The Adoration of the Eucharist
By Willem Vrelant, circa 1460

This Medieval family kneels in adoration of the Eucharist in their family chapel. We don't know who the family was, but they were probably from Bruges, Belgium. Their beautiful clothes and the elaborate gold of their chapel, plus the very fact of commissioning a book of this quality, indicate that the couple was well-off, as well as devout.

The image introduces a short service called the Office of the Holy Sacrament. We can't quite make out all the Latin, but we think the first red letters are a rubric for a prayer of Salutation to God. After that, we think it means, "Hail the Son of God! The Word of God the Father, through a Virgin, became the Lamb of God, a victim for the Salvation of the World. The Word had pity on the World." And then a red rubric calling for an Our Father and a Hail Mary. (If you can help us with the Latin, please do!)

The flowers and filigree are not just medieval bric-a-brac. They have meaning. The yellow flowers are fleur-de-lis, stylized lilies symbolic of the Trinity, suggesting purity, resurrection, and sometimes the Virgin. The blue Bachelor Buttons refer to Mary's Crown. Raspberries in Christian artwork symbolize kindness in this way: Raspberry's red juice invoked the energy of the blood, which runs from the heart and carries love, nutrition, and kindness through the body. In this case, it would refer to the body of Christ, as our Medieval family would likely have known.

The print is really sharp, and the colors are rich. We print it on special art paper with archival quality pigments, rated to last for many generations without fading when kept out of the direct sun.

Standard size. Easy to find a ready-made frame at your local Hobby Lobby. If you're sending this as a gift and would like us to frame it for you, please convo and we'll make special arrangements for you.

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - Classic Catholic.