly Christian. As a […]
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today is the memorial of the Queenship of Mary. Through the centuries, sacred icons and images have expressed the Queenship and Coronation of the Holy Theotokos – the Mother of God. The […]
The Assumption of Mary
St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:30), sets that stage for this great solemnity: “Those God predestined He likewise called; those He called He also justified; and those He justified He in […]
Saints Pontian and Hippolytus and Our Call to Duty
Today we celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Pontian, who was the lawfully elected successor pope to St. Callistus during the early 3rd century. St. Pontian was considered a criminal by the emperor Maximinius […]
St. Clare – Our Holy Friend and Lover of God
The Church honors today, August 11th, the holy woman, consecrated virgin, founder and Abbess of the religious order known as the Poor Clares, and dear friend of St. Francis of Assisi. We […]
Fr. Richard Reiser’s Beautiful Icon of the Transfiguration
The article that is found below my opening comments, and the image of the Transfiguration, is reblogged, through the courtesy of Fr. Richard Reiser, St. James Catholic Church Omaha, Nebraska. I really […]
We Receive and Give Awards – We Are Deeply Touched!
The Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts is truly honored to receive three blogging awards. Teresa Rice at Catholiclibertarian has nominated this blog for three awards: The Illuminating Blogger Award, The […]
The Transfiguration of Christ
Today we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This feast has been celebrated since the 5th century. It was inserted into the general calendar of the […]
Thank You! Our One Year Anniversary!
We are so very grateful to everyone who has visited this website over the past year. It was on August 1, 2011 that I posted my first essay. By midnight tonight over […]
St. Peter Chrysologus’ Appeal By Christ To Be Transformed
Today is the memorial of Saint Peter Chrysologus. Peter was born in the late 4th century in northern Italy. In 424, after serving as a deacon and priest in Emilia, he became […]
Summer 2012 Workshop in Painting Sacred Images – A Few Reflections
Over the past six years I have participated in numerous workshops in sacred art and have produced a number of sacred images, each of which helped me understand the techniques of this […]
A Sacred Image – The Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ
You are probably thinking, the poor old fellow has made a mistake in his spelling. Shouldn’t the title read “Son” of Justice? One evening a passage from Evening Prayer in the Divine […]
A Most Amicable Teacher – The Insights of Artist Robert Henri
One of the great pleasures of life is discovering and becoming friends with people who have a similar philosophy of life – especially when it comes to understanding truth, goodness, and beauty. […]
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Calls Us To Holiness
The book of Exodus mentions the Egyptian city of Rameses. If you travel to the Egyptian University Museum of Antiquities, in one of the side rooms, you will see two interesting artifacts: […]
Ken Jan Woo – sacred artist
Please see my post of July 9, 2020 entitled Chinese Martyrs and the Art of Ken Jan Woo. Thank you.
A Decisive Hour for American Catholics
As we approach the conclusion of the Fortnight for Freedom, we draw near to the decisive hour, an hour of decision in the history of our great nation; an hour which truly […]
3rd Century Bronze Medallion of Saints Peter and Paul
In response to a valuable comment made about my post – Part 2 – Icons, Icon Painters, and Praying with Sacred Images, I thought everyone would enjoy seeing one of the oldest […]
When People Or Governments Get In Our Face
Recently I received a rather funny email from a friend concerning a God loving Marine coming to terms with an atheist professor. It triggered, however, a serious reflection on how we, as […]
Seeds of Faith and Art
In our Gospel today, from St. Mark Chapter 4: 26-34, we have two important parables concerning the reign of God: the first concerns the farmer’s sowing of seed and the second refers […]
Icons, Icon Painters, and Praying With Sacred Icons: PART 3
My favorite sacred icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the 6th century encaustic icon of Christ Pantocrator (Christ The Almighty One) from St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula. This sacred image was a […]
Part Two: Icons, Icon Painters, and Praying With Sacred Icons
The sacred icon is a visual aid that helps the person enter into a conversation with God, an angel, or a saint. If a sacred icon is to be painted with this […]
A New Class of Iconographers Begin Their Studies: The Work of The Holy Spirit
On Wednesday evening, May 23rd, ten members of the Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts here in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island USA were commissioned and blessed to […]
Icons, Icon Painters, and Praying With Sacred Icons: Part One
A few issues have come up in discussing some basic terms with people. I would like to be clear on how I have come to understand these words because it may affect […]
St. Matthias and the Renewal of Easter Hope – The Lord Loves His Friends
Today is the feast day of St. Matthias. The Acts of the Apostles relate that Matthias was chosen by lot to replace the disciple who had betrayed Jesus in the garden. In […]
Stones that Sing – The Photography of Dennis Aubrey and PJ McKey
A few months ago I discovered the exquisite photography of Dennis Aubrey and PJ McKey. They have a blog here on WordPress called Via Lucis. Their post of May 10th discusses and […]
ORO et CREO: PART THREE – A Personal Reflection
This is the third part of a three part series on a Spirit filled idea called Oro et Creo (“I Pray – I Create”). This idea was started by artists Jamie Medeiros […]
ORO et CREO: I Pray – I Create – Part Two – A Wonderful Idea For Your Church
This is the second part of a three part series with Jamie Medeiros, an artist whose parish is in Tiverton, Rhode Island, and Deacon Tom Lambert, a Permanent Deacon within the Diocese […]
