The Role of Religious Art in Faith Formation - Month of December 2019 Index

From the beginning of Christianity in the catacombs, art has played a role in the faith formation of the believer.  During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, art was called the “Bible of the illiterate.” Those who could not read, the majority of the population at the time, learned about the life of Christ, Mary, the Saints and the basic tenets of Christianity through mosaics, icons, paintings, stained glass and sculpture. 

Today illiteracy is not the case, for the most part, but I believe art is still timeless and continues to play an essential role in faith formation.  For the month of December, 2019 I will be highlighting religious art and its continued role in faith formation. 


December 2 - The Annunciation - Sandro Botticelli 
December 3 - The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier - Peter Paul Rubens 
December 4 - The Annunciation - Philippe de Champaigne
December 5 - The Visitation - Blessed Fra Angelico 
December 6 - Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries - Bicci di Lorenzo  
December 8 - Immaculate Conception - Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
December 9 - Marian Dogma in Art
December 10 - The Angel Appears to Zechariah / Birth of John the Baptist
December 11 - The Visitation - Tintoretto
December 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe 
December 13 - The Preaching of John the Baptist
December 16 - Marriage of the Virgin
December 17 - Dream of Saint Joseph
December 18 - Mary, Joseph Journey to Bethlehem
December 20 - The Census at Bethlehem
December 22 - 4th Sunday of Advent Joseph's Song
December 23 - Nativity in Art
December 24 - Nativity in Art
December 25 - Annunciation to the Shepherds 
December 29- Adoration of the Magi