Five new canvas paintings decorate the renovated space behind Troy parish's sanctuary in celebration of 50th anniversary
TROY — Mass is the closest place where heaven and earth draw near.
As the priest raises the bread and wine during the consecration, the thin veil between the temporal and the divine is drawn back, with the body and blood of Christ becoming truly present amidst the faithful.
It’s a powerful scene, one Fr. Dominic Macioce and staff at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Troy hope is ever clearer with the installation of five new murals behind the church’s sanctuary.
The five panels, depicting St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Cecilia, St. Joseph, St. Mary and the Trinity, were installed just before Christmas to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the parish.
The murals, along with a crucifix from St. Matthew Parish in Flint, are part of a remodeling of the church interior to help parishioners gain a better appreciation of what is happening every time Mass is being celebrated, Fr. Macioce explained to Detroit Catholic.
“A lot of where things are in church have to do with what’s happening at Mass,” Fr. Macioce said. “Every time I celebrate the Eucharist, I try to be as focused as I can on the death and resurrection of Jesus. At every presentation of Calvary, that saving grace is opened for us. I want the physical space, what you see and look at, to help people be in touch with that and realize what is going on. To bring the mystery of what we celebrate into the intangibility, separating the veil.”
Fr. Macioce and Claire Mutone, engagement coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, discussed what they could do with the parish worship space to better convey the theology of what is happening during Mass to parishioners.
“From the moment you walk into the church doors, the first thing you see is our beautiful Annunciation stained-glass window,” Fr. Macioce said. “Then, moving forward, the beautiful story of a pregnant Mary giving birth to Jesus. Then you walk on the path into the church, up the center aisle, and you see our new cross that was installed, commemorating the death of Jesus and his resurrection. And then you see the tabernacle, the doors leading into heaven.”
Fr. Macioce and Mutone contacted Cincinnati-based artist Holly Schapker to discuss what could be done in terms of visuals to decorate the sanctuary to make the space more prayerful and awe-inspiring.
Schapker is a Xavier University graduate who entered sacred art in 2017. One of her apprentices, Haley Aho, was a St. Elizebeth Ann Seton parishioner. Through that connection, Schapker got in touch with Fr. Macioce about what could be done with the wall behind the sanctuary, which was beige before.
“When we got together, we began our conversation with prayer before talking about what could be done with the space,” Schapker said. “It was exciting to witness how these pieces began manifesting in our minds and then on the canvas. They had the idea of these five subject matters, which I thought was perfect for their church. Just working on them, praying and collaborating, seeing the final fruits of those collaborations, it’s just amazing to see.”
The final fruit of the work is a sanctuary with a blue background and five figures gesturing to the tabernacle and inviting the faithful to contemplate the death, resurrection and presence of the Lord in the church.
The two figures on the outside, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton to the far right and St. Cecilia to the far left — appropriately located behind the choir — both are looking toward the center of the altar. Mary is also looking toward her son, whereas Joseph is looking out to the congregation, inviting the faithful to draw nearer to the Lord.
Directly behind the sanctuary is a depiction of the Most Holy Trinity.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton staff said parishioners were excited when the murals were revealed on Christmas Eve; many of them walked directly to the murals after Mass get a better glimpse of the final details.
“I think it was a surprise for a lot of people to learn that when you add something to a space, it impacts the way they worship during Mass,” Mutone said. “It’s just the beauty of a church changing the way you are able to worship, and it’s wonderful to see.”
Mutone notes that each of the figures depicted is offering something to the Lord, with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton herself offering the church for which she is named.
“It just beautifully represents how our talents and treasures are always given back to the Lord,” Mutone said. “Through the beauty of Holly’s talents to create these pieces, we can envision heaven and the Trinity’s place in it so much more vividly and contemplate not only God but the saints who have given their life to the Lord and now who worship the Lord so perfectly on our behalf.”
More than a month after its installation, staff and parishioners alike are still noticing new details to the murals.
Fr. Macioce said the murals invite the viewer to engage better with what is happening during the Mass, and the saints call the faithful to draw closer to Christ, their gestures motioning toward the center of the altar.
“When I look at them as a visual person, I’m continually impressed with the different layers Holly has put into each piece,” Fr. Macioce said. “You see the initial layers that Holly has, the depictions of the saints point to God, Jesus, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then the level of the angels, the saints, all these flowers and blowing of the winds, there is a movement within them. It looks alive to me when I see it; it’s not static. It engages the viewer. I’m continually impressed by that.”
The middle mural is 91-inches-by-84-inches, while the other four are 84-by-84.
Schapker completed the project in a little more than a year, including having a team carry the canvases through the streets of Cincinnati into her studio because they wouldn’t fit into her truck.
Once installed, the canvases tell a story of what is happening in the Mass, Schapker said, which she added was a bit of a challenge given the parameters of the project and the architecture of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.
“The effort that I had tried to make was, in that liminal space, to create the line between heaven and earth, a line that is very thin in Mass, so thin that it’s blurred,” Schapker said. “So, this hazy, heavenly cloud-like style is within the pieces. You will see Mother Seton is holding actual church in her arms as a presentation offered to Christ, and Jesus is offering the church priest and the hearts of the faithful to the Father.”
Other details Schapker included in the murals include flowers representing the blooming of souls and butterflies near the feet of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, representing the transformation one undergoes as one becomes anew in Christ.
Schapker wants the pieces to guide St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners into a deeper form of prayer, Visio Divina, “Divine Seeing.”
“Lectio Divina is more commonly known as taking Scripture and repeating it three times; Visio Divina is an ancient practice of looking at a painting and having the painting look back at yourself, allowing the painting to speak in an ineffable way that goes through the art and into your mind," Schapker said. "In the history of the Catholic Church, art has always been a powerful way to evangelize and really tell the good news and the truth of the Christian faith. I think when people look at these sites while praying during the miracle of the Mass, that combination is so powerful.”
