Italian Pilgrimage: Florence

Florence as viewed from Piazzale Michelangelo

I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day my husband, Paul, and I would travel to Italy, yet there we were for an amazing ten-day pilgrimage filled with graces and wonders.  We traveled with Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Gary, Indiana, Pentecost Tours and the Institute on Religious Life.  Our tour guide, Patrizia, was fabulous!  She took amazing care of our group of 80 pilgrims, always watching out for us and our interests and teaching us so much about her gorgeous country and our beautiful faith.  We feasted on delicious food each day and drank more wine than was reasonable.  And, most precious of all, we had daily Mass! 

Garments of St. Francis of Assisi at Uffizi Gallery

With our hearts full of prayer for our friends and family, our country, our Church and our souls, we arrived in Florence, a bustling and vibrant city, tired from the long flight, but excited for the adventure that lay ahead of us.  We visited magnificent churches including the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore, the fourth largest church in Europe, Santa Croce where Michelangelo and Galileo were buried, and the Uffizi Gallery where we marveled at religious art and even discovered the garments of St. Francis of Assisi!  We celebrated two Masses in Florence, one at San Giuseppe and the other at St. Michele Gaetano, where Cardinal Burke celebrates Mass and ordinations when in Italy.  The vestments that Bishop Hying and the concelebrating priests wore at St. Michele’s were antique;  I believe they were several hundred years old!

Mass at St. Michele Gaetano
(photo credit Bishop Donald Hying facebook page)

Mass at San Giuseppe
(photo credit Bishop Donald Hying facebook page)

Sante Croce

Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore

One of the most charming experiences we had in Florence occurred during lunch at an outdoor cafe on a narrow street just outside of San Guiseppe's Church-I wish I had written down the name of the restaurant, but sadly, I didn't.  We watched as a dog ran into the open door of the restaurant across from us and saw the employees feed him some scraps.  Then the dog ran into the open door of the restaurant where we were eating and he received more scraps.  While the dog was enjoying his second lunch, his owner ran into the restaurant and scolded the employees for feeding his pet.  We would never have seen something like that happening in Wisconsin!

No matter which building we entered, whether it was a church or a museum, the tour guide was sure to point out the flood markers.  On November 4th, 1966, Florence suffered a horrific flood of the river Arno which caused over 100 deaths and saw the water rise to 22 feet.  As you can imagine there was much destruction to the beautiful churches and artwork in the city and the tragic event has remained at the forefront in the minds of all Florentines.  We marveled at the amount of repair work that must have been undertaken to restore the treasures of Florence. You can learn more about the flood here.

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The square in front of Piazza del Duomo after the flood (source)

We didn’t think we could possibly see anything more marvelous than Florence and its historic churches and art that had been painstakingly restored as much as possible since the flood, but then we traveled to Assisi where even more amazing beauty and rich faith experiences awaited us.  I instantly fell in love with Assisi!  That story is soon to come.

  My favorite artwork at the Uffizi Gallery 

Mother and Child

St. Anne with Mary and Jesus

Mother and Child

Carrying the cross

Crucifixion

Scenes from Florence churches

Angels

Our Lord in the arms of God and the angels

Crucifixion

Scenes from Florence

The best meal I have ever had-so mouthwatering!
The waiter apologized because the mushrooms
weren't quite right but I thought they were perfect!
-from the restaurant with the dog

Benches made from bedframes at the restaurant with the dog-so quaint!

I have to stop telling lies!

View from the rooftop garden at Hotel Baglioni at sunrise

The happy pilgrims on the rooftop garden of Hotel Baglioni

Loyola Art Museum

On a recent visit to the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, my family and I made a quick visit to the Loyola University Museum of Art.  Free admission on Tuesday was definitely a bonus.  The museum was very small, consisting of only two floors.  The first floor showcased a Shaker Art display which was beautiful in its simplicity.  The second floor held a display of sacred art from the Renaissance period, my very favorite!  I just have a few snapshots to share of the pieces that moved my heart, without the accompanying descriptions, unfortunately, but the art truly does speak for itself.  For more information about the Loyola University Museum of Art, visit here.  For more on the Martin D'arcy, S.J. Collection, from which all of the images below were taken, visit here.  Martin D'Arcy, SJ, was a Jesuit priest who lived in England from 1888-1976.  This collection is named in his honor.

