St John of the Cross 2

The exhibition The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600–1700 was shown in The National Gallery, London and The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

It was acclaimed and introduced many people to the Spanish Baroque.

One of the most interesting sculptures was of St John of the Cross by Francisco Antonio Gijón (1653–c. 1721) and unknown painter (possibly Domingo Mejías)

Francisco Antonio Gijón (1653–c. 1721) and unknown painter (possibly Domingo Mejías)

Saint John of the Cross

c. 1675

Painted and gilded wood

168 cm (66 1/8 in.)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund

After the beatification of St John of the Cross on January 25, 1675, the Carmelite convent of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios near Seville commissioned this life-sized statue from the young Sevillian sculptor, Francisco Antonio Gijón, then only 21

The figure of the saint holds a quill pen in his right hand and, in the left, a book with a model of a mountain surmounted by a cross, which refers to his mystic commentary, "The Ascent of Mount Carmel."

There have been a number of translations into English of the works of St John of the Cross.

One of the translations which has been considered one of the best is that by the Anglo-South African convert poet Roy Campbell (October 2, 1901 – April 22, 1957)

In October 2009, Roger Scruton wrote about Roy Campbell in his article "A Dark Horse" published in The American Spectator. He was hated by the English "left establishment" especially because of his position on The Spanish Civil War

The Wikipedia entry says of Roy Campbell that he "was considered by T. S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, and Dylan Thomas to have been one of the best poets of the period between the First and Second World wars, but he is seldom found in anthologies today."

Campbell's translations of the poetry by St. John of the Cross were lavishly praised by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges

For more about Campbell`s work, R J Dent has published an essay on Roy Campbell and his work entitled: Violence and exquisite beauty – the aesthetics of Roy Campbell

Here are two poems of St John of the Cross in Spanish with the translations by the late Roy Campbell. The first poem is called "Song of the soul that is glad to know God by faith" The second poem is called "Verses written after an ecstasy of high exaltation" (Source: Geoffrey Burgon : Dos Coros)

'Cantar del alma que se huelga de conoscer a Dios par fe'

Que bien sé yo la fonte que mana y corre,

Aunque es de noche.

Aquella eterna fonte está ascondida,

Que bien sé yo do tiene su manida,

Aunque es de noche.

Su origen no lo sé, pues no le tiene,

Mas sé que todo origen de ella viene,

Aunque es de noche.

Sé que no puede ser cosa tan bella,

Y que cielos y tierra beben de ella,

Aunque es de noche.

Bien sé que suelo en ella no se halla,

Y que ninguno puede vadealla,

Aunque es de noche.

Su claridad nunca es escurecida,

Y se que toda luz de ella es venida,

Aunque es de noche.

Sé ser tan caudalosas sus corrientes,

Que infiernos, cielos riegan, y las gentes,

Aunque es de noche.

El corriente que nace de esta fuente,

Bien sé que es tan capaz y omnipotente,

Aunque es de noche.

'Song of the soul that is glad to know God by faith'

How well I know that fountain’s rushing flow

Although by night

Its deathless spring is hidden. Even so

Full well I guess from whence its source flow

Though it be night.

Its origin (since it has none) none knows:

But that all origin from it arose

Although by night.

I know there is no other thing so fair

And earth and heaven drink refreshment there

Although by night.

Full well I know the depth no man can sound

And that no ford to cross it can be found

Though it be night

Its clarity unclouded still shall be:

Out of it comes the light by which we see

Though it be night.

Flush with its banks the stream so proudly swells;

I know it waters nations, heavens, and hells

Though it be night.

The current that is nourished by this source

I know to be omnipotent in force

Although by night.

'Coplas del mismo hechas sobre un éxtasis de alta contemplación '

Entréme donde no supe,

Y quedéme no sabiendo,

Toda sciencia trascendiendo.

Yo no supe dónde entraba,

Pero, cuando allí me ví,

Sin saber dónde me estaba,

Grandes cosas entendí;

No diré lo que sentí,

Que me quedé no sabiendo,

Toda sciencia trascendiendo.

De paz y de piedad

Era la sciencia perfecta,

En profunda soledad,

Entendida vía recta;

Era cosa tan secreta,

Que me quedé balbuciendo,

Toda sciencia trascendiendo.

Estaba tan embebido,

Tan absorto y ajenado,

Que se quedó mi sentido

De todo sentir privado;

Y el espíritu dotado

De un entender no entendiendo,

Toda sciencia trascendicndo.

El que allií llega de vero,

De sí mismo desfallesce;

Cuanto sabía primero

'Verses written after an ecstasy of high exaltation'

I entered in, I know not where,

And I remained, though knowing naught,

Transcending knowledge with my thought.

