I haven’t carried my camera lately on Tuedays, so haven’t captured the progress on the Tree of Life. Last evening I slipped into the St. Anne’s room to snap these shots. One shows the warp and weft of a net…the litany of Saints that I began on All Saint’s Day. By now, I’ve almost included 1,000 names of holy men and women…I like the sense that given a fall, their prayers would ‘capture’ us…lift us up…support us. Another photo aims toward the upper left hand corner…I’ve been climbing the ladder again and developing the piece with ongoing layers.
Last Tuesday, I got as far as Saint Juan Diego on my list of Roman Catholic Saints. According to the traditional account, the original image of Our lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the cloak of Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City on December 12, 1531. Apparently there are over 10,000 Roman Catholic Saints and a longer list for the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Communions. I have successfully written 510 saint’s names on the painting, The Resurrection Tree.
510 Saints
The final Saint’s name was Zygmunt Gorazdowski. I found a brief write-up on this blog and really have enjoyed reading some articles on The Black Cordelias’ wordpress as they share a many-faceted perspective on the Catholic Religion, along with good humour and extensive research. God really DOES have to have a sense of humour! I know that on the wall there are three spelling errors and also the incorporation of three Eastern Orthodox Saints…I dare anyone to find these! :0)
In the afternoon, I went to work on the Tree of Life/Resurrection Tree, having decided to apply the names of the Saints listed in my resource. I got as far as page 15 of 25 pages and then my fingers, hand and shoulder were too sore to continue. I will finish the application of these names next Tuesday, beginning with Juan Diego who died in 1548.
“Solemnity celebrated on the first of November. It is instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of saints’feastsduring the year.