Capuchin friar's artwork his gift to God — and those who visit the Solanus Center

Bro. Michael Gaffney's life-size portrait of Blessed Solanus Casey graces chapel where Detroit saint once prayed

DETROIT — When a young Bro. Michael Gaffney, OFM Cap., received a book from his sister about St. Francis, he knew wanted to model his life after the Italian saint.

“I read about him and I thought, ‘This is the guy for me,’” Bro. Gaffney said.

It comes as no surprise that Bro. Gaffney professed his vows to become a Capuchin friar in 1963. The Capuchins are a Roman Catholic order of brothers shaped by the Gospel of Jesus and by Bro. Gaffney’s role model, St. Francis of Assisi.

Like St. Francis, who is often depicted with birds around him, Bro. Gaffney can be found outside the Solanus Casey Center nearly every morning feeding the birds. As much as he enjoys his feathered friends, they have a mutual fondness for him. When Bro. Gaffney’s office was on the second floor, he would put birdseed on his windowsill each day. On days he would forget, the birds would tap on the window with their beaks until he fed them.

Birds swarm a feeder in the garden outside the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit.

Like Blessed Solanus Casey and St. Francis, Bro. Gaffney enjoys feeding the birds in his spare time — and they enjoy his company, too.

As the resident artist for the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph — also known as the Midwest Capuchins — Bro. Gaffney creates artwork for the churches, seminaries, retreat houses and retirement homes where Capuchin friars live, serve and study.

His most-viewed work is likely the altar piece he created for the beatification of Blessed Solanus Casey in 2017. The event was held at Ford Field with 60,000 people in attendance. To make the piece, Bro. Gaffney used one of the only color photographs that exist of Blessed Solanus, taken of him during evening prayer.

Ever since Bro. Gaffney can remember, art has been his focus. He drew and painted from early on, even carving furniture for his parents as a hobby. After he joined the Capuchins, word of his artistic talent spread, and soon he was asked to draw for in-house projects and publications.

When he came to Detroit, he asked permission to take classes at the College of Creative Studies and to open an art studio at St. Bonaventure Monastery to produce work for the province. It was a new idea for the Capuchins, but it proved to be a good one, as Bro. Gaffney has been creating paintings, sculptures, newsletters and graphic design projects for the province ever since.

One of Bro. Gaffney’s favorite pieces is a small sculpture he made for himself, inspired by St. Francis’ “Canticle of Brother Sun,” in which one line reads, “All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death, from whose embrace no one living can escape.” The sculpture depicts St. Francis being held by Sister Death.

A full-size version of a sculpture of “Sister Death” embracing St. Francis of Assisi graces the grounds of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mt. Calvary, Wis.

When a fellow friar was in Bro. Gaffney’s office and saw the sculpture, he requested a full-size version for the grounds of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mt. Calvary, Wis. The bronze piece rests on a black granite base.

A year ago, a larger-than-life painting of Blessed Solanus Casey was unveiled in the friars’ chapel at St. Bonaventure Monastery. The work was rendered on computer by Bro. Gaffney and transferred to canvas. It hangs above the spot where an opening once connected the monastery to the chapel and where Blessed Solanus was known to pray and play his violin. Blessed Solanus is portrayed praying and holding his breviary, the liturgical book for praying the Liturgy of the Hours, shown in Latin as Blessed Solanus’ breviary would have been.

“He was a very prayerful man and if he was in the chapel, he was in prayer,“ Bro. Gaffney said. “So if you’re going to do a portrait of Fr. Solanus in the chapel, then he has to be praying and he has to be facing the Blessed Sacrament.”

Bro. Gaffney hopes those who see the painting will find themselves inspired to praise God.

“I want the painting to point to God, to look at Blessed Solanus and see that he was a very holy man who had difficulties like everybody else but came through them with God’s help,” Bro. Gaffney said.

Bro. Michael Gaffney, OFM Cap., poses with a life-size portrait of Blessed Solanus Casey he was commissioned to paint in the friars' private chapel at St. Bonaventure Monastery.

Tim Hinkle, public relations director for the province, which serves Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin as well as the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Native American Reservations in Montana, said Bro. Gaffney's artwork is nearly ubiquitous throughout the Capuchin houses in those states.

“I travel throughout the province quite a bit in my role, and wherever I go, there’s always artwork from Brother Mike somewhere, and it adds an element of beauty to the houses and communities and parishes,” Hinkle said. “There’s always a Franciscan spirituality element in his works that ties it all together.”

At age 76, Bro. Gaffney is happy to be doing what he loves.

“I don’t consider myself a grand artist or a great artist, just the artist that God gifted me to be,” Bro. Gaffney said. “I always find myself blessed by God that I could do exactly what I really like to do. How many people get to say that? I get to do it, even at this age, and for as long as I’m still interested.”

If you go

Bro. Michael Gaffney's painting of Blessed Solanus Casey can be viewed at St. Bonaventure before and after daily Mass, Monday through Friday at 7:45 a.m., or before and after Sunday Mass at 9 a.m. The painting is in the friars’ chapel behind the altar of the main chapel where Mass is celebrated.