Franz Palko's Allegory Of The Jesuit Order

Franz Xaver Palko.

Allegory of the Jesuit Order

Fr Saju George Moolamthuruthil S.J.  preforms the Hindu dance Bharatanatyam in a German Catholic church, watch the video (here)  at Catholic Church Conservation

From The Chapel Of The Jesuit Infirmary In Rome

A mosaic of Mary and Joseph presenting the child Jesus to Simeon decorates the chapel of the Jesuit infirmary in Rome June 8. The Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments is establishing an office to promote the development and use of appropriate liturgical art, architecture and music.
Link (here) to the Catholic Register

Peace Jesuit Anarchist Sub Base Comic

Poor Richard's Mammoth Sunflower Practical Growing Guide

For Jesuit Priests, Catholic Nuns and other Anarchist Infiltrator Peace Activists (of TERROR!)

Link (here) to the original website mocking Jesuit Fathers Kelly and Bischel

Katie Holmes Registers As A Parishoner At A Jesuit Parish In New York City

Katie Holmes with daughter Suri

Five years after revealing that she had started to study Scientology, Katie Holmes has officially returned to the Catholic faith, registering as a parishioner at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City. “Everyone is thrilled to have Katie join us,” a member of the church's choir told me. “She has not yet attended a service, but when she does she will be welcomed with open arms.” The church, located on 16th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, is known for inclusive thinking and its welcoming of many gay and lesbian Catholics. Its mission statement indicates that the Roman Catholic Church parish “strives to be a prophetic, welcoming community, inclusive witness to the presence of Christ Jesus in our midst.” Its website proclaims that it is a respectful community, “where seekers and their questions are welcomed, where injustice is challenged, where the poor, the alienated and marginalized find a home, and where people are refreshed, reconciled and renewed.” Cruise and Holmes just issued a joint statement saying, "We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other's commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents." The New York parish is no stranger to celebrity faces: Nancy Pelosi was seen worshipping there while serving as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

Link (here) to the Huffington Post

There Is No School Like The Old School

Fr. William O'Malley, S.J.

Heads were spinning at Fordham Prep after a gruff but beloved teacher — known to horror fans for his role in the film “The Exorcist” — was cast out. Administrators exorcised themselves of Father William O’Malley, a theology teacher at the Jesuit high school for the past 20 years, because they felt his old-school style was out of date. “Father O’Malley’s style was probably more abrasive than we are used to and something we discussed with the principal over the years,” Father Kenneth Boller, president of Fordham Prep, told The Post. “He has a somewhat confrontational style, and the times change and the [teaching] styles change,” he said. “His effectiveness, in view of the principal, has diminished. We thought it was time for him to end his career on an up note after completing a successful year.” O’Malley, 80, played Father Joe Dyer in the 1973 demonic-possession horror flick. As an author, Father O'Malley has published 37 books, Choosing to Be Catholic, Why Be Catholic?, God: The Oldest Question, Meeting the Living God, Building Your Own Conscience, and The Fifth Week are among them. His book, Help My Unbelief, won a Catholic Book Award in 2009

Link (here) to the NY Post

German Jesuit And Pigs

Schweine am Kreuz: Anzinger-Ausstellung

Father Friedhelm Mennekes SJ, founder and long-time director of the Art Station Sankt Peter has also commented to the newspaper about the cancelling of the exhibition. He pointed to the rich tradition of the crucifixion motif, to the derision that Christianity once had suffered through the representation of a crucified donkey, and also to the "Jewish pig" in Cologne Cathedral. All these elements played into Anzingers work- he himself had exhibited a butterfly crucified by Markus Lüpertz in St. Peter's. "I hope that the cancellation was not a case of anticipatory obedience to ecclesiastical authority," said Mennekes in conclusion. (Cathcon- no wonder the Jesuits are the worst hit of the orders after the Council. They were set up on army lines by St Ignatius with a specific oath of obedience to the Pope. Now they are a bunch of ecclesiastical anarchists no longer of capable of fighting)  It is precisely this fear Guido Schlimbach tried to dispel when talking to the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" . The Art Station is after all not an art hall, but a house of God: "We derive life from the whole life of the community." A crucified pig in oil next to a crucifix is not easy in this context - and as Anzinger totally refused to compromise, the cancellation could not be avoided. "I'm sure," said Schlimbach, "Mennekes would not have put on the exhibition." (Cathcon- see his comments above which go in the opposite direction.)

