Sunday, January 13, 2013

Ladye Mary Chapel St Francis' Church Lonsdale Street, Melbourne



Ladye Mary Chapel St Francis' Church Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
St Francis' Church in Lonsdale Streert, Melbourne is a beautiful, prayer filled sanctuary which I have enjoyed visiting when I am in the City. The Ladye Mary Chapel is a magnificent place of quiet prayer, and the Blessed Sacrament is exposed all day.
Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacament is Monday to Saturday: 6:45 am to 5:30 pm (except during Masses which Mon to Thur 7:30, 8:00, 11:00 am, 12:05, 1:05, 5:30 pm and other days is also very frequent).Reference - http://www.stfrancismelbourne.org.au

The ‘mother church of Victoria’, St Francis’ Church, was built between 1841 and 1845 on the block of land originally reserved for the Catholic Church in Melbourne.
Soon after Melbourne’s pioneer priest, the Franciscan Fr Patrick Geoghegan, arrived in 1839, a temporary chapel made of second-hand floorboards was erected on the site of the future St Francis’ Church. When sufficient funds were raised to finance a permanent building, Geoghegan commissioned the architect Samuel Jackson to design the present church, which he dedicated to St Francis’ of Assisi.
The foundation stone of St Francis’ Church was laid on 4 October 1841. The first mass was celebrated in the completed nave of the church on 22 May 1842. And the church was blessed and opened on 23 October 1845.
St Francis’ became Melbourne’s first Catholic cathedral with the arrival of Bishop James Alipius Goold in 1848. Its cathedral status ended when the nave of the partially built St Patrick’s Cathedral was opened for worship in the late 1860s.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (1842–1909) made her first communion at St Francis’ in 1850, the same year that bushranger Ned Kelly’s parents were married in the church.
The beautiful ‘Ladye Chapel’ on the western side of St Francis’ Church was constructed in the mid 1850s and blessed on 31 May 1858. A Renaissance style sanctuary, which extended the church, was built in the late 1870s.......................
For full text - http://www.stfrancismelbourne.org.au
Jesus and Mary I love you, save souls.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come.

22Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifeb? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 
Luke 12


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year 2013, The Angelus


Happy New Year.
My wish for you is that of the Angel to Mary 
- And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us.
May the Lord be made flesh in your life and dwell with you. 
Isn't that the essence of all our desires - that the Lord dwell with us. 
Come Lord Jesus, Come.

The Angelus
The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Icon the Annunciation,
Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary.......
And the Word was made Flesh:
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary.......
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.

I am privilaged to have become the custodian of this beautiful Icon of the Annunciation. Thank you Brother Paul. 

Monday, December 3, 2012

St Benedict's School of Iconography

St Benedict's School of Iconography runs workshops at Galong Monastery once a year.
Our Master Iconography is Patrick Bernard.
Allan is a very  passionate artist, he loves to experiment with new and old techniques.

Jeff is a very capable artist, he is writing the Baptism of Jesus at the moment. He recently attended a workshop  in the States.

Allen does magnificent icons on a slightly larger scale. He is working on the Agony in the Garden
Mick as a number of other members joined our group last year. We gather 12 times a year and Patrick guides us in the Byzantine method of Iconography.  We are very grateful to have Patricks expertise.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

63rd National Cherry Festival at Young NSW December 2012

We went to Young today to buy some of the delicious cherries in season at the moment.
We had orders for cherries from several of our Canberra friends and have eight kilos awaiting delivery.
Fresh from the farm they seem to be much more juicy than we are able to buy in the shops.
We bought 'Van' cherries - they are a large, juicy, flavoursome variety - yum.
 We did enjoy the Cherry Pip Spit Competition.

How does anyone spit a cherry pip 11.55metres!! - ask Nick from Young NSW he can - amazing
There were many different cherry spitting techniques


And the Champions of the Cherry Pip Spit - Nick, Lara from Germany and Nick from Young are with the Young Cherry Queen Maddison O’Hara
Well done guys - I don't know how you did it.

Friday, November 9, 2012

St Michael the Archangel Icon

 At the moment I am writing the Icon of St Michael the Archangel.
As you can see from the process pictures below it is not completed yet.
I am using Egg Tempera on a prepared gesso board. 
I will add gold leaf and gold assist.
I have a great devotion to St Michael.
As you will see earlier in my blog I went to 
Saint Michael the Archangel's Cave in Italy - Mont Santangelo- in the Gargano, a wonderful experience.

St Michael the Archangel Icon

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

The Trinity Icon, by Andrei Rublev

Based on The Trinity Icon by Andrei Rublev circa 1410
This is the Icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev. I have almost completed writing this Icon.

It has been a wonderful journey, I started 6 years ago - not  a wise choice as it was the third Icon I commenced to write.  The journey has been pains taking each step of the way.

Trying to capture what Rublev was conveying has meant a lot of research, soul search, looking at other works of the same image and deciding what to keep and what to discard.

A query I had - was do I guild the sky or leave it ungilded. I was delighted to find that when the sky was gilded the figures became more prominent. This surprised and fascinated me as I thought the gold would be over whelming, but as you can see it 'makes sense' of the composition.

There are so many symbols in the icon.
I hope it will bless you as much as it has me.