The Cultural Center features three spiritual exhibits for Summer 2005:
The Illuminated Word
Marc Chagall: The Bible Series 1957
Holy Cards: Picturing Prayers

The Illuminated Word
June 7 - October 30

An exhibit of intricately illuminated pages from a famous 15th century Bible highlights this exhibit. It features 50 extraordinarily fine reproductions from Taddeo Crivelli's illuminations of the Borso d'Este Bible.

The exhibit seeks to educate the viewer about the Bible, including its history, how the Church uses Holy Scripture and how images and words convey the same story. The pages featured in the exhibit are the Borso d'Este Bible manuscript's elaborately decorated incipit pages - the first page of each section of the two-volume manuscript, which was created by team of artists headed by Taddeo Crivelli and Franco dei Russi and completed in 1461 in the, then, emerging style of Renaissance art.

The images on the d'Este Bible's pages were not created for mere aesthetic purposes. Rather they shed light on - illuminate - the text's meaning. The illuminations are elaborations of the words. The images presume a sound knowledge of the biblical texts, and therefore serve as silent homilies, interpreting the text in a desired way.

A 2006 Illuminated Year Calendar with images from the exhibit is available.
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Marc Chagall: The Bible Series 1957
June 15 - September 15

This exhibit, a series of 105 hand-colored etchings by Marc Chagall highlighting the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), together with The Illuminated Year exhibit, demonstrates through illustration how Bible texts and images work together to bring fuller meaning to an already familiar story. The images serve as homilies - they do not retell the stories represented but rather they make use of the texts to clarify, elaborate and teach.

In his 1957 Bible Series, Chagall represents fundamental human themes of love, vanity, tragedy and hope in forms accessible to a wide audience. Chagall's works extend beyond the boundaries of illustration by complimenting and transcending the written text to encompass the artist's special insights.

Holy Cards: Picturing Prayers
June 15 - October 16

This exhibit is presented as a tribute to a long-standing tradition among Catholics. The exhibit features more than a hundred lithographic holy cards made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The cards feature Christ and St. Mary, and many other saints, including angels, prophets and visionaries.

From Christianity's earliest time, saints have inspired the classic works of Western art. They are human representatives of divine grace and their stories have comforted, consoled and encouraged Catholics and fascinated those outside the Catholic faith. One of the most important traditions of Catholic iconography is the holy card. These portable objects of daily devotion are carried for protection and given as remembrances. Today, more than ever, they are collected and traded. Because they are not considered precious works of art but everyday objects, holy cards are an example of folk art that help expand the spiritual lives of those who posses them.

The exhibition is based on the book Holy Cards by Barbara Calamari and Sandra di Pasqua © 2004 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. The exhibit features cards from the individual collections of Reverend Eugene Carella and Mary Ann Fulton.