St. Francis of Assisi took the Gospels as the rule of his life, Jesus Christ as his literal example. He dressed in rough clothes, begged for his sustenance, and preached purity and peace. His family disapproved, and his father disinherited him; Francis formally renounced his wealth and inheritance.

Francis also believed that God and the world of nature are one. He did not build an artificial wall between the natural world and the supernatural, the secular and the sacred. For Francis, every creature was sacred. “Safeguarding creation requires us to live responsibly in it, rather than managing creation as though we are outside it.” We should see ourselves, they added, as stewards within creation, not as separated from it. Francis was ahead of his time. He saw himself, like today’s environmentalists, as part of the ecosystem, not as a proud master over and above it.

Biblical Representation: stag
Modern Representation: recycling symbol
Background Texture: burlap

Clare was a beautiful Italian noblewoman who became the Foundress of an order of nuns now called "Poor Clares." When she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach, her heart burned with a great desire to imitate Francis and to live a poor humble life for Jesus. So one evening, she ran away from home, and in a little chapel outside Assisi, gave herself to God.

Clare loved music and well-composed sermons. She was humble, merciful, charming, optimistic, and chivalrous. Once when her convent was about to be attacked, she projected a giant vision of the Sacrament in a monstrace on the convent gates, and prayed before it; the attackers left. Toward the end of her life, when the was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the service would display on the wall of her cell; thus her patronage of television.

Biblical Representation: woman holding monstrace
Modern Representation: television
Background Texture: television test pattern

Bernardine’s (sometimes Bernardino) charismatic preaching filled the piazze of Italian cities. Thousands of listeners flocked to hear him and to participate in dramatic rituals, which included collective weeping, bonfires of vanities, and exorcisms. He was a renowned peacemaker, in the Franciscan tradition, who tried to calm feuding clans and factions in the turbulent political world of the Renaissance. His preaching visits would often culminate in mass reconciliations, as listeners were persuaded to exchange the bacio di pace, or kiss of peace. Bernardine was sensitive to the demands of secular life, and tried to negotiate between Christian ethics and a conflicting code of honor that stressed retaining face in a public world. He argued that the catalyst of civil discord in the urban setting was malicious gossip, which led to insults, and, too often, vendetta by aggressive males. His surprising allies in his peacekeeping mission were the women who comprised the majority of his audience.

Saint Bernardine’s preaching skills were so great, and the conversions so numerous, that he has become associated with all areas of speaking, advertising, and public relations.

Biblical Representation: symbol of a sun with the letters IHS
Modern Representation: business card
Background Texture: rusted cement floor

Saint Dymphna (sometimes Dympna) had a traumatic life. She was the daughter of a pagan Irish chieftain called Damon and a beautiful Christian woman who died when Dymphna was a teenager. Following the death of Dymphna's mother, her father searched far and wide for a new wife but none were found to be satisfactory. Driven to distraction by grief, he began to obsess over his daughter and tried to seduce her. With an elderly priest by her side, Dymphna ran away but her father followed, unrelenting in his search for her. The chieftain eventually tracked her down to Gheel in Belgium. It was here that they fought and he killed both Dymphna and the elderly priest, now known as Saint Gerebernus.

The place of her death is said to have healed many sufferers of mental disorders and her holy relics are reported to have cured insanity and epilepsy. Saint Dympna is also the Patron Saint of incest victims, loss of parents, martyrs, mental institutions, caregivers, rape victims and runaways.

Biblical Representation: golden chains
Modern Representation: pill bottles
Background Texture: polished concrete floor

Saint Christopher’s given name was Offero. He was a powerfully built man who wandered the world in search of novelty and adventure. He came upon a hermit who lived beside a dangerous stream and served others by guiding them to safe places to cross. The hermit gave Offero instruction in the truth of God. In return Offero took the hermit's place, but instead of guiding travelers, he carried them safely across the stream.

