Feast day: February 18

Bl. Fra Angelico

Religious, Friar · c. 1395–1455

Patron of Artists

A Dominican friar of Florence whose luminous frescoes and altarpieces made him one of the great painters of the early Renaissance, called 'the Angelic' for their beauty.

Born around 1387 near Florence and christened Guido, the painter the world knows as Fra Angelico entered the Dominican friars at Fiesole as a young man, taking the name Fra Giovanni. The title 'Angelico' — the angelic one — was given to him later, in tribute to the serene holiness of his work.

He became one of the supreme artists of the early Renaissance, yet he painted not for fame but as a form of prayer. It was said that he never took up his brush without praying first, that he wept as he painted the Crucifixion, and that he refused to alter a sacred figure once he had set it down, believing it had come from God.

His masterpieces are the frescoes of the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, where in cell after cell he painted scenes of the life of Christ to accompany the friars' meditation, and the chapel he decorated for Pope Nicholas V in the Vatican. His figures are luminous, grave, and tender, robed in the colours of dawn.

He died in Rome in 1455, honoured as much for his goodness as for his genius. Long called 'Blessed' by custom, he was formally beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982 and named the patron of artists.

Pope John Paul II named this painter-friar the patron saint of artists — by tradition he prayed before taking up the brush and wept while painting the Crucifixion.

Image: Luca Signorelli (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/01483b.htm