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This is the only known icon devoted to the genealogy of a monastic order. Its subject is the "House of Ewost' atéwos," one of two major monastic orders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Born circa 1273, St. Ewost' atéwos founded a number of monasteries in northern Ethiopia.
The son of God is represented seated on heaven's throne, with his right hand raised, palm faced outward with three fingers extended. This gesture communicated a particular message to medieval Catholics in Western Europe. It is part of an iconographic pose called in Latin the "Maiestas Domini,...
Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to…
This monumental panel probably once decorated a chapel. Both are from a large window in which the Crucifixion was in the center and the Saint Christopher at the right. The third panel, which would have been on the left, is lost.
In the Roman Missal we find the instruction, “In the Dioceses of the United States, the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church from [the fifth] Sunday [of Lent] may be observed.
The Apostle John was one of the "pillars" of the Jerusalem church after Jesus' death. He was one of the original twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age and not be killed for his faith.
“Commesso can best preserve antiquity and memory...and can resist all the battles of water and wind and other mishaps of fortune and of time.” Thus Giorgio Vasari wrote of commesso, a newly revived antique technique for making pictures with cut stone.
A monstrance is used to display the consecrated host during the Blessed Sacrament in a Roman Catholic church or in a procession for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This example, or a nearly identical one, was part of an award winning altar service shown by the firm of Poussielgue-Rusand...
According to the Legend of St. Catherine, this young woman converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. At the age of 18, she debated 50 pagan philosophers. Amazed at her wisdom and debating skills, they became Christians—as did about 200 soldiers and members of the emperor’s family.
This scene takes place entirely in the celestial sphere, with a background of defined and golden clouds. Saint Joseph appears in profile, kneeling, and of advanced age, holding a hand to his chest and a flowery rod.
An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Catholic liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the book, among other things.
Jerome (c. 342–347 – 30 September 420) was born at Stridon, a village near Emona on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia. Jerome is best known for his translation of most of the Bible into Latin (the translation that became known as the Vulgate) and his commentaries on the whole Bible.
In this painting Gentile da Fabriano combined several different devotional and biblical subjects: the Madonna of Humility, the Nativity, and the Annunciation to the Shepherds. As the Madonna of Humility, the Virgin sits upon the ground, her hands folded as she worships the child in her lap.
An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Catholic liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the book, among other things.
To test Abraham's faith, God ordered him to sacrifice his only child Isaac. Abraham bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, and drew his knife to kill him.
A muscular young man with a strong profile, who looks fully destined to kill a giant and to reign as Israel's king, this David is no innocent boy with a slingshot. Carelessly cradling Goliath's huge, severed head with one arm and his oversize sword in the other, he gazes off into the future.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was just twenty-three years old when he received one of his first commissions to make a full-sized bust of Pope Paul V, the recently deceased uncle of his most important patron, Cardinal Scipione Borghese.
At the Passover of most likely 30 or 33, Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus of Nazareth to death by crucifixion in Jerusalem. The main sources on the crucifixion are the four canonical Christian Gospels.
The Old Testament hero Samson rests his head on his hand in a pensive, even melancholic pose. Objects on the table recall two of his heroic deeds: he killed a lion with his bare hands, and liberated the Israelites by slaughtering a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone.
In the late 1400s Andrea del Verrochio set up a large workshop where he and his assistants reproduced copies of his sculpture and other works for a middle-class market. Originality was not the objective; in fact, most people were only interested in purchasing replicas of well-known works.
Details The main sources which directly attest the fact of Christ's Resurrection are the Four Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul. Easter morning is so rich in incident, and so crowded with interested persons, that its complete history presents a rather complicated tableau. According to St. Matthew,...
In his right hand, the Christ child grasps a stem of roses. The beauty and fragrance of roses symbolize heaven, while their thorny stems allude to the crown of thorns and Christ's suffering. The bird he holds in his left hand symbolizes the human soul.
The Saint Edward Campion Missal is a missal for the Traditional Latin Mass contains the complete Propers and Readings in Latin & English for all Sundays, Holy Days, and First Class Feasts in the 1962 Missal. Also included are the Requiem Mass (Funerals), Nuptial Mass (Weddings), and Confirmation.
Saint Joan of Arc lived in the 1400's during the Hundred Years' War. As a young girl—from 17–19 years-old—she played a major part in the war between two warring French factions (Armagnac and Burgundian). She regularly saw visions of St. Michael (who was accompanied by other angels), St.
