Our Lady of the Roses - Print

One of the things we lost when we got cars and other speedy modern traveling machines were the roadside shrines that had dotted the highways and byways for millennia. They were little points along the way where the wayfarer might pause from his walking, or give his horse a rest, and ponder a picture or statue of Jesus or Mary. He could get a reminder of God and recollect himself spiritually. The shrines were ways of helping people walk with God. In this lovely picture by French painter, Simon Saintt-Jean, we have a wooden carving of the Madonna and Child embedded in a thicket of roses. Wouldn't be nice if we lived in a place that still had built-in shrines like this where we could pause for a moment and consider the ways of God and his presence in our lives? And even smell the roses. Simon Saint-Jean (1808–1860) entered art school at age 14 and became a successful painter, winning many medals at Salons and garnering various appointments into elite artist guilds. Charles Baudelaire (Flo