Sunday, June 19, 2022

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image


This very contemporary Annunciation is by Jean-Marie Pirot(1926-2018), known in the art world as Arcabas. Arcabas was a man of faith, and his professional work was predominantly in the field of sacred art. I have to admit that I don't really "get" this Annunciation, but some of his other work is more within my grasp, and I find it exquisitely moving.

You can also get a sense of that from some of the YouTube videos that were produced when he died (still working!) in 2018, even though the narration and interviews are all in French (which I do not understand).

From the videos and from the samples of Arcabas' work that I have seen on Pinterest, I believe that this Frenchman fulfilled what Pope St John Paul wrote about in his Letter to Artists: 

"Those who perceive in themselves this kind of divine spark which is the artistic vocation—as poet, writer, sculptor, architect, musician, actor and so on—feel at the same time the obligation not to waste this talent but to develop it, in order to put it at the service of their neighbour and of humanity as a whole" (n. 3).

Above is a short news item about a Trappist monastic church
in the Alps for which Arcabas designed some special pieces.



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About the Angelus Project

We rightly admire Muslim neighbors and co-workers who put everything on hold five times a day in answer to the "call to prayer." But Christians have a call to prayer, too! It is the Angelus. Morning, noon and evening we are invited to pause and reaffirm our faith in the Incarnation: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14), because "God so loved the world that he sent his only Son" (Jn. 3:16).
The Angelus Project is a personal project of Sister Anne Flanagan, FSP, a Daughter of St Paul. Find out more about the media ministry of the Daughters of St Paul at DaughtersofStPaul.com.

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