Stations of the Cross from St. Sylvester Parish, Chicago – Day 7
Station XIII – Jesus is taken down from the cross
Station XIV – Jesus is laid in the tomb
Details of the Stations of the Cross at St Sylvester Roman Catholic Parish in Chicago. Please give, if only 5 dollars, to the restoration of these beautiful, powerful images of Our Lord’s Passion.
With PayPal it is easy and secure. Follow this link, fill in the amount, click “For friends and family”, and enter the “to:” email address as stsylvester@archchicago.org
(This solicitation is not from the parish organization in any way, but from me, the artist and owner of S. Smith Photography. My goal is to aid in the restoration of sacred art in all the places I have worked. St. Sylvester Parish is a beautiful place, worthy of your help and support. May God bless you!)
Stations of the Cross from St. Sylvester Parish, Chicago – Day 2
Station III – Jesus falls the first time
Station IV – Jesus meets His Mother
Details of the Stations of the Cross at St Sylvester Roman Catholic Parish in Chicago. Please give, if only 5 dollars, to the restoration of these beautiful, powerful images of Our Lord’s Passion.
With PayPal it is easy and secure. Follow this link, fill in the amount, click “For friends and family”, and enter the “to:” email address as stsylvester@archchicago.org
(This solicitation is not from the parish organization in any way, but from me, the artist and owner of S. Smith Photography. My goal is to aid in the restoration of sacred art in all the places I have worked. St. Sylvester Parish is a beautiful place, worthy of your help and support. May God bless you!)
Pilgrimage to Fatima with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius – Day 1
After a smooth but warm flight from Chicago O’Hare to Madrid, we made our way through the beautiful and very large Madrid airport to reach our connecting flight to Lisbon, Portugal. We were almost twenty minutes late for our flight, but somehow they managed to hold the airplane for 25 of her missing passengers. Divine intervention if I ever saw it!
After a quick flight to and arrival in Lisbon, we were on our way to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Martyrs for a mass of thanksgiving for our safe arrival (except for one large suitcase with documents for the upcoming liturgical conference. St. Anthony, pray for us!). We had a lot to be thankful for. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Martyrs was a jewel box of pure beauty, and is one of the oldest parish churches in Lisbon. Here are some images from the Sung Mass with incense done in the Extraordinary Form, with Rev. Scott Haynes, celebrant.
Some of our pilgrim group with our pilgrimage director on the steps of the Basilica.
The ceiling of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Martyrs, Lisbon
One of the many beautiful side altars at the Basilica. This one features an altarpiece of the decent of Our Lord from the Cross and in front a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, dressed in elaborately embroidered black garments
A side altar celebrating the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
Mass begins with the prayers at the foot of the altar. It was decided to use the free standing altar with an "ad Orientem" orientation because the high altar had been modified as to make it unusable for Mass.
Br. Matthew and Br. Kamil chant the propers and the setting of the Mass
Fr. Scott Haynes finishing the blessing after the Mass in the ornate Sacristy of the Basilica. The thurifer, acolytes and crucifer were all men from our pilgrim group.
The sanctuary of Church of Santo Antonio, Lisbon
Church of Santo Antonio, Lisbon (the birthplace of St. Anthony of Padua)
Welcome to the blog for S. Smith Photography
Hello and welcome to the image blog for S. Smith Photography! I am getting ready for a very exciting project: A documentation in images of a religious pilgrimage to Portugal and Spain with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, a religious community based in Chicago, Illinois. In preparation, I wanted to give viewers of my blog some highlights of my work in the past six months:
The Resurrection: Stained glass window of The Resurrection from St. Ann Catholic Church, West Palm Beach, Florida
I was given permission to shoot at length at St. Ann Catholic Church back in March of this year. This is one of the many beautiful stained glass images I got from that shoot, which was also was used in my Easter card this year.
Our Lady of Częstochowa - holy card front
This icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa is part of Our Lady’s altar at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, Illinois. It was brought from Poland in 1917, and installed in the altar on the occasion of the parish’s silver jubilee. In 1997, new crowns were fashioned from precious metals and jewels donated by parishoners. The crowns were blessed by Pope John Paul II in a private audience (italic text from “Art and Architecture of St. John Cantius – A Tour in Photographs“ by Biretta Books). This is actually a composite of two images. I took one image of the faces, and one image of the clothes and merged them together digitally. In this way you can get a real impression of what this beautiful icon truly looks like.
Our Lady of Częstochowa - holy card back
Detail of front and back of Our Lady of Częstochowa holy card
St. Dominic recieves the Holy Rosary from Our Lady, from a window at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, Illinois
Procession of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Corpus Christi Sunday, Church of the Ascension, Chicago, Illinois
Our Lady of Fatima, from a side altar at the Basillica of Our Lady of Sorrows, Chicago, Illinois
Baptism at Church of the Ascension, Chicago, Illinois - June, 2010
Portrait work: Monsignor Gilles Wach, STD, Founder and Prior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
Monsignor R. Michael Schmitz, STD, JCL preaches on the External Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, at the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, Illinois
from the External Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, at the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, Illinois
"Domine non sum dignus" - from the External Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, at the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, Illinois
Some of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius pray the Holy Rosary on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 2010
Br. Robin Kwan, SJC under the funeral pall while the Litany of Saints is chanted during his final profession of religious vows on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. John Cantius Church, Chicago, Illinois
The afternoon light against the high altar of St. John Cantius during Vespers on the feast of the Assumption.
Resurrexit Sicut Dixit!
Portrait work: Jonathan Ryan, Concert Organist