The head of John the Baptist.  The accompanying description mentioned that those who suffered from headaches and ailments of the head would place their hat upon the face of  St. John to receive healing.

Mother and Child

Nativity Triptych

crucifix and vessels

The Queen of Heaven with four Jesuit saints from left to right:  St. Stanislaus Kostka,SJ,  St. Ignatius Loyola, SJ,
St. Francis Xavier, SJ and St. Aloysius Gonzaga, SJ

Ecce Homo (description here)

Crucifixion  Polyptych 

The angel standing below the crucifix is capturing the Precious Blood of Christ in a chalice.

The Vatican Museums 3D- A Review

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After my thrilling and highly educational trip to Kansas City with my friend, the talented artist, Christi Jentz, last summer to immerse myself in the world of sacred art, (see links 1, 2 and 3) I have kept a keen eye open for further news of the art world.  So I was terribly excited to learn that SpectiCast Distributors, in collaboration with Vatican Museums Directorate, have released an hour long 3D film of the inside story behind the Vatican Museums art collection.  The Vatican Museums 3D offers a never-before-seen view of some of the most magnificent and breath-taking art that can be found in the Vatican's collection, as well as sharing some of the stories of the artists who were commissioned to create the sacred art that has moved our hearts and souls through the centuries.

Recently I was offered the opportunity to watch an online preview version of the film.  Although I'm sure that the presentation is much more dramatic on the big-screen, seeing this foretaste was enough to whet my appetite to continue my quest to learn more about sacred art and to fuel my desire to visit the Vatican in person one day.  I was fascinated to learn a bit about the history behind Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel and Vincent Van Gogh's creation of the Pieta, among other artist's stories. The film was a marvel from beginning to end.

However, the film was not without its disappointments.  From time to time, a museum docent was shown explaining the art while an English interpretation spoke over his voice.  I found the two languages spoken simultaneously to be distracting and it made it difficult to understand the English version.  I also found the depiction of the artists portrayed by actors, as well as the loud sound-effects and music, to be unnecessary and a bit overdone.  To see the beauty of the art and to be educated through a non-visible narrator would have been all that was needed to make this film a not-to-be missed educational wonder.

The Vatican Museums 3D definitely left me hungry for more as I'm sure that it's impossible to share all of the religious art, and offer background details on its creation, in an hour long movie.  I hope that a series of feature-length films on The Vatican Museums will be coming in the future.

The Vatican Museums 3D will be shown in more than 500 theaters in the United States, none of which are in Wisconsin, unfortunately.  According to the press release, THE VATICAN MUSEUMS 3D will be in theaters everywhere beginning December 10 in partnership with Fathom Events, and will be shown in 2D and RealD 3D. Additional shows will be in select theaters December 11 and 14.   To find a list of theaters where it will be shown, as well as to learn more about the film and watch the trailer, visit this link.

Much thanks to Kevin Wandra at Carmel Communications for this opportunity to preview and share my opinion of The Vatican Museums 3D.  Enjoy the trailer below or at this link.

The Leaves Shall Be For Healing-Tree of Life Sea Glass Mosaic Progress

"Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him." ~Revelation 22:2

Christi Jentz and I spent another lovely afternoon gluing pieces of sea glass to our Tree of Life mosaic. Her pictures turned out so beautifully, really showing the progress we have made on this joint project, and I'm pleased to share them here.  Autumn, spring and summer are "leafing out" well and we chose my patterned white pieces for the winter ice.  The marbles as the fruit of the tree stand out nicely!  Christi wrote a post for 9/11 on her Lumen Christi art blog, recalling the passage from Revelelations that the "leaves shall be for healing." Visit it and offer your own prayer for our nation. (link).  

See previous links here and here.

Sea Glass Tree of Life Mosaic-Update

"Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him." ~Revelation 22:2

Doesn't it look pretty with the light shining through?
When we are finished, the entire window will be covered with glass.

Last June my friend, Christi, and I began to plan out a sea glass mosaic project depicting the Tree of Life from the book of Revelation and I shared our beginnings here.  We recently spent six hours on a lovely late-summer day to seriously begin the work.  Since our first session in June, I diligently worked at sorting the many  jars of assorted colors of sea glass that I had accumulated over the last seven years.  I purchased an old window from our local rehab store thinking about how gorgeous the mosaic would look hanging in a window, and then I waited patiently until Christi and I could find a date that would work for  the two of us to gather at my kitchen table and begin the painstaking process of gluing the sea glass shards to the window glass.

