ALLL SAINTS DAY

We can pay no greater honor to the Saints than by offering up to God in their name the Blood of Jesus.  The efficacy of their past merits and present prayers is greatly increased when offered to God in close association with the merits and prayers of our Lord.  Therefore the Church commemorates on this day all the Saints in heaven without exception, and thus honors also those who are unknown and who have no public recognition in the Liturgy.  (Maybe even someone we know)

 

 

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT ARE CALLED TO THE MARRIAGE-SUPPER OF THE LAMB!"I saw a great multitude which no man could number, of all the nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands: and they cried with a loud voice, saying: 'Salvation to our Lord.'"
Apoc. vii. 9,10

This is the day we honor all those who have actually made it into eternal happiness. Good for them. I hope people I know are there. I hope a dream I had years ago is true. I saw my mom, with her usual big smile standing in front of me.  She turned around, and went what seemed approximately 40 feet.  She went up three steps with the help of Jesus Himself (she always had problems with her legs), and sat in a big chair, then get a crown placed on her head by Jesus on one side and His Mother Mary on the other. (Jesus was on her left, my right, and Mary on her right, my left) Then the vision immediately left. It was a really different feeling. Woke me right up!

We honor all of the holy saints who have gone before us, and now rest in the bosom of God Himself, just as He promised. And, as our beloved Abbot Gueranger states: 'Yet the soul faints not, lifting up her eyes to the mountains, she feels that she can rely upon her Lord, and that she is abandoned neither by heaven, which is expecting her arrival, nor by her mother the Church still here on earth. Although purgatory, where justice and peace meet and embrace, is so near the region of endless weeping, it is still accessible to the angels. These august messengers comfort the soul with divine communications: while the blessed in heaven and the just on earth assist her with their prayers and sufferings. She is well assured that sin, the only real evil, can never touch her.

...But as in this world every grace from Jesus comes to us through Mary, so in the next world it is through her that deliverance and all good things are obtained. The Mother of God is queen over all whom her Son has redeemed. Thus the revelations of the saints tell us that she is truly the queen of purgatory: whether she graciously sends the angels of her guard to represent her there, or deigns herself, the beautiful dawn of eternal day, to enter its gloomy precincts, and shed upon its flames the abundant dew of morning.'
This is me: The Sabbantine privilege is that Mary herself will come and get us on the first Saturday after our death if we are faithful to her. I like this promise.

Let us, therefore, offer to her this prayer. It was composed in the 14th century by John IV de Langoueznou, abbot of Landevenec, and speaks of his love for our Blessed Mother:


To the sufferers in purgatory, whom the burning flame is cleansing and sharp pains are tormenting, may thy compassion bring assistance, O Mary!

Fount accessible to all and washing away their sins, thou aid all, despise none: to the dead who languish in unceasing tortures, stretch forth thy hand, O Mary!

How lovingly do the departed souls sigh towards thee, yearning to be delivered from their sufferings and to be admitted to the sight of thee in the enjoyment of eternal bliss, O Mary!

Hear their groans, and hasten, O Mother, to show the love of thy heart, obtain of Jesus that He would deign to heal them through His own wounds, O Mary!

Thou art the true hope of them that call upon thee: lo! united multitudes cry to thee for their brethren, that thou would appease thy Son, and obtain for them the heavenly reward, O Mary!

In thy goodness, cause the tears thou sees us shed before the feet of the Judge, to extinguish speedily the flames of the avenging fire, that the dear souls may join the angelic choirs, O Mary!

And when the strict examination shall take place at God's terrible judgment, oh, then implore thy Son, the Judge, that we may share the inheritance of the saints, O Mary! AMEN!



Following concerns a painting featuring some of the great saints of the Church:

Bellini’s San Zaccaria Altarpiece

Giovanni Bellini, San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505, oil on wood

Giovanni Bellini was one of the greatest Venetian painters of the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries, and he made a name for himself primarily through the production of religious devotional images and altarpieces.  He painted a vast number of images of the Virgin and Child, of which over sixty survive to this day.  Perhaps his most famous painting is the San Zaccaria Altarpiece, located above a side altar in the Church of San Zaccaria (St. Zaccarias) in Venice.

Example of an earlier sacra conversazione painting – Domenico Veneziano, St. Lucy Altarpiece, c. 1445

The painting may be the most important example of a sacra conversazione scene in Italian Renaissance painting.  The sacra conversazione, or “sacred conversation”, was a type of picture showing the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child among various saints from different periods of time.  Sometimes these saints seem to communicate with each other, and sometimes with us, the viewers.  Other artists, such as Domenico Veneziano, had depicted the sacra conversazione before, but Bellini treated his painting with a particularly high level of delicacy, vibrant colors, realistic forms, and illusionistic architectural space.  In the San Zaccaria Altarpiece, the mood is one of quiet and restrained contemplation as all the figures are demure as they stand beside the Virgin and Child as the angel performs a serenade with a violin at their feet.



The scene type often shows an anachronistic gathering of figures who did not live at the same point in history.  For example, in Bellini’s painting here, we see St. Peter (first century) on the left, dressed in his typical blue and orange robes, holding onto the keys with his left hand and the book in the right.  Next to him is St. Catherine of Alexandria (fourth century), who is identified as a martyr by the palm branch she holds.  We can tell this is St. Catherine because of the broken wooden wheel which appears by her side.  According to the traditional story of Catherine, an attempt to kill her on the wheel was prevented when the wheel broke at her touch.  She was later beheaded.  On the right, St. Jerome (fifth century) is depicted reading a book, and next to him is St. Lucy (fourth century), known for having her eyes gouged out (presumably as a punishment for her Christianity).

The composition Bellini used for the painting draws upon the Renaissance tradition of pyramidal groupings of figures.  Here, the most important figures are the Virgin and Christ Child, who form the apex of the pyramid.  Elevated upon a throne, they are located further back in the picture plane than are the other figures.  This intelligible use of pictorial space is made possible through the keen implementation of one-point linear perspective, the configuration of which is visually understood by following the orthogonal lines of the floor tiles to their vanishing point near the foot of the Virgin.



The San Zaccaria Altarpiece seen in situ.

Another important aspect in the formulation of the space occupied by the figures is the architecture, which is placed in front of an open landscape that is only slightly visible to the left and right.  By following the molding of the wall behind the group, we can understand it to form a rounded curve topped with a semidome or conch, similar to that of an apse of a church.  Thus, Bellini seems to have placed the Virgin and Child within sacred painted architecture in much the same way that a church altar would be placed in the actual architecture of a building (including here at the Church of San Zaccaria).  Furthermore, we can see that on the left and right the arches which support the vaulting appear to project forward toward the picture plane.  When viewed within the actual arch in the church which frames the painting, the painted architecture seems to be an extension of the physical space of the church.

For Bellini, the painted, fictive architecture complements the high degree of realism and saturated colors to create a serene scene which is ripe for contemplation.  Visitors to the church would be able to approach the side altar and experience the vivid depiction of all these holy figures through a type of “window” in the wall.