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N.B. The Chrysler of the Chrysler Building married a Virginian. His extensive art collection did not wind up in New York, but on the bank of the Elizabeth River. What an awesome world this is!
It would have been too much to hope that the Lord would give us a second St. Thomas Aquinas, just when we needed him. But He did: St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.
St. Robert died 390 years ago today, after having made mincemeat out of every false Protestant doctrine.
The saint’s mortal remains lie in the south transept of the church of St. Ignatius in Rome. Most churches in the city lift Roman domes into the sky. The church of St. Ignatius does not, but you think it does.
These Jesuits are full of neat tricks.
Here is an evocative painting for the start of the workweek: Blue Morning by George Bellows, 1909, on display at the National Gallery.
(Click HERE to see it bigger.)
In honor of St. Matthew’s feast day, we present El Greco’s portrait of him:
This painting is in the El Greco Museum in Toledo, Spain.
As you can see, El Greco’s figures are elongated.
The museum guide in the Prado in Madrid told us that all the people in El Greco’s paintings are 13% taller than they should be.
By the by…El Greco was indeed a Greek. He was from Crete. (He was a Cretan, though hardly a cretin.)
The Spaniards could not pronounce his name, so they called him “The Greek.” (No relation to Jimmy the Greek.)
Jean Poyet was a late-medieval illuminator who produced the beautiful image of the Mass you see below. He also drew a magnificent St. Matthew.
The picture of St. Matthew is in the “Book of Hours of Henry VIII,” which is in the Morgan Library in New York. Alas, I cannot find the image of St. Matthew anywhere on the ol’ internet, so here’s Poyet’s picture of the Holy Mass instead.
Happy feast day to all Matthews!
…With bad luck like this (see below), you are going to lose to the N.Y. Giants, even if you are the Dallas Cowboys in the home-opener in your billion-dollar new stadium:
…These old Bests are retired:
Father Mark White Blog 
