The Cardinal Picks Three Pictures

Just outside the north eastern tip of the boundary of the Cathedral parish on Trafalgar Square is the National Gallery, which has been visited three times in recent months by Cardinal Vincent as part of the continuing activities for the Year of the Word, ‘The God Who Speaks’.

He has chosen three of the Gallery’s pictures and speaks about each of them in a short film. The first looks at a picture entitled Saints Jerome and John the Baptist by the Renaissance artist Masaccio, and was released in time for St Jerome’s feast which falls on the last day of September. The second, offered as an Advent devotion, was The Nativity at Night by the Dutch artist Geertgen tot Sint Jans. The third film focuses on The Incredulity of St Thomas by Giovanni Battista Cima da Congeliano and went live on Ash Wednesday, happily bringing us into the Lenten season.

As well as the film itself, the text of the Cardinal’s commentaries and additional material are available and easily accessed via the website of the Bishops’ Conference: https:// www.cbcew.org.uk/home/events/the-god-who-speaks/filmsscripture-and-art/, where you can also find other initiatives listed under the heading of ‘Art and Culture’.

In Masaccio’s picture St Jerome is depicted holding a copy of the scriptures. Appropriately, the book is open at page 1, the beginning of the book Genesis, so that we can read (from the Latin): In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, and God’s spirit hovered over the water. © National Gallery

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