Saints – Tru Original

Articles Tagged with: Saints

St. Faustina

Apostle of Mercy

As you know by now, before i prepare to paint a Saint, I pray with them and ask, “how would you like to be portrayed?” The only thing that Faustina wanted was to be on her knees under His merciful Rays. She wanted to have a look of peace on her face, submitting herself to these rays, this shower of mercy.

I painted St. Faustina rather quickly but she was quite particular about the depths and importance of the Rays, because of this, the Rays took me over 2 1/2 weeks to finish. They are layer upon layer of color and medium. Finally, Faustina was pleased and the icon was completed. (side note… watching the movie Love and Mercy, i was shocked to see how Faustina instructed artist Eugene Kazimierowski, in the same manner she hounded, i mean inspired me! i cried like a baby in the theater at the confirmation of her guidance. ) In my frustration I complained, “why have you been so hard?!” Her reply was “do you think mercy is easy?” I knew interiorly that she was asking me to be merciful with myself. And I thought of the crucifix.

Jesus died for me in His mercy. Being merciful with myself is really embracing His merciful love in humility.

It takes humility to be forgiving, a lot of humility. When we can forgive ourselves, we are acknowledging that we are a sinner and nothing more, and that we need God.

Someone asked me once the difference between mercy and grace…the crucifix, that is mercy! I finished this icon of St. Faustina on Our Lady of Mercy feast day, Sept. 24… I just can’t make this stuff up! It’s just too good!

He who knows how to forgive prepares for himself many graces from God. As often as I look upon the cross, so often will I forgive with all my heart – St. Faustina

This picture was sent to me by a sweet young lady who took my Saint Faustina icon to The National Shrine of Divine Mercy to be blessed! Wow, oh wow! Felt like i was with her in spirit, and was so happy she shared this with me. xo

February’s Saint of the Month

Saint Bakhita!

St. Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan, Africa, in 1869 and lived a humble and happy life with her family until at age 7 when she was kidnapped and sold as a slave. Poor Bakhita suffered very harsh treatment as a slave and for the next 12 years she would be bought, sold and given away over a dozen times. She spent so much time in captivity that she forgot her original name. The name “Bakhita,” which means “fortunate,” was given to her in sarcasm by the people who kidnapped her.

As a slave, her experiences varied from fair treatment to cruel. One of her masters left 114 scars on her body and another master beat her so badly for breaking a vase, she almost died. Finally in 1883, Bakhita was sold to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan and was treated with more kindness. Although she was not free, she was still a slave. Two years later, Callisto took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend and was made a babysitter to Mimmina Michieli, whom she accompanied to Venice’s Institute of the Catechumens, run by the Canossian Sisters. While Mimmina was being instructed, Josephine felt drawn to the Catholic Church. As a little girl, she would look up at the moon and stars and knew that someone had created them and that she wanted to know this master. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine. Josephine was finally happy to address God as “Master” and carry out everything that she believed to be God’s will for her. When the Michieli’s returned from Africa and wanted to take Mimmina and Josephine back with them, the future saint refused to go. The Michieli’s didn’t want to give up Bakhita so they took her to court to try and force her back to being their slave . During the court case, the Canossian Sisters and the Church intervened on Josephine’s behalf and the judge concluded that since slavery was illegal in Italy, she had actually been free since 1885. For the first time in her life, Josephine was free and could choose what to do with her life. She chose to remain with the Canossian Sisters.

At the age of forty-one, Josephine felt God calling her to become one of the sisters. The Canossian Sisters accepted her into their community. For twenty-five years, Sister Josephine carried out humble services in the convent. She cooked, sewed, took care of the chapel and answered the door. Her health had suffered because of all the tortures she had endured as a slave, so she was given the role as porteress ( just like St Martin de Porres and Blessed Solanus Casey!). She had a lot to do with all the local children who named her “la nostra madre moretta” which means “Our little brown mother.” During World War I, Sister Josephine helped to care for the wounded. She became known for her kindness and goodness. She was a source of comfort and encouragement to everyone who came to her in need. A young student once asked Bakhita: “What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?” Without hesitation she responded: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today”

In her later years, she began to suffer physical pain and was forced to use a wheelchair. But she always remained cheerful. If anyone asked her how she was, she would reply, “As the master desires.” On the evening of February 8, 1947, Josephine spoke her last words, “Our Lady, Our Lady!” She then died. Her body lay on display for three days afterwards. She was canonized on October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II and St. Bakhita’s body lays incorrupt today. Bakhita’s story is fascinating particularly because of the story of her slavery and how God was with her every step of the way, writing something beautiful from the sad chapters of her early years as a child. Unfortunately, there is still childhood slavery in the world today. St Bakhita is venerated as a modern day African Saint and is the Patron Saint of Human Trafficking and the country of Sudan.

Beautiful Saint Bakhita…pray for us!

December’s Saint of the Month

Our Lady of Guadalupe!

On Dec. 12, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, marking the day when, in 1531, the Blessed Mother appeared in Mexico to a 57-year old peasant named Juan Diego. According to the earliest reliable account of the story, Juan Diego was walking near Tepayac Hill (called Mexico City today) when he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself: “My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”

In trying to convince the archbishop of what he had seen, Juan Diego eventually was asked for a sign to prove what he had seen. Upon returning to Mary and sharing this with her, Mary said “My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son.” Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary waiting for him. She spoke: “Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me.” While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary’s instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses which were neither in season nor native to the region. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him: “My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him.” At the palace, Juan once again came before the bishop and several of his advisors. He told the bishop his story and opened the tilma letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn’t the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisors to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the Tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman, surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a picture of herself. She told his uncle:”Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe”.

Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism! The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was…untouched!

In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, St Juan Diego…pray for us!

December Activities for Catholic Families

December 2nd Advent begins- Display your Advent Wreath and/or Jesse Tree. Be sure to set up an in-home Nativity too, but wait until Christmas morning to put Baby Jesus in the manger. Sign up for Advent Adventure Newsletter for kids.

December 4th- Begin Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena for all the pre-born children in the world with your family and say the prayers together each night until her feast day.

December 5th- Place your shoes outside your bedroom door for Saint Nick’s feast day tomorrow!

December 8th- Feast of the Immaculate Conception Holy Day of Obligation (opportunity!)

December 9th– Saint Juan Diego Feast day- Taco Fiesta! After dinner, help with clean up and watch this movie about the life of Juan Diego .

December 12th– Our Lady Of Guadalupe Feast Day- Buy roses for Our Lady and create a table shrine with the OLG art print from your Saint of the Month Club box. Or create your own artwork of OLG using the custom coloring page sent in your box. What items will you place on this little table shrine? Novena ends, so don’t forget closing day prayers. Learn more about OLG by watching the movie below and Consider a family enthronement .

December 13th Feast Day of St. Lucy- Prepare sweet breads for breakfast. Try this fun and healthy recipe ! Short on time? Refrigerated cinnamon roll dough or store bought work just as well! Just be sure to add a few candles to recall St. Lucy’s trip to the catacombs where she feed the hungry.

December 17th- 23rd- Pray the O Antiphon. Each Antiphon is a title for the Messiah.

O Sapientia December 17 O WISDOM Who issued from the mouth of the Most High Reaching from beginning to end Ordering all things mightily yet tenderly— COME to teach us the way of prudence.

O Adonai December 18 O LORD OF LORDS And Leader of the house of Israel, Who appeared to Moses in the bush’s flaming fire And gave to him the Law of Sinai— COME to redeem us with stretched-out arms.

O Radix Jesse December 19 O ROOT OF JESSE A Standard to the peoples Before whom kings are mute, To whom all nations shall appeal— COME to deliver us; delay, please, no longer.

O Clavis David December 20 O KEY OF DAVID And Scepter of the house of Israel, You open and no man dares shut, You shut and no man dares open— COME, deliver from the chains of prison him who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O Oriens December 21 O RISING DAWN Radiance of eternal light And Sun of justice— COME, enlighten those sitting in darkness And in the shadow of death.

O Rex Gentium December 22 O KING OF NATIONS And their desired one, Cornerstone who binds two into one— COME and save man Whom You fashioned from the slime of the earth.

O Emmanuel December 23 O EMMANUEL, God-with-us, Our King and Lawgiver, The Awaited of the peoples and their Savior— COME to save us, O Lord, our God.

