SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

 

Saint Michael Archangel, oil, 30×40″, 2010.

 

The painting is a representation of the vision seen by Pope Gregory the Great and hundreds of pilgrims as they processed from the Basilica of Saint Mary Major through the streets of Rome toward Saint Peter’s Basilica carrying an icon of the Virgin Mary, Holy Mary, Protectress of the Roman People, Santa Maria Solus Populi Romani.  Saint Michael dressed in the armor of a Roman soldier, is returning his bloodied sword to the scabbard, signifying that the plague of 590 AD would end.

The painting is of the apparition but is based upon the monumental bronze sculpture that is atop the castle now.

A history of some apparitions of Saint Michael the Archangel at Castel Sant’Angelo from The History and Decoration of Pont S Angelo, Mark Weil, 1974, The Pennsylvania State University Press: 

    The miraculous vision of the archangel was commemorated by a chapel dedicated to St. Michael built atop the mausoleum and later a statue of an angel placed atop the chapel. Pope Gregory’s vision was never forgotten. It was confirmed by a similar miracle marking the end of the Black Death of 1348.”  

1. F. H. Dudden, Gregory the Great, London, 1905.

 

 

Cover and article from my Friend, Joseph Pearce’s, Saint Austin Review Magazine, Nov/Dec 2013. The article is similar to the above information:

Archangelic Vision

And a book cover below: