"Our Lady of Fatima, the Most Beautiful and Serene Lady the Children had Ever Seen"
"Our Lady of Fatima, the Most Beautiful and Serene Lady the Children
The apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, are referred to by many as the greatest Marian apparitions in history. The message was called the greatest in recent times by Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict said that Fatima was the “most significant prophecy” in our times. There are more pictures, testimonies, affidavits and witnesses regarding this apparition than any other in recorded history.
The three children were Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. The following are quoted accounts from their encounter with her!
“She looked very elegant and more beautiful than any woman the three children had ever seen.”
“Her skin looked like light that took on the color of flesh.”
Our Lady of Fatima, “Our Lady of Fatima” Based on the accounts of Saint Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta “We saw a beautiful lady dressed in white, brighter than the sun. Her expression was pleasant, serene, grave, serious, and with a hint of sadness”
“She was all of light.” The light had various colors, tones and intensities, which made each part distinct from the other.”
“She held a rosary in her right hand.”
“Her hair was not visible since the mantle covered her hairline.”
“She did not look about but only at the children. Her eyes were of a very dark color.”
“She radiated a light clearer and more intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water when the rays of the burning sun shine through it.”
The encounter and apparition were enough to inspire Saints Francisco and Jacinta to become great saints. Perhaps it might have a similar effect upon those who embark on a journey to contemplate Our Lady of Fatima who was made of light.
Our Lady of Guadaloupe, Mary, Original Oil Painting
Saint Lucy Original Oil Paining
WA number of traditions incorporate symbolic meaning of St. Lucy as the bearer of light in the darkness. She Legend has it that Saint Lucy delivered food and bread to the poor and homebound and Christians staying in the catacombs. She went in the darkness of night to avoid being seen or caught since Christianity was outlawed. She would wear a crown of candles to free her hands for carrying food to light her way. Her heart was filled with Charity for her fellow Christians at the cost of her own life. After being discovered, it is said that her eyes were gauged out a by her persecutors and miraculously restored. She was ultimately martyred with a sword. Lucy means “light” with the latin root, lux. Her feast day is December 13th.
So often the saints are created in such an impersonal and disconnected way, a blank look on the face or a blank background.
King of Kings" oil painting art portrait of Jesus, Original Oil Painting
Christ’s kingship is rooted in the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is both the divine Lord and the man who suffered and died on the Cross. One person of the Trinity unites himself to human nature and reigns over all creation as the Incarnate Son of God. “From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures” (Quas primas, 13).
He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, ‘as instruments of justice unto God.’ -Quas primas, 33
For Christians, when our faith is repeatedly marginalized in public life, we can fall into the habit of compartmentalizing our lives. We love Jesus in our private lives, but we shrink from acknowledging the kingship of Christ in social life. When we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, we declare to the world and remind ourselves that Jesus is the Lord of the Church and of the entire universe. Quas primas © 1925, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City State.
Biblical Quotations;
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” John 18:37
“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” Timothy 6:15
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21
Saint Therese "Saint Theres's Shower of Roses from Heaven" Original Oil Paining
“When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.” -St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Therese became known around the world through her autobiography, Story of a Soul. People learned of her “little way” in which she lived each day with complete confidence in God’s love. She explained that what matters most, “is not great deeds, but great love.”
She became known as the “Little Flower” because she loved flowers and saw herself as the “little flower of Jesus,” among all the other flowers in God’s garden. “My mission – to make God loved – will begin after my death,” she wrote. “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.” People often report receiving roses after praying to Saint Therese, especially after praying a novena to her.
I feel that we can have an understanding of her beautiful soul and who she was through her quotes.
“Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be.”
“A soul in a state of grace has nothing to fear of demons who are cowards.”
“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”
“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
“If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient; but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.”
“True charity consists in bearing all our neighbor’s defects – not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.”
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
Saint Maximilian Kolbe Original Oil Paining
“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”
Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan Friar. During the German occupation of Poland, he remained at Niepokalanów a monastery which published a number of anti-Nazi German publications. In 1941, he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where in terrible circumstances he continued to work as a priest and offer solace to fellow inmates. When the Nazi guards selected 10 people to be starved to death in punishment, Kolbe volunteered to die in place of a stranger. He was later canonized as a martyr.
From a young age Saint Maximilian Kolbe knew that he would be a religious and a martyr. He had a vision of the Virgin Mary that was significant because he chose both the path of sanctity and also to follow the path of a martyr. “That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me, a Child of Faith. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.”
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Saint Perpetua Original Oil Paining
Saint Perpetua said, “I am unable to call myself other than what I am, a Christian.” She was arrested for being a Christian in the 3rd century and put to death in Carthage, a Roman province. Saint Perpetua and a group of other Christians were thrown into an arena of wild animals, but they were not killed. The emperor Severus then commanded that they be put to death by the sword.
God gave Saint Perpetua many consolations and much peace to get her through her suffering she had to endure. She put into practice “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20
Unlike many other Christian martyrs, there are firsthand accounts of her martyrdom. The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity has a large section which was written by the martyr Saint Perpetua herself, which is quite rare among early Christian writings. Her feast day is March 7th.
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Saint Josephat Original Oil Paining
Saint Josephat was stabbed and his body thrown into the water. His body was seen glowing. After his body was recovered and many miracles were attributed to his intersession after he was martyred for defending the faith.
Portraits of the Saints
"My hope is that you feel this encounter with God through them."
My goal in creating and oil painting this growing collection of saints is to step back into time with each of them in a very personal and beautiful way, in the way I see them. I wanted to capture their essence with an intimate encounter in a moment in time that captures their uniqueness and sanctity. The saints are capable of inspiring us to strive for greater holiness through each of their unique lives and stories.
I am convinced that their union with God in their lives in this world made it a seamless transition to Heaven at the moment of their death. I wanted to capture what united each of them with our Lord in their own unique ways; through peace, joy, love, suffering, courageousness or reverence in a relatable and artistic way. My hope is that you feel this encounter with God through them.