Of when I entered I know naught,

But when I saw that I was there

(Though where it was I did not care)

Strange things I learned, with greatness fraught.

Yet what I heard I’ll not declare.

But there I stayed, though knowing naught,

Transcending knowledge with my thought.

Of peace and piety interwound

This perfect science had been wrought,

Within the solitude profound

A straight and narrow path it taught,

Such secret wisdom there I found

That there I stammered, saying naught,

But topped all knowledge with my thought.

So borne aloft, so drunken-reeling

So rapt was I, so swept away,

Within the scope of sense or feeling

My sense or feeling could not stay.

And in my soul I felt, revealing,

A sense that, though its sense was naught,

Transcended knowledge with my thought.

The man who truly there has come

Of his own self must shed the guise;

Of all he knew before the sum.

Saint John of the Cross

Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano 1611 - 1690

The vision of St John of the Cross, with a pentimento putto; kneeling saint, with two studies of Christ bearing the Cross at l, putti above

Red chalk, with some pen and brown ink, with piece overlaid

187 millimetres x 265 millimetres

The British Museum, London

Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano 1611 - 1690

Vision of St John of the Cross, with a pentimento; a church interior with the saint kneeling on the ground, Christ with a cross in a niche at l, putti above

Inscription Content: Inscribed: "IOANIDIS [QVIS?] PRO LABORIBUS?"

Red chalk, with piece overlaid

328 millimetres x 255 millimetres

The British Museum, London

In order to arrive there,
to arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
you must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
you must go by the way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
you must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
you must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
and what you own is what you do not own
and where you are is where you are not.

T.S. Eliot, East Coker (1940)

Des hommes et des Dieux

The film centres around the monastery of Tibhirine, where Trappist monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were beheaded in a still unclear incident in 1996.

The film focuses on the time leading up to their death

The ever-deteriorating security situation means that they are urged by both the civilian and military authorities and by Islamic militants to flee their monastery.

But should they abandon their mission or is it their duty to continue serving the local population, whatever the risks to their own safety?

Their mission is not to proselytise on behalf of their Catholic faith. Instead, led by their abbot Brother Christian, they actively engage with the local community, by running a free medical clinic and taking part in Muslim celebrations

Lavinia Fontana

Lavinia Fontana (August 24, 1552 – August 11, 1614)

Self-portrait at the spinet (c. 1577)

Oil on canvas

27 x 24 cm

Accademia di San Luca, Rome

Lavinia Fontana (August 24, 1552 – August 11, 1614)

The Holy Family

Oil on wood

39.5 cm x 32 cm

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614)

Christ at the Column

Oil on canvas

190 x120 cm

Musée municipal, Palais des Gouverneurs gênois, Bastia

Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614 )

Sposalizio di S.ta Caterina Vergine e Martire con l'asistenza di Gesù, Maria Vergine e San Giuseppe / The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, Virgin and Martyr with Jesus, Mary Virgin and St Joseph and St Francis

Late 1590s

Oil on copper

10 1/4 by 7 3/4in. 26 by 19.7cm.

Private collection

Compared to other cities at the time, Bologna was a good place for an educated and skilled woman in the Renaissance.

It was unique among Italian cities for having both a university which had educated women since the Middle Ages as well as a female saint (St Catherine of Bologna, see below) who was an artist.

The University started to admit women in the thirteenth century

Women artists were encouraged by the growth of printing houses in the city. There were women lay miniaturists including a Carmelite nun called Sister Allegra

In 1769 Luigi Crespi`s Vite de Pittori Bolognesi listed twenty three women artists active in 16th and 17th century Bologna.

Two achieved international stature: Lavinia Fontana and Elisabetta Sirani

Bologna became part of the Papal States in 1512. The Church encouraged and gave commissions to women Bolognese artists

Lavinia Fontana was perhaps espcially fortunate. Her father, Prospero, was a distinguished artist. She became his pupil.

Prospero Fontana was successful as a historical and religious painter. He followed the Counter-Reformation rules especially those of the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, one of the great Tridentine art theorists. Her father had strong links with the Cardinal

LIke all women artists she could not join the Academy of the Carracci in Bologna: the male nude in the drawing classes was central to what was learned.

Her early works are late Mannerist: later works show the influence of the Carracci school then in the ascendant in Bologna and Rome

In 1577 she married an assitant in her father`s studio: Gian Paolo Zappi. The marriage appears to have been happy. They had eleven children: although only three survived her death. Her husband appears to have given up his career to help with the household duties leaving her as the main income earner in the family.

In Bologna she received portrait commissions from the Bolognese aristocracy as well as the Church for altar pieces. She became the first woman member of the Academy of St Luke in Rome. With the rise of Bologna within the Papal States she received commissions from King Philip II of Spain and the Papal Court: first from Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Buoncompagni) (1502-85) (a Pope of Bolognese origin).

