17 December

Born in 1775, François Marius Granet, French painter.

Above: Choir in the Capuchin church in Rome, c. 1808

Also, born in 1936, Argentinian priest Jorge Mario Bergoglio, i.e. Pope Francis.

Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendour and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties. Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus. This has nothing to do with fostering an aesthetic relativism which would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it.

—from Evangelii gaudium