When entering a Gothic church, one instinctually looks up – the verticality of the building inviting the visitors to lift up one’s hearts. But floors are oftentimes as interesting and important as stained-glass windows, paintings in lateral chapels, ornate columns, vaults, arches, or even façades. Take, for example the floors of the Siena Cathedral, also Read More…

This fall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will host the exhibition Africa & Byzantium, showcasing nearly 200 medieval Byzantine works of art from the 4th to the 15th century, including illuminated manuscripts and polychrome mosaics. Even though the Byzantine empire spanned large parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia, “its extensive connections to Africa have previously Read More…

The poet Anna Key’s collection After Colonna appeared on Aleteia’s 2023 Summer Book List. I recently spoke with her about how her poems, inspired by the work of the Renaissance poet Vittoria Colonna, reimagined Colonna’s sonnets in new and surprising ways. Anna Key also spoke about what it means to engage poetically with another time Read More…

Fans of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books and the subsequent films know that wardrobes are not just cabinets for holding clothes. They can also be portals to another world that holds mythical creatures and talking animals. The Narnia books are not insubstantial works of fantasy literature, however; they contain a deeply Christian significance.    The artist Read More…

Several years ago, I encountered the poems of Vittoria Colonna. Colonna was a rare creature, a Renaissance-era woman who became involved in the high arts. She was friends with many visual artists of the day, including Michelangelo, and was highly respected for her talent. I became so excited about what I read that I couldn’t Read More…

Since Christian tradition recognizes St. Joachim and St. Anne as the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, their meeting at Jerusalem’s Golden Gate is considered a major moment in the history of salvation. Whereas the story of Joachim and Anne’s meeting is not mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels, it is found in apocryphal Read More…

The National Eucharistic Congress is calling all sacred artists in the US to submit entries for a new Catholic art exhibition with the theme: “Do this in memory of me.” Selected works will be displayed at a traveling exhibition that will begin in the Spring of 2024. The exhibition organizers are accepting submissions of 2D Read More…

A priest and a church musician have teamed up to produce a tragic opera concerning civic unrest during the Roman Republic and the lives sacrificed to bring about peace in the Eternal City. The opera, Gracchus, will have its world premiere in Connecticut this weekend, with a cast of nine soloists, a chorus and orchestra, Read More…

From the famous sculpture of the “Veiled Christ’‘ to St. Clare’s monastery, Naples is a treasure trove of Catholic masterpieces. Even buildings that now host non-religious activities often have a Catholic past. This is the case with the State Archive building, hosted on the premises of a former Benedictine monastery dedicated to St. Severinus of Read More…

It’s a strange abbey, perched at an altitude of 2625 feet in the heart of the Chablais mountains in France. From June 26 to July 2, Aulps Abbey decided to rebuild the choir and bell tower of the abbey church of St. Mary of Aulps — not from stone, but from cardboard. This initiative was Read More…

The Vatican Library is taking advantage of its extensive collection of ancient texts to launch a specialized training program on Hebrew manuscripts.  In cooperation with the Argentina-based Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, the Vatican Apostolic Library program, starting Wednesday, July 19, is an intensive week of face-to-face and remote lessons for students from various universities around Read More…

A rare Crucifixion by Fra Angelico just sold, last July 6, for about 6.4 million dollars to an unknown buyer during an auction held at Christie’s, thus setting a record price for the Early Renaissance/Late Medieval Dominican Master. Fra Angelico, born as Guido di Pietro, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance period, active Read More…