Her reputation grew especially amongst the Cardinals in Rome, For example in the Jubilee Year of 1600, Cardinal Girolamo Bernerio OP, the sub Dean of the College of Cardinals, commissioned several works from her

Eventually Pope Clement VII (1536 – 1605) invited her to Rome where she became a Court portraitist in 1603.

He commissioned her to paint a 20 foot alter piece entitled The Stoning of St. Stephen Martyr for San Paolo Fuori le Mura until the church was consumed by fire in 1823 and the painting was lost.

This continued into the time of Paul V, in whose reign she died in Rome.

Saint Catherine of Bologna

Master of the Baroncelli Portraits

1440 - 1520: Flemish: flourished 1480-1490

Saint Catherine of Bologna with three donors

Circa 1480

Oil on panel

94.9 cm x 67.9 cm

The Courtauld Gallery, London

The donor in Italian dress is kneeling with his first and second wives

It is the earliest known painting of St Catherine of Bologna. She died in 1463 and was venerated locally in Bologna. She was not formally canonised until 1712

To the right in the painting is what appears to be another painting. It is not. It is a dead body placed in a little window pierced in the dividing wall of a church

The representation is of the dead figure of the saint whose body was exhumed shortly after her death and put on display. It is still on display in the convent, her Sanctuary and Convent of the Corpus Domini in Bologna

See below. The representation shows how the body was displayed and is now displayed.

The preserved body of St Catherine of Bologna in her convent of Corpus Domini in Bologna

To allow the faithful to see the body which was in the enclosed convent the body was placed on a wooden chair in which the saint was placed as if sitting. At the appropriate times it was taken to the window to be exhibited to the faithful outside.

Amongst her artistic works is a book entitled "The Seven Spiritual Weapons". In it she listed these:

"Whoever wishes to carry the cross for his sake must take up the proper weapons for the contest, especially those mentioned here. First, diligence; second, distrust of self; third, confidence in God; fourth, remembrance of Passion; fifth, mindfulness of one’s own death; sixth, remembrance of God’s glory; seventh, the injunctions of Sacred Scripture following the example of Jesus Christ in the desert." - Saint Catherine, from On the Seven Spiritual Weapons

The painting illustrates the saint taking up her Cross. One cannot help but read into the painting St Catherine`s "seven weapons"

Saint Catherine of Bologna, (8 September 1413 – 9 March 1463) also called Santa Caterina de' Vigri, was an abbess of a convent of Poor Clares, and an artist of repute

She was also a gifted musician (her beloved violin hangs on the wall to the right of her body), and is the Patron Saint of Artists and temptation.

Her artistic compositions have not stood the test of time. However her written religious works are being re-discovered. These include Le sette armi spirituali and her Sermons

Cardinal Giacomo Biffi recently wrote of her and her works:

"The works of Catherine of Bologna, many of which have long remained unknown, are now revealed in their surprising beauty. We can ascertain that she was not undeserving of her renown as a highly cultivated person, nor was it due to a complicated series of historical circumstances. We are now in a position to meditate on a veritable monument of theology which, after the Treatise on the Seven Spiritual Weapons, is made up of distinct and autonomous parts: The Twelve Gardens, a mystical work of her youth, Rosarium, a Latin poem on the life of Jesus, and The Sermons, i.e. Catherine's words to her religious sisters."- (I Sermoni, Ed. Barghigiani, Bologna 1999)

For more about this remarkable saint see: "Other Women`s Voices": Catherine of Bologna /Caterina Vigri /Vegri (1413-1463)

Suor Plautilla Nelli

Italian School

Suor Plautilla Nelli c. 17th cent

Oil on panel, unframed

23 by 17.2 cm

Private collection

Suor Plautilla Nelli (Florence 1524-1588)

A kneeling saint in nun's robes

Signed in pen and brown ink 'Di Suor Plautilla allieva d[e]l Frate'

Black chalk

9 x 7¾ in. (22.8 x 19.7 cm.), unframed

Private collection

Suor Plautilla Nelli (Florence 1524-1588)

Madonna with child and four angels

Oil on Board

42.1 x 31.9 in. / 107 x 81 cm.

Private collection

Polissena Nelli known as Suor Plautilla Nelli (Florence 1524-1588) is the earliest known female Florentine artist.

At the age of fourteen she entered the convent of Saint Catherine of Siena in Florence, a Dominican community whose nuns were devout adherents of the principles preached by Girolamo Savonarola a generation earlier. Here Plautilla spent the rest of her life. She became its prioress in 1568.

She drew particular inspiration from the work of Fra Bartolommeo and his pupil Fra Paolino, both from the Dominican monastery of San Marco. After Fra Paolino's death she was given his collection of drawings by Fra Bartolommeo.

