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Santa Rosa of Lima, Patroness of the Americas
Rosa of Lima (1586–1617) is often called the patroness of America because she was the first saint to be canonized in the Americas (1671). Her feast day is August 23. Rose is a beloved saint among Spanish- speaking people, especially in New Mexico. The city of Santa Rosa is located a couple hours drive east of Albuquerque .
As a young woman, upon discovering the life of Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Rose sought to emulate her. As a result, she became a lay Dominican. She was known for her rigorous practices of asceticism and penance, much to the dismay of her family and loved ones. Even today the reality of her religious practices make people uncomfortable. Such concern prompted the famous theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar to ask the mystic Adrienne Von Speyr about her practices. Drawing on the authority of her mystical experience, Von Speyr informed him that Rosa’s practices were fine because her intentions were out of love for God.
We must keep a couple of things in mind with respect to her austere practices. First, Rosa would use her penances for the sake of others who were suffering. Those people that Rosa would intercede for— the ones she would literally suffer for— would often be healed. In this way she was similar to a bodhisattva or shamanic healer. Second, there is a sense in which great saints are often extreme in some aspects of their lives. This does not necessarily mean that others should literally emulate the kinds of practices they carry out. Shortly after the death of St. Francis, for example, the pope forbade the Franciscans to subscribe to the saint’s rigorous interpretation and practice of poverty.
Bill had conceived this image of Santa Rosa for several years before actually completing it. A labor of love, when he finally completed the piece he was not sure what to do with it. Tragically, the events of Sandy Hook Elementary School and the brutal murder of the twenty children and six teachers and staff in Newtown, Connecticut, occurred on December 14, 2012. This would provide an opportunity. On this point, I would like to share a personal anecdote. Shortly after the murders in Newtown, I had a dream that there was a statue of St. Rosa in my living room. The front of the statue was covered with green vomit, as if St. Rosa had puked on the front of her habit. I interpreted this as a visceral response to the ugly violence that had occurred in Newtown. I relayed this dream to Bill because of his devotion to St. Rosa and because I knew he was deeply upset by the murders as well. Unbeknown to Bill or myself at the time, the Catholic parish in Newtown was named St. Rose Parish. Upon learning this fact, Bill immediately sent the icon of St. Rosa to the parish in Connecticut in the hopes that it might assist as a healing image for the members of the community.
In the image St. Rosa stands on the earth in her Dominican habit with her feet on the northern part of the Americas, though she is the patroness of both continents. Given that this icon was completed prior to the events in Newtown, it is perhaps prophetic that her left foot is close to that region of New England. The rose stems and petals of her intercession fall gently upon the planet. The light of the moon, an image of the Mother of God, is near. The soft hue of rose permeates the picture, providing a healing and contrasting image to the red blood of violence.
Why is she situated in the cosmos? Perhaps this offers a more expansive view, lifting the people up and giving a larger view of life. Is there life on other planets? If so, do those beings face the brutality of violence, or are they perhaps living in harmony? When we are in grief and pain it is always helpful try to take on a larger view. In his anguish of losing everything Job complained to God, and God responded by asking if he was there when the stars were made (Job 39:3). In the wake of the murders in Newtown we are faced with deeply disturbing realities. Often such anguishing questions, like Job’s anguish, remain unanswered. The intercession of Rosa of Lima and the image she provides offer the hope of healing and transformation for our world.
John Dadosky
Image to Insight

Santa Rosa of Lima, Patroness of the Americas
Rosa of Lima (1586–1617) is often called the patroness of America because she was the first saint to be canonized in the Americas (1671). Her feast day is August 23. Rose is a beloved saint among Spanish- speaking people, especially in New Mexico. The city of Santa Rosa is located a couple hours drive east of Albuquerque .
As a young woman, upon discovering the life of Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Rose sought to emulate her. As a result, she became a lay Dominican. She was known for her rigorous practices of asceticism and penance, much to the dismay of her family and loved ones. Even today the reality of her religious practices make people uncomfortable. Such concern prompted the famous theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar to ask the mystic Adrienne Von Speyr about her practices. Drawing on the authority of her mystical experience, Von Speyr informed him that Rosa’s practices were fine because her intentions were out of love for God.
