Communion of Saints Mural

Artist Lillian Brulc was commissioned by St. Elizabeth Seton Parish to create the murals in their worship center. They had selected six walls, the subject “Communion of Saints” and a list of saints they would like to see in the artwork.

“I found the challenge exciting. Some of the saints I knew well, of others I had known little more than their names and some, which I selected to add, were wonderful new discoveries.”

Lillian based the structure of her designs on the form of the architecture: its space apportionment for liturgy, sacrament, and meditation/prayer, and its natural light. Beginning with an overall “ground” color of blue (the color most used to symbolize spirituality), she developed over it a vibrant sense of energy with intersecting white lines giving a dimension of spatial movement. She divided the saints into thematic groups and wove their images into the ground-line design.

The final composition seems to echo the praises in the song of creation in the Book of Daniel:



Angels, heavens, sun and moon, stars of heaven, nights and days, light and darkness, lightening and clouds, water creatures, birds of the air, beasts, all living people.

Wall of New Life

• St. John the Baptist
• St. Stephen
• St. Luke
• Isaiah
• Perpetua
• Felicity
• Elizabeth
• Joseph
• Mary of the Magnicate



​This mural faces the baptismal font/pool where new life in faith is born. Except for Perpetua and Felicity, all of these saints are biblical figures, some of the greatest in he history of salvation. Mary, encircled in the movement of the Holy Spirit, sings her praise to God.

Shadows of Night

• Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha
• St. Isaac Jogues
• St. Katherine Drexel
• St. Therese of Lisieux
• Bl. Miguel Pro
• St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein)
• St. Maxmilian Kolbe
• St. Charles Lwanga
• Pope St. Gregory the Great
• St. Augustine
• St. Monica

“. . . vision of the great multitude — from every nation, race, people and tongue, they stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes” (Revelation 7:9)



The psalms often sing of the shadow of God’s wings protecting us in night and under cloud. Her in the dark of starlight a night mist below the saints gently softens the broken pieces of their lives.”

Resurrection

• St. Elizabeth Seton
• Angel of the Resurrection
• St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
• St. Thomas, the Apostle
• Gabrielle Bossis
• St. Martha
• St. John Damascene

“Thus do I send my teaching forth . . . to become known afar off. Thus do I pour forth instruction like prophecy and bestow it on generations to come.” (Sirach 24:30-31)



The Angel of the Resurrection indicates the empty tomb. The saints are preachers of the Resurrection, the event which is the center of our faith and the liturgy.

Cross of Light

• St. Mary Magdalene
• Joanna
• Mary, the Mother of James
• Deborah
• St. Paul
• St. Barnabas
• Lazarus
• St. Francis of Assisi
• St. Clare



This mural faces the center aisle toward the altar, where we give thanks for Christ’s death and resurrection. Mary Magdalene approaches the empty tomb, Francis looks up to the Cross which has become pure light. All but Francis and Clare are biblical saints.

Shadow of Cloud

• Blessed Pier Giorgio
• St. Joan of Arc
• St. Maria Goretti
• St. Elizabeth of Hungary
• St. Martin de Porres
• Mother Theresa
• Blessed Alphonsa
• St. Francis Xavier
• St. Paul Miki
• St. Benedict
• St. Scholastica

“Who are these wearing white robes? . . . These are the ones who have . . . washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)



The image of cloud runs through the biblical books both as symbol of God’s presence and as its opposite. In this mural the saints climb the mountain of God, with a mysteriousness of cloud above them and the broken pieces of their lives left like shadows in the clouds below.