One day he carried a small child across the stream; the child's weight nearly crushed him. When they arrived on the other side, the child revealed himself as Christ, and he was so heavy because he bore the weight of the world on himself. To prove his claim the child planted Offero's walking staff in the ground. The next day it had grown into a fruit bearing palm tree. He then baptized Offero with water from the stream. Offero’s service at the stream led to his patronage of things related to travel, travelers, and people who transport things or people (taxi drivers).

Biblical Representation: tree branch
Modern Representation: taxi sign
Background Texture: road

From a young age in the Cathedral school of Seville, Isidore was dedicated to his pursuit of knowledge. He worked hard at his studies and quickly mastered Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Isidore's greatest passion was in the field of education. He encouraged the educational institutes in Seville to prescribe the study of Greek, Hebrew, law and medicine. To many Isidore was seen as the most learned man of his time.

Anyone looking for the reason Saint Isidore was chosen as the Patron Saint of the Internet need look no further than his greatest work. Saint Isidore took it upon himself to document all “universal knowledge” much like the Internet aims to do today. He was a collector and compiler of all information that he put together within his writings, now known as the Etymologiae, which is said to contain all of the learning possessed in his time.

Biblical Representation: bees
Modern Representation: binary code
Background Texture: circuitry of a computer

Saint Barbara grew up imprisoned in a high tower by her father Dioscorus for disobedience. While there, she was tutored by philosophers, orators and poets. From them she learned to think, and decided that she no longer wanted to follow polytheism and converted to Christianity. Her father denounced her to the local authorities for her faith, and they ordered him to kill her. She escaped, but he caught her, dragged her home by her hair, tortured her, and killed her. Upon her death he was immediately struck by lightning, or according to some sources, fire from heaven.

Her imprisonment led to her association with towers, then the construction and maintenance of them, then to their military uses. The lightning that avenged her murder led to asking her protection against fire and lightning, and her patronage of firefighters.

Biblical Representation: palm leaf
Modern Representation: fire alarm
Background Texture: rusted tin can

Joseph's father, Felice Desa was a poor carpenter who died before the boy was born. Creditors drove his mother, Francesca Panara, from her home, and Joseph was born in a stable. Starting at age eight, he received ecstatic visions that left him gaping and staring into space.

His life became a series of visions and ecstasies, which could be triggered any time or place by the sound of a church bell, church music, the mention of the name of God or of the Blessed Virgin or of a saint, any event in the life of Christ, the sacred Passion, a holy picture, the thought of the glory in heaven, etc. Yelling, beating, pinching, burning, piercing with needles - none of this would bring him from his trances. Joseph would only regain consciousness when he heard the voice of one the superiors in his order. During these trances he would often levitate in the air, which lead to his patronage of astronauts and others involved in air travel.

Biblical Representation: bell
Modern Representation: astronaut
Background Texture: inside pattern of a bank envelope

2009, Photo-illustration, 20x20 inches
Purchased for the Provincial Arts Collection by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

2010, Photo-illustration
Purchased for the Provincial Arts Collection by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Book cover art for Marita Dachsel's poetry collection There Are Not Enough Sad Songs

2012, Photo-illustration

2011, Photo-illustration

2009, Photo-illustration

2009, Photo-illustration, 20x20 inches

2010, Photo-illustration

2009, Photo-illustration

2005, Photo-illustration

2008, Edmonton, AB

2009, Calgary, AB

2007, Edmonton, AB

2009, Vegreville, AB

2013, Calgary, AB

2011, Edmonton, AB

2013, Edmonton, AB

2013, Edmonton, AB

2013, Red Deer, AB

2010, Calgary, AB

2009, Vulcan, AB

2010, Edmonton, AB

2015, Seattle, WA

Barcelona, Spain
2018

Santander, Spain
2018

Zaragoza, Spain
2018

Rock of Gibraltar
2018

Spain
2018

Costa del Sol, Spain
2018

Costa del Sol, Spain
2018

Torremolinos, Spain
2018

Segovia, Spain
2018

San Sebastian, Spain
2018

Montreal, Quebec
2019

Canmore, Alberta
2018

Las Vegas, Nevada
2017

Las Vegas, Nevada
2017

Seattle, Washington
2015