Written by: Denise Serafini on Thursday, May 18, 2017
We made our way to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Orem Utah for a presentation on May 17. The exterior of the church has a typical mission style. However, it is a relatively new building with an exceptionally large church. The interior of the main church has significant murals that depict various scenes with a theme depicting man’s spiritual journey to seek God. The main painting is richly decorated with imagery and symbols that allude to scripture and Catholic traditions. The altarpiece presents a huge cross surrounded by people representing different historical time periods, different cultures, races, genders and ages, each at a different stage in his or her own journey. Some, like the business man in the lower right corner are having difficulties. Others, such as the woman nearest the cross, seem serene and at peace. The cross, suspended slightly above the painting, is clearly the focal point. I inquired about it and learned that the corpus is 8 feet tall from head to foot, hand carved and hand painted. The cross is of wood, and is 16 feet long. There are seven amazingly beautiful Italian-made statues, depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Blessed Mother with a group of children, the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, St. Francis, and Mother Frances Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants to the United States. These statues fit into the niches along the walls of the church. The one thing I’ve observed about Italian-made statuary is that they have beautiful faces and the way the eyes are done has the effect of making the object seem like it’s looking directly at you.Read More