"But for everyone, believers or not, the works of art inspired by Scripture remain a reflection of the unfathomable mystery which engulfs and inhabits the world." - St. John Paul II (Letter to Artists n.5)
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, we commissioned a set of hand-illuminated altar cards from Elizabeth Lemme at Pelican Printery House. She has worked on several other sets of altar cards, including a set for Archbishop Cordileone.
The cards include images of St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin from the high altar on the center card, St. Augustine on the epistle-side card, and St. John Cantius on the gospel-side card, being named after the “man sent from God whose name was John.”
She also incorporated Polish wildflowers into the borders of the cards in homage to our Polish roots and included violets in honor of the story that the smell of violets permeated St. Anne’s Church when St. John Cantius’s tomb was damaged. The following flowers were included:
Papaver Rhoeas (Corn Poppies, the national flower of Poland- they are the papery vermillion red flowers with feathery leaves)
Trollius europaeus (Globe Flowers- the yellow flowers that resemble roses)
Grandiflora (freesia- the multicolored flowers with twirling blooms)
Amarillis Belladonna (Pink Amaryllis- the purplish pink flowers)
Viola (violets, for St. John Cantius)
We also plan to have prints of these cards made for our other apostolates.
Enjoy some images of the altar cards being used for the first time on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the anniversary of the founding of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.
