Too many in the world know today's Dominican blessed for a nickname given to him more than his religious name. The Dominicans celebrate Blessed John of Fiesole, the post modern world would know him as Fra Angelico (1387-1455), people in his time also knew him as Guido. His talent and grace was indeed rare among people. Only in 1982 did the Church with Pope John Paul II recognize John's holiness.
A prior post gives a very brief history and the liturgical prayer for Blessed John's feast day here and a 2009 post is here.
Recently, a Dominican friar of the English Province spoke to Vatican Radio saying this of his friar:
"...is to give to others the fruit of our contemplation and painting...first to be communicated and then to be precisely the fruit of contemplation.... because vision is one of the elements of contemplation...traditionally for us heaven will mean the beatific vision..."
Blessed John, Fra Angelico as he's known, was the angelic friar: "... because of the purity, the holiness of his own life...the subject matter...the extraordinary beauty, purity reflected..."
Father Robert Ombres, OP
Raymond of Penyafort Fellow in Canon Law at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford
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