She was the daughter of an artist, Piero di Luca Nelli

Her sister, also a nun, Costanza, (Suor Petronilla) wrote a life of Savonrola

She is one of the two women painters mentioned by Vasari in his Lives

The convent (now destroyed), located in Piazza San Marco, was supposedly annexed into the Galleria dell’Accademia in 1853 and was briefly part of the Accademia delle Belle Arti.

She had a considerable output. Vasari identified various celebrated pieces by Plautilla: two panels in the Church of the Convent of Santa Caterina, particularly her Magi Adoring Jesus; choir panels in the Convent of S. Lucia in Pistoia; a Last Supper in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Caterina; pieces at San Giovannino and at Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence; and altar pieces and a large panel in the Hospital of Lelmo. He also noted her many pieces owned privately, which he felt too numerous to detail

Unfortunately her extant oeuvre comprises only three paintings — a Lamentation (Museo di San Marco, Florence), a Last Supper (Santa Maria Novella, Florence), and a Pentecost (San Domenico, Perugia) — along with handful of drawings

Her convent had a considerable artistic output and she was its overseer. The work produced at Santa Caterina was entirely religious in nature.

Fra Serafino Razzi, a sixteenth-century Dominican Friar and historian, named three nuns of Santa Caterina as disciples of Plautilla, Suor Prudenza Cambi, Suor Agata Trabalesi, Suor Maria Ruggieri, and three others as additional producers: Suor Veronica, Suor Dionisia Niccolini, and his sister Suor Maria Angelica Razzi

However it was the enforcement of the rule of clausura (enclosure) as required by the Council of Trent which neither Nelli nor the other nuns wished which drastically reduced the artistic output and income of the convent.

Saint Damasus I

St Jerome handing over his work to Pope Saint Damasus

In The Initial "H" of a Letter of Jerome to Damasus

From an Illuminated Bible

About 1109 - 1111

Dijon - BM - ms. 0015 f. 003v

From The Abbaye Notre-Dame, Cîteaux

St Jerome handing over his work to Pope Saint Damasus

Miniature at the beginning of the Gospels

From an Illuminated Bible

Valenciennes - BM - ms. 0007 f. 223

About the second quarter of the 16th century

Originally from Hainaut, Valenciennes

Attributed to Niccolo di Giacomo ca. (1325–1403),

Portrait of Saint Damasus

From an illuminated Roman Missal

About 1370

Avignon - BM - ms. 0136 f. 222

Originally made in Bologna, Italy and thence to the Convent of the Célestins, Avignon

Nowadays the saint Pope Damasus (b.305, Pope from 366 - 384) is primarily known for his commissioning of Saint Jerome as his personal secretary and encouraging his Vulgate translation of the Bible

But there was more.

He was a poet Pope and he had a great devotion to the Roman martyrs. He did much to retore and preserve the ancient catacombs as well as the Bsilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls and according to tradition the building of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso in his own house.

The Catacombs which benefitted most from his attentions were the Catacombs of St Callixtus and in particular the Crypt of the Popes where at least six of the earliest Popes were buried.

St. Jerome recounted how as a student he would go on Sundays to visit the tombs of the apostles and the martyrs together with his study companions:

“We would enter the galleries dug into the bowels of the earth…Rare lights coming from above land attenuated the darkness a little…We would proceed slowly, one step at a time, completely enveloped in darkness”.

At the tomb of Sixtus II, Damasus had inscribed a poem which he had composed himself:

"If you are looking for, know that here lies a host of the Blessed.

The venerable sepulchres enclose the bodies of the Saints,

but the royal palace of heaven carried off to itself their sublime souls.

Here lie the companions of Sixtus who bear the trophies won from the enemy.

Here the group of the elders who keep guard of the altars of Christ.

Here the bishop who lived through the long peace.

Here the holy Confessors sent to us from Greece.

Here the young men and children, the old men and their chaste nephews

who preferred to keep their virgineal purity.

Here too,I, Damasus, confess I would have liked to have been buried

were it not for fear of vexing the holy ashes of the Blessed".

His epigraph about St Saturninus the Martyr is applicable to many who have given their life for the faith even today:

"Citizen now of Christ, formerly of Carthage,

The moment the sword pierced the Mother's holy breast,

through her blood he changed country, name and lineage,

the birth to the life of the saints made him a Roman citizen.

His faith was wonderful: as his heroic death would later show.

His enemy Gratianus trembled while he tore his holy members;

but though all his venomous rage exploded,

he could not induce you, O Saint, to deny Christ;

indeed through your prayers he even deserved to die a Christian.

This is the will of the suppliant Damasus: venerate this tomb!

[Here it is given to fulfil vows and to pour out chaste prayers,

because it is the tomb of the martyr St Saturninus]

To you, O Martyr Saturninus, I pay my prayerful homage."