We must keep a couple of things in mind with respect to her austere practices. First, Rosa would use her penances for the sake of others who were suffering. Those people that Rosa would intercede for— the ones she would literally suffer for— would often be healed. In this way she was similar to a bodhisattva or shamanic healer. Second, there is a sense in which great saints are often extreme in some aspects of their lives. This does not necessarily mean that others should literally emulate the kinds of practices they carry out. Shortly after the death of St. Francis, for example, the pope forbade the Franciscans to subscribe to the saint’s rigorous interpretation and practice of poverty.
Bill had conceived this image of Santa Rosa for several years before actually completing it. A labor of love, when he finally completed the piece he was not sure what to do with it. Tragically, the events of Sandy Hook Elementary School and the brutal murder of the twenty children and six teachers and staff in Newtown, Connecticut, occurred on December 14, 2012. This would provide an opportunity. On this point, I would like to share a personal anecdote. Shortly after the murders in Newtown, I had a dream that there was a statue of St. Rosa in my living room. The front of the statue was covered with green vomit, as if St. Rosa had puked on the front of her habit. I interpreted this as a visceral response to the ugly violence that had occurred in Newtown. I relayed this dream to Bill because of his devotion to St. Rosa and because I knew he was deeply upset by the murders as well. Unbeknown to Bill or myself at the time, the Catholic parish in Newtown was named St. Rose Parish. Upon learning this fact, Bill immediately sent the icon of St. Rosa to the parish in Connecticut in the hopes that it might assist as a healing image for the members of the community.
In the image St. Rosa stands on the earth in her Dominican habit with her feet on the northern part of the Americas, though she is the patroness of both continents. Given that this icon was completed prior to the events in Newtown, it is perhaps prophetic that her left foot is close to that region of New England. The rose stems and petals of her intercession fall gently upon the planet. The light of the moon, an image of the Mother of God, is near. The soft hue of rose permeates the picture, providing a healing and contrasting image to the red blood of violence.
Why is she situated in the cosmos? Perhaps this offers a more expansive view, lifting the people up and giving a larger view of life. Is there life on other planets? If so, do those beings face the brutality of violence, or are they perhaps living in harmony? When we are in grief and pain it is always helpful try to take on a larger view. In his anguish of losing everything Job complained to God, and God responded by asking if he was there when the stars were made (Job 39:3). In the wake of the murders in Newtown we are faced with deeply disturbing realities. Often such anguishing questions, like Job’s anguish, remain unanswered. The intercession of Rosa of Lima and the image she provides offer the hope of healing and transformation for our world.
John Dadosky
Image to Insight

Happy Anniversary of your entrance into Heaven - Nicholas Black Elk + 19 August 1950 🌿🌿🌿
There is only Christ : He is everything and He is in everything.” Colossians 3 : 11
In commemoration of my 40th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ , 25 May 1979, I am offering a prayer for the Canonization of Nicholas Black Elk. I believe that Nicholas Black Elk and St Hildegard of Bingen are The Two Visionaries who offer in their lives and writings a most blessed theology of continued care for God’s Creation, and Our Mother Earth. Separated by over 800 years, each was given visions which are essential and crucial for all of us today.
Fr William Hart McNichols 25 May 2019
Prayer for the Canonization of Nicholas Black Elk
by Mitakuye Oyasin
“ Grandfather! Great Spirit!
Behold us, who stand
before you, singing our
song of thanksgiving, for
your servant, Nicholas Black Elk.
Faithfully he walked the
Sacred Red Road
and generously witnessed the
Good News of Our Lord,
Jesus Christ among
Native people.
Grandfather, we humbly ask
you to hear the prayers
we plead through his intercession.
We ask Holy Mother Church
to recognize his sanctity, by
acknowledging his presence
among the company of the
saints and as one to
imitate in his zeal for the
Gospel.
Open our hearts to also
recognize the Risen Christ
in other cultures and people’s,
to the glory and honor of
God the Father.
Amen”

The Dormition of the Mother of God
“She is a breath of the power of God, pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; hence nothing impure can find a way into her. She is a reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God’s active power, image of his goodness... She is indeed more splendid than the sun, she outshines all the constellations; compared with light, she takes first place, for light must yield to night, but over Wisdom evil can never triumph.”
Wisdom 7: 25-26, 29-30 (Jerusalem Bible)
Today is August 14, and I am remembering, contemplating, meeting St John Paul II, on this day in 1993, World Youth Day in Denver. Some people you can touch into, or step into their spiritual light and it changes you forever.
