Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

On the feast of St Jerome, an image of the Virgin of the Annunciation with a hefty book of the Scriptures on her prie-dieu; from the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery (no information on the piece is available on the Gallery website).

Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

With the upcoming feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (September 29), it seems appropriate to feature this study of an Annunciation by Giovanni Antonio Pordenone which includes all three named archangels from the Bible. (Michael with his scales hovers to the left over Gabriel; Raphael hovers a bit to the right, with his arm around the boy Tobias.) The sketch was prepared for a convent chapel of "St Mary of the Angels" on the Venetian island of Murano, where the finished work remains in its original setting.

A fuller explanation of the work can be found on the page of the Royal Collection Trust, which holds the drawing.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

From the Sienese artist Neroccio de’ Landi, this 15th century Annunciation now in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery:

Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Several significant feasts fall this week. On Sept. 12, the memorial of the Holy Name of Mary. Two days later, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (a feast common to East and West) and on the following day, the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. (The Stabat Mater was written for the September 15 memorial of Our Lady.) With the mystery of the Cross at the center of these three days, it is hard not to see the fundamental role Mary played in our redemption. The "yes" she said at the Annunciation was not a "one and done" matter. She carried it through each and every day, even when it found her standing ("stabat") at the foot of her Son's Cross, hearing his final, agonizing efforts to breathe and to speak: to speak of us. "Behold, your son."

This week's Annunciation is from the 15th century (about 100 years after the Stabat Mater was written), by Apollonio di Giovanni.  It is from the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

It won't be celebrated liturgically this year, September 8 falling as it does on a Sunday, but the date of the Nativity of Mary comes seven days from today. (Catholic non-trivia: nine months ago we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary's Immaculate Conception. Time is an important factor in the Church's liturgical life!)

To honor Our Lady's birthday, here's an Annunciation by one of the greatest and holiest artists of all time, the beloved "Fra Angelico," Blessed John of Fiesole, from the collection of Yale University Art Gallery.

Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery