February 18--Feast of Bl. Fra Angelico
18 February 2010
Although we rarely get to celebrate his feast day because it almost always falls in Lent, today we remember the feast of our beloved Bl. Giovanni da Fiesole known by everyone as "Fra Angelico" because of the celestial beauty of his paintings. In 1982, the Servant of God, John Paul II, honored him with the title of "Blessed" and gave him a feast day for the the Dominican Calendar. He also named him "Patron of Artists".
"We, with sound knowledge, bearing in mind the considerable merits in the Church of Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, exclusively for the good of souls, of Our own initiative and with Our apostolic authority, concede as a sign of special grace that his birthday, with the title of "Blessed" in the Liturgy of the Hours and in the Eucharist may be celebrated, with an obligatory degree of remembrance, in the basilica of S. Maria sopra Minerva, where his body is buried, and with a facultative degree of remembrance throughout the Order of Preaching Friars."
For the complete homily of John Paul II which also gives a short biography of the life of Bl. Fra Angelico go to the website of our Brethren in Australia HERE.
2 comments:
The Church should set aside a feast-day make-up week, like making up school snow days, where we could make up the celebration of any feast days that fall during Lent or are eclipsed by Sundays.
;-)
I will never forget the visit I made to his monastery in Florence where I got to see the frescoes he painted on its walls. At the Gardiner Stewart Museum in Boston there is a tiny Coronation of the Virgin that is spectacular. His paintings and frescoes are suffused in a holy light. May the intercession of Bl. Giovanni da Fiesole bring us all into such a holy light.
Post a Comment