“We wanted something to reflect the Year of Mercy and here we have Jesus and Mary, the two faces of mercy that we will be immersed in studying. “I thought, ‘Wow, he just created a new icon that no one has ever seen before, the Mother of Perpetual Help in a roundel,’” she said. Two weeks later, he emailed a photo of the image. They agreed and Papadopolous and Jentz discussed ways the image might look if a Greek iconographer had done it. Jentz asked the Redemptorist Fathers in Oconomowoc, who are dedicated to Mother of Perpetual Help, if she and Papadopolous could host a retreat at the indulgence site and promote the Mother of Perpetual Help. A plenary indulgence removes all of the temporal punishment due for sins. Alphonsus or to any Redemptorist church to venerate the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Alphonsus in Rome, Pope Francis has granted a plenary indulgence for those who make a pilgrimage between Jand Jto the Church of St. “We had wanted to do a pretty icon that people would relate to, like the Blessed Mother, so this was perfect.”Īs part of the celebration for the 150th anniversary of the Redemptorists receiving the icon of Mother of Christi Jentz was selected as a finalist for the “Apocalypse Prize” competition 2015. I had gotten the idea to have Theodoros come to Wisconsin to give a workshop on iconography and I remembered this icon,” she said. “This is the Year of Mercy and the 150th Jubilee of the restoration of Mother of Perpetual Help and after attending one of his classes last year, I picked up a small book on the Mother of Perpetual Help devotion and had forgotten about this icon and set the book aside. She recently collaborated with Greek master iconographer Theodoros Papadopolous to create a commemorative roundel icon of Mother of Perpetual Help or Theotokos of the Passion in the traditional Byzantine style. For more information or to sign up for the Byzantine icon workshop, June 13-17:įor more information on the work of Christi Jentz or the upcoming workshop Josaphat, is one of few Americans who practices the art as a vocation. “Most people wonder why I do this because I don’t make a lot of money, but when I paint these, I go into a spiritual meditative state and become one with what I am working on.”Įven if she is not actually saying a prayer, Jentz said, she is praying, “because I am immersing my whole heart into what I am doing and am able to come into contact with the Divine by the very virtue that I am working on an icon and writing it at the same time.” “I have dedicated my vocation to developing this talent and skill and to go where it leads me and I think that keeping it limited to religious art makes life more interesting,” she said. The term ‘writing’ is preferred to painting because it is a representation of God’s story in pictures. Josaphat and plans to do more as time allows. Jentz, a professional iconographer, creates or “writes” the sacred images and instruments of meditative prayer usually associated with Eastern Orthodoxy.Īmong her works, the Brookfield resident has written an icon of the Mother of Mercy based on one of the dome windows at the Basilica of St. A bit of rubbed-on gold leaf halo adds a holy sheen. (Catholic Herald photo by Ricardo Torres) Beneath the bristles of her brush, the faces of Jesus, Mary and the saints emerge with each layer of acrylic or egg tempera, their flesh tones framed by rich crimson, jade and indigo. She describes her vocation to do this form of religious art as meditative prayer. For artist Christi Jentz, painting is an act of prayer.Ĭhristi Jentz, a professional iconographer, poses in her Brookfield home studio with one of the icons she wrote.
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