Do not copy any of my artwork, poetry or photography without my permission.

Do not copy any of my artwork, poetry or photography without my permission.
....carpe diem. The Daylily. "Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun." Khalil Gibran. She gives her all for just one day then bows her head to God and fades away to nourish the next generation. God I pray I may give my all each day to honor you and bow my head at the end to nourish the next generation. Peggy Jones. NOTE............ Please folks do not copy any of my art or photos on my blog without my permission. Thank you for your good manners.

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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Sepia Saturday #101-A big day in my town to celebrate 200th birthday of the founding of Sisters of Charity of Nazarety

 Alan's SS entry


Can't see a theme for my post in this one, but had my post planned for a few weeks.





My post today is 2 fold for SS

This photo was taken in 1957 while the post office was still in the Motherhouse.
The sister on the left, Sister Mary Kevin was guest speaker at the unveiling of the 2011 Christmas Stamp at Nazareth on Friday 18, 2011. 
There have been only 6 postmistresses and 1 postmaster in all the years.
The sisters work way up into their 80's if their health stays good.
We tease them it is because they don't have to put up with a man. LOL
I love men, they do too.
Just a different choice how to love them.
That is their comment back to us.
Gotta love em.


The last three were lay folks. 


This was a very exciting day.

The first time it has ever been done outside of New York City.

The post office at Nazareth was established in 1888.
The mail was brought to the campus for sisters and students attending Nazareth Academy and later the college by rail for many years. When the railroad delivery was stopped in the 1960s the mail was brought by truck.
In the 1970s a detached post office building was built outside the Mother house and is still in use today.

There is no school on the campus any more but many sisters and 2 senior resident complexes have residence there.


The stamp was unveiled there in honor of the Bicentennial of the founding of the SCNs in 1812.


The painting selected for the Christmas stamp.

This will be your official Christmas stamp all over the U.S.


Madonna of the Candelabra by Raphael

Below is the information about the painter.
If you prefer not to read through this, scroll on down to the link to
Sepia Saturday


For many years, the U.S. Postal Service has issued
"traditional" Christmas stamps featuring the Madonna and Child. The Christmas stamp for 2011 presents a detail from the painting by Raphael. That work , Madonna of the Candelabra, dates to around 1513.

Admired for his graceful style, Raphael was the youngest of three great master of the Italian High Renaissance (the other two are Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo). He was born Raffaello Sanzio in 1483 in Urbino, a cultural center where he received preliminary instruction in painting from his father, described by the 16th. century writer Giorgio Vasari as an artist "of no great merit."


In adittion to being extravagantly talented, Raphael was good-natured and handsome. As a youth, he was sent to Perugia, where he apprenticed with the master known as Perugino. Surviving documents show that Raphael, too, was being called a "master" well before he reached 20 years of age. In 1504, he went to Florence for further study, drawn by the reputations of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, that city's foremost artists.


Raphael drew on Leonardo's techniques of chiaroscuro (contrast between light and dark) and sfumato (use of soft shading to define forms.) From Michelangelo, he leaned the expressive potential of human anatomy. Most commentators agree that Raphael's work is less intense and lighter in spirit than the work of these masters.


In 1508, Raphael was summoned by Pope Julius II to Rome, where he spent the last dozen years of this short life in an inspired burst of activity. The masterpieces he produced there include the painting reproduced on this stamp, Madonna of the Candelabra, and a series of frescoes in the papal apartments of the Vatican. Perhaps the most famous of these, The School of Athens, portrays Plato and Aristotle surrounded by other philosophers, and links classical philosophy with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. After the death of Julius, Raphael was commissioned by his successor Pope Leo X to design tapestries for the walls of the Sistine Chapel.


In adittion to his commissions from the Vatican, Raphael also painted portraits, including a likeness of his friend Baldassare Castiglione, the noted writer. At the time of his death in 1520, Raphael was in charge of all the papacy's various artistic projects. His funeral mass was held at the Vatican and his body was buried in the Pantheon in Rome.


As a recognized master, Raphael ran a large and active workshop. Assistants certainly painted the angels (not shown on the stamp) flanking the central figures of Mary and the infant Jesus in Madonna of the Candelabra, and possibly other parts, This tondo (circular painting), oil on panel, is now in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.


Go here for Sepia Saturday great stories and photos.




Here's looking at ya with joy in my heart.






16 comments:

Pondside said...

Wow - 200 years! If the good sisters were anything like their counterparts up here, they were doubtless responsible for the earliest hospitals and schools. We owe them so much!

A Bit of the Blarney said...

My best wishes to all these and all sisters who give of themselves to the Glory of God! Great post!!! Their own postmistress! WOW! Cathy

Peggy said...

What a wonderful day for you all! And the history - loved reading it. Thanks for sharing this!

North County Film Club said...

What a gorgeous stamp.
Eveybody in the u.s. - please buy hundreds of them this year for your Christmas cards. We don't want the post office to go out of business.
Nancy Javier
Ladies of the grove

Postcardy said...

Interesting post. I loved the Post Office picture and enjoyed reading about the stamp.

21 Wits said...

How wonderful and you must all be joyous! Such an interesting post, such an adorable stamp...and your last photo you posted for us, very cool!

Christine H. said...

This is one of the nicer Madonna stamps. thanks for the preview.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

I love this Sisters' comment about loving men! The sisters in so many areas in so many countries have worked for the better of others, in mots cases their work is now done by lay people as there are less and less sisters. Loved the old photo of the sisters.

Rudee said...

What a rich and amazing history!

Bob Scotney said...

A fine post about the Sisters and Raphael. I shall look on this year's Christmas stamp in a different light as a result.

Alan Burnett said...

What a fascinating post. I think I have heard of Nazareth Kentucky before - I think in the lyrics of The Weight by the Band.

Little Nell said...

A most beautiful stamp. How lovely for Sister Mary Kevin to be the guest speaker too.

Little Nell said...

A most beautiful stamp. How lovely for Sister Mary Kevin to be guest speaker too!

Unknown said...

Yes Alan, Nazareth is in the lyrics of that song by the Band.

Unknown said...

Thanks for all that information about Nazareth and the Christmas stamp 2011. I just purchased some the other day. I am fond of the Madonnas and really enjoyed reading this.

Bruno Laliberté said...

that picture with the nuns tending to post office duties is adorable. And that's a great stamp too!!
:)~
HUGZ