The Icon
At St Robert’s
Artist Dr Cath Ferguson was commissioned to paint the icon, based on one recently completed for St Robert of Newminster Secondary School in Washington, County Durham. The work was finished in time for the feast of St Robert in June 2014, when the Abbot of Nunraw in the Scottish Borders blessed it.
The icon depicts St Robert in his habit, holding Newminster Abbey and a scroll with the opening words of Psalm 96, reflecting the saint’s love of the psalms, for which he wrote a commentary that unfortunately no longer exists.
An icon is seen as a sacred work of art that is meant to help people connect with the spiritual world like a window into heaven.
Fr Lawrence Jones
Our icon of St Robert will help us to connect with our local saint and parish patron.
It will try to depict something of his life and personality.
About
St Robert of Newminster.
St Robert was a Cistercian monk and Nunraw is the nearest Cistercian monastery. St Robert founded the Cistercian monastery at Newminster, just outside Morpeth, at the invitation of Ranulph de Merley in 1137 and became its first Abbot. Under his administration it prospered so much that it was able to establish three daughterhouses, Pipewell, Roche and Sawley.
Creating the icon
By Dr Cath Ferguson
Icons are painted in egg tempera on wood and the painter will accompany their work with prayer and fasting as they enter into the mystery of the event or the person they are painting.