True holiness has that power of re-creation. Many times we are unaware of these people in everyday life, but sometimes their deep suffering illuminates their holiness. Today we are all aware of the true holiness of every caregiver and all those on the frontlines of this most recent pandemic.
When I met John Paul carrying the icon of Mary I was commissioned to do for him, (Our Lady of the New Advent: the Burning Bush) I felt completely known and loved by him, almost instantly. I honestly don’t know how that happens, because I felt very dim inside his light, and still do. In every picture taken that afternoon, he has his hand on my shoulder or he is touching my hand. In some ways I compare it to an apparition which does forever change you. I heard friends and relatives say, that even in that giant arena, they could see the mutual love from a distance. So, today, 27 years later, I still feel bathed in that love. Mary, the Blessed Mother, “surrounds” John Paul and I had a religious Sister, who died not long after, tell me that Mary arranged our meeting for reasons I would not understand until much later.
In virtually every single icon of the Mother of God, even those of her alone, you sense her son’s presence. She cradles him or pleads, appears,prays, cries,grieves and shines with his presence. To look at her is to see her love for him. The essence of the icon of the Dormition for me, is the love of the Son for his Mother. This is also an icon of the joyful promise of Christian death. Here Christ’s love gives life to the body of the one who loved him so well as Mother and true disciple. Here he becomes mother as he carefully cradles her infant-like soul and carries her home. The change of the feast of the Coronation of the Mother of God, from May 31 to August 22, is liturgically more meaningful. It now comes just a week after the Assumption/Dormition. I tried to express in the poem below, just what Mary’s Queenship means according to the Gospels.
In this version of the Dormition, John the elderly Beloved Disciple, weeps and hovers over the body of the Mother given to him with the Lord’s halting, broken words from the Cross. He does not yet see Christ in the radiant mandorla of light. The Archangel Gabriel bows low in loving recognition, once again, of the one who became Mother of the Incarnate Word and Mother of all Christ’s offspring; whom, the Book of Revelation says, will be pursued by the devil (Revelation 12:17) until Christ returns as Christ the King. And then we will (hopefully) all reign with him for eternity.
This icon was commissioned in the early 90’s by the Jesuit Magazine, America. I wrote this prayer/ poem at the same time.
She sleeps who
knew no rest here.
Promised early on
a knife in her soul...
watching relatives, neighbors,
multitudes, dividing,deciding and
finally calling for the blood of the
Word clothed in her own flesh.
Stabat Mater Dolorosa,
all through the grisly passion
a helpless harmony,
tears that would not stop,
convulsive grief...
then all life leaving
from her eyes
from his wounds.
Now he returns to take
her soul and body.
She of the abused and powerless,
She of the stifled and wordless,
She of the empty and outcast.
She is crowned forever
Queen of All Heaven
in the kingdom of reversals.
And we her children
are assured such an ending,
after dust, we too shall be
carried Home in the mandorla
of the Rising Son.
Fr Bill McNichols ⚜️14 August 2020

St Clare’s Apparition of the Holy Child ( “Chiara Offreduccio” - 16 July 1194 - 11 August 1253)
“Then the dying saint communed with her own soul, saying softly:
‘Go forth in peace, go forth without fear to Him who created you and has sanctified you and protected you and has always loved you and cared for you.’ Then speaking with her Lord, she said: ‘Blessed be you, O Lord, you have created me and have redeemed me with Your Precious Blood, to give me eternal life in your presence.’
The sister who was nearest to her, said weeping: ‘What are you saying, my Mother? To whom are you speaking?’ She answered: ‘I am talking to my own soul.’”
“The Life of St Clare of Assisi” by the Servant of God Tommaso da Celano (1185-1260)
“Learning to pray in a Franciscan way required of her a great renunciation: it cost her a lot to distance herself from her drive to activity and success in action and to become a contemplative. Work for it’s own sake was much more demanded of her than of Francis, because she had to renounce what was the primary feature of her character: her reasonableness, which she possessed and rightly possessed, and the facility for helping and serving. It is more difficult to renounce something that is good and beneficial than something problematic...However, she allows herself to be fashioned into what God wants to make of her.”
“Book of All Saints” by Adrienne von Speyr
“Humility is the guardian and the ornament of all virtues...”