Read the whole story at Catholic Church Conservation (here)

Leonard Bernstein's Jesuit Friends

Apparently Justice Department official Robert Mardian -- later of Watergate fame -- circulated a memo saying that Leonard Bernstein was being assisted in creating the piece by "show business personalities in New York and Los Angeles," and that "'Jesuit friends of the composer' are serving as advisors" -- among these, war protester Father Daniel Berrigan. And this, Mardian thought, might presage a clever anti-American PR coup: "One could surmise," wrote Mardian, that "Bernstein has requested Father Berrigan compose words for the 'Mass' in Latin and it would follow an anti-war theme." Thus Bernstein was suspected of trying to get "high-ranking Government officials" who "probably are not conversant in Latin" to applaud anti-war sentiments at the gala premiere. (So far as we can tell, the Latin bits in Mass are from the Catholic liturgy.) 

Link (here) to the Village Voice.

"Young Jesuit" By Titian

Source of Picture

may be that Ranuccio Farnese's features have been handed down to us in the portrait of a "young Jesuit," now preserved in the Gallery of Vienna. 

This curious picture represents a boy in a dark silk dress, with one hand on his breast, and the other holding a glove and a couple of arrows. The head is raised, the eye turned towards heaven; and the impression created is that of a childish ecstasy, produced by causes to which the figure itself gives no clue. 

On close examination it appears that Very little of Titian's work, except some parts about the ear and cheek of the boy, has been preserved; a large piece has been added to the left side of the canvas, and the hand and arrows look like modern repaints. Some mysterious agency has thus apparently changed the original form of the piece. By a fortunate combination of circumstances the key to the mystery has been furnished in a curious and unforeseen manner. The "young Jesuit" of Vienna reappears without the arrows in a picture of the Berlin Museum, where he is seen standing at a table, on which some books are lying, and the cause of his ecstasy is explained by the attitude and gesture of a bearded man near him, who points with the fore finger of his right hand towards heaven.
Link (here) to Titian: His Life and Times 
Blogger Note: Some source material states that the subject is St. Alouisus Gonzaga, S.J.

The Fake Jesuit

His name was Father Arthur Scott, he was dressed in the outfit of a Jesuit priest with a Society of Jesus lapel pin, and he bore a gift......Mark Augustus Landis had dressed as a Jesuit priest because he had been taught by one in London, and was amused by the reaction. “I’ve helped out a lot of people. They come up to me at airports and tell me of their problems. There’s not much to being a priest. Some comforting words, that sort of thing. And a blessing.”

Link (here) to read the fascinating article at FT by John Gapper 

Fordham During The Twenties

The Playshop at Fordham University 

By Fr. Robert I. Gannon, S. J.

WHEN CELLINI wrote about himself, pride led him on; in the "Confessions" deep humility was St. Augustine's motive; sheer love of chatter gave Samuel Pepys; while old Ben Franklin seems to say in Poor Richard's Almanac, "Take heart! If a man like this can succeed, anybody can."

In jotting down these few words, at the editor's request, "The Playshop of Fordham University," our motive is ry like Benjamin Franklin's. Not that our success is a parable to his. We have, in fact, accomplished very ;le. Professor Baker, in his Harvard Workshop, need t look to us for rivalry. What has been done, however, s been so helpful, so pleasant and so easy that, like boys a new swimmin' hole, we are impelled by the most elentary good-fellowship to chant in a chorus to all pass-by, "Come on in; the water's fine!" ^mong the passers-by, I am sure, will be many men and men interested in Catholic colleges and academies where ire talent and opportunity for development can be found in in Fordham. If they will only reflect for the short K they are reading these words on the value of the work the student, to his college and to the Catholic Little eater of the future, they will lose no time in starting ocal Playshop of their own.

[f they do so, and then link practice with their theory, :y will be experimenting with nothing new in pedagogy, 'en Dickens' "Do-the-boys School" in that, at least, was reast of the times. "Spell horse!" said Squeers. "H-O-R-S-E." "Correct! Now go out and feed him." e Ratio Studiorhim, anticipating this Yorkshire master two or three centuries, said in effect, "What is a speech? bat is a poem? Now go home and write one!" It is ar, then, that when the freshmen took up the technique the one-act play in class, their Jesuit professor mur

mured almost unconsciously: "Now go home and write one!" He said it, however, only to a few.

He formed, in other words, what is known to the Ratio as an "Academy." Out of one hundred and sixty-five men, about fifteen were invited to organize themselves as a playwriting group, which in time out of class might meet for mutual suggestions and encouragement. The meetings were most informal. No lectures were given, smokes were passed about. Everyone had his say on every one else's work, and then the director always outlined the next step in the operations.

