BLESSED FRIEND OF THE POPE'S

 

VENERABLE ENRIQUE ERNESTO SHAW was an Argentine Roman Catholic businessman. He was born in France, later emigrating to Argentina where he served in the marines. He promoted and encouraged business growth in accordance with the social doctrine of the faith and  founded the Christian Association of Business Executives. He was also a prolific writer and published a range of books.\

 He was born in 1921 in Paris as one of two children of Argentine parents, Alejandro Shaw and Sara Tornquist Altgelt; he was of both German and Scottish descent. The Shaws moved back to Argentina in 1923. Sara died in 1925. 

Before she died, she made her husband promise that he would have the Enrique’s religious education entrusted to a Sacramentino priest. Enrique’s father kept his promise.

Enrique was enrolled in the Colegio de La Salle in Buenos Aires. He was not only an outstanding student, but his deep religious faith stood out. He attended Mass every day and received Holy Communion.

He was among the top three in his class and became the youngest graduate of the school to graduate.

 He served as a marine in Argentina and entered in 1936 despite the opposition of his father. He became a Junior Lieutenant.

 He started his business at the conclusion of World War II and established in 1952 the Christian Association of Business Executives with the assistance of Archbishop, later Cardinal, Joseph Cardijn of Belgium.

He became a prolific writer and he published a wide range of books. He was also among the founders of the Christian Family Movement and he also served as the president of the Argentine Catholic Action. He also established a pension fund and a health care plan to provide medical services and financial support in circumstances such as illness and new births.

 In 1955 he became a victim of anti-Catholic persecution in the administration of Juan Peron. He was arrested and was seen as an altruistic prisoner as he provided fellow inmates with mattresses that relatives brought to him as well as food. In 1961 a firm he led was sold to an American trust fund that decided to fire over a thousand people.

Venerable Enrique was opposed to this and proposed a plan to retain all workers.

One of his initiatives was the application of Catholic social doctrine in the workplace, using  the social teachings of Pope Pius XII in 1946. At that time he served in an organization for humanitarian aid for post-war Europe.

 In 1943 he married Cecilia Bunge and the couple went on to have nine children; one of whom became a priest. All of his children were taught the importance of prayer.

 In 1957 he fell ill with cancer. He took to writing during this time and also found time to speak at conferences. In mid1962 he received a blood transfusion donated from his fellow workers. People at the hospital that the Venerable was admitted to were astonished to see the number of workers in line to donate blood.

 Enrique himself said before his death that he was pleased that the blood of his workers coursed through his veins. He was able to take a pilgrimage to Lourdes before his death. He died on 27 August 1962 in a hospital in Buenos Aires at the age of 41.

Venerable Enrique was a member of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. The beatification process began in September 2001 under Pope  (St.) John Paul II in a process in Buenos Aires under Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis.

 In an interview in 2015, the Holy Father said of him: “Enrique Shaw was rich, yet saintly. A person can have money. God gives it to him so he can administer it well, and this man administered it well.”

 

CATHOLICS IN AMERICA- SURVEY

 

Some interesting new surveys from the Pew Research Center regarding Catholics in the USA, including priests. 

Twenty % of Americans identify as Catholic (a stable number since 2014), which is roughly 52 million people, 24% of U.S. adults. 57% are white, 33% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 2% Black. Catholics tend to be older than Americans overall, but Hispanic Catholics are younger. 

These numbers may look great, but only 3 in 10 (28%) say they attend Mass weekly or more often, yet 52% say religion is very important in their life. Where is devotion to the Eucharist in this picture?

 About a third have a bachelor’s degree. 28% have some college experience but not a bachelor’s degree, and 40% have a high school education or less, a distribution similar to that of the general adult population.

 About 6 in 10 U.S. Catholics say abortion should be legal, in contrast to the Church’s teaching.  This includes 39% who say it should be legal in most cases and 22% who say it should be legal in all cases. Catholic Democrats, who number 78%, say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 43% of Catholic Republicans say this. 

One wonders what being Catholic means.

On a brighter side, the typical ordinand regularly took part in Eucharistic adoration (77%) and prayed the Rosary (71%) before entering seminary, according to a survey conducted for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.  392 of the 475 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States were questioned.  

