This mosaic
of the Holy Family is located in the Chapel at the Saint Peter Canisius, the
Jesuit House of Writers located on the Borgo Spirito Santo, Rome. The mosaic is by Father Mark Rupnik,
S.J. and the artisans of the Centro Alleti (Rome) December 23, 2007. Father
Rupnik inspiration were the Contemplations on the Incarnation and the Nativity
from Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises.
In the Exercises we read about
the Nativity. “The first point is [for me] to see the persons, that is, to see our
Lady, and Joseph, and the servant girl (the ancilla, the handmaid), and the
infant Jesus after he is born, making myself a poor little fellow and unworthy
little slave boy, looking at them, contemplating them, and serving them in
their needs as if I were there present, with all possible respect and
reverence.”
A version of Father Rupnik’s Holy Family mosaic is found in the Holy Family Chapel at the Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council, New Haven, Connecticut.