Second Life of St Francis by Tommaso da Celano, #140
St Clare was given 3 apparitions of the Christ Child. She prayed the Office of the Passion of Jesus every day. I wondered then, why it was not the adult Christ but the Child who came to her?
I decided to explore this question as I painted (wrote) my first of three, icons of her.
My life in Brooklyn and Manhattan, from 1980-1990 brought me so many incredible graces and was filled with people I loved deeply and, some are still alive. One of those is Fr Andre’ Cirino, OFM who taught me more by word and by deed than I can ever adequately express and ultimately accepted me into the Third Order of St Francis on 3 October 1984, up in the Bronx house of the Third Order, the Little Portion, (Porziuncola meaning in Italian, “small portion of land”) the place in Assisi where the Franciscan movement began. During my Hospice years in Manhattan, I also discovered the most beautiful book of an ancient Chinese text of mystical union, entitled, “The Secret of the Golden Flower.” In the Convento of San Damiano, the place where Clare and her sisters lived, there is always a rose on the table where Clare was seated during her life. The one time I visited Assisi and San Damiano, in March 1984, the rose was yellow. I later wrote this poem:
The Secret of the Golden Flower
Chiara
a play of light
golden as the
rising sun
over Assisi,
played out
over fifty years
of agonizing sickness
after sickness
and vicious onslaughts
of the evil one.
She taught her
dearly loved sisters,
in O, a thousand ways,
the adoration and praises
of the Most High,
the passionate cultivation
of the Enclosed Garden...
Jesus,
and a swift attention
to the tremulous stirring
of the Spirit’s wings.
Once while listening
to a sermon of
Brother Philip,
she was seen
clear and bright
as day,
holding the Holy Child
enfolded in the
Secret of the Golden Flower.
Fr William Hart McNichols, SFO
10 August 2020 Eve of the feast of St Clare
PS) I have two, of many, wonderful grandnieces; one named Claire and another grandniece Ginger who is now attending the University of Santa Clara. This feastday reflection is for them, with love.

St Ignatius At Prayer In Rome (illustration from 1991)
“I will ask for what I want: here I ask for interior knowledge of the Lord ... Take,
Lord receive all my liberty, my memory, my intellect, and all my will - all that I have and possess. You gave it all to me; to you Lord I give it all back. All is yours, dispose of it entirely according to your will. Give me the grace to love you, for that is enough for me.”
St Ignatius Loyola - from his
Spiritual Exercises: Contemplation for attaining love
“...finding
God
in agony
first but then
in
stars by night
and
later at day
in
a blade of grass
an orange leaf
he began his
mornings with
‘What shall we
do
for God today ?’
letting the Spirit
blow
through his soul
as
wind through
a
field of poppies...”
Fr James Janda
In the year 1991, the Society of Jesus and the world celebrated the 600th anniversary of the birth in 1491 of the Basque saint, Inigo de Loyola. Archbishop (now Cardinal) Stafford of the Archdiocese of Denver, wanted to make a holy card to give to all the people of the Archdiocese. He had seen this drawing I did of Ignatius praying in Rome and asked me if he could use it. During my first two years as a Jesuit, 1968-70, I heard the often repeated Jesuit “in joke” about an older Jesuit on his death bed struggling mightily with anxiety and terror. A fellow Jesuit nearby, attending the dying man, assured him that God was all forgiving and he had nothing to fear. Then the old man says, “It’s not God I’m afraid of, it’s St Ignatius !” That joke hit me hard in my heart, and oddly, very personally, as if my own father was being terribly misunderstood . I swore then, as a 20 year old boy, that I would try to do everything possible to show the many sides of Ignatius. Throughout the years I began to draw him in my career as an illustrator, and then as an iconographer. Tonight on the eve of his feast, I stepped outside and looked into the beautiful glowing moon and felt his love and spoke my love back to him. I have felt like he’s my “second Dad” since I began to know him more intimately in 1968. So many Jesuits during the 35 years I was an official member, taught me about him through their writings, retreats and most of all their genuine guidance and faithful love. And they still do. One thing I’ve learned from Ignatius’ daily Examen, or examination of conscience, is that you can always, always, begin again. The great mystic Adrienne von Speyr said of her heavenly mentor, “No one points to God with such shrewd intelligence, as St Ignatius.” I am constantly amazed and thankful that he is still with me. He continually challenges me to “find God in all things and people.” My favorite writings are his Spiritual Diaries. There, his love for God flows out along with his inability to stop the tears of love he felt, most of all before, during and after celebrating the Holy Eucharist.