The typical member of the priestly ordination class of 2023 is a 34-year-old cradle Catholic, according to a survey.  43% attended a Catholic elementary school, 32% a Catholic high school or college.13% were home schooled, typically for eight years. 82% of the time, both parents were Catholic.

60% had earned their undergraduate degree before entering seminary, and 15% had earned a graduate degree. Unlike days gone-by, men do not enter seminary as young as in past:3% entered seminary in high school, 35% in college, 52% at a pre-theology level, and 10% at a theology level.

And who influenced these young men? 63% were encouraged by a parish priest to consider a vocation; 41% were encouraged by a parishioner, 41% by a friend, 32% by their mother, and 23% by their father. So while the family is definitely important for a stable influence and prayer life, outsiders had a greater % of influence. A large % took part in some Catholic outside activity, such as youth group, campus ministry, Knights of Columbas.

38% of the men attended seminaries in the Midwest, 28% in the South, 17% in the Northeast, 12% in the West, and 5% abroad.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

 

Good Shepherd Sunday, the 4^th Sunday after Easter is designated World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

Pope St. Paul VI instituted the day of prayer in 1964 and placed it on the Sunday on which the Gospel of the Good Shepherd is read at Mass.

 

                                                                  Ted Roberts- UK

“The problem of having a sufficient number of priests,” he stated in his message for the 1st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, “has an immediate impact on all of the faithful: not simply because they depend on it for the religious future of Christian society, but also because this problem is the precise and inescapable indicator of the vitality of faith and love of individual parish and diocesan communities, and the evidence of the moral health of Christian families. Wherever numerous vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life are to be found, that is where people are living the Gospel with generosity.”

“Vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life are born out of the experience of a personal encounter with Christ, out of sincere and confident dialogue with him, so as to enter into his will. It is necessary, therefore, to grow in the experience of faith, understood as a profound relationship with Jesus, as inner attentiveness to his voice which is heard deep within us.

 This process, which enables us to respond positively to God’s call, is possible in Christian communities where the faith is lived intensely, where generous witness is given of adherence to the Gospel, where there is a strong sense of mission which leads people to make the total gift of self for the Kingdom of God, nourished by recourse to the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and by a fervent life of prayer. This latter “must on the one hand be something very personal, an encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God. On the other hand it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly.” (Spe Salvi, 34).     Pope Benedict XVI,  2013

NEW SAINT FOR THE EUCHARIST?

 

At this time of Eucharistic Renewal, it is important that we have holy people who give us example of great love for Jesus in His gift to us with His Body freely given.

 The Vatican has granted permission to initiate an investigation into the potential canonization of NINA RUIZ-ABAD, a 13-year-old native of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte in the Philippines.

 Nina died in 1993 at the age of 13 due to a cardiac disease. Her great devotion to the Eucharist is what sets her apart from others her age.

 Bishop Renato Mayugba, who had a close relationship with Nina, spoke about her with reverence and wonder. “That’s the girl who always wore a rosary. The girl who loved to pray. The girl who loved God so much.”

 The path to sainthood is normally not an easy one. According to Vatican rules, five years must pass after a person’s death to begin the process, allowing emotions to subside and objectivity to prevail.

 The Congregation for the Causes of Saints then thoroughly scrutinized the evidence of her holiness in her life, scrutinizing every aspect of it. If approved, the Pope would designate her as “venerable,” starting off the journey of beautification.

 Niña was born Oct. 31, 1979, in Quezon City on  Luzon island. Her parents were lawyers, but her father died when she was only 3 years old. She grew up in Quezon City  along with her sister, Mary Anne. She attended school at the Child Study Center of the University of the Philippines and later at the Holy Angels Montessori School, both in Quezon City. 

 Her mother, a devotee of divine mercy, moved with her daughters to Sarrat, 300 miles to the north of Quezon City, in April 1988 to work at the Department of Justice. Nina started high school at Mariano Marcos State University High School in nearby Laoag CIty.

 When Father Danny Pajarillaga met Nina in 1993, he immediately noticed her great love for the Eucharist and that she prayed a lot. She was known to distribute rosaries, Bibles, prayer books, and holy cards in her neighborhood and at school.

