Icons of Western Saints

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wolfsbane
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Wolfsbane

Guest
I have a question for Eastern Catholics: do you like the idea of writing icons of Western saints?

For a while, I always thought icons were only of either the foundations of the faith (e.g. Jesus Christ, the Theotokos, the Holy Family, the Apostles) or saints predominantly popular among the Eastern Church. However, at a school including mostly Roman Catholics but many Byzantine Rite seminarians and other Eastern Catholics, the Byzantine Chapel included icons of popular Eastern saints, such as St. John Chrysostom and St. Anthony of the Desert, but also Western saints, such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Therese of Lisieux. I also recently saw a Russian Orthodox icon of St. Josemaria Escriva.

I am a Roman Catholic with much interest in the Eastern Church, and I think this is a good thing: it combines the treasures of “the two lungs of the Church,” as Blessed John Paul II called the Western and Eastern Churches. However, I was wondering: what are the views of Eastern Catholics on this concept?
 
its been done, for example
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
I Like it. I support it. However I think iconographers should strive to figure out a regularized form for many of the western saints and depict them in a sound manner that emphasizes traditional iconographic elements. Too often with western saints you find deviations from traditional imagery, hand gestures, garments, and often too much background noise.

For instance, this icon of saint francis of assisi probably could do without the background as it really does not add anything to the theological truth being conveyed.
monasterygreetings.com/images/uploads/item1698_250_x_323.jpg

This might be more appropriate
fmmvocations.org/who_we_are/images/saint_francis_icon.jpg

And in regards to depctions, one can search up “Saint Patrick Icon” and find all many of depictions of saint patrick that resemble Saint seraphim of sarov, gregory the theologian, macarius of egypt or nicholas of myra.
 
I love it too…

But I thought most saints of the “pre-schism” era were venerated in the East (including St. Patrick)… Finding an icon of St. Francis would be a good example of a western icon.
 
Celticnovice said:
I love it too…

But I thought most saints of the “pre-schism” era were venerated in the East (including St. Patrick)… Finding an icon of St. Francis would be a good example of a western icon.
Click to expand...
Yessir, but they are not as prominent as most eastern saints. I don’t think the exploits of the venerable bede or Isidore of Seville became widely known until recent times, and with Orthodoxy spreading in both western and eastern form to western countries, many orthodox there have come to appreciate the western pre schism saints a lot more. It’s not often you will find a church in Russia dedicated to Martin of Tours.

This recent re-aquinating is why you don’t an archetype style for many western saints the way you would find for John Chrysostom or Mary of Egypt. The iconographic depictions of them are not as widespread and are much more recent.
 
Little_Boy_Lost said:
Yessir, but they are not as prominent as most eastern saints. I don’t think the exploits of the venerable bede or Isidore of Seville became widely known until recent times, and with Orthodoxy spreading in both western and eastern form to western countries, many orthodox there have come to appreciate the western pre schism saints a lot more. It’s not often you will find a church in Russia dedicated to Martin of Tours.

This recent re-aquinating is why you don’t an archetype style for many western saints the way you would find for John Chrysostom or Mary of Egypt. The iconographic depictions of them are not as widespread and are much more recent.
Click to expand...
That about sums it up.
 
Wolfsbane said:
…However, at a school including mostly Roman Catholics but many Byzantine Rite seminarians and other Eastern Catholics, the Byzantine Chapel included icons of popular Eastern saints, such as St. John Chrysostom and St. Anthony of the Desert, but also Western saints, such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Therese of Lisieux…
Click to expand...
We have Saint Thérèse of Lisieux on our Iconostasis because it was fashioned after the Iconostasis in the Russicum seminarian’s chapel. Why she appears on their Iconostatis you can read here. Priests for our Russian Greek Catholic parishes trained at the Russicum so that is where that connection comes in for our parish.
Celticnovice said:
But I thought most saints of the “pre-schism” era were venerated in the East (including St. Patrick)…
Click to expand...
St. Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and Enlightener of Ireland is one of those who is Commemorated on the same day in both the Latin Church and Orthodoxy/ECCs, March 17. 👍
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top