December 13 is Saint Lucy's Day, a Christian festivity of great popularity in Scandinavia, Italy, Hungary and Croatia. The feast day commemorates the 3rd-century martyr: according to legend, Lucy was a young Sicilian whose father had…
The Catholic Church celebrates today the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Not to be confused with the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception states that the Virgin Mary was conceived in…
"Saint Cecilia playing the portative organ", illumination from a French collection of prayers, ms. 1206, f. 112r, beginning of the 16th century, Bibliothèque municipale, Valenciennes. November 22 is celebrated by the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Churches…
"Scenes from the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi", single illuminated leaf from a dispersed "Legenda aurea" manuscript, 1994.516, ca. 1320–42, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This rich illumination depicts four scenes from the…