Monthly Archives: Mar 2025

In the l6th century, the world was believed to consist of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Here, Earth (associated with the season of autumn) is symbolized by the abundance of nature’s produce and by the small figure of Cybele, the ancient mother-goddess of earth and fertility, who rides across the sky in aContinue reading “The Bassano Allegory of the Element Earth”

For one day the penitential character of Lent is lightened with the celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation, the first great act of Salvation History. In this crowded image of the event, by the Hispano-Flemish artist Juan de Flandres, the youthful Virgin sits on a crimson tasseled cushion, wearing a voluminous, long, royal-blue dress,Continue reading “Juan de Flandres’s Annunciation”

Murillo’s rendering of the parable of the prodigal son, taken from Luke’s Gospel (15:11-32) is surely one of the most tender and compelling illustrations of forgiveness and unconditional love. A younger son squanders his inheritance and having reached rock bottom returns home repentant, only to find himself welcomed home with joy in the warm embraceContinue reading “Murillo’s Prodigal Son”

The Feast of Saint Joseph celebrated each year on the 19th March became common in Western Christianity as early as the 10th century and Saint Pope Pius V extended the observance to the entire Church in 1570. The day reminds catholics of Joseph as both a model of fatherhood and a protector of the HolyContinue reading “The Fearful Father”

There are surely few more shocking artistic accounts of Christ’s flagellation than this image by the Mexican artist Juan Correa. Painted in the 1670s, Correa portrays Jesus on his hands and knees, pitifully reaching for his clothes after his bloody whipping at a column, the punishment handed down by Pontius Pilate as the usual preludeContinue reading “The Man of Sorrows”

he Roman Martyrology for 13th March recalls the death in the year 857 of Saint Rodrigo, a Christian priest of Mozarab background, venerated as one of the Martyrs of Córdoba. Tradition states that Rodrigo had two brothers: one was a Muslim, the other irreligious. Once, after his brothers began to fight one another, he attemptedContinue reading “Rodrigo of Córdoba”

For many Christians today is the feast of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church who died on this day in the year 604. As leader of the Church, Gregory kept a close watch over the clergy and encouraged them towards holiness. He used papal money to ransom prisoners and to careContinue reading “The Joy of the World”

As some of us will already be struggling to maintain our Lenten commitments, feeling we have the devil on our shoulders, I thought this painting from the Mexican artist Luis Juárez might offer some encouragement. In the picture, the Archangel Saint Michael hovers over a fallen demon with a satyr’s ears. This is Satan, whomContinue reading “Quis est ut Deus”

To celebrate International Women’s Day I’m sharing Mary Cassatt’s ‘Spanish Girl leaning on a Window Sill’. Between 1872 and 1873, the American artist Mary Cassatt spent six months in Seville at the palace of the Duke and Duchess of Medinaceli, who often hosted friends, foreign travellers and painters. Cassatt, who worked hard and rarely leftContinue reading “The lady of the Casa Pilatos”

Today is the Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 – 7 March 1274) the Dominican friar and priest, and one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the Western tradition. Thomas was born in Roccasecca, near Aquino, controlled then by the Kingdom of Sicily, and in this portrayal of the saint by Antonio delContinue reading “The Angelic Doctor”