Holy Father Ignatius,
Please keep leading me to that knowledge of God
that animated every moment of your life.
Teach me daily, to say with you,
“What shall we do for God today ?”
Then let me use every gift from God to
answer that question.
Help us all to navigate these awfully
anxious, seemingly endless times of this present pandemic.
Dear Holy Father Ignatius,
I love you.
Amen
Fr Bill McNichols

Elijah McClain ? 25 February 1996 - 30 August 2019
"But the righteous man, though he die early, will be at rest. For old age is not honored for length of time, nor measured by number of years ... There was one who pleased God and was loved by him, and while living with sinners he was taken up lest evil change his understanding or guile deceive his soul...Being perfected in a short time, he fulfilled long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord, therefore he took him quickly from the midst of wickedness. Yet the people saw and did not understand, nor take such a thing to heart, that God's grace and mercy are with his elect, and he watches over his holy ones."
~ Wisdom 4
I recently painted this image of the very gifted, talented and beautiful soul, Elijah McClain. I used his photograph but added light around his head and golden colored shirt to echo scripture's prophetic words about the chosen ones of God. The red buttons signify his terrible death - red being the color of the Martyrs. I asked my dear friend and theologian, Christopher Pramuk, author of many truly unique and brilliant books, including Sophia: The Hidden Christ of Thomas Merton, Hope Sings So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line, and The Artist Alive: Explorations in Music, Art and Theology, to write a reflection on Elijah McClain.
~ William Hart (Fr. Bill) McNichols
If a sacrament can be described as something that attaches itself to one's heart, and in doing so, becomes an instrument of communion and grace, then Fr. Bill's new painting of Elijah McClain has become for me a most powerful sacrament.
At first, I resisted, I didn't want it to be so. Like grace itself, attachments of the heart can be both beautiful and dangerous. They demand vulnerability, commitment, risk. When Fr. Bill shared Elijah's image with me, I didn't want to let it in. I didn't want to allow him, those penetrating eyes, to gaze into my eyes, afraid of what he might uncover there. I resisted because Elijah's story, and Fr. Bill's image, struck too close to my father's tender heart.
My wife Lauri and I have two children from Haiti, adopted in 2010, just after the earthquake. Sophia, 17, is now on the verge of young adulthood; Henry, though just 11, could pass as 17, when seen from a distance. While Sophia is small in stature, Henry, with his broad face, huge hands, and legs twice as thick as mine, is a gentle giant. Except when he isn't.
Henry suffers from crippling mental illness, rooted in trauma and neglect during his first year of life. One afternoon a few years ago, I was called urgently to come to his school. For the third time in as many weeks, Henry had gotten upset and had bolted out the building's front door before staff could restrain him. I arrived to find my son sitting in a vacant lot near the school, surrounded by five police cars, lights flashing.
Flight - or what the therapists call "elopement" - is Henry's first and last means of escape when big feelings overwhelm him. Lauri and I know that flight for Henry is self-protection, literal survival. Our neighbors, strangers at the grocery, police officers, don't know this. To the police, flight is often, and sometimes fatally, mistaken as fight, defiance, disrespect. Especially when the prey, now backed into a corner, is a young black man.
When I first saw Fr. Bill's painting, the heartrending outlines of Elijah McClain's story were familiar to me, as they have become intimately familiar to so many here in Colorado, and now, around the world. He was 23, a massage therapist much loved by his clients, killed by an encounter with police that involved a carotid choke hold and a disabling dose of ketamine that left him in a coma for six days.
"It doesn't make sense," said one of his clients, calling the police response "brutal." "He was the sweetest, purest person I have ever met. He was definitely a light in a whole lot of darkness." Pictures of Elijah playing the violin to the animals in a local shelter during his lunch break have circulated all over the internet.
When police officers bore down on Elijah - he was wearing a face mask and waving his arms around, probably singing, his friends say, as he walked home from a convenience store - the young man repeatedly begged the officers to forgive him.
"I can't breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That's my house. I was just going home. I'm an introvert. I'm just different. That's all. I'm so sorry. I have no gun. I don't do that stuff. I don't do any fighting. Why are you attacking me?" He also told the officers, "You are all phenomenal. You are beautiful. And I love you."