(Epigrammata Damasiana, edited by A. Ferrua, Rome 1942, p. 188-189).

The devotion to the Martyrs in the Roman Liturgy is discussed on the Vatican website in an article by Mario Lessi Ariosto

Finally it should also be noted that it was under Pope Damasus I that the change of the official language from Greek to Latin was completed. The primacy of the Latin language in the Roman liturgy has not been replaced since then even though the Church recognizes that the vernacular can also be used for the faithful.

Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli

Peter Orioli [Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli] 1458 - 1496

The Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome, Bernardino, Catherine of Alexandria and Francis About 1487-90

Tempera and gold on panel

74.6 cm x 52.7 cm

The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Peter Orioli [Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli]1458 - 1496

Nativity about 1494-1496

Tempera on panel,

66.5 x 49.5 cm

Private collection

Pietro Orioli was the pre-eminent painter of his generation in Siena at the end of the fifteenth century.

There are parallels between Orioli's work and the non-realist style of the Florentine Sandro Botticelli

He died young, and was lamented for his artistic talent and for his exemplary piety. He is known from documents to have been a particularly devout individual.

His family owned rural property near Capriola, at least two of which properties were left to the Monastery dell`Osservanza in Siena. This was the Convent of St Bernardino of Siena

He himself is buried in the Basilica dell`Osservanza in Siena

The Image of S. Bernardino (above) corresponds to the image of S Bernardino in the Osservanza in Siena.

Madonna of the Immaculate Conception

Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 1625 – 15 December 1713)

Madonna of the Immaculate Conception

1663

Oil on canvas

227 x 197 cm

Cappella De Sylva, Chiesa di Sant' Isidoro a Capo le Case, Rome

The painting is one of the glories of the Irish national church in Rome.

It was commissioned for the Chapel and is still in situ

The website of the College of St Isodore (for the Irish franciscans) and the Church is here

Maratti was the leading painter in Rome in the latter part of the 17th century

He had an international reputation particularly for his paintings of the Madonna and Child and his many of Mary.

Ambrosian Hymns

The Consecration of St Ambrose in an Initial "T"

From Illuminated Manuscript Choirbook

Italian 13th Century

Pigment and gold on vellum

233 x 140mm (initial overall)

Private collection

The initial opens the Te Deum from the Office of the Virgin in Eastertide from an Antiphonal.

St Ambrose (c. between 337 and 340 – 4 April 397) was the reputed composer of the hymn. It is said that he composed the hymn when he baptised St. Augustine of Hippo, his celebrated convert.

The depiction of St Ambrose in a choir book is appropriate as he did found a new school of hymnody: the Ambrosian chant

In his Confessions, IX, vii, 15, St Augustine speaks of St Ambrose introducing hymns to be sung "according to the fashion of the East".

Those interested in Ambrosian Chant and Hymns may find an Italian website of interest: Canto Ambrosiano

The Nativity with St George and St Vincent Ferrer

Filippo Lippi (1406 – 8 October 1469),

The Nativity with St George and St Vincent Ferrer 1455

Oil on canvas

146 x 157 cm

Museo Civico, Prato

The iconography follows the traditional iconography inspired by St Bridget of Sweden one of the co-Patronesses of Europe

While on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem in 1371–72, Saint Bridget had a vision of the Nativity of Christ. Her description of this vision became a popular subject in Italian painting.

The scene, including shepherds and bagpipers, as well as a splash of red and golden angels in the mountains beyond the rustic hut that serves as a stable, now seems to us to be so conventional, we may miss the striking novelty that it brought into a world so recently dominated with the very different style of High Gothic.

The vision occurred on a visit to Bethlehem on March 13, 1372. She described it thus:

"When I was present by the manger of the Lord in Bethlehem . . . I beheld a virgin of extreme beauty. . . . well wrapped in a white mantle and a delicate tunic, through which I clearly perceived her virgin body. . . .

With her was an old man of great honesty, and they brought with them an ox and an ass. These entered the cave, and the man, after having tied them to the manger, went outside and brought to the virgin a burning candle; having attached this to the wall he went outside, so that he might not be present at the birth. Then the virgin pulled off the shoes from her feet, drew off the white mantle, that enveloped her, removed the veil from her head, laying it by her side, thus remaining in her tunic alone with her beautiful golden hair falling loosely down her shoulders.

Then she produced two small linen cloths and two woollen ones, of exquisite purity and fineness, that she had brought, in which to wrap up the child who was to be born; and two other small articles with which to cover and bind his head, and these she put down beside her in order to use them in due time. .

