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By Rita McInerney
St. Benedict the Black, a 16th century Franciscan brother
venerated for his remarkable gifts of prayer and sanctity, is the subject of an
icon recently hung in St. Paul of the Cross Church on Harwell Road. This is the
second icon painted for the church by Brother Michael Moran, C.P., of the
Monastery of Our Lady of the Isle, Shelter Island, N.Y.
The painting of St. Benedict shows him in brown habit and holding
a small loaf of bread in his hand. The brown of the figure is highlighted with
brushwork in a rich pale blue while gold leaf accents the face and background.
The bread symbolized his service as a cook in the Friary of St. Mary of Jesus
in Palermo, Sicily.
Son of slaves converted to Christianity after being brought to
Sicily from Africa in the 16th century, he received his liberty at the age of
18 and worked as a laborer. He shared his small wages with the poor and spent
his free hours caring for the sick. While still a young man he joined a company
of hermits and lived in the hills near San Fratello. He became a Franciscan
brother in 1562 after Pope Benedict ordered independent groups of hermits
incorporated into established religious orders.
At the friary, his counsel soon was sought by persons of every
class and the fame of his sanctity was known throughout Sicily. Toward the end
of his life he asked to be relieved of his duties as guardian of the friary and
resumed his work as a cook. He became ill and, after receiving the last rites,
died at the exact hour he had predicted. He was 63 at the time of his death.
He was canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1807 and today is considered
the patron saint of blacks in North America.
Last year, the pastor, Father Tom Brislin, C.P., asked Brother
Moran to paint an icon depicting St. Charles Lwanga and his 21 companions
martyred in Uganda in 1886 for refusing to submit to the immoral demands of
their ruler, Mwanga. This icon hangs in the front of the church near the
sacristy door. The icon of St. Benedict has been placed at the front of the
choir loft right above the center aisle. |