"He had a child-like spirit," another long-time client says. "Elijah McClain was not conditioned to the norms of America...He lived in his own little world. He was never into, like, fitting in. He just was who he was."
Years ago, I was reading an article by the eminent Black Catholic theologian M. Shawn Copeland, when I came to a line that stopped me cold. In a deeply racist US society, people of color, she wrote, are "overdetermined in the flesh." I did not, perhaps could not, understand such a statement until I became the father of two black children. Whether I am with them at the mall, walking through our neighborhood, or behind the wheel of a car, I am chronically aware that the warm glow of white privilege that now surrounds and protects my kids will not be there forever. I cannot look at a photograph of Sandra Bland without also seeing my daughter Sophia, herself full of fierce, feminine strength, lying face-down in the grass with a police officer's knee on her neck.
Elijah McClain, thanks be to God, "was not conditioned to the norms of America." Neither was Sandra Bland. In Fr. Bill's painting, the glimmer in Elijah's eyes returns my gaze with love. The hints of blue in Elijah's face remind me that we never walk alone in the valley of the shadow of death. Like a mother's cloak, the Spirit of the Living God gently surrounds each of us, and flashes like the sun from within. She is the divine Child who plays "hide and seek" within all the people, daring us not to conform to the dictates of a rapacious and violent society. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, She says, "I love you," and "I'm just different," and "Why are you attacking me?" in the face of the world's power.
"Elijah McClain, pray for us. Pray for our children, especially all young men and women of color. Give strength to every anxious parent's heart. Help us reclaim the light of God within, which endures even in the face of physical death. Teach us to remember and cherish the animals, as you did with your gift of music. Dear Elijah, may you dwell now in deep peace, and feel the infinitely accepting love that we so often fail to give."
And Fr. Bill, thank you for once again enkindling the flame of faith, hope, and love in a sea of gathering darkness. Your art, your attunement to the divine mystery written in human flesh, is a tremendous gift to the world.
July 25, 2020
Christopher Pramuk

Holy Quaker Martyr Mary Dyer
Mary Dyer (ca. 1611–1660) was a Puritan
convert to Quakerism who became one of
the four people known as the Quaker martyrs of
Boston. She was publically executed by the Puritans
in Boston on June 1, 1660.
A major theological strand of Puritanism in
the Boston colony had reduced Christian religious
beliefs to moralism, and the fruits were
often a rigid judgmentalism. Violators could be
singled out and ostracized by the community.
Mary, along with her mentor, Anne Hutchinson,
had resisted this strand of Puritanism, favoring an
alternative to strict Puritan theology that emphasized
more of God’s grace and mercy. Mary’s
support for Hutchinson, when the latter was
exiled from the Boston colony, singled her out for
persecution as well. During this theological controversy
in the community, Mary also had a still
birth of a deformed baby, and she had it buried
in secret. This fact eventually came to light, and
the circumstances were used to discredit her in
order to discourage the followers of Hutchinson.
Later, Hutchinson had a miscarriage as well and
was subjected to the same scrutiny. The distorted
theologies prompted their adversaries to construe
these events as God’s punishment upon the two.
Eventually Mary and her family would convert to
Quakerism and relocate to Rhode Island. It was
her return trips to her former home at the Boston
colony that got her into trouble. The Puritans
were threatened by the growing Quaker religion.
The story of these women corroborates the theory
of scapegoating put forth by René Girard, who
argues that these women are singled out because
they threaten the established order, demonized for
their miscarriages, and blamed for bringing chaos
into the community. It also highlights the feminist
critiques of patriarchy, which emphasize how
women have been cast into rigid roles and punished
when they venture outside of them. Patriarchy
includes a preoccupation with women’s bodies.
New England had a significant influence on Bill
in his earlier years of priestly formation and ministry.
Bill copied an illustration as a model for this
icon. He wanted to bring attention to the effect of
New England Puritanism, especially as depicted
in Nathanial Hawthorne’s classic American novel
The Scarlet Letter. The red cross Mary Dyer holds
near her chest in the image recalls Hawthorne’s
image of the scarlet letter A. The light descending
from the cloud refers to the inner light, which is
a central and distinctive aspect of Quaker spirituality—
God’s light dwells within. This means
that everyone is equal, and so the Quaker idea of
church is very simple in its structure. There are no
leaders, and the official name they give themselves
is the Society of Friends.