These steps were simple and obvious enough. After the analysis of standard one-act plays came a special study of Dialogue. It is amazing what difficulty some people find in reproducing perfectly normal, natural conversation, no dialect, no passion—just what he said and what she said. All this, however, was preliminary. Soon we were writing dialogues and monologues, dramatizing short stories, rewriting standard one-act plays after making essential changes—sketching scenarios and finally plunging into original one-act plays. .

In conjunction with all this we were fortunate in having an enthusiastic band of players, "The Mumes and Mummies," on whom we might experiment. They wer.e free— after producing "She Stoops to Conquer" in December, 1921—and, with time out for repetitions and examinations, worked with the Playshop until the end of the year. This means that every two weeks, behind closed doors, a monologue, a dialogue and a dramatized short story, coached by the students themselves, were offered for criticism. A sort of debate always followed, some confining their remarks to the writing, some to the acting; some encouraging those concerned, some expressing themselves quite frankly. The directors then endeavored to make a few suggestions and

the play was repeated with the necessary changes and modifications. There was nothing marvelous about the whole program, but it was interesting and helpful.

Now, those of a practical turn of mind may be interested in the mechanical and financial aspect of our meetings. They are held in the College Theater with its modern, roomy and well-equipped stage. This is quite accidental, however, as a barn or a garret would be quite sufficient for experimental work of this type. For scenery we have the usual stock sets with a variety of drops, but our joy and our comfort is the good old "cyk" or cyclorama of drapes which can be made to suggest everything because it doesn't look like anything. For costumes we "fake" what we can and rent the rest. The "make up" is smeared on by the ambitious director, with results that, if not always appropriate, are sure to be colorful. With these economies, the expenses for one night's work, including "hard" cakes and pop for the faithful stage crew, never come to as much as eight dollars, and are sometimes no higher than three.

The first green fruits of all this planting were seen on March 21, 1922. That evening, more to encourage ourselves than to astonish them, we came before the friends of the college in a Prize Play Contest. Six plays were offered-— all of them dramatized, short stories limited to twenty minutes each. The program was as follows:

"His Father" Godfrey Schmidt, '25

"The Masterpiece" Frank Walsh, "25

"Heat" James Cancagh, "25

"The Proposal" Gordon LasMude,'25

"Yellow" Paul Collins, 25

"The Ace of Spades" Edward Lyman, "25

Three invited judges passed on the merits of the plan and awarded the prize to James Cancagh, '25, for "Hea: This little tragedy, at the invitation of the managemeii was afterwards produced at one of the Keith theaters New York.

This year, 1922-23, we have welcomed upper-classnr, into the Playshop and, greatly encouraged, have set to work on original plays. Except for the time when all our energies were given to a production of Henry VIII we hare continued our regular private sessions, with more or Jess success. Ten plays of varying merit have been produced this season in the bosom of the family. None of the work can approach the best output of the Harvard workshopsome of it is very ordinary indeed—but the progress is unmistakable and the benefit to those who write and dire* the plays, as well as those who act in them, is as great as the pleasure they derive from their task.
Link (here)

Jesuits Find Michelangelo

A previously unknown painting by Michelangelo has been hanging on the wall of an Oxford University residence for Jesuit scholars since the 1930s, a respected Italian expert claims.

Infrared technology has revealed that the painting at Campion Hall, previously believed to have been the work of Michelangelo's lesser-known contemporary Marcello Venusti, was likely painted by Michelangelo himself, says Antonio Forcellino. The painting, bought at an auction in the 1930s, has been removed from the residence and sent to a museum for safekeeping. 

"It's a very beautiful piece, but far too valuable to have on our wall any more," the master of Campion Hall tells the BBC. "Its value in the three years I've been master has gone up tenfold, even if it's not by Michelangelo. No doubt the art historians will argue the points to and fro."