December 24th Christmas Eve– Color your Christmas Card for Jesus which was included your Saint of the Month Club box and place it under the tree. Pray a family rosary to prepare for the coming of Jesus and show Our Blessed Mother your devotion. More information on the Rosary can be found on pg. 27 in the Apparitions of Mary book included in your Saint of the Month box.

Christmas Day– Place Jesus in the manger… He is here! Sing Happy Birthday Jesus, open and place the card you made for Him in a spot close to your families Nativity set.

Day After Christmas, color your 12 Days of Christmas poster, included in your Saint of the Month Club.

Want to learn even more about the Saints? Get your free CD! Perfect for family car rides!

November Saint of the Month

Father Solanus Casey!

Bernard Francis Casey was born on November 25th, 1870 and came from a large family in Oak Grove, Wisconsin where he was the sixth of sixteen children. He contracted diphtheria in 1878, which permanently damaged his voice and left it wispy and slightly impaired; two of his siblings died from the disease during that year.

In 1887, he left the farm for a series of jobs in his home state and in nearby Minnesota, working as a lumberjack, a hospital orderly, and a guard in the Minnesota state prison. At the age of 21, when Barney was working as a streetcar motorman in Superior, Wisconsin, he witnessed the stabbing of a woman in the street and this changed his life forever. Being a witness to this horrible sin, caused Casey to give his life over to God and he entered St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee. He found the studies in seminary very difficult and he did not get good grades. In 1896, he left Milwaukee after hearing a message from Mary and joined the Capuchins in Detroit, taking the name Solanus, after Saint Francis Solanus because both men loved the violin. His studies for the priesthood were again very hard

On July 24, 1904, Solanus was ordained, but because his knowledge of theology was judged to be weak, he was not given permission to hear confessions or to preach. A Franciscan Capuchin who knew him well said this annoying restriction “brought forth in him a greatness and a holiness that might never have been realized in any other way.” Barney Casey became one of Detroit’s best-known priests even though he was not allowed to preach formally or to hear confessions! Father Solanus served at parishes in Manhattan and Harlem before returning to Detroit, where he was porter (receptionist and door keeper) and sacristan for 20 years at St. Bonaventure Monastery. Every Wednesday afternoon he conducted well-attended services for the sick. A co-worker estimates that on the average day 150 to 200 people came to see Father Solanus in the front office. Most of them came to receive his blessing; 40 to 50 came for consultation. Many people considered him instrumental in cures and other blessings they received. In the tradition of the Franciscans whose charism is care for the poor, Bl. Solanus also had a desire to feed anyone who came to the door of St. Bonaventure monastery. “They are hungry; get them some soup and sandwiches,” Fr. Solanus was known to proclaim to his fellow friars. In 1929 at the start of the Great Depression Bl. Solanus had the idea to start a soup kitchen down the street from the monastery, where he could send anyone who came to the door looking for food. The Capuchin soup kitchen has a long history of feeding the hungry in that area of Detroit and still feeds the needy today.

In failing health, Solanus was transferred to the Capuchin novitiate in Huntington, Indiana, in 1946, where he lived for ten years until needing to be hospitalized in Detroit. Father Solanus died on July 31, 1957. An estimated 20,000 people passed by his coffin before his burial in St. Bonaventure Church in Detroit. He was known during his lifetime as a wonderworker, for his great faith, and for his abilities as a spiritual counselor – but especially for his great attention to the sick and poor. On July 8, 1987, Father Casey’s remains were exhumed and moved inside the Father Solanus Casey Center at Saint Bonaventure Monastery; his remains were found to be incorrupt save for a little decomposition on the elbows. A range of miraculous cures have been attributed to his intercession, both during his earthly life and after his death. Fr. Casey was beautified on Nov. 18, 2017. Learn about the road to Sainthood from one of the Saint of the Month holy cards. Blessed Solanus Casey… pray for us!

Learn more about Fr. Solanus by watch this movie which tells many amazing stories about his llife.

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity

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Today is the feast day of Martyrs Sts. Perpetua and Felicity! These two Saints were persecuted and died because of their faith and love of Jesus. And last month, I had the honor of painting a mixed media painting for The Happy Catholic Box.