. . And when all was thus prepared, the virgin knelt down with great veneration in an attitude of prayer, and her back was turned to the manger, but her face was lifted to heaven, towards the east. Thus with her hands extended and her eyes fixed on the sky she was standing as in ecstasy, lost in contemplation, in a rapture of divine sweetness.

And while she was standing thus in prayer, I saw the child in her womb move and suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her son, from whom radiated such an ineffable light and splendour, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle, that St Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle, and so sudden and instantaneous was this way of bringing forth, that I could neither discover nor discern how, or by means of which member, she gave birth.

Verily though, all of a sudden, I saw the glorious infant lying on the ground naked and shining. His body was pure from any kind of soil and impurity. Then I heard also the singing of the angels, which was of miraculous sweetness and great beauty. . . .

When therefore the virgin felt, that she had already borne her child, she immediately worshipped him, her head bent down and her hands clasped, with great honour and reverence and said unto him, Be welcome my God, my Lord and my Son. . . . When this was done, the old man entered and prostrating himself to the floor, he wept for joy." (Hendrik Cornell. The Iconography of the Nativity of Christ. Uppsala Universitets Årsskrift. Uppsala, Sweden, 1924, pp. 11-13)

Immediately after her vision, Bridget dictated it to secretaries, who translated her account from Swedish to Latin.

The canvas was originally held in the refectory of the Convento di San Domenico in Prato.

The presence of Saint Vincent Ferrer (23 January 1350 – 5 April 1419), the Valencian Dominican missionary and logician is due to the commission by the Dominicans. It does appear out of place- almost an after thought. It is thought that Lippi did not execute this figure but rather his assistant, Fra Diamante (and perhaps afetr Lippi`s death)

St Vincent was canonised by Pope Calixtus III at the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome, on 3 June 1455, around the time when the work was painted. No doubt the painting and the canonisation are not coincidental. It is one of the first iconographies of the newly canonised saint

The great penitential Preacher whose father was from Scotland carries a Book with the words: Timete Deum quia venit hora iudicii eius. - Fear God, because the hour of his judgement is coming.

The Modern Anchorite or Hermit

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta 1870 - 1945

L'anachorète ou Un ascète / The Anchorite or The Hermit 1907

Oil on canvas

188 x 115 cm

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Further to the post below about Mother Julian of Norwich, some might think that hermits and anchorites were peculiarities of Medieval times

When Pope John Paul revised The Code of Canon Law in 1983 there was provision for hermits and anchorites:

"Can. 603 §1. In addition to institutes of consecrated life, the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through a stricter withdrawal from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance.

§2. A hermit is recognized by law as one dedicated to God in consecrated life if he or she publicly professes in the hands of the diocesan bishop the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by vow or other sacred bond, and observes a proper program of living under his direction."

On 6th August 2010 the Italian Catholic Bishops` newpaper L`Avvenire  reported that there were about 200 hermits ("solitari della fede" or "pellegrini d`assoluto") in Italy

The article in L`Avvenire tells the story of a Frenchman called Frédéric who lives a hermetic life in Calabria in Southern Italy. He describes the way of life as not being the result of choice but a task which has to be done.

Famiglia Cristiana in 2006 had an article describing the life of Tadeusz from Poland who is a hermit in Umbria. He describes his calling as "following a voice" In 1990 he spent eight months with the Camaldolese monks in Rome but it was not what he was searching for. He stressed the difference between the life of a hermit in a community of hermits and that of the solitary hermit.

But even Tadeusz does see people. Each day he walks 5 kilometres to help the parish priest during Mass, some families invite him for lunch, and some seek out his help

On its website the ancient Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia has a special section on its Hermits who are listed along with the Clerics, Monasteries, Institutes of Consecrated LIfe and so on.

Here is a photograph of the Archbishop and some of the diocesan hermits in 2009:

The Archbishop describes the presence of the hermetic tradition as being very strong in his Archdiocese. It has been that way in his Archdiocese from the very early days of Christianity: the monk Spes and his two disciples Eutizio and Fiorenzo from AD 517, as well as including the birthplace of St Benedict of Norcia. The archdiocese has seven hermits: five women and two men.

The Archbishop describes their presence as not only as a benefit for the Archdiocese but also the whole of the Church.

The life of one of them, Cristina Emanuela Zecca is described in more detail here

As Pope Benedict XVI said in his address on Mother Julian of Norwich:

"We might be surprised and even perplexed by this decision to live as a "recluse," as this was called in her time. However, she was not alone in making this choice: During those centuries a considerable number of women opted for this kind of life, adopting rules elaborated purposefully for them, such as that composed by St. Aelred of Rievaulx.

The anchorites or "recluses" dedicated themselves within their cells to prayer, meditation and study. In this way, they developed a very fine human and religious sensitivity, which made them venerated by the people. Men and women of every age and condition, in need of advice and comfort, sought them devotedly.

