This site's editor-in-chief is a Catholic husband, father, and author. He loves sharing the Catholic faith through art and graphic design. Check out his prayer books and coloring books on Amazon.com
Holy Eucharist refers to the three aspects of Christ’s body and blood — as sacrifice during the Consecration of the Mass, as Holy Communion, and as Blessed Sacrament. These three aspects form the core of Catholic belief on the Holy Eucharist. Only wheat bread and grape wine can be used....
Saint Matthias was, according to the Acts of the Apostles (written c. AD 80–90), chosen by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally...
Saint Romuald, born in 950, founded a strict order of monks who valued austerity and meditation. His white robe shows that his order was related to the better-known Benedictines, and his book and staff, made from reeds, speak to his wisdom and commitment to living simply. The fine details...
Saint Benedict of Palermo (1524-1589) was the first Christian saint of African origin to be canonized in modern times. He was born in Sicily (then part of Spain) of parents who were freed slaves, and who were said to have come from Ethiopia. Saint Benedict was admired as a...
One of the most popular saints in the Late Middle Ages, Saint Christopher—whose name means "Christ-bearer"—was the patron saint of travelers and pilgrims. A legendary giant, Christopher wished to serve the most powerful king in the world. A hermit advised him to devote his life...
In this large canvas, Guido Reni, a leading seventeenth-century Bolognese painter, depicted one of the New Testament’s more macabre stories. Salome, the daughter of Queen Herodias, so pleased her stepfather, Herod Antipas, by dancing at his birthday feast that he promised to grant her any wish. Prompted by...
Cardinal Woelki blesses the coffin of Joachim Cardinal em. Meisner at a Requiem Mass at the Cologne cathedral, 2017. Free Downloads Below Hi-Res [https://sdcason.com/content/images/2021/06/Exsequien_Joachim_Meisner-7819_o.jpeg] 1200px [https://sdcason.com/content/images/size/w1200/2021/06/Exsequien_Joachim_Meisner-...
Saints from left to right: Saint Sebastian +288: with a signature arrow piercing his chest. He was killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. Saint Francis +1226: was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon, mystic, and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor,...
Although Saint Andrew is typically associated with an X-shaped cross, here he is depicted on a standard vertical cross. Saint Andrew’s efforts to introduce Christianity to Greece in the first century AD were met with hostility from local authorities. He was sentenced to die on the cross because...
Vicenza is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately 60 kilometers (37 mi) west of Venice and 200 kilometers (120 mi) east of Milan.The city is predominantly Roman...
John the Baptist (late 1st century BC – c. AD 30) was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the 20th century AD. John the Baptist is mentioned by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus and revered as a major religious figure in Christianity. He is considered a prophet and is honored as a...
The woman is Mary Magdalene. She can be identified by her jar of ointment, which she used to anoint Jesus’s feet. Van Scorel painted her as a seductive, luxuriously dressed courtesan, a reference to her reputed past as a prostitute. Her clothing shows the influence of Italian painting, to...
Designed to facilitate the display and veneration of ten relics, this sumptuous ostensorium (from the Latin ostendere, meaning "to show") is one of the most unusual reliquaries in the Guelph Treasure. Elements of contemporary Gothic architecture in miniature frame an elaborately decorated liturgical paten, the shallow disc or...
Martin of Tours (316 – 8 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the patron saint of the French Third Republic, and is patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe. A native...
Against an open, hilly landscape, the lifeless body of Christ hangs from a wood cross, his slumped head, open mouth and tense muscles capture the dramatic moment of his death. The monumental figures of the Virgin (left) and Saint John the Evangelist (right) stand at his side and in the...
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (Russian: Кирилло-Белозерский монастырь), translated into English as White Lake [translation of the town name of Beloozero] St. Cyril's Monastery, used to be the largest monastery in Northern Russia. The monastery was consecrated to the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, for which cause...
Catherine of Siena (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a lay member of the Dominican Order, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and the Catholic Church. Canonized in 1461, she is also a Doctor of the Church. Source [https://en.wikipedia.org/...
This panel, along with The Baptism of Christ and Madonna and Child with Five Angels were once part of the same altarpiece devoted to Saint John the Baptist. Several more components have found their way to other collections. The altarpiece’s original location is not known, though it was probably...
In the Roman Catholic tradition, there are many religious institutes of nuns and sisters (the female equivalent of male monks or friars), each with its own charism or special character. Traditionally, nuns are members of enclosed religious orders and take solemn religious vows, while sisters do not live in the...
Flavia Julia Helena (c. 246/248 – c. 330), or Saint Helena, was the mother of Roman emperor Constantine the Great. She was born outside of the noble classes, a Greek, possibly in the Greek city of Drepana, Bithynia in Asia Minor. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history...
Better known for grand, monumental compositions and illusionistic decorations, here Lanfranco painted on a smaller scale, successfully portraying an intimate moment between the Madonna, her son, and her nephew. While the Madonna tenderly caresses her son, the two children extend their arms toward each other, expressing both familial and divine...
Entrance to St. Peter Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's, North Side neighborhood. The church building dates to 1888, when, using the original architectural plans, it replaced a new structure that burned to the ground in a fire two years earlier Free Downloads Below Hi-Res [https://sdcason.com/...
Please enjoy the latest posts from the blog below. I've added dozens of images lately, so if you haven't checked out the home page in a while, go over there and do so. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you find! Remember, all the images...
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, He...