As you may have already read on my website, I have had a long, and often times, stubborn dialog with Jesus when it comes to painting The Saints. I feel like my artwork has always had a faith based tone to it, but I was never all in with my art…meaning that I didn’t really surrender this part of myself to God. Honestly, I kept it for myself because I really didn’t think I was good enough or worthy of painting a Saint. I guess I felt like God didn’t want that part of me. Truth is, I’m not worthy or good enough and this is a good thing, He has to do the work for me! So, needless to say, this has been a long process of surrender and allowing God’s love to ” convince” me he can handle it. Oh how He pursues us! Thank you Jesus!

Admittedly, I knew very little about St. Perpetua and Felicity when I began the process of the painting. I rarely know which Saint will come through in my paintings until the end, so setting out to paint a particular Saint is rare for me. Getting to know these two Saints before and during the painting was exciting because this intimacy always comes after I have completed a painting and God has revealed which Saint was brought out through the painting.

First thing that I uncovered in my research was that they were from Africa, therefore, they had dark skin…and although many artists portray them as white, they are black. “Ok God, I’ve never painted a black person…how do you think I will do that?” May seem simple to many, but to me, this is unchartered territory. If you are an artist, you know that skin tones have a lot of colors in them and if you don’t add the right colors or enough colors, you can get flat, one dimensional results. Once again, He keeps me needing Him.

Next thing I learned about these beautiful women was that they were imprisoned together, along with 3 others, for refusing to renounce their Christian faith. St. Perpetua had to leave her baby for a period of time until she was finally granted permission to have her infant stay with her in the prison. In her diary, she writes…“What a day of horror! Terrible heat, owing to the crowds! Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all, I was tormented with anxiety for my baby…. Such anxieties I suffered for many days, but I obtained leave for my baby to remain in the prison with me, and being relieved of my trouble and anxiety for him, I at once recovered my health, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have been there than anywhere else.”

St. Felicity was 8 months pregnant and set to be executed along side St Perpetua, but at the time, it was illegal to shed the innocent blood of an unborn baby. St. Felicity prayed that she would give birth before the set date of the execution so that she could die alongside Perpetua, rather than dying alone. It is written “The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, “If you think you suffer now, how will you stand it when you face the wild beasts?” Felicity answered them calmly, “Now I’m the one who is suffering, but in the arena Another will be in me suffering for me because I will be suffering for him.” Two days before the execution, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl who was adopted by a Christian woman.

So parents, imagine for a moment, that you had to choose between God and your faith or your innocent child. Both these Saints knew and trusted God enough to leave their children and die for Him. This is suffering from the deepest place, this is how The Blessed Mother suffered when she watched Jesus die on the cross. I started to feel the unworthiness set in again…”God, these women were fearless in their love for you, how do I paint fearless love?” His answer, “you can’t, but I can.”

A story about St. Perpetua that really touched my heart was her response to her pagan father when he tried to get her to renounce her Christianity. Pointing to a water jug, she asked her father, “See that pot lying there? Can you call it by any other name than what it is? “Her father answered, “Of course not.” Perpetua responded, “Neither can I call myself by any other name than what I am a Christian.” I love this Holy Spirit confidence! She knows what she is up against and she calls it like it is, very simply, I am a Christian. This is why, in the painting, I had to paint that water jug, which also symbolizes that she was newly baptized. You can learn more about these Saints here.

I was spending some time in prayer about a week after I completed the painting and felt God’s voice tell me to be still. I sat and my eyes settled upon the painting of these Saints and I notice for the first time their halos, and how they intertwined. Why had I painted that, I asked. God’s response, and I’m so not kidding, ” Google it.” Going to my computer I discover that this symbol was called Vesica Pisces or Jesus fish and in present time is used to promote Christianity but in the original meaning it was used to depict the womb of Mary and the coming together of heaven and earth though Jesus. As I am reading this, tears fill my eyes. How amazing it feels to be used by God! The richness of His love is unchanging and it moves people to love fearlessly.

I have Holy Cards available of St. Perpetua and Felicity and on the back of the card, a prayer I wrote:

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Here are some photos that show how my painting process happens.

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