iconographers ireland

For two thousand years, the Church has embraced Beauty and the arts as a pathway to God. Every generation has used the artistic language of its time: from frescos, mosaics, icons and stained glass to painting and sculpture, always seeking to lift hearts and minds towards the divine. For beauty does more than simply delight the eye; it awakens the soul to the presence of God. 

To celebrate Beauty, Luminiscence, an ambitious son et lumière experience within Westminster Cathedral London, draws us beyond ourselves towards the Divine. This laser illumination experience is planned for July, August and September 2026. 

Using state-of-the-art laser projection technology, light, music and narration (by Hugh Bonneville), visitors will be invited to see the cathedral in an entirely new way. Most remarkably, the projections will offer a glimpse of what Westminster Cathedral might look like if all its mosaics were completed, inspired by its architect John Francis Bentley’s original vision. It is a beautiful reminder that the Church has never feared new technologies when they can be placed at the service of beauty, faith and evangelisation. Just as stained glass, mosaics, frescoes and sacred music were once the cutting-edge artistic languages of their age, so today light projection can help reveal the splendour of the Christian story to a new generation.

Westminster Cathedral standing in the heart of London was designed by the gifted architect John Francis Bentley in a bold, innovative Neo-Byzantine style, drawing inspiration from the great early Christian churches of Constantinople and Ravenna. Built almost entirely of red brick with Portland stone dressings, and remarkably without a steel frame, the cathedral opened in 1903. Bentley deliberately envisioned a cathedral that would continue to grow in beauty over time. Much of the marble decoration and mosaic work was left incomplete, inviting future generations to participate in the creation of the cathedral’s final splendour. More than a century later, that vision remains alive.

by Father Patrick van der Vorst

On July 1^st, 1681 Saint Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of Ireland, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London. He was the last Catholic Martyr to die in England. At his execution, he forgave his persecutors, asked forgiveness for his sins, made an Act of Contrition, prayed the Miserere and commended his spirit to God.

In 1997, he was made patron saint for peace and reconciliation in Ireland.

Saint Oliver Plunkett for Peace and Reconciliation, pray for us.

St Oliver Plunkett Detail, Harry Clarke Studios, St. Joseph’s Church Carrickmacross,
Stained Glass Window

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul honours the joint martyrdom of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Peter was chose to be leader of the twelve, the rock on which Jesus would build his Church. Paul was chosen to be the great apostle to the Gentiles, to take the faith out beyond Israel to the whole world. They were very different people and the Lord worked through each of them in different ways them. 

In this icon we see the Apostles Peter (on viewer’s left) and Paul (on viewer’s right) embracing each other. It is the embrace of Christ in love. The cheeks of the two Saints touch but their eyes do not meet because they stare at the Lord Jesus who is the centre of their lives.

The icon is from the style of the famous Veneto-Cretan iconographer Angelos Akotantos (+1450 AD) who lived in Crete. It is noteworthy that Crete belonged to the Republic of Venice at this time. The Venetian period marked a golden age for the arts in Crete influenced by Renaissance Italy. Local artist developed a unique synthesis of Byzantine tradition with Western techniques. This fusion became known as the Cretan School of Painting. Icon painting flourished during this period producing works that combined Orthodox spirituality with Renaissance realism. Among the most famous iconographers of this school was Michael Damaskinos.

In Michael Damaskinos’ icon of The Last Supper, St Peter is positioned on the viewer’s left of Jesus. In this icon we can see, that while Damaskinos was open to the Living Spirit of Creativity (on display here in the background and in the foreground), he was guided by the tradition of icon-painting, evidenced by the reverent care of his reproduction of the portrayed features of St Peter. The resemblance of Saint Peter in both icons is proof of how the portrayed features of the saints are preserved in Orthodox iconography. 

Icon of The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul, +1450, Angelos Akotantos, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Icon of The Last Supper, 1591,  Michael Damaskinos,  Monastery of Agia Aikaterini, Heraklion, Crete.

Reminder for the Summer Icon Course at
De La Salle Retreat Centre.
Make sure to book your place.

The Iconography Summer Course is now
set for SUN 26th JULY – SUN 2nd AUGUST

VENUE: DE LA SALLE RETREAT CENTRE
Elderfield, Castletown Co Laois, R32

This course welcomes beginners and advance levels
for more information please contact the
The Association of Iconographers Ireland

