{"id":15805,"date":"2016-09-02T01:07:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T01:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/mother-teresas-canonization-portrait-and-what-the-artist-thought-of-her-13654\/"},"modified":"2016-09-02T01:07:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T01:07:00","slug":"mother-teresas-canonization-portrait-and-what-the-artist-thought-of-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/mother-teresas-canonization-portrait-and-what-the-artist-thought-of-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother Teresa\u2019s canonization portrait \u2013 and what the artist thought of her"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2016 \/ 07:07 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The canonization portrait of Bl. Mother Teresa, a copy of which will hang from St. Peter\u2019s Basilica on Sunday, is meant to reflect her joy and her selflessness, said the artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe credit lies more with the subject of the painting than with the painter,\u201d artist Chas Fagan said in a press conference introducing the portrait.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat picture will bring lots of people closer to God,\u201d Sister Tanya, M.C., the superior at the Missionaries of Charity Gift of Peace house in Washington, D.C., said of the portrait. She knew Bl. Mother Teresa from having lived in the same building with her as a novice.<\/p>\n

Bl. Mother Teresa, foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, will be canonized on Sunday, Sept. 4 in St. Peter\u2019s Square. An enlarged copy of her portrait will hang from St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, and the Knights of Columbus will have one million prayer cards with the portrait on them available for pilgrims in Rome.<\/p>\n

Her official canonization portrait was unveiled Thursday at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. It was \u201ccommissioned out of the love and high esteem that the Knights of Columbus has for Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity,\u201d Pat Kelly, executive director of the shrine, stated at the unveiling.<\/p>\n

The Knights \u201cworked with her for over two decades, beginning in the 1970\u2019s,\u201d he noted. \u201cSince her death, the Knights of Columbus has honored Mother Teresa through its continuing support of the Missionaries of Charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fagan, who has painted portraits of all the U.S. presidents and whose work has appeared in the U.S. Capitol rotunda and National Cathedral, was commissioned by the Knights to paint Bl. Mother Teresa\u2019s portrait after he had done previous work for them, including a statue of Pope St. John Paul II.<\/p>\n

His \u201cimmediate answer was yes\u201d when the Knights asked him to do the portrait, but he had \u201cno idea\u201d it would be the official one hanging in St. Peter\u2019s. Fagan submitted initial sketches and the whole process \u201ctook at least a month\u201d before he could even begin painting, which then took six weeks.<\/p>\n

The \u201chook\u201d for the painting, he said, was Mother Teresa\u2019s quote that \u201cjoy is strength.\u201d She was a \u201cdiminutive, yet somehow earth-shaking figure,\u201d he added, and others who had met her told him that \u201csomehow when she looked at you she was glowing, she was radiant.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he tried to make that come through in the picture. \u201cIf you want to make something glow, you have to surround it with darkness,\u201d he said of the painting.<\/p>\n

What also struck Fagan about Mother Teresa\u2019s life was her \u201cselflessness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a theme that came about from a mentor I had as a boy in high school,\u201d he said, where \u201cif you just start helping someone else, whatever your problems are will start to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother Teresa lived this out, he said. \u201cAnd so learning of her life, and seeing how she lived it every single day, that\u2019s just so humbling. And we can all aspire to it, but it\u2019s a big leap,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Fagan was actually able to feel the saint\u2019s presence in his studio while painting the portrait, he explained. \u201cWhen you have a portrait in the studio, you kind of get to live with it,\u201d he said, especially toward the end of the painting when it really starts to come to life and when the lights are dim, you can see them there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd having to say goodbye is the worst,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the end, Mother Theresa brought joy to my studio, to my home, and now I will miss her company.\u201d<\/p>\n

The picture is \u201csuperb,\u201d Sister Tanya said. She noted the portrayal of Mother\u2019s \u201cpenetrating eyes,\u201d serenity, and her \u201cfocusing on the person that she\u2019s looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone looks at her, they would lift up their eyes to heaven, I would say, because she\u2019s not focusing on herself,\u201d Sister Tanya said. \u201cThe person who looks at her would be focusing on God.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2016 \/ 07:07 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The canonization portrait of Bl. Mother Teresa, a copy of which will hang from St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, is meant to reflect her joy and her selflessness, said the artist.<\/p>\n

“Th…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nMother Teresa\u2019s canonization portrait \u2013 and what the artist thought of her<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2016 \/ 07:07 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The canonization portrait of Bl. 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