 “She was a walking testimony of piety and religion. She was always dressed in white and with a rosary around her neck,” those who knew her recalled.

 At the age of 10 Nina was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and lived with the disease for three years with great faith and joy. 

“Niña’s life was one of prayer, adoration, and an intimate relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Bishop Mayugba said.

On Aug. 16, 1993, she suffered cardiac arrest while she was at school and was immediately taken to the hospital, where she died. She was buried in a public cemetery in Sarrat and her grave is now a pilgrimage site.

 “Today, children and young people are inspired by the life of Niña Ruiz-Abad to live a life rooted in prayer. Her story continues to reach the hearts of many people because it is an example of how with God obstacles can be overcome,” the Philippine Bishops’ Conference stated.

 

UNDOER OF KNOTS

 

One of our favorite artists has a new, very beautiful, image of our Lady, this time, Undoer of Knots. He did the lovely painting of Our Lady of Seattle, a copy of which hangs in our chapel. Daniel says of the Undoer, he used influence of styles from Persian, Mexican, Gothic and Northumbro- Irish art.

Pictured with Our Lady are The Archangel Raphael and Tobias and his dog.

 We need to pray to our Lady that she can untie some of the knots in our troubled world today, especially in the Middle east!

TO CALL THEE LOVE

Let Me Be To Thee As The Circling Bird

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Let me be to Thee as the circling bird,
Or bat with tender and air-crisping wings
That shapes in half-light his departing rings,
From both of whom a changeless note is heard.
I have found my music in a common word,
Trying each pleasurable throat that sings
And every praised sequence of sweet strings,
And know infallibly which I preferred.
The authentic cadence was discovered late
Which ends those only strains that I approve,
And other science all gone out of date
And minor sweetness scarce made mention of:
I have found the dominant of my range and state—
Love, O my God, to call Thee Love and Love.

Great Blue Heron- Holly Wach

UKRAINE UPDATE- MUSIC

 

Mother Felicitas’ son (a tenured professor at Dartmouth and expert on Russian politics) was just here, and as usual gives us an update on the on-going crises in the Ukraine. This reminded me that in the British music magazine we receive from a neighbor (See Blog February 23), I found another Ukrainian musician in this last month’s issue. In looking him up I found an article from The Flute View from April 1, 2022.

DENIS SAVELYEV is flute player from Lviv. He was the first-prize winner of the 2017 NYFC Competition, “Rising Star'' at the 2021 Galway Flute Festival, and Young Artist of 2019 NFA. Denis began studying flute at the young age of five. After completing a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the ‘Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow, he moved to the USA to pursue a MM and Professional Studies at the Mannes School of Music, The New School University, where he studied under Judith Mendenhall. He was later a member of The Orchestra Now, graduating from Bard College with a Master’s degree in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies. Currently, Denis is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in the studio of Marina Piccinini.

 Denis has won multiple prizes, including the 1st Prize at the New York Flute Club Competition, the New Jersey Flute Society, and the 2nd Prize at the Young Artist Competition of the National Flute Association. 

Orchestrally, he has worked with the Mariinsky Theater in Vladivostok, as well as with Orchestra Now, the Manhattan Symphonie, and the New York Symphonic Ensemble on its Japanese tour in 2016

He has performed at various international venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; Merkin Concert Hall, the Morgan Library, and the Metropolitan Museum in NYC; Lviv Philharmonic, Berlin Konzerthaus; Suntory Hall in Tokyo, as well as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, under conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Hans Graf, Gerard Schwarz (of Seattle), and Tan Dun. 

In The Flute View, Denis expressed great worry and his sorrow at the state of things in his home country. While he and his parents are safe in the USA, many of his friends are not. He says he is usually a positive person, but watching what is happening in The Ukraine, he is not always positive.  But, he has hope that things will get better, and feels the present situation has taught the country about unity and the importance of freedom.

 Denis reminds us that musicians in Ukraine have different roles today as some are on the front line of battle (some having lost their lives), some volunteering to help refugees and other refugees themselves. Denis feels we can all help, if not financially, then at least in a thought (prayer) especially that this courageous country will survive and that its unique music will live on.

