Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
Rubens painted this image of Judah Maccabee praying for the dead; the painting illustrates an episode from 2 Maccabees 12:39–48 in which Judah's troops find stolen idolatrous charms on the corpses of Jewish warriors slain on the battlefield.
Saint Peter (died between AD 64 and 68), also known as Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Peter the Apostle, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and one of the first leaders of the early Church. According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero.
Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta Caecilia), is a Roman martyr venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden.
St. Peter Martyr, also called Peter of Verona, Italian San Pietro Martire or San Pietro da Verona, (born 1205?, Verona [Italy]—died April 6, 1252, near Milan; canonized 1253; feast day April 29), inquisitor, vigorous preacher, and religious founder who, for his militant reformation, was assassinated by a neo-Manichaean...
Rita of Cascia, born Margherita Lotti, (1381 – 22 May 1457) was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. After Rita's husband died, she joined an Augustinian community of religious sisters, where she was known both for practicing mortification of the...
The woman with seven sons was a Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7 and other sources, who had seven sons that were arrested (along with her) by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who forced them to prove their respect to him by consuming pig meat. When they refused, he tortured and...
This is a painting from the Deuterocanonical book Maccabees. It shows the moment when Antiochus IV (the king of the Seleucid Empire) began to force Jews to worship Greek Gods by royal decree (1 Maccabees Verses 44–50). The Maccabees were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who took control...
Rita of Cascia, born Margherita Lotti, (1381 – 22 May 1457) was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. After Rita's husband died, she joined an Augustinian community of religious sisters, where she was known both for practicing mortification of the...
Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also called Saint Lucia (Latin: Sancta Lucia) or Saint Lucy, was a Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches. She is one of eight women (including Saint Mary)...
One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha (231-251 AD) was put to death during the Decian persecution (250–253) in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of faith. Her feast day is February 5th. According to the 13th-century Golden Legend, the 15-year-...
According to The Golden Legend, Margaret the Virgin was a native of Antioch and the daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. Her mother having died soon after her birth, Margaret was nursed by a Christian woman five or six leagues (6.9–8.3 miles) from Antioch. Having embraced...
Elizabeth of Hungary (7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231) was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia, Germany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness. Elizabeth was married...
Elizabeth of Aragon, more commonly known as Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (1271 – 4 July 1336), was queen consort of Portugal, a tertiary of the Franciscan Order and is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. Elizabeth showed an early enthusiasm for her faith. She said the full Divine Office...
Elizabeth (also spelled Elisabeth; Hebrew: אֱלִישֶׁבַע / אֱלִישָׁבַע "My God has sworn") was the mother of John the Baptist and the wife of Zechariah, according to the Gospel of Luke. She was past normal child-bearing years when she gave birth...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
Jerome and Catherine sit on a grass-covered bench before some rose bushes. The two saints can be identified by their attributes: Jerome with the lion, and Catherine with the sword and the broken wheel. Catherine was the daughter of a king and served as a role model for wealthy...
The Virgin wears a bright red dress—likely representing the Holy Spirit or presence of God. She also wears a light blue veil and dark blue shawl—representing heavenly grace. She is bathed in light which emanates from her holy infant, Jesus Christ.
As Christ stumbled under the weight of the cross that he bore on the way to his crucifixion, Saint Veronica comforted him and wiped the blood and sweat from his face with her veil. The frontal view adopted in this portrait recalls the depiction of Christ’s face as it...