EMAIL: iconireland@gmail.com

After the Annunciation…

Mary goes in haste, over the mountains, apparently alone and enters the house of her cousin Elizabeth, who also has conceived. According to the infancy narrative, Elizabeth has conceived non other than John the Baptist. And when Mary enters the house, her greeting to Elizabeth is enough to sanctify John the Baptist in the womb. By Mary’s fiat (her total and complete acceptance of God’s will at the the Annunciation), it is God who is living in Mary. And the lesson we can take from Mary is not so much what you say but what you do, and not so much what you do as who you are, and not so much who you are as the One whom you are expressing in daily life. And this is the mystery of transmission: you don’t have to say anything- you just have to be the expression of God’s love and tenderness in all the details of life, however humdrum, however routine. It’s not what we do, but the motive from which it is coming, and the motive that transforms and brings God into other people’s lives. And that’s the ultimate transmission- to bring, awaken other people to the presences of God’s love and action in them. And this is what Mary is the example of in that incident. At the same time Mary transforms Elizabeth, because Elizabeth felt the child (John the Baptist) leaping for joy in her womb and she shouts out the words, “Blessed are you among women” and “Blessed is the fruit of your womb!”  1.

This icon of the Visitation reminds us of how St John Chrysostom portrayed St. John the Baptist: dancing for joy and leaping like a prophet, pointing out the “Sun of Justice” (Jesus the Messiah) while still in the womb. 

1. Mary the Mother of God: A Model of Lay Contemplative Life, Part 1- Thomas Keating

Icon of the Visitation by the hand of Paula Mc Hugh

Northern Ireland City of Derry Leads First Coordinated Worldwide Marian Eucharistic
Procession on June 13^th, 2026

This procession marked the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady of Fátima,
and the feast of St. Anthony of Padua. 

In the above photo we see the public act of worship where the Blessed Sacrament is placed in a monstrance and carried through the streets of Derry serving to proclaim that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, not merely a symbol and that He is not confined to the church but walks among His people in the world. In the photo we also see Our Blessed Mother Mary (statue) and on the right we see the reverse side of a poster of Sr Clare Crockette with her slogan “All or Nothing.”

Sr Clare Crockett (1982-2016) who was from Derry, was declared a  “Servant of God” in November 2024 marking the formal opening of her beatification cause.

https://www.ncregister.com/cna/2026-derry-eucharistic-procession

Author Maureen Reilly

“The most blessed Virgin Mary , in the first instance of her conception…was preserved free from all stain of original sin”. (Ineffablis Deus- The Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius IX, 1854). Our Lady confirmed her title four years later in the grotto in Lourdes when She said, in answer to the request by the uneducated 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous to tell her who She was, responded:                              “Que soy era Immaculada Councepcion”/ “I Am The Immaculate Conception”. 

The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary highlights not alone Our Lady’s freedom from original sin (Immaculate), her unwavering love for God, the intense sorrow she endured as the mother of God but also her motherly compassion for all people.

The Irish Marian procession scheduled for June 13^th, 2026, in Derry holds profound significance as the (six county) central hub of the first-ever Worldwide Marian Eucharistic Procession– part of a ”global chain of prayer” across six continents- praying  for world peace, the conversion of sinners and an end to the “culture of death”. The event is viewed as a fulfilment of a prophecy by St. Patrick, who, according to tradition,  foresaw a light of faith shining from the north of Ireland (specifically Derry), eventually spreading to illuminate the whole world. The procession is seen as an ignition of the prophesied revival, mirroring the historical evangelization of Europe by Irish Missionaries in the early Middle Ages.

https://www.worldwidemarianprocession.com

Icon of Theotokos (Mother Of God) by the hand of Philip Brennan

This is the first icon beginner iconographers learn to write on our Association courses. 

The feast of the Sacred Heart honours Jesus Christ’s physical heart as a symbol of His boundless, unconditional love and compassion for humanity. This feast follows and is linked to the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.

Through the course of the Church’s 2000 years the belief in the Real Presence has been constant, unchanged and central to the tenant of our faith. Real faith does not require or seek proof of miracles, nonetheless over 2000 years of the Church, the Lord has provided miracles to sustain and deepen the faith: the oldest eucharistic miracle took place in Lan Ciano in 456 AD, the host is there to this day. One can also visit the eucharistic miracles in Amsterdam or Siena, both of which occurred in the 1700s. Tixtla in Mexico, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Sokolka in Poland have all taken place in the last 30 years. What all these miracles have in common is that, following rigorous testing, each sample came back with the same results: the host flesh is from the human heart, the same section and having experienced trauma.

The words on the open book in the icon of The Pantocrator speak to us of the reality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Rinneadh feoil den Bhriathar/ The Word became flesh (John 1:14): when we receive the Eucharist, we are actually consuming  the substance of Jesus’ heart. 

miracolieucaristici.org.   (Saint Carlo Acutis’ website)

Strictly speaking, icons of the Sacred Heart are not part of the Orthodox iconography tradition (perhaps because of the relatively recent historical origins of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus only gaining prominence through the 17^th -century revelations to Saint Mary Alacoque). The practice of placing a picture of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the home with a little red lamp burning in front is a uniquely Irish tradition, following the national consecration of Ireland to the Sacred Heart in 1873.