MEMORIAL TO NEW MARTYRS

 

During Lent we presented many new martyrs of WWII. A special memorial chapel was created by St. John Paul II.  In 1999, in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, St. John Paul II established a “Commission of NEW MARTYRS” to investigate Christian martyrdom in the 20th century. The commission worked for two years on the premises of St. Bartholomew’s Basilica, collecting some 12,000 files from all over the world..

More than thirteen thousand testimonies were received by the commission, some of which were recalled on the occasion of the ecumenical prayer in memory of the witnesses to the faith of the 20th century, presided over by St. John Paul II at the Colosseum on May 7, 2000.

On that occasion John Paul II said:

“The generation to which I belong has known the horror of war, concentration camps, persecution. […] The experience of the Second World War and the years that followed led me to consider with grateful attention the shining example of those who, from the early years of the twentieth century until its end, experienced persecution, violence, death, because of their faith and their behavior inspired by the truth of Christ. And they are many! Their memory should not be lost, rather it should be recovered in a documented manner.”

St. John Paul II decided that the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island should become a memorial place for the “new witnesses of the faith” of the 20th century. The proclamation was solemnly celebrated on October 12, 2002, in the presence of Cardinals Ruini (Rome), Kasper (Germany) and George (Chicago), and the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania Teoctist. A large icon dedicated to the Witnesses of the Faith of the 20th century was placed on the high altar.

In 2008 Pope Benedict XVI visited the Basilica and explained:

“Remember the Christians who fell under the totalitarian violence of Communism, Nazism, those killed in America, in Asia and Oceania, in Spain and Mexico, in Africa: we ideally retrace many painful events of the past century. So many fell while fulfilling the Church’s evangelizing mission: their blood mingled with that of native Christians to whom the faith had been communicated.”

In order to offer a lasting reminder of countless Christian lives lost every year to hate and persecution, in 2002 St. John Paul II presented the church with a large icon dedicated to the 20th century martyrs. The icon, painted by Renata Sciachì of the Community of Sant’Egidio, represents the martyrs discovered during the commission’s study depicted in a scene described in the Book of Revelation: “there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. (7:9)”

 Martyrs gather around the figures of Christ surrounded by Mary, John the Evangelist and John the Baptist as well as Apostles Peter, Paul and Andrew.

To the right and left are seen as two great processions of witnesses to the faith: one symbolizes the Christian East, the other the West. In these two large processions one recognizes people like Dietrich Bonhöffer, Patriarch Tikhon of the Russian Orthodox Church, Father Girotti (Italian Dominican, biblical scholar, who died in the Dachau concentration camp where he preached for a long time).

Continuing downwards, one notices some destroyed buildings and Christians about to be killed; it is a reminder of the genocide of the Armenians and many eastern Christians in Turkey in 1915, a rupture of more than a thousand years of cohabitation in that land.

Also recalled are all the attempts at the actual annihilation of the Christian presence, such as the one that took place in Albania: a priest with a child in his hand is seen being killed (this is the memory of Father Kurti, sentenced to death in 1972 only because he had secretly baptized a child in the camp where he was held).

On the way up one encounters a man dressed in gaudy clothes being beaten by two guards: this is the public humiliation that was reserved for so many Christians before they were killed, as a way of striking at their dignity, discrediting them in the eyes of the people. Above, the frame shows a crowd about to be shot, in a public execution, as happened at numerous turns in 20th century history. The first picture below, on the other hand, remembers the many murdered, those whose lives were suddenly cut short.  One sees a bishop on the altar, it is Bishop Romero, killed while celebrating the Eucharist. One recognizes, among others, Msgr Gerardi, Don Giuseppe Puglisi, killed by the mafia in Sicily.

On the left instead, the panels remind us how, in suffering, the life of the ‘new martyrs’ is a testimony of love, stronger than hatred: to evil they have responded with good. The first scene offers a vision of the Soviet Gulag on the Solovki islands: it is a very old monastery, transformed by the regime into a detention camp, which gathered mainly Christians. It shows two bishops, one young and one old, pushing a wheelbarrow: it is the representation of a testimony given by a survivor who in her diary recounted of two bishops, one old and Orthodox, the other young and Catholic, who went to the extremely hard forced labor together, so that the young man could help the old man. It is a sign of Christians learning to love and help each other again in the suffering of persecution.

