March 2023—Sacra Conversazione - Mary with the Child, St Felicity of Carthage and St Perpetua
Unknown Artist
Painting - tempera and gold leaf on panel
National Museum, Warsaw, Poland
“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—water pot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”
Perpetua, a well-educated, noblewoman from Carthage, before being martyred
February 2023—Our Lady of Lourdes
“Painting of the apparition of Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in the Grotto at Massabieffe near Lourdes” - Artist Unknown
"The Lady only spoke to me the third time ... She told me also that she did not promise to make me happy in this world, but in the next."
— St. Bernadette
January 2023—The Virgin in Prayer by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (c. 1650) in the National Gallery, London, UK
Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the Christmas spotlight. Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed by the angel: Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38)
December 2022—The miracles of St. Francis Xavier by Peter Paul Rubens (1618) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
A model of humility, Xavier was a companion of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity.
He lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and rough accommodations and spent countless hours ministering to the sick and the poor, particularly to lepers.
November 2022—Portrait of St. Martin de Porres, c. 17th century, Monastery of Rosa of Santa Maria in Lima.
(This portrait was painted during his lifetime, hence it is probably the most true to his appearance.)
Racism is a sin almost nobody confesses. Like pollution, it is a “sin of the world” that is everybody’s responsibility but apparently nobody’s fault.
One could hardly imagine a more fitting patron of Christian forgiveness—on the part of those discriminated against—and Christian justice—on the part of reformed racists—than Martin de Porres.
October 2022—‘Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy’ is a painting/tapestry by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
It is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.
Francis had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the forsaken country chapel of San Damiano, just outside Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him:
"Francis, Francis, go and repair My church which, as you can see, is falling into ruins."
