Chapel Paintings
Photos courtesy of Ashlee Gordon
By Ethan Begnoche | Staff Writer
"Art is the gift of God, and must be used unto His glory. That in art is highest which aims at this,” said Michelangelo, Renaissance painter and sculptor.
He saw his art as a way to give glory to God, and his views reflect the belief that true art is a way to capture a sliver of the beauty and goodness that God has created. At Kapaun Mt. Carmel, perfect examples of this are present in the chapel.
When the new Lady of Mt. Carmel chapel was finished and blessed on Jan. 25, 2024, one of the first things noticed were the beautiful oil paintings that flank the sanctuary. They depict collages of saints in high realism painted by local artist Vincent Wood.
“Vincent Wood was chosen because he is blessed with unbelievable talent,” said religion teacher Beth Ferraro. “There are not enough words to express how excited I was when Mr. [president] [Rob] Knapp said that he procured Vincent Wood as the artist for the oil murals in the chapel.”
Wood studied art in Italy, living among the rich Catholic culture and art present there. Upon returning home, he painted religious depictions for churches and families, eventually feeling the call to conversion through learning of the saints’ incredible lives.
“The Church encourages us to live lives in imitation of those who we know have gone before us and are now with God in heaven,” said Old Testament teacher Cecilia Knapp. “Spending time, even if during the Mass, pondering the lives of holy men and women is a good thing that encourages us to live the Christian life well.”
The saints depicted in the paintings are models of the faith that inspire and guide our own lives. They are all different in every aspect, including young martyrs like José Sánchez del Rio and Maria Goretti as well as older saints such as St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis of Assisi.
“The school wanted images of saints that gave a clear picture of who the person was and aspects of their lives that were unique to them,” said Cecilia Knapp. “His work leaves nothing to interpretation but is a perfect example of how the Church encourages us to use art in meditation and wonder about real people who lived real, holy lives.”
The matter of which saints get depicted is decided with the help of students and many others before each painting.
“The saints are chosen from a list of saints that is compiled by the students,” said Ferraro. “We want to choose saints that reflect the universal nature of our Catholic Church across all ethnicities. There is a committee that includes admin, teachers, counselors, students and parents that comb through the surveys to determine the chosen saints.”
It is fitting that students help decide which saints get depicted, because the chapel is a place where students can go to have a quiet moment with the Lord. The additions of the saints allow students to reflect on how they can glorify God in their own way.
“[The paintings] make it easier to imagine saints; pointing out their uniqueness and how we are called to be unique, " said sophomore Kolbe Meyer. “It’s cool to imagine an army of saints, with thousands and thousands of them around you.”
In the end, the saints in these images serve as a guide for students striving to imitate the most faithful people we can look up to; the people who dedicated and sacrificed their lives in pursuit of the truth.
“These murals remind us that heaven is worth every sacrifice,” said Ferraro. “That we are able to unite our suffering to the sufferings of Jesus Christ to be men and women of courage and strength; to open our hearts to the abundant grace that God offers so as to develop heroic virtue.”