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    Stories of saints, biblical events, angels, and sacred places.

    Piero della Francesca's Renaissance painting of the Baptism of Christ, showing Christ standing in the River Jordan as water is poured over his head.
    What Is RCIA? The Path Adults Take Into the Catholic Church
    RCIA (now often called OCIA) is the process by which adults become Catholic. Here's how the journey works, stage by stage, from first inquiry to the Easter Vigil.
    The twin Norman towers and massive stone nave of Durham Cathedral in northern England
    Durham Cathedral: Built to Guard Saint Cuthbert's Body
    Durham Cathedral's massive Norman arches were raised to shelter a saint's body monks had carried across northern England for over a century, fleeing Viking raids.
    The ruined stone arches of Glastonbury Abbey standing against a green English landscape
    Glastonbury Abbey: Ruins Wrapped in England's Oldest Legends
    Glastonbury Abbey's ruins hide a tangle of legend — Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur's grave — on a site monks once called the holiest earth in England.
    A monastery perched atop a tall sandstone rock pillar at Meteora in central Greece
    Meteora: The Monasteries Built Atop Sheer Rock Towers
    Meteora's monks built onto sandstone pillars hundreds of feet high, reachable for centuries only by rope net and ladder, seeking distance from the world.
    The fortified stone walls and bell tower of Saint Catherine's Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai, Egypt
    Saint Catherine's Monastery: The Oldest Monastery Still in Use
    At the foot of Mount Sinai stands the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery on earth, built by Justinian around a bush monks still call the burning bush.
    The twin Gothic towers and elaborately carved west facade of Reims Cathedral in northern France
    Reims Cathedral: Where France Crowned Its Kings
    Reims Cathedral crowned nearly every French king for centuries, following Clovis's baptism there in 496 — a Gothic masterpiece rebuilt after World War I shelling.
    The striped arched courtyard and colorful frescoed walls of Rila Monastery in the Bulgarian mountains
    Rila Monastery: Bulgaria's Mountain Fortress of Faith
    Rila Monastery survived centuries of Ottoman rule as a stronghold of Bulgarian culture, rebuilt after fire into the striped arches pilgrims see today.
    The frescoed medieval church interior of the Sacro Speco monastery built into the cliff face at Subiaco
    Subiaco: The Cave Where Benedictine Monasticism Began
    Before he wrote the Rule that shaped Western monasticism, Benedict lived alone in a cave above Subiaco — now enclosed inside a monastery built into a cliff.
    The carved Romanesque west facade and bell tower of the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay, France
    Vézelay Abbey: Where the Second Crusade Was Preached
    Vézelay Abbey once claimed Mary Magdalene's relics and drew crowds so large that Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade in an open field beside its walls.
    Marble sculpture by Bernini of Saint Teresa of Ávila in a swoon of mystical ecstasy, with an angel above her holding a golden arrow, set within a niche of gilded light.
    Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa: Sculpture as Divine Theater
    Inside Rome's Cornaro Chapel, Bernini carved marble into billowing cloud and hidden light to visualize a Carmelite saint's own account of mystical union with God.
    The dome fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin by Correggio in Parma Cathedral, showing a swirling composition of clouds and ascending figures viewed from directly below.
    Correggio's Assumption: The Dome That Made Heaven Feel Close
    How Correggio filled Parma Cathedral's dome with a swirling vision of Mary's ascent into heaven so radical one contemporary likened it to a stew of frogs.
    Bronze statue of a youthful David by Donatello, shown nude except for a helmet and boots, standing with his foot on the severed head of Goliath.
    Donatello's David: The First Free-Standing Nude Since Antiquity
    How a bronze statue of a barefoot shepherd boy quietly ended a thousand years of artistic tradition and became a symbol of Florentine political defiance.
    Detail of the carved marble Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, showing a densely packed relief panel of biblical figures within columned niches.
    Early Christian Sarcophagi: Scripture Carved in Marble
    How 4th-century Roman Christians turned stone coffins into densely carved narrative Bibles, packing miracle scenes and Apostles into a single marble box.
    Detail of the central panel of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, showing a densely populated fantastical landscape of nude figures, strange creatures, and oversized fruit.
    Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights: A Triptych Nobody Fully Explains
    Five centuries after it was painted, Bosch's triptych of paradise, pleasure, and punishment still resists a single agreed reading among art historians.
    Portrait by Hans Memling of a man in prayer, hands clasped, painted with fine detail against a dark background in the artist's characteristic serene style.
    Hans Memling: The Quiet Master of Flemish Devotional Painting
    How a German-born painter working in Bruges perfected a serene, jewel-like style of religious portraiture that made him one of the era's most sought-after artists.
    Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, showing a muscular Christ at the center surrounded by a swirling mass of ascending and descending figures.
    Michelangelo's Last Judgment: The Sistine Chapel's Second Act
    Decades after the ceiling, an aging Michelangelo returned to paint the Sistine Chapel's altar wall with a vast vision of judgment that scandalized early viewers.
    Fresco by Piero della Francesca showing Christ rising from the tomb, standing frontally with a banner of victory, above sleeping soldiers, in the town hall of Sansepolcro.
    Piero della Francesca's Resurrection: A Fresco Saved by Its Own Fame
    How a quiet Tuscan fresco of Christ rising from the tomb, praised by Aldous Huxley as the world's greatest painting, escaped destruction in World War II.
    The carved stone tympanum above the south portal of Moissac Abbey, showing Christ in Majesty surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists and rows of elders.
    Romanesque Tympanums: Stone Sermons Above the Church Door
    Why medieval builders carved terrifying visions of Christ's judgment into the stone directly above the doorways pilgrims walked through on their way into church.
    The gilded bronze east doors of the Florence Baptistery, known as the Gates of Paradise, showing multiple relief panels depicting Old Testament scenes.
    The Baptistery Doors of Florence: The Gates Michelangelo Called Paradise
    How Lorenzo Ghiberti spent 27 years and won a legendary competition to cast the bronze doors that Michelangelo said were worthy of standing at the gates of Paradise.
    Illuminated page from the Book of Kells showing Christ enthroned, surrounded by intricate interlace patterns, spirals, and richly decorated borders in vivid color.
    The Book of Kells: An Illuminated Gospel Made to Dazzle
    Inside the intricately illuminated 9th-century Gospel manuscript so densely decorated that a 12th-century visitor called it the work of angels, not men.