(1387-1455) Guido di Pietro was born in Fiesole, near Florence, Italy, and took the name Fra Giovanni (Brother John) when he joined the Dominicans. He trained as a manuscript illustrator with his brother, Benedetto, who also joined the Dominicans. Brother John became a celebrated artist and attracted the patronage of the founder of the Medici dynasty in Florence. He was also commissioned for several frescoes in the Vatican by Popes Eugene IV and Nicholas V. Brother John, known as the Angelic Brother, or Fra Angelico, was an influential painter in the early Renaissance.
This patron saint of artists was given the epithet “angelico” due to the purity of his life. He brought his intense spirituality into his art. God is what John thought about most, and that influenced everything he did. What consumes your thoughts? The Dominicans today help spread devotion to the Rosary. This is one means of keeping the Gospel always in your thoughts. Could the meditations of the Rosary help improve your conscious contact with God (Step 11)?
“He who does Christ’s work must stay with Christ always” (Blessed John of Fiesole).
Reflection by Brad Farmer