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Mary Magdalene, sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine, was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and its aftermath. She is mentioned by name twelve times in...
According to apocryphal Christian tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come only from the Protoevangelium of James. The Protoevangelium...
Narcissa Niblack Thorne (May 2, 1882 – June 25, 1966) was an American artist known for her extremely detailed miniature rooms. Her works depict historical interiors from Europe, Asia and North America from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The Thorne rooms are honored with dedicated exhibits in the...
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. She was born and raised...
While contemplating the crucifix, Mary Magdalene clasps her hands in prayer and devoutly kneels with her eyes raised towards the heavens. The agitated drapery of her gown and the white light streaming into her tear-filled eyes convey a deeply emotional and spiritual scene. A vision of angels appears in the...
A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the more convenient exhibition of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic host during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament....
Saint Veronica, also known as Berenike, was a woman from Jerusalem who lived in the 1st century AD, according to extra-biblical Christian sacred tradition. She is a celebrated saint in many pious Christian countries. According to Church tradition, Veronica was moved with sympathy seeing Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary...
King David exemplified mercy and self-restraint in preventing his companion Abishai from killing the sleeping King Saul (1 Samuel 26: 5-10). The simple, dramatic composition and statuesque main figures give this small, slightly eerie, moonlit scene a monumental quality. Yet the rhythm from the flowing movement and patterns of the...
Candlemas (also spelled Candlemass), also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a Christian Holy Day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is based upon the...
Please Subscribe or Donate [https://sdcason.com/donate] to Help Keep This Site Free! Saint Barbara (d. c. 306 C.E.) was a Christian saint and martyr who died at Nicomedia in today's Turkey c. 306 C.E. Known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Great Martyr Barbara,...
Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta Caecilia), is a Roman martyr venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the patron of music and musicians, it being written that, as the musicians played at her wedding, Cecilia "sang in her heart to...
A homily (όμλία) is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered exemplary examples of Christian homily. "In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox...
Anthony or Anthony the Great (c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony such as Anthony of Padua, by various epithets of his own: Saint Anthony, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony...
Jean Bellegambe worked in Douai, in a part of northern France that was once part of the county of Flanders. These panels are the wings of a triptych, a three-paneled folding altarpiece, whose center (now in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) shows the Virgin and Child enthroned under an...
The Last Gospel is the name given to the Prologue of St. John's Gospel (John 1:1–14) when read as part of the concluding rites in the Tridentine Mass. The Prologue speaks on Jesus Christ as the Logos and on the Incarnation. The Last Gospel began as...
Paul the Apostle (5–67 AD), commonly known as Saint Paul and also known by his Hebrew name Saul of Tarsus, was a Christian apostle (although not one of the Twelve Apostles) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. Generally regarded as one of the most important...
Lucy's history has been lost and all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life during the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church...
A Nuptial Mass is a Ritual Mass within which the sacrament of matrimony is celebrated. If one of a couple being married in a Catholic church is not a Catholic, the rite of matrimony outside Mass is to be followed. However, if the non-Catholic has been validly baptized, then, in...
David is described in the Hebrew Bible as king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah. In the Books of Samuel, David is a young shepherd who gains fame first as a musician and later by killing the giant Goliath, champion of the Philistines. He becomes a favorite of...
A gifted follower of Perugino, Lo Spagna expanded on the master’s calm style in numerous works made for Perugia and the surrounding region of Umbria. This panel represents Catherine Benincasa of Siena (1347–1380), who was one of the major religious figures and most influential women of the late...
A religious sister in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer. Both nuns and sisters use the term "sister" as a form...
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. All...
A devout woman, shown at lower right, is presented by saints and an angel to the central Virgin and Child. In clockwise order from her is Saint Lucy, identified by the cauldron and sword at her feet; Saint Agnes, by the lamb; Saint Scholastica, by the dove she holds; and...
The Passionists, formally known as the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (Latin: Congregatio Passionis Iesu Christi, C.P.), are a Catholic religious order of Pontifical Right founded by Saint Paul of the Cross with a special emphasis on and devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ. Professed members...
