The Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola

From the the Saint Ignatius Loyola website:

“Most likely the first image one encounters upon entering the church is that of the crucified Christ in the sanctuary apse’s semi-dome located directly above the Pavonazzo marble and gilt-bronze main alter. The painting’s tessellated appearance is meant to simulate the look of mosaic, the medium in which almost all other images in the church are rendered. Sprouting from the foot of the cross is the expansive scroll of a colorful flowering vine painted against a gold leaf background – a vivid and beautiful image reminding the faithful that they are the branches whose life flows from the vinestock who is Christ the Savior. This foliate image is also found in the semi-domes above the Sacred Heart and Blessed Mother altars, similarly done in Pavonazzo marble, and serves in the unification of the entire chancel area that stretches from the seventy-eight foot width of the church. This visual unification of complimented by a theological one: the Sacred Heart, surrounded by the visionary St. Mary Margaret Alacoque and her Jesuit spiritual director, Saint Claude de la Colombiere, as well as the Blessed Mother, surrounded by the Archangel Gabriel of the Annunciation and the Prophet Isaiah, who foretold the virgin birth, bespeak God’s salvfic love which found its supreme expression in Christ’s self-sacrifice upon the cross.”

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