There is a certain double meaning in the phrase
used by one of Dyer’s accusers when he described
her execution. He stated, “She did hang like a
flag for others to take example by.”However,
her example, rather than acting as a deterrent,
promoted the cause that eventually moved the
Puritan community beyond its persecution of
the Quakers. Her witness was one of genuine
imitation of Christ. Mary Dyer represents someone
who challenges deviated transcendence and
distorted religious practices, especially those who
co-opt genuine religious values and distort them
into vehicles of violence. She represents integrity,
peace, and the compassion of the Gospel; someone who is faithful to her inner light within.
From Book by John D. Dadosky
Image to Insight: The Art of William Hart McNichols

Second Self-Portrait With Symbols 2014
“I’m gonna exchange my things for precious wings and fly, over the valley of the kings and queens where the sleeping
cities lie. One bright night I’m gonna fly right out my window.
Gonna fly so high in the night sky, that the people below won’t see me go by...”
“A Famous Myth” by Harry Nilsson 1969
Some songs are so hypnotic that they call to you even when you don’t know exactly what they mean. They express a deep longing or wish that’s unconscious. This might be called the language of Art . To express what cannot be said literally, through enigmatic songs, poetry, images, icons, drawings and paintings...giving form to inner visions. I would imagine music is comforting round the world right now as we all attempt to walk through this dangerous landscape, stalked by an invisible insidious vapor. We mask up outside, our sense of hope that climbing this way, into Noah’s Ark, we have at least taken the warning seriously. And we collectively grieve for those who mock and ignore the warning. My 71st birthday is coming on Friday, July 10th. I remember when I lived in Taos, reading an autobiography by Jane Fonda where she says age 1-30 is act 1. Age 30-60, is act 2, and age 60 to death is act 3. Mary Oliver’s most famous poetic quote comes to mind, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life ?” Or another quote from Georgia O’Keefe, which is really comforting, because her legendary image, persona, is that of an extremely stoic artist; “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” And then you have St Paul forever steeped in his vision of the Risen Lord, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus .” Philippians 4:6-7. To supplement St Paul, I have been dependent upon the Don Dolindo Novena for at least three years now; it’s bound to sink in if I keep at it.
I laugh when I remember that for my Confirmation name I wanted at age 10, to take the name of an older teenage Martyr of the early Church, the 14 year old St Pancratius. Sister thought that was too eccentric and told me to take either Anthony or Dominic. So I took Dominic not knowing then, that along with Veritas, (Truth) the other Dominican motto is “Contemplata aliis tradere” - to share what you have contemplated. This sums up my life and artistic attempts at images and icons. This second self portrait is surrounded by some of the help I found from the age of 27 ( my first self-portrait with symbols) until I decided I needed to do a second one after my heart collapse April 27, 2012. The images in boxes, inspired by one of my favorite children’s book illustrators, the Russian Ivan Bilibin, honor some of this encouragement and help I was given or found. The first, is symbolic of myself and enduring friends, the Kintsugi cracked bowl, with the cracks filled with gold.
As Ernest Hemingway said, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” The second box symbolizes a life of being inspired and blessed by music, in this symbol its a green flame which is in particular the music of St Hildegard of Bingen. The third is from the mystical life of St Joseph given by Our Lord in 1736 to the Italian Benedictine Mystic, Sister Maria Cecilia Baij. She was told at the birth of St Joseph three stars appeared above his house symbolizing that the Earthly Trinity had now begun. The next box is just an arrow flying into the Cloud of Unknowing, an anonymous spiritual book on prayer that deeply affected me, in the “first act” at age 21. Then there’s the radiant broken heart, showing the collapse in 2012, and subsequent mending through the Love I was given. Below the heart is my “second Dad” or Holy Father Ignatius Loyola, who truly gave me another birth and life that continues on through “act three.” Dear Holy Father Ignatius who invites all of us to “find God in all things.” Below Ignatius is the image of the Tarot card “Le Pendu” or man hanging upside down. This explanation of my life I found in the extraordinary masterpiece “Meditations on the Tarot : A Journey into Christian Hermeticism” by Anonymous published in English in 1986. Below the hanging man, who is suspended between heaven and earth, is the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, for obvious reasons. Next is the largest image (besides the self portrait) of, in my opinion, the most beautiful church in the world! San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos. I was invited in 1999 by my dear friend Fr Tim Martinez, to paint a large image of St Francis receiving the stigmata, inside, above the main doorway. I ended up staying for 14 years. The raised stigmatized-wounded hand of Jesus symbolizes the 7 years I worked as a Chaplain in the AIDS pandemic in Manhattan and surrounding areas. Above that living wounded hand is Our Lady of the New Advent, which really began my vocation as an iconographer during “act two” from 1990 into “act three.” The Archer is above Our Lady, shooting his arrow into the Cloud, and a symbol for me of a vocation too. I’ll close with a poem I wrote around my birthday in 1993, one month before meeting St John Paul II in Denver at World Youth Day.
