Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Dominican Order of Preachers 800th Jubilee Illustration

This November is the beginning of the 800th Jubilee year for the Dominican Order.  The Dominicans are a religious order in the Catholic Church of friars, nuns, sisters and laity founded in 1216 by St. Dominic.  After 800 years the Order is still flourishing, drawing many to its ranks, and sustaining the Church through informed and inspired preaching.  Having been a parishoner at a Dominican church my entire life, I was thrilled and honored when the Province of St. Joseph commissioned this piece.  The Province created a website for the Jubilee with info about the events, the Dominicans, and also featuring a page for the painting.  
My intent was to show the span of the order by including figures from every century, different countries, nobility and poverty and also to give a face in art to some of the more obscure Dominican blesseds and saints.  You can find the key identifying each figure in the painting here along with their biographies and feast days.