Link (here)

The Jesuit Church Of Saint Paul Saint Louis In Paris France

SAINT-PAUL-SAINT-LOUIS.
(translated into English) 

In the Rue Saint-Antoine is the old church of the Jesuits, gorgeous in marbles, gilding and stucco, as is the wont of the architects employed by those wary fathers. It was built from the designs of Francois Derraud from 1627-41. The remains of the conventual buildings are now occupied by the College Charlemagne. The expenses of the building were defrayed by King Louis XIII. and Cardinal Richelieu, who celebrated his maiden mass there. It was the second cupola erected in Paris, the first being that belonging to the Carmelite church. It is Italian in style, the facade being very similar to that of S. Gervais, recalling the Gesu and S. Ignatius at Rome, and is adorned with statues of S. Louis, by Lequesne; of S. Catherine, by Auguste Preault; and of S. Anne, by Etex. Bourdaloue and archbishop Huet of Avranches are buried there, and in a crypt below lie the Jesuits who have died in the convent from its foundation until the suppression of the order. The numerous monuments were swept away at the Revolution: a rich sculptured coffer for the heart of Louis XIII., and another by Coustou le jeune, containing Louis XIV.'s heart. The tabernacle was of silver gilt, but it is no more. The only contents now of any interest are a picture representing the abbey of Longchamps, attributed to Philippe de Champaigne, and a fine work by Delacroix, Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Although his first known picture, it is an example of his splendid colouring and grand composition. Victor Hugo's first child was born in the parish, and baptized at S. Paul's, and to commemorate the event the poet presented two holy-water stoops, in the shape of shells, very beautiful in design.

Link (here) to the book Churches of Paris

The Three Companions.

The Three Companions. Created by Spokane artist Vincent De Felice, a 1986 graduate of Gonzaga Prep, the 13-foot-tall statue shows St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Faber, the founders of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. “It’s the focal point of our campus, we are a Jesuit school and St. Ignatius is recognized as the founder of the society,” said Jennifer Doolittle, development director at Gonzaga Prep. “Vincent De Felice offered to do a statue for us and we suggested this idea to him.” De Felice is the senior artistic director at North by Northwest Productions, and he has created other well-known bronze sculptures in Spokane: the one of Joe Albi, sitting at the Joe Albi Stadium and also the Gonzaga University bulldog.  “This is the finest piece of sculpture I have seen on a Jesuit campus anywhere, and I’ve seen a few,” said Al Falkner, president of Gonzaga Prep, at the blessing. “There’s nothing we can create through technology that can measure up with this.”

Link (here) to read the rest of the story at the Spokesman Review

42,000 Photos Taken By One Irish Jesuit

Fr. Francis Browne, S.J.

An exciting new book featuring never seen before photographs taken by one of Ireland's greatest photographers, who was also a Jesuit priest, was published this week.

The book, entitled Fr Browne Yeats features nearly 42,000 prints by Fr Francis Browne, S.J., a native of Sunday's Well in Cork City, from when he was just a seventeen-year-old photographer in 1897 to shortly before his death in 1960. 

Coupled with the poetry of WB Yeats, the book features the Fr Browne’s pictures of people, panoramic scenes, ships, trains and landscapes - all shot on his primitive Kodak Box Camera.

Link (here) to the full story at Clerical Whispers 
Buy the book (here) at The Sacred Heart Messenger Publications

Fr. Saju George "The Dancing Jesuit"

A picture of Fr. Saju George, S.J.  

however this 6 minute video is

....umh......well...

you decide (here)

Forged Jesuit

The impostor Jesuit with one of his forgeries

The man has attempted to pass off cleverly forged works, complete with auction house records, at several museums in a scam that the authorities believe has been operating for 20 years. However, unlike other expert forgers, the man appears to be uninterested in payment for his Picassos, Signacs and Daumiers. Calling himself Father Arthur Scott, among several other aliases, he simply seems to enjoy hoodwinking museums into accepting his fakes and inviting him to special "donor events".
Link (here) 

Jesuit Ballet

Debut author and former dancer Judith Rock’s 17th-century Paris mystery, The Rhetoric of Death, features Jesuit ballet; yes, you read that right. It’s the physicality, the “appearance is everything” nature of the period that captivated her.

Link (here) to the Library Journal

"Deceive The Eye"

..........space artificially expands thanks to an 18th-century trompe l'oeil mural using a European treatment of perspective introduced by Jesuit missionaries.
Link (here) to the Wall Street Journal

The Art At Seattle University

St. Ignatius of Loyola Chapel - Seattle University

As a relatively young city, Seattle doesn't have a large number of major art collections in public or private hands. Though our art benefactors have been generous and shown a fine eye for great art, Seattle can't stand up to the magnificent art collectors and collections in cities like San Francisco, New York, or even Los Angeles.
So local art lovers have to do a little more legwork to enjoy the pleasures of seeing art. One great source for viewing art is to take in the fine art collections in the corporate or organizational world. To take in one of these fine collections, start at Seattle University's central campus on Capitol Hill.

Link (here) to the Sun Break blog with lots of pictures of Seattle University art collection and new chapel.