In the upper painting, from inside a prison, in Romania, one can identify the prisoners, each holding sheets of paper in their hands: these are parts of a single Bible (possession of which was forbidden by prison regulations), which the inmates had divided among themselves so that they could learn part of it by heart and recite it to the others, and thus not lose the precious treasure of the Word of God. 

Moving up the iconic narrative, one encounters persecuted Christians who nevertheless never ceased to feed the hungry, heal the sick, love their suffering neighbors, and communicate the Gospel to all. One sees a Christian welcoming a man dressed in the uniform that, in this icon, identifies the persecutors: it is the sign of the readiness of the witnesses of faith to forgive, to trust in the possibility for every man to change his own heart.

It is amazing how much is conveyed in this stricking icon, with the martyrs and others..

 In April 2017 Pope Francis visited the Bascilica along with relatives and friends of some of the new martyrs:Karl Schneider, son of a pastor killed in a Nazi camp in 1939; Roselyne Hamel, sister of the Hamel murdered in France last year; Francisco Hernandez Guevara, a friend of William Quijano killed in 2009 in Central America for trying to offer an alternative to youth away from gangs.

MERCY FOR ALL

 

                                            Jose Luis Castrillo- Spain

Jesus to St. Faustina  (1931)

On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary of Divine Mercy #699)

With our world in such a sorry state, we all wonder where we are headed. And true to form, we hear more about the negative in our daily news, than the good that is spreading.  But in our seemingly dark world, the Light of Christ is shining.

One example of people’s thirst for this Light in their lives is the program The Chosen, which has had more viewers than any crowdfunded project. By the end of 2022, 108 million people worldwide had watched at least part of one episode.

 Father Mike Schmitz’s podcast The Bible in a Year has had over 500 million downloads. (While this podcast is meant for all ages, I highly recommend it to teens having a difficult time). Bishop Robert Barron’s book on the Eucharistic revival, This Is My Body, has sold more copies than every celebrity memoir last year. And it is not only Catholics who are being touched.

 So rather than seeing the world through dark lenses this Eastertide, see the Light that is coming through, giving us hope!

NEW BEGINNING

                                            Kateryna Shadrina- Ukraine

 

If you were not risen,
Lord Christ, to whom would we go
to discover a radiance
of the face of God?

If you were not risen,
we would not be together seeking your communion.
We would not find in your presence forgiveness,
wellspring of a new beginning.

If you were not risen,
where would we draw the energy for following you
right to the end of our existence,
for choosing you again and anew?

                  Brother Roger of Taize

DEATH AT EASTER

 

 

EX- ABBOT PRIMATE NOTKER WOLF died unexpectedly at the age of 83 3 April 2024 while traveling from Rome to his Abbey. He was a German Benedictine monk, priest, abbot, musician, and author. He was a member of St. Ottilien Archabbey located in Bavaria, Germany, which is part of the Benedictine Congregation of Saint Ottilien. He previously was elected and served as the ninth Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was elected to his position as Abbot Primate in 2000 and ended his final term in 2016.

Abbot Notker Wolf was a practicing musician who recorded and played shows with his band Feedback. His band was often referred to as a Christian rock band, and he played guitar wearing a pectoral cross.  He loved the chant and also played the flute.  His passions included inter-religious dialogue, environmental issues, responsible immigration policies, and ethical leadership and management. He never retired but continued to write and travel, giving lectures.  He was known for his happy disposition.

An American monk, Father Gregory Polan Abbot of Conception Abbey in Missouri succeded him as Abbot Primate.

IN A GARDEN

 

“While it was still dark Mary Magdalene had come to watch at the tomb, and she found Jesus whom she sought standing there in the flesh. But you must know Him now according to the spirit, not according to the flesh, and you can be sure of finding His spiritual presence if you seek Him with a desire like hers, and if He observes your persevering prayer. Say then to the Lord Jesus, with Mary’s love and longing: ‘My soul yearns for You in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks for You.'”

                       From an Easter sermon by Bl. Guerric of Igny

After the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene meets Jesus outside the tomb in the garden and mistakes Him for the gardener. How one asks can she mistake Him for another?  She who knew Him so well?  Anyone who has known real grief, can understand this.  Was she weeping so violently, that her tears blinded her? Was she in such a state that her mind was not functioning normally?  It is only when she hears His voice that she then recognizes Him.

