May 2025
The
COURIER
Official Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN | dowr.org
'God Is the Most Magnificent Artist!' Pope Was a A Q&A with the Artist Behind the Chancery's Bishop Portraits Pastor First, Cardinal Says A highlight of the open house at the new diocesan chancery in Rochester last September was the unveiling of nine photorealistic color portraits of our bishops, past and present, hanging in the second floor conference room. The artist responsible for these portraits, LOUIS FRANÇOIS MARTIN, recently answered questions from EMILY SMITHLEY, media specialist for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, offering a closer look at this young man of deep faith. How did you get started as an artist? I have always loved drawing ever since I was born. I was brought up on drawing coloring pages and would trace their outlines on a window lighted by the sun. After many years of drawing coloring pages, I moved on to finding more complicated ways to draw and, eventually, I got to a level of being able to draw off of pictures and became good at that. I realized I had a gift. I have never taken any art classes other than watching Bob Ross videos and following along with a canvas and oil paint. How would you describe your artistic style?
I believe that many would place my artwork within the category of realism. I like to see the realness of someone and bring that to life on the canvas. I believe it is the flaws that make someone most beautiful - most uniquely them. What is your preferred medium and why?
The pieces that Bishop Barron commissioned were done in pencil pastel. Those create the most realistic portraits. However, I enjoy using charcoal the most. I can add my own artistic flair, and the ranges of shades you can develop and the depth that it creates are just fantastic.
By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
Photo credit: Heidi Wisniewski, HW Portraits
Are there any significant experiences that shaped your artistic vision? [Theresa, Louis’ mother, answers:] Louis was born with an extremely rare disease. It is a genetic mutation that only one in a million get. It is CAPS/ NOMID (Cryopyrin Associated Periotic Syndrome/ Neonatal Onset of Multisystem Inflammatory Disorder). He went five years without the proper diagnosis, and this left his body flooded with inflammation on a daily basis. It was terribly painful. Every other night, he would wake up around 1 or 2 a.m. screaming in pain, and then he would scream, cry, and vomit until he crashed around 9 a.m. every other night, for five years. I believe that the suffering he went through separated him a bit from the average child. He saw people differently; he saw life differently. When he was feeling well, he lived life to extreme - the craziest stunts, the wild wrestling matches, and the unapproved adventures. The neurologist who examined him (after his proper diagnosis) said Louis sustained damage from the years of cranial inflammation, and that the physical
Magnificent Artist, cont'd on pg. 5
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis was a pastor first, "so consistently, so spontaneously and with such deep conviction," that it will remain a gift to the Catholic Church, said Cardinal Michael Czerny. The cardinal, who served as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, spoke with Catholic News Service April 22, the day after Pope Francis died at the age of 88. "Pope Francis will be remembered as a pastoral pope," he said. "The word 'pastoral' is easy to use, and you can apply it to many things, but to see it lived consistently by the person with the highest responsibility in the church is a really important contribution." Cardinal Czerny, 78, said it is not that previous popes were not pastoral, but Pope Francis excelled at "showing how the church was first and foremost interested in the welfare, the salvation, the happiness, the development of people and ready to reach out as far as possible, to accompany people in their path of salvation and of development." Making the pastoral a priority - learning "to go out and bring the Gospel to reality, to all creation" - is something the church needs
Pastor First, cont'd on pg. 2
INSIDE this issue
Ministry Days 2025
Easter Vigil Baptisms page 7
A Journey of Faith pages 8-9
page 10