Buffalo Religious Arts Center - Table of contents
North
Transept Mural: Maria Immaculate
Buffalo Religious Arts Museum
Formerly St. Francis Xavier RC Church
Buffalo Religious Arts Center - Official Web Site
The murals that adorn the sanctuary (1913) and the side altars (1920) were executed by the Benedictine Monk Fr. Raphael Pfisterer. Click on illustration for larger size. |
Mary
Immaculate, Patroness of North America, hovering in the air.
Mary, with a crown of
stars, stands on a crescent moon above a
snake. This depiction of the Immaculate Conception refers to the Book
of Revelations 12:1 "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars
on her head... She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about
to give birth." See Immaculate
Conception for more information.
Text translation: Most Blessed
Virgin Mary conceived without original sin,
patroness of the North American provinces, pray for us.
U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Generic bishop ..... Map does not include the 1920 territories of
Alaska and Hawaii.
Pfisterer's depiction of the National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception in Washington was based on the architect's design of the
shrine that had not been built in 1920.
Mural suggests that the
National Shrine is the spiritual parallel to the U.S. Capitol.