Here’s a photo I’ve posted before.  It’s a picture I took of a stained / painted glass window at a rural church in the archdiocese of St. Louis.  It’s by the Emil Frei studios, and I’m guessing it’s c. 1910, which is when their best work was done.

And here’s a painting by my friend, artist Ali Cavanaugh.

The similarity is striking, as in both cases the artist captures what I would call the Mystery of Woman.

Here’s Ali’s painting enlarged.

What a beautiful, indescribable, captivating work!

It is a portrait of Ali’s studio assistant, done with a kind of fresco technique – watercolor on a clay surface.

I interviewed Ali for the St. Austin Review and you can read that interview here.

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Today we begin the novena for the co-patron of the Fraternity of St. Genesius, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, whose feast day is June 28 this year.  Part of what Mary reveals to us, in revealing the Word Incarnate, is the Mystery of Woman, a mystery that’s been trampled on for many years.  May we see more clearly that deep mystery as we ask Our Lady to pray for us!