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
Details: Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture "Cristo Crocifisso" (The Crucified Christ) is a life-size bronze sculpture of the crucified Jesus[2]. It was cast in 1650 and held in Bernini's private collection for 25 years[2]. It is believed that Bernini cast three versions of...
Details: The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI was held on Thursday, January 5th, 2023 in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican[1][2]. The funeral was presided over by Pope Francis and attended by around 50,000 people[1]. The body of Pope Benedict XVI had been lying...
Details: St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina is a parish that is a thriving example of the New Evangelization[1]. The church offers Mass daily from Monday to Friday at 8:30 am and noon, and Saturdays at 8:30 am[2]. Confessions are heard in the...
Details: Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen are two sculptures by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini. They sit in the Chigi Chapel of Siena Cathedral. The statues were commissioned as part of the chapel by the then–pope Alexander VII (Fabio Chigi). Work began on the sculptures in 1661 and they...
Details: Built between 1922 and 1924, the Gothic Revival-style red brick St. John Catholic Church was designed by St. Louis-based firm Ludewig & Dreisoerner for the St. John Catholic Church congregation, the third-oldest catholic congregation in Covington, formed in 1854 and originally located at the corner of Worth Street and...
Details: The phrase "the Good Shepherd" is used to refer to Jesus Christ and His inherent goodness, righteousness, and sacrificial love[1][2][3][4]. This image is found in the pericope of John 10:1–21, where Jesus is depicted as laying down His life for His...
Details: This painting shows Christ and his twelve disciples seated at a round table for the Last Supper. Christ raises his hand to consecrate the items before them—a chalice of wine and a loaf of bread, partially sliced to resemble the Eucharistic wafers of the Mass. Biblical accounts make...
Details: The Catholic Church has several symbols associated with the Holy Spirit, including a dove[1][2], fire[2], oil[4], wind[2], and water[4]. Other symbols include nine flames, nine lamps, a nine-pointed crown, or a nine-branched candelabra[3]. These symbols represent the nine fruits of the Holy...
Details: The "plashchnitsa" (Greek "epitaphios") is an altar cloth that was brought out for special veneration on Good Friday, the feast day of the Crucifixion. At the center, the dead Christ is depicted on an altar-like table beneath a six-winged cherub. To the left and right,...
Details: This painted enamel pendant was probably commissioned as a baptism gift. An inscription on the back of the silver frame gives a birth date (September 9, 1768), and the date of the child's "name day," or baptism (September 28), also the date of the feasts...
Details: This large Ethiopian Gospel Book was made in the first half of the sixteenth century and is written in Ge'ez, the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Containing eleven full-page miniatures, six canon tables, and five elaborately ornamented harags, or headpieces, this manuscript represents the...
Details: This is one of twenty-six known manuscripts by the hand of Luke the Cypriot (active 1583-1625), an accomplished Greek calligrapher who worked after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453). He copied it in 1594 at his episcopal see of Buzau (in Wallachia, now Romania) and soon took it to...
Details: The Deposition is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo. It depicts four figures: the dead body of Jesus Christ, newly taken down from the Cross, Nicodemus (or possibly Joseph of Arimathea), Mary Magdalene, and the Virgin Mary. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell&...
Details: The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built into the buttes of Sedona, Arizona, and is run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, as a part of St. John Vianney Parish in Sedona. Richard Hein was chosen as project architect, and the design was...
Details: Justice and peace, according to Catholic Social Teaching, are closely intertwined[1][2]. The pursuit of justice is essential for achieving peace, and love for all people demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict[1]. All human beings possess an equal and inalienable...
Details: This painted enamel plaque, based on a print by Albrecht Dürer, shows the Resurrection of Christ, two days after his death on the Cross. Christ stands triumphantly, right arm outstretched, on the displaced lid of the sarcophagus from which he has just emerged. The two soldiers in the foreground...
Details: Faith is the first of the three theological virtues, the other two being hope and charity (or love)[1][2][3][4][5]. It is a supernatural virtue by which we firmly believe in our hearts all the truths God has revealed[3]. Faith is an infused virtue, meaning...
Details: King David playing the harp is a common representation in medieval art[2]. This iconography is often used to symbolize joy and redemption[5], as well as to express prayer and love to God[5]. It also reflects David's role as the composer/performer of the Psalms[...
In this post, we will be focusing specifically on the issue of nudity in Christian art, why I do not include nudity on this website, and what Pope Saint John Paul II said about this topic.
Details: This panel was painted for a multipaneled altarpiece believed to be from Szászrégen in Transylvania, in present-day Romania. The piece was painted by the same artist who created the nearby paintings Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego, Seven Fat and Seven Lean Cows, and Two Men and Stocks. Each of the...
Details: St. Joseph is the patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers, travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers and working people[1][2]. He is also associated with various feast days and is regarded as the patron saint of workers[3]. Additionally, St. Joseph is...
Details: Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (1927-2022), was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013[1]. He was elected to the papacy in 2005[2] and is remembered outside the Catholic...
Details: King David playing the harp is a common representation in medieval art[2]. This iconography is often used to symbolize joy and redemption[5], as well as to express prayer and love to God[5]. It also reflects David's role as the composer/performer of the Psalms[...
Details: King David playing the harp is a common representation in medieval art[2]. This iconography is often used to symbolize joy and redemption[5], as well as to express prayer and love to God[5]. It also reflects David's role as the composer/performer of the Psalms[...