Hence, it was not an individualistic choice; precisely with this closeness to the Lord, what matured in her also was the capacity to be a counselor to many, to help those who lived in difficulty in this life. ...

The women and men who withdraw to live in the company of God, precisely because of this decision, acquire a great sense of compassion for the sorrows and weaknesses of others. As friends of God, they have a wisdom that the world, from which they distance themselves, does not have. And with kindness, they share it with those who knock on their door"

"All will be well, and every kind of thing will be well."

The Beginning of Julian's Spiritual Vision, in a Collection of Theological Works, including Julian of Norwich

1450

Illuminated manuscript: Ink and pigments on vellum

Additional MS 37790; Item number: f.97v

26.5 x 16.5 cm

The British Library, London

Julian of Norwich, (c. November 8, 1342 – c. 1416) the anchorite at St Julian in Norwich (which belonged to Carrow Priory), wrote her account in 1413 of her mystical visions and spiritual experiences. The account in the above manuscript is a shortened version.

This page, near the beginning of the writing, has her account of her vision in May 1373 during an illness when she was thirty and one-half years old.

With his recent trip to the United Kingdom in mind, Julian of Norwich was the subject of the Pope`s latest Wednesday catechesis on significant women in the medieval Church

Her book, "The Revelations of Divine Love." is a classic written in Middle English.

The Catholic Encyclopedia summarises the Book thus:

"When seemingly at the point of death, in the bodily sickness for which she had prayed in order to renew her spiritual life, she passes into a trance while contemplating the crucifix, and has the vision of Christ's suffering "in which all the shewings that follow be grounded and joined".

The book is the record of twenty years' meditation upon that one experience; for, "when the shewing, which is given for a time, is passed and hid, then faith keepeth it by grace of the Holy Ghost unto our lives end".

More than fifteen years later, she received "in ghostly understanding" the explanation, the key to all religious experience:

"What? wouldest thou wit thy Lord's meaning in this thing? Wit it well: Love was His meaning. Who sheweth it thee? Love. Wherefore sheweth He it thee? For love. Hold thee therein, thou shalt wit more in the same. But thou shalt never wit therein other without end."

With this illumination, the whole mystery of Redemption and the purpose of human life became clear to her, and even the possibility of sin and the existence of evil does not trouble her, but is made "a bliss by love".

This is the great deed, transcending our reason, that the Blessed Trinity shall do at the last day:

"Thou shalt see thyself that all manner of thing shall be well."

"

The Pope concentrates on seeing The Revelations as being centred on "Divine Love", the subject matter of his First Encyclical. He discusses how Julian tries to deal with the question of how an all-powerful God can allow evil and the sufferiing of the innocent. In Benedict`s view, successfully.

He also tackles a rather controversial aspect of Julian`s teaching: "God as Mother". This was taken up by Pope John Paul I. It has been taken up by certain feminist theologians who like to put a spin on this. Benedict sees this part of Julian`s writings as simply a metaphor based on the teaching of Isaiah.

He also discusses how valuable the vocations of the enclosed orders are in the Church`s life and works, which to many outside (and some inside) the Church appear to be of no use whatsoever.

The Pope said:

"Dear brothers and sisters,

I am still remembering with great joy the journey I made to the United Kingdom last September. England is a land that has given birth to so many illustrious figures who with their testimony and their teaching have embellished the history of the Church.

One of these, venerated both by the Catholic Church as well as the Anglican Communion, is the mystic Julian of Norwich, of whom I would like to speak this morning.

The information we have on her life -- not much -- is taken primarily from the book in which this kind and pious woman gathered the content of her visions, titled "Revelations of Divine Love." It is known that she lived from 1342 to about 1430, years of torment both for the Church, lacerated by the schism following the Pope's return from Avignon to Rome, as well as for the people suffering the consequences of a long war between the kingdom of England and that of France. God, however, even in times of tribulation, does not cease to raise figures such as Julian of Norwich, to call men back to peace, love and joy.

As she herself recounts, in May of 1373, probably on the 13th of that month, she was suddenly stricken by a very serious illness that in three days seemed to bring her to the point of death. When the priest who came to her bedside showed her the crucifix, Julian not only quickly recovered her health, but received 16 revelations that subsequently she reported in writing and commented in her book, "Revelations of Divine Love."

And it was in fact the Lord who, 15 years after these extraordinary events, revealed to her the meaning of those visions.

"Do you wish to know what your Lord intended and to know the meaning of this revelation? Know well: Love is what he intended. Who reveals this to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? Out of love ... So learn that love is our Lord's meaning" (Julian of Norwich, "Il Libro delle Rivelazioni," Chapter 86, Milan, 1997, p. 320).

