The Touch of God reflected in Art

This month’s newsletter is dedicated to St Teresa of Jesus, better known as St Teresa of Avila, because her 500th anniversary celebrations open this month and will last throughout 2015. St Teresa is famous as she was the reformer of the Carmelite order. Although she entered the convent at 20 years of age, her real […]

The Madonna with Child: Our Lady of the Rosary!

Giovan Battista Salvi, otherwise known as Sassoferrato (1609-1685), is an artist of the 17th Century whose career was distinguished by the painting of great portraits and devotional images particularly of the Virgin Mary. Indeed, he is often referred to affectionately as the “painter of the Madonna’s”. His natural style, that depicted his subjects with a […]

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio

In 1603, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, the future Pope Urban VIII, commissioned Michael Angelo Merisi, otherwise known as Caravaggio, to produce the masterpiece called “The Sacrifice of Isaac” which is now displayed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.. As a young artist, Caravaggio learned how to paint in the workshop of Simone Peterzano by studying life forms, […]

‘Annunciation’ by Federico Barocci

Federico Barocci (circa 1535-1612 ) was one of the most highly regarded mannerist painters of the 16th Century. His works were characterised by an exceptional use of colour and the composition of his works are both beautiful and intellectually interesting. Barocci, a third order Franciscan, was a man of faith and it influenced his art. […]

A Star That Announces A Prophecy

Where? Let’s go below the ground to look at the Churches first historic archive, to relive the authentic message of the Creed of the first Christians. We descend into St Priscilla’s Catacombs in the Via Salaria, Rome. The Catacombs are a place of rest. In naming their burial grounds the first Christians used a vocabulary […]

Our Faith is Written on the Stone!

At the heart of the Pio Clementine collection in the Vatican Museums is the famous sarcophagus known as the ‘ dogmatic sarcophagus’ or simply the ‘dogmatico’. It is a masterpiece of early Christian sculpture from Rome dated to approx. 325-340 AD. Every part of the sculpted funeral monument in some way testifies to the Faith […]

Three Fingers To Remove the Veil of Time

In the Church of Saint Mary in Vallicella in Rome, the home of the Oratorian Congregation founded by St Philip Neri between 1602 and 1604, Michaelangelo Merisi, otherwise known as Caravaggio, was commissioned by the Vittrici family to paint an altar piece depicting one of the sorrowful mysteries of the Holy Rosary: the death of […]

The Crucifixion of St Peter

Michael Angelo’s Crucifixion of St Peter in the Pauline Chapel The archeologist and graphologist, Margherita Guarducci, who lead the second phase of excavations to identify St Peter’s tomb in the Vatican Necropolis between 1940-1950, studied the various historic sources arrived at the conclusion that St Peter was crucified in Nero’s Circus in the Vatican on […]

Life will not end in emptiness

The mosaic portraits of two young spouses, Simplicia Rustica and Flavio Giulio Giuliano originates from the Ciriaca cemetery, otherwise known as the Monumental Cemetery of Verano, near St Lawrence Outside the Walls in Rome. These two mosaics, which are conserved in the Pio Christian Museum in the Vatican Museums, Rome, date to 350 A.D. The […]

The Column in the Piazza di Spagna

The Immaculate Conception and the Column in the Piazza di Spagna, Rome The column of the Immaculate Conception is situated next to the Piazza di Spagna in the adjacent Piazza Mignanelli in front of the Spanish Embassy in Rome near the Palace of the Propagation of the Faith. It was realised by the architect Luigi […]