Icon of The Pantocrator by the hand of Dick Sinclair

The Sacred Heart by the hand of Angela Mc Clarey

The Holy Spirit continues to move quietly in time, through humanity, drawing people together in a web of connectedness in ways the world cannot achieve.

Along the highly picturesque road from Sligo to our beloved Star of the Sea Retreat and Conference Centre, Mullaghmore (situated in the Parish of Ahamlish and Inishmurray), which our Association members visit twice yearly for iconography workshops, one

“…cannot fail to have noticed the island of Innismurray… difficult to access…It is undoubtedly one of the very earliest of the Irish monastic retreats. Here the great Columba spent his youth before he went to found the more famed Iona; here was a School of the Saints before St Ciarán laid the first stone of Clonmacnoise…” 1

“And so to Derry…Here he (Columcille) established his first monastery in 546 A.D…The nearness of the sea that he loved, for Derry was an island hill… Derry translates as Gaelic ‘Daire’ meaning Oak Wood and significantly, oak groves had an ancient tradition of holiness…This was his favourite foundation. It was always sweeter to him…the site that he chose for his monastery was possibly in the vicinity of Long Tower church”. 2

“I decided to show St. Colmcille in the simple garments of a monk as he is known as ‘Father and founder of monasteries’, even though he is also well known for his preaching healing, prophesizing and visions. What I have chosen to focus on in this representation is his work as a manuscript scribe and in particular his association with the earliest extant Irish illuminated manuscript, The Cathach, dated around AD 600. It has traditionally been regarded as written by Colmcille.” 3

“There is at Iona a special hut or Scriptorium where (Colmcille and his monks’ work involved) the sacred Scriptures (being) transcribed on parchments made from the skins of goats or sheep. …the pens that were used were of goose, swan or crow quills. Specially made ink was used. Of the colours themselves, only purple was made from a native product. Blue was ground from lapis-lazuli and how in those troubled times, a continuous supply of the mineral reached Celtic monasteries from distant Asia remains a mystery. …” 4

I pray not only for these
But also for those
Who through their teaching will come to believe in me.
May they all be one,
Just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you,
so that they may also be in us,
So that the world may believe it was you who sent me.
I have given them the glory you gave to me,
That they may be one as we are one.
With me in them and you in me,
May they be so perfected in unity
That the world will recognise that it was you who sent me
And that you have loved them as you love me. (John 17:20-24)

Icon of St Colmcille by the hand of Clare Mc Reynolds. This icon hangs in the Long Tower Church, Derry.

Photograph of Iconographers at work in Long Tower Primary School, July 2025.

1. A Pilgrimage to Innismurray, The Irish Monthly, Vol 5 (1877) published by the Irish Jesuit Province.

2. Columba pilgrim for Christ by The Rev. Canon F.W. Fawcett, M.A. pp 8-9.

3. Colette Clarke https://iconographersireland.wordpress.com/2020/02new-icons-of-irish-saints/ (a section from a piece describing how iconographer Colette Clarke was inspired to write the icon of St Columcille).

4. Columba Pilgrim for Christ by The Rev. Canon F.W. Fawcett, M.A. p17.

Before Jesus’ crucifixion, He asked the disciples to go into Jerusalem and prepare a Passover supper. The Eucharist is, first, the great meal of fellowship that God wants to establish with his people: the joyful bond in which the Divine Life is shared spiritually and physically with a hungry world. However in a fallen world this communion is impossible without sacrifice. At the heart of the Passover meal was the eating of a sacrificed lamb in remembrance of the lambs of the original Passover, whose blood had been smeared on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt. Making the last supper a Passover meal, Jesus was signalling the fulfilment of John the Baptist’s prophecy that He, Jesus, would be the definitive Lamb Of God. 

This emphasis becomes even clearer when we meditate on the image of the disciples drinking the blood of Jesus from a cup. When someone came to the temple to offer sacrifice, he would cut the throat of the animal and a priest would catch the victim’s blood in a cup before carrying it for the offering- the implication is clear: Jesus is referring to his own blood being shed for the forgiveness of sins. After blessing and breaking the unleavened bread of the Passover meal, Jesus pronounced these words: 

“Take and eat, this is my body”. 

The central claim of the Catholic Church is that Jesus is substantially present under the forms of bread and wine and that this definitive sacrifice is made sacramentally present at every mass. His presence is not simply evocative and symbolic but rather real, true and substantial. If Jesus were simply an ordinary human being, His words would have, at best, a symbolic resonance. But Jesus is God and what God says is.  1

miracolieucaristici.org                                                                                                                                   (The Eucharistic Miracles of the World compiled by Saint Carlo Acutis)

1.Bishop Rober Baron, The Institution of the Eucharist- The Fifth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary.  

Icon of Christ the Great High Priest by the hand of Angela Mc Clarey