Monks Praying

A digital Painting I did using Corel Painter X and a Wacom tablet.

Feast of St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua and the Mule

by Joseph the younger Heinz

One of the Great Fraciscan prachers and miracle workers was St.Anthony of Padua (1195-1231).  He entered the Franciscan Order when St. Francis was still alive and the two of them knew each other. One of the great miracles He performed was as described below. It concerned a Mule and it's owner, a man who did not believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It goes as follows:
During the 13th century St. Anthony of Padua was reported to have converted a hardened heretic through a rather unique contest. The heretic, by the name of Bononillo, was unmoved by the reasoning of the "hammer of heretics," as St. Anthony was called. Bononillo was as stubborn as the mule that stood beside him.


Eyeing the mule, Anthony made an offer to Bononillo. He asked him whether he would give up his heresy if the mule were to bow down and adore its Creator present in the Blessed Sacrament. The heretic answered he would, provided he could lay down certain conditions: for two days the mule was not to be fed, and on the third day it was to be led into the public square. On one side of the square would be placed a tempting pile of fresh feed, on the opposite side Anthony could stand with what Bononillo contemptuously called the "body of Christ." Anthony agreed, but in all humility made one condition. If the animal did not kneel before the Blessed Sacrament, his sins alone were to be blamed.

The day arrived for this strange contest and the square was crowded with people. When the derisive Bononillo arrived with his half-starved mule, he was fully confident that his mule had sense and appetite enough to go after the feed. But he was wrong. Anthony had implored his Lord in the intervening two days for the soul of this heretic. God did not let his faithful servant down. When turned loose, the mule without the least hesitation advanced towards Anthony and knelt in an attitude of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. With much emotion and contrition the heretic too fell on his knees and gave up his heresy.

A NEW MUSICAL INTEREST

I never had such trouble with a string instrument as I've had with the Renaissance Lute. I've played guitar since I was 14, and learned to play the harp later in life. Now at 62, what have I done but made my life more complicated but trying to play this 15 stringed thing.  AARGH!

This particular lute is an 8 course lute meaning it has 8 rows of strings, two strings each row except for the 1st row which is single strung. It is a lute in 'G' meaning the 1st string is tuned to the note 'G'. The frets on lutes are not metal like guitars but made of Gut (lamb). The are tied in place.

It is a slow process for me as it takes so much practice time on an instrument to learn even the basics. On the Lute, the biggest problem I face is the touch, that is, how to pluck the strings correctly so both strings in a row sound evenly. Also, I never studied finger-picking as I always used a pick with electric guitar. Here, one uses the fingers to play the notes, and on Renaissance Lute a great deal is done with the thumb and first finger.

This will change the heart of Man

This book may well be the beginning of a radical change in the tide of mankind.

The author, Paul Badde, searches out the true 'Veronica', that is, the supposed image of Christ's face that has been revered, seen, and written about since the earliest times of Christianity but which was suddenly  lost, stolen, or taken in the 1600's from The Vatican. Today it resides in a humble Franciscan Church in Manoppello Italy - and those who look upon it are changed forever.

Once can go to the website for the Italian Santuario del Volto Santo for pictures and information as well at: http://www.voltosanto.it/Inglese/index.php

Also thee is a web albumn with photos at: https://picasaweb.google.com/randlfrost/HolyFaceOfManoppello?feat=content_notification#

The book, however, is where to find out the most interesting history of this veil and how it came to be in this Franciscan Church. It realloy is a must read for all Catholics who thirst for the Blessed Christ.

Guards at the Tomb of Christ

With the coming of Holy Week I thought I would post this drawing of two guards at watch at the tomb of Christ. They have no idea what they are in for.

My Mother, Eileen Mary Howley

On Friday, Feb 4th 2011 at 6 20 pm., my dear mother entered eternity to shre in the Beatific vision of the Divinity.  She had a lot of practice in 'being happy', here below, as the smile on her face clearly shows.

Eternal Rest grant unto her O Lord and may perpetual Light shine upon her. May she Rest in Peace. Amen

Ceanothus in Bloom and a new Crucifix finished

I have labored over this corpus for hours on end. The cross, I cut from dead Ceanothus (see below) wood that is on our property. Together, they make a very nice crucifix with the ' Franciscan' spirit of poverty, simplicity and devotion.

And here is the Ceanothus tree,  fully alive and in Bloom this time of year.

Once again, in mid winter, the lovely Ceanothus blooms with wonderful white flowers. This variety is all over the valley here and in a few days the entire valley will look like it has had a dusting of snow.

Jan. 1st Feast of the Theotokos (Mary Mother of God)

Happy New year to all.

Bach Toccata and Fugue Played by Edin Karamazov

Another Crucifix

Working on another Crucifix. Here is the Corpus for it, still in the painting stage.

Digital vs. Traditional

Is there any value to digital painting? If the above image( that I painted on the computer )were printed on  canvas, and the digital file then destroyed so that no other copies could be made would that make a difference? But artists have prints made of their work and sell them. Isn't that the same? Is it the fact that none of the tools of the painter came into play in creating this image, other than digital tools? ( I painted this in Corel Painter 9.5 ). Is art then, only viable when traditional tools are used to create it? How about a word processor for the writer? Is poetry less than it should be if the poet wrote the words in a word processing program rather than with pen and paper?  I can understand both sides of the argument.

Nov. 21 2010 -The Feast of Christ The King

He is everywhere and awaits us.

The hermit in all of us

An image from my book, A VISIT WITH CHRIST.  It was a challenge to do this book, and even more to get any sales.

Fall moss on our hillside

A sample of the intricate texture of the moss that has appeared from all the cool damp weather here on our hillside.

young woman revised

 In progress. I Revised the face and put in a lighter environment so that the figure is the center of attention.

young woman

I've always like the look of heavy cloth and capes and scarves. This has been fun to paint-however the poor girls face is not yet where it should be. Ah! the more I practice the arts, the more I find myself lacking.
Oh well..... one can strive.

Happy Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

A little girl has come among us

Meet Rosemary Kelly Meyers, my great niece. The world has just become a better place!

Old Footage of St. Padre Pio

I know I jump around a lot from secular to sacred and what have you but that's just me. I couldn't resist putting a link to this old footage of St. Padre Pio taken in the 1940's and 1950's and beyond. GI's used to go up to see him during world war II.

This footage has just solo Cello behind it. It is very well done.
CLICK HERE

Martha Argerich and Ravel's piano concerto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nym2KdtLNfk

I poster about the master Pianist Martha Argerich playing this movement many posts earlier (CLICK HERE). That video was from 20 years ago. Here she is again, now 20 years older playing it even better. To me she is the bar to be measured against in the world of Pianists. I think all women should let there hair go grey as she has.She has such passion for this piece.