 Of all places, one wonders why Jesus chose a garden to meet Mary. Was it to show us that He continues to daily nourish us with what has grown in the Garden? To remind us, that as the Gardener, He takes care if our every need, for without one to tend the garden, the plants will die? I am sure that even in His day, the gardens were not the lush green we so often associate with a garden. We know that even today, the Holy Land has palm trees, olive trees, figs, grapes, pomegranates- plants that love the sun and heat, but all plants that need tending in order to flourish. Flowers such as roses and lilies and poppies are mentioned and must have been in this garden, adding some lushness.

                                                  

Art: Michael Cook- British

 

AWAKE-ARISE

 

                                            Khrystyna Kvyk- Ukraine

A Take up thine eyes, which feed on earth;

wake sad heart, whom sorrow ever drowns;

Unfold thy forehead gather’d into frowns:
Thy Savior comes, and with him mirth:
Awake, awake;

And with a thankful heart his comforts take.
But thou dost still lament, and pine, and cry;
And feel his death, but not his victory.

Arise sad heart; if thou dost not withstand,
Christ’s resurrection thine may be:
Do not by hanging down break from the hand
Which as it riseth, raiseth thee:
Arise, arise;

And with his burial-linen dry thine eyes.
Christ left his grave-clothes, that we might, when grief
Draws tears, or blood, not want a handkerchief.

                        George Herbert (d. 1633) English

EASTER DAWN

 

EASTER BLESSINGS

DAWN  LOOKING EAST ACROSS MONASTERY PASTURES

PHOTO BY OUR NEIGHBOR NED GRIFFIN

ONLY RESTING!

 

So they took His body down
The Man who said He was the Resurrection and the Life
Was lifeless on the ground now
The sky was red His blood, along the blade of night

And as the Sabbath fell, they shrouded Him in linen
They dressed Him like a wound
The rich man and the women, they laid Him in the tomb

Six days shall you labor, the seventh is the Lord’s
In six He made the earth, and all the heavens
But He rested on the the seventh, God rested
He said that it was finished and the seventh day
He blessed it, God rested

So they laid their hopes away
They buried all their dreams
About the Kingdom He proclaimed
And they sealed them in the grave
As a holy silence fell on all Jerusalem

And the Pharisees were restless, Pilate had no peace
Peter’s heart was reckless, Mary couldn’t sleep
But God rested

Six days shall you labor, the seventh is the Lord’s
In six Hhe made the earth, and all the heavens,
But He rested on the the seventh, God rested
He worked till it was finished
And the seventh day He blessed it
He said that it was good, and the seventh day
He blessed it, God rested

The sun went down, the Sabbath faded
The holy day was done, and all Creation waited.

              Song by Andrew Peterson.

GOOD FRIDAY

 

GEZA GYORKE  artist was born in 1991 in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. At the age of five he entered the Uzhhorod Children's Art School. His teacher was a famous artist Emma Levadska. He also studied at A. Hromovy's studio. In 1997, for the first time he took part in the fine arts competition in memory of Zoltan Bakonyi and became one of three winners. Later he was a multiple winner of the national and international children competitions and festivals. Since 2001, he has been a member of the children and youth art association ‘Minor Louvre’.

 In 2014, he graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Arts (teachers in specialty were I. Shuisky, Ya. Shymyn, O. Maksymenko, L. Medved, M. Andrushchenko) and stayed here to continue his postgraduate studies and work as a teacher at the Monumental Painting Department.

 At the age of 9 he held his first personal exhibition (together with H. Lazarashvili) in Uzhhorod. Two years later he had the next exhibition ‘Silhouettes of Acoustics’ (2002) with participation of the sculptor V. Roman and the artist F. Semaniv. In 2004 and 2006, the following personal exhibitions in Uzhhorod took place.

 Since then, he has been a permanent participant of all-Ukrainian and international art exhibitions and Plein Airs (Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Uzhhorod, Kyiv (Ukraine).The artist's canvases are kept in collections of the Museum of Modern Ukrainian Art (Kyiv), Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum named after Joseph Bokshay, as well as in private collections in Ukraine and abroad.