When Christi arrived at my house, the first thing we did was to give my recycled window a critical look and decided that it was too shabby, too large, and in too much disrepair to use for our project.  So off we went to another store that sold windows that had known a former purpose.  The very first window we noticed when we walked into the store turned out to be the most perfect window for our project and we purchased it with some of the funds that I earned selling my poetry notecards at the Kansas City National Religious Art Show last July.  (For more on that story, visit this link.)

With the perfect window in hand, Christi offered a quick prayer offering our work for the glory of God and we began spreading the glass out on the table, and, using E6000 glue, set to work meticulously gluing brown glass for the tree trunk, and blue and white pieces for the river, onto the glass.

My collection of sea glass marbles is extremely small with only 12 pieces in all, and I had hoped to keep them in little plastic containers on my front porch window as a treasured prize forever, but Christi convinced me that the marbles would be put to better use as the seasonal fruits on the tree where they would really stand out.  Of course she was right. Her artistic eye instinctively knows what will look best.  Slowly, I am learning the spiritual discipline of detachment.

And so we carried on most pleasantly gluing the sea glass marbles and shards to the window when all too soon it was time for my children to arrive home from school and for Christi and I to clean up the project pieces and set them away for another day.  But this time we don't want to wait months before setting about the task once again and we set a date for the following week.  I can hardly wait to see how this will turn out when we are through and am anticipating a life-time of pleasure and prayer as I look at, and through, the glass recalling the bounty and goodness of God.

So much glass to choose from!
Can you pick out the subtle differences in shades of green and the faint difference between lavender and white?

A work in progress!

Setting the spring flowers in place using tiny mussel shells for the leaves and blue sea glass for forget-me-nots.

You can see that Christi had drawn a rough outline on the glass with blue marker.
We decided that it would have been better to have drawn it on the bottom of the glass so we could wash it off.  Can you see it through the blue water on the sides?

The large glass pieces along the bottom sides represent the 12 houses of Israel.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City (source Wikipedia)

restaurant at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art-it looks like an Italian courtyard, doesn't it?

a hallway at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art resembling a monastery walkway

One of the highlights of my time in Kansas City was our visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  Christi and I only had a few hours to spend perusing the art so I was very grateful that she had been there many times before and knew exactly where to go to see the best that the museum had to offer and she willingly shared her knowledge of the pieces we viewed.  I felt as though I had my own personal guided tour and really got a lot out of my short time there.  Yet for all that the museum has to offer, they charge no admission fee whatsoever.

We spent most of our time looking at and praying with religious art.  It seemed as though an entire floor was dedicated to works of faith from the Medieval and Renaissance periods.  Of course I loved it all and took so many pictures that I wore my phone battery right out!  When we completed the tour of the religious art and looked at some of the more modern pieces in the museum's collection I found that the non-religious art all appeared so blase and meaningless to me despite the talent and popularity of the artists.  Nothing compares to the beauty of our faith!  Some of the pieces I loved the most are pictured here.

How fascinating to find a relic of St. John the Baptist in a museum!  What an opportunity for reverence!

relic of St. John the Baptist

This French piece, Virgin and Child by Hayne de Bruxelles, touched me because of the loving way in which the Blessed Mother is shown holding Our Lord close to her cheek.  I recalled the passage from Hosea 11:14, "I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them."  Even more impressive is the fact that it is modeled after a painting by St. Luke himself which is reported to have had miraculous attributes.

This Altarpiece with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin from the Workshop of Gonzalo Perez, was massive, covering an entire wall.  The scene in the very center of the bottom row of Christ being lowered into the tomb, brought me to prayer as my heart was deeply moved by it.  How can you look at the sorrowful expression on the face of the angel who holds the Lord, and the wound in our Lord's side, and not be moved?

Most moving of all, this Head of Christ, attributed to Albert Bouts, kept me in rapt attention.  He's so beautiful and the suffering He endured so traumatic.  How He loves us!  I pray with Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald's prayer at the sixth station from The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross:  "Sorrowful Mother, lift my soul as a Veronica's veil to the outraged face of Jesus.  Beg Him to leave thereon the image of His Holiness and Beauty so clearly impressed that the beauty of creatures may not draw me from my allegiance to the beauty of Christ."