Inspired by divine love, Julian made a radical choice. Like one of the ancient hermits, she chose to live in a cell, which was near a church dedicated to St. Julian, in the city of Norwich, at the time a very important urban centre, near London. Perhaps she took the name Julian precisely from that saint to whom the church was dedicated and next to which she lived for so many years, until her death.

We might be surprised and even perplexed by this decision to live as a "recluse," as this was called in her time. However, she was not alone in making this choice: During those centuries a considerable number of women opted for this kind of life, adopting rules elaborated purposefully for them, such as that composed by St. Aelred of Rievaulx.

The anchorites or "recluses" dedicated themselves within their cells to prayer, meditation and study. In this way, they developed a very fine human and religious sensitivity, which made them venerated by the people. Men and women of every age and condition, in need of advice and comfort, sought them devotedly.

Hence, it was not an individualistic choice; precisely with this closeness to the Lord, what matured in her also was the capacity to be a counselor to many, to help those who lived in difficulty in this life.

We know that Julian also received frequent visitors, as attested in the autobiography of another fervent Christian woman of her time, Margery Kempe, who went to Norwich in 1413 to receive suggestions on her spiritual life. This is why when Julian was alive she was called, as is written on the funeral monument that houses her remains, "Mother Julian." She became a mother for many.

The women and men who withdraw to live in the company of God, precisely because of this decision, acquire a great sense of compassion for the sorrows and weaknesses of others. As friends of God, they have a wisdom that the world, from which they distance themselves, does not have. And with kindness, they share it with those who knock on their door.

I am thinking, hence, with admiration and gratitude, of women's and men's cloistered monasteries that, today more than ever, are oases of peace and hope, precious treasures for the whole Church, especially in recalling the primacy of God and the importance of constant and intense prayer for the journey of faith.

It was precisely in the solitude inhabited by God that Julian of Norwich composed the "Revelations of Divine Love," of which we have two editions, a shorter one this is probably older, and a longer one. This book contains a message of optimism based on the certainty of being loved by God and of being protected by his Providence.

In this book we read the following wonderful words:

"I saw with absolute certainty ... that God, even before creating us loved us, with a love that has never failed, and will never vanish. And in this love he did all his works, and in this love he disposed that all things should be useful for us, and in this love our life lasts for ever ... In this love we have our beginning, and we see all this in God without end" (Il libro delle rivelazioni, chapter 86, p. 320).

The subject of divine love returns often in the visions of Julian of Norwich who, with a certain audacity, does not hesitate to compare it also to maternal love. This is one of the most characteristic messages of her mystical theology. Tenderness, solicitude and the gentleness of God's goodness to us are so great that, to us pilgrims on earth, they evoke the love of a mother for her children. Indeed, at times the biblical prophets also used this language that recalls the tenderness, intensity and totality of the love of God, which manifests itself in creation and in the whole history of salvation and has its culmination in the incarnation of the Son. God, however, always surpasses every human love, as the prophet Isaiah says:

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even if these may forget, yet I will not forget you" (Isaiah 49:15).

Julian of Norwich understood the central message for the spiritual life: God is love and only when we open ourselves totally and with total trust to this love and allow it to become the sole guide of existence, is everything transfigured, true peace and true joy are found and one is able to spread this around.

I would like to stress another point.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church takes up the words of Julian of Norwich when it gives the point of view of the Catholic faith on an issue that does not cease to constitute a provocation for all believers (cf. Nos. 304-314). If God is supremely good and wise, why does evil and the suffering of the innocent exist? Saints as well, precisely the saints, ask themselves this question.

Enlightened by faith, they give us an answer that opens our heart to trust and hope: In the mysterious designs of Providence, even from evil, God draws a greater good, as Julian of Norwich writes:

"I learned by the grace of God that I must remain firmly in the faith, and hence I must firmly and perfectly believe that all will end well" (Il libro delle rivelazioni, chapter 32, p. 173).

Yes, dear brothers and sisters, God's promises are always greater than our hopes. If we entrust to God, to his immense love, the most pure and most profound desires of our heart, we will never be disappointed.

"And all will be well," "everything will be for the good": This is the final message that Julian of Norwich transmits to us and that I also propose to you today."

Mother Julian has influenced many not only in the Catholic Church but also in the Anglican Churc. One who read Mother Julian was the late Cardinal Hume, the late Archbishop of Westminister. While still Abbot of Ampleforth, Cardinal Basil Hume delivered a series of talks to the monks at Ampleforth. They were collected and published as a book called Searching for God. One talk in July 1974 was a Meditation on Mother Julian of Norwich and her desire to receive "three wounds": true contrition; genuine compassion; the sincere longing for God. Here is the meditation he delivered.

For websites with her biography and online texts of her Revelations with links to essays and articles, as well as links to study resources and a list of books helpful for further study see the Luminarium Julian of Norwich page