The traditional iconography of the Immaculate Conception associates the lily with Mary. This flower symbolizes purity both for its white color and for the sweet scent it gives off. Furthermore, the flower recalls the beauty of Mary who is the most perfect creature of God. To pray on the 3rd day of the Novena of […]
The traditional iconography of the Immaculate always depicts Mary as a young woman. Her youthfulness represents the fact that she is only creature conceived without original sin. Therefore, Mary’s youthful features in the images of the Immaculate Conception indicates that she did not suffer the consequences of original sin. Mary Most Holy is the […]
The traditional iconography of the Immaculate Conception depicts Mary dressed in white and blue. White, the color of purity, represents the candor that the Virgin enjoys, as she is unstained by original sin. The light white robe is then covered by the deep blue mantle, the color of the sky. Blue, therefore, becomes a […]
In the encyclical Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI proclaimed the Solemnity of Christ the King for the Universal Church. To celebrate the Solemnity, the Holy Father requested that mankind be dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus because Christ must reign in the hearts of men so that His Kingdom may come on earth. The […]
21 November – Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary In The Temple A prayer to Our Lady to celebrate the Feast of her Presentation in the Temple, by St Alphonsus Liguori from ‘the Glories of Mary’: Oh holy Lady know that already through thy prayers the Son of God is hastening to come and redeem […]
Pope Innocent XI instituted the feast of the Holy Name of Mary on the 12th September to thank Our Lady for the victory of the famous battle of Vienna against the Ottoman Empire on the 11th September 1683. On this day, Europe found itself on the brink of distruction. The Ottoman forces had invaded Vienna […]
The Navicella, by Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 –1337),which illustrates the scene from St Mathew’s Gospel when St Peter walks on water towards Christ, (Mt 14:22-33) is one of St Peter’s Basilica’s most important works. This icon of faith has greeted visitors leaving the Basilica since the early 14th Century onwards. The mosaic that remains today, […]
St Joseph’s fountain, realised in 2010 by architects Giuseppe Facchini and Barbara Bellano in collaboration with artist Franco Murer, brings the number of fountains in the Vatican city to 100. The fountain was commissioned because the Vatican Gardens, so rich in artistic patrimony from every epoch, was not blessed with a monument in honour of […]
In this month of June, in which we are preparing to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, we will delve into the explanation of the Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament (1509) by Raphael that was realized in one of what is commonly recognised as Pope Julius II apartments in the Vatican: the room of the […]
To rediscover and recover our faith it is necessary to start from the very foundations which are expressed in the Symbol of the Faith, which is the Creed. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that from the very origins of Christianity “the apostolic Church expressed and handed on her faith in brief formulae normative […]