Exquisite Light: The Photographer's Paintbox

The Marie Louise Trichet Gallery at Wisdom House announces the opening of the exhibit, "Exquisite Light: The Photographer's Paintbox" featuring the photography of W. Scott Petersen.   The exhibit runs from May 21 - August 20, 2011. 

Exquisite Light video link

Befriending Silence

God is the friend of silence.
Trees, flowers, grass grow in silence.
See the stars, moon, and sun, how they move in silence.

~ Blessed Mother Teresa

Art Immersion Morning 6/11/11

Wind Rose

Compass points showing different wind directions surround the obelisk in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City. The "Wind Rose" is ancient, but it was added to the square in 1850 by Pope Pius IX.

Click here to see the complete Wind Rose.

"Simply I learned about Wisdom....the changes in the sun's course...positions of the stars...powers of winds.... Wisdom, the Artisan of all, taught me."
~Book of Wisdom 7,13-22.

In Due Time

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

~Lao Tzu

Seven Last Words Service

On April 22, Good Friday / Earth Day 2011, St. John's Episcopal Church in Waterbury , CT presented a service on the Seven Last Words of Christ from an ecological perspective. The focus was the suffering of Christ and of the Earth. Among those presenting meditations on one of the "words" were Sisters Rosemarie Greco, DW and Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP of Wisdom House.

Meditations were also offered by:
Rev. Norman MacLeod, Interim Rector at St.John's
Frances Sink, M. Div., Unitarian Minister
The Rt. Rev. James E. Curry, Bishop Suffragan, Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut
Rev. Stephanie Johnson, Energy Steward Minister, Province I, Episcopal Church
Lynn Fulkerson, Co-Founder of Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, Hartford, CT

During the service, Hayden's "Seven Last Words of Christ" was performed by The Divina Strings Chamber Ensemble. The service was designed by Rev. Norman MacLeod.

Constant Friend

"Seek God in all things and you'll find God by your side."

- St. Peter Claver,SJ (1581-1654)

Mary Garden at Wisdom House

The Medieval Mary Garden at Wisdom House contains plants named for Mary, Mother of Jesus.  It is arranged in crescent shapes to evoke the crescent moon, upon which Mary is often depicted in art. The plants in the garden are native to Northwestern Connecticut. The Mary Garden was given in memory of Mary McCaffrey Kenel by the Kenel and Skeffington Families.

Feast of Blessed Marie Louise Trichet, DW, May 7

Co-founder of the Daughters of Wisdom (1703) with St Louis de Montfort, Blessed Marie Louise Trichet is characterized by her blend of caution and boldness, prudence, daring, and risk. She founded 36 communities of Daughters of Wisdom in France between the years 1725-1748 and established foundations for free church schools and care of the sick, as well as administer a large maritime hospital. As Treasurer of the Hospital in Poitiers, France, she worked with common sense, clear judgment, and sensitivity. Above all, she is noted for her love of those who are poor. Pope John Paul II beatified Marie Louise on May 16, 1993.

The icon of Blessed Marie Louise Trichet is enthroned in the chapel at Wisdom House Retreat Center, Litchfield, CT. It was written by iconographer Angela Manno.


(See her biography, Wisdom of the Heart, Benedetta Papasogli, 1993, Montfort Publications, NY)



Artist Alan Colavecchio

Alan Colavecchio of Colavecchio Design, Inc, Winsted, CT has been Wisdom House's graphic designer for over 15 years. He initiated, with Mary Lou Tanner, the weekly "Artist's Way" program, based on Julia Cameron's best seller of the same name. Alan has also created the visual design for two children's books.

Alan has been a member of the Exhibition Committee for the Marie Louise Trichet Gallery at Wisdom House since its founding in 1994. His creativity, artistry, imagination, and sensitivity are seen in all aspects of his work.

Anniversary of the Birth of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ,

May 1, 2011 marks the 130th Anniversary of the birth of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, priest, poet, and paleontologist.

He dedicated himself to the study of earth sciences, above all to paleontology, and made distinct contributions to understanding the origins of humanity.The heart of his vision, it is said, is expressed in his book, Building the Earth (Dimension Books,1965).

Some excerpts from this are:

"Today something is happening to the whole structure of human consciousness. A fresh kind of life is starting. In the face of such an upheaval, acutally shaken by it, no one can remain indifferent."

"The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not perish, is to build the earth."

Photos taken at his gravesite, St. Andrew's Cemetery, located on the grounds of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.