CNS STORY: Painting at Franciscan University depicts pope as university student

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CNS Story:

POPE-PAINTING Apr-12-2005 (670 words) With photo. xxxn

Painting at Franciscan University depicts pope as university student

By Catholic News Service

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (CNS) -- A life-size painting of Pope John Paul II as a young university student now hangs in the lobby of the John Paul II Library at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

The painting by California artist Lisa Steinbrenner Andrews, who specializes in portraits and still-life subjects, was unveiled at the university April 8, just hours after Pope John Paul's funeral.

"It's a portrait of Karol Wojtyla as a university student destined to be pope," Andrews said. The painting is called "During Unrest the Lord Will Strike," a phrase taken from the work of one of the pope's favorite writers, 19th-century poet Juliusz Slowacki, who predicted 100 years before the election of Pope John Paul II that one day there would be a Slavic pope.

The painting was begun at the urging of the university and its board of trustees but the project gained strength when the artist's son, Kirk, a sophomore at Franciscan University, signed on to the idea.

"I asked Kirk what he thought about my painting the pope as a younger man and he really liked the idea," Andrews said. "The pope's wisdom permeates the campus," he told her. "It would be so right for him to be here."

Andrews and her husband, Robert, are also the parents of a daughter, Lauren, a junior at Aragon High School. The family belongs to Nativity Parish in Menlo Park, Calif.

"I've been very much a fan of the pope," Andrews said. "His legacy is huge and I think will be appreciated even in centuries to come." To turn up images of him as a young man, she said she did research on the pope -- "more book than Google" -- referring to the online research engine.

"I painted him from his high school graduation picture, pictures of him as a young priest and pictures of him as an actor," she said.

The portrait is painted on museum-quality canvas and stands 72 inches tall and 54 inches wide.

The April 8 dedication, which had long been planned for that date, drew hundreds of students, faculty and friends of the university to the library.

"I don't know if we have a future pope in this gathering today," said Franciscan Father Terence Henry, university president. "I do know that each of us has a unique call from God.

"I hope this painting inspires you students here today, and all of our future Franciscan University students, to follow in John Paul II's footsteps and become men and women of hope and courage, whose lives will be a transforming presence in the church and in the world," he added.

Andrews told the gathering that "this portrait could not hang in any other place and have the same significance, the same impact."

"It was painted for you at this precise stage in your lives," she added. "In it I attempted to personalize for you a critical moment in world and church history when God called, and someone answered."

Explaining the painting's symbolism, Andrews said she placed Karol Wojtyla off center on the canvas, with his head turned, "as though he was initially going in one direction in his life, but something caused him to turn toward a different path with confidence and faith."

The painting also shows the facade of Jagellonian University, where the future pope studied in his freshman year, and the stone quarry where he was forced to work after the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.

Father Henry said he hoped students would draw inspiration from the painting each time they passed it.

"Did Karol Wojtyla ever dream he'd one day be shepherd to a flock of more than 1 billion Catholics and a spiritual leader of the world? I doubt it," the priest said. "But he made the most of his time as a student. He worked hard to develop his God-given talents, and he said 'yes' to the Lord's call throughout his life."

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Contributing to this story was Tom Burke in San Francisco.

END

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