Epithalamium
O I am an Archer.
This is the vocation that
I can stand under, that
holds onto me too.
I have run along with hunted
Jonah, year after year,
following him safely into the
Heart of the Sea Creature,
his vast water tomb where
I can rest, long enough to
find a way to serve You,
My Lord.
Now here I am in the Zone at last.
I aim these images and the few words
I have left, into the
Heart of the Church : the Bride.
So this is chapter 8 of my Song of Songs,
my Epithalamium.
One more arrow to let fly.
It says with pure speed
and perfect precision:
“Love is stronger than death, and
many waters cannot quench this
Burning Love.”
Fr William Hart Dominic McNichols
July 1993

Trees for Rivera Funeral Home in Taos, New Mexico
In 2014 I was asked by my dear friend Tim Rivera, to do something for the room in the Rivera Funeral Home , in Taos, New Mexico, which might bring Hope and Comfort to families of All Faiths...as they sit in the main room, mourning, grieving, during a service for their deceased loved ones. Now in this particular summer, where souls all over the world are leaving our earthly home, it seems urgent to show this triptych once more for your contemplation. I think all this grief and experience of tragic deaths, began for me in 1983 when I began to work as a Chaplain in the AIDS Pandemic. To date, over 32 million people have died from the AIDS pandemic. Michael O’Loughlin has made a 6 part series on podcast, for America Magazine, about the Catholic response during the 1980’s. The narrative was/is that there was very little help. Michael corrected that narrative through his interviews last winter, right before covid 19 ravaged the world. He recently won an award from the LGBTQ community for his incredible work. I believe he was guided by the Holy Spirit, who offered a kind of premonition, and comfort, in the stories of those still living who lost so many people, and the frontline caregivers of that time.
In 2014, I thought of 3 images of Trees (in art called a triptych) that would convey different seasons, and also the never ending life of the soul.
1) Trees of Winter Life
These trees portray what seems to be simply cold death,
to us who see them.
And yet trees underneath the most bitter
and cold snow are not really dead.
A candle burns beneath them symbolizing that they are destined to come back to life. The body dies but the soul is eternal , and the Full Moon is our night light. In the symbolism of the ancient Catholic Church, Mary is always the Moon; as the reflected light of her Son...sun. I often add a Moon to my images and icons to bring Our Mother’s presence into the picture.
2)Tree of Life
A single pine tree grows out of a sepia-green color.
As it rises, it gains full green and life; St Hildegard of Bingen calls all green life Viriditas. The tree is surrounded by a Sun, (Son) nurturing the climbing growth.
The Rose tops the tree as it's Crown. The Fiery Rose is a famous symbol in T.S Eliot's mystical masterpiece of poetry, The Four Quartets. In the last poem
after quoting Lady Julian of Norwich, in her “Showings (Revelations) of Divine Love,” he ends with:
"When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.”
3) Tree of Souls
At Mass we say to God concerning the dead,
who have now transformed into eternal souls,
"Welcome them into the light of your face."
How to picture souls rising into a Light which speaks of hope and a beautiful Star guiding them home?
Listening to a book on CDs, in 2014, as I was painting this final tree for the triptych, “The Fault In Our Stars”
by John Green, I heard a longing for an After Life in the two teenagers who are the center of the novel.
In my imagination I saw this Tree. Each and every dot in this heavenly tree painting is a Soul rising ... into the Light of God’s presence. During my years as a hospice chaplain, I found the transcendent, heavenly inspired music of Gabriel Faure’ and Maurice Durufle’s Requiems particularly comforting to my body and soul. Maybe these two exquisite musicians will touch you now as well.
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed through the Mercy of God, rest in peace.”
Amen
Fr William Hart McNichols
Summer of 2020
Tree Triptych for Rivera Funeral Home 220 by William Hart McNichols