Santiago Vieto Rodríguez

A wise teaching of Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira points out the dual purpose of clothing: to cover the body and reveal the soul. The craft of garment-making is so high that it was God Himself who made them for the first couple, affected by the consequences of sin (cf. …

A Latin adage says that “mater artium necessitas”, necessity is the mother of the arts. This principle, applicable to practically every field of human endeavour, is perhaps nowhere more clearly expressed than in architecture. Buildings, which arose for the practical purpose of shelter and protection, have almost always also taken …

If the highest vocation of art is to unite the heavenly to the earthly, the famous altarpiece of the Annunciation by Blessed Fra Angelico, preserved in the Prado Museum in Madrid, is certainly one of the most successful endeavours to fulfil this calling. Usually seen in art history as a …

Imagine a beautiful, quiet chapel. The soft light passing through the multicoloured stained-glass window, warm and welcoming, seems to be enriched by the sublime Gregorian melody being sung, the hymn Alleluia Virga Iesse. It is only natural that two wonders that spring from the same source should harmonize so perfectly: …

On July 30, 1925, a detachment of French marines under the orders of Commander Benoist, a Protestant, landed in Porto León, in remote Papua New Guinea, Oceania. Standing in formation in front of a grave decorated with a simple wooden cross and some red lilies, the soldiers presented arms and …

There was never a more terrible and relentless outburst of intolerance against the Catholic Faith than that suffered by the burgeoning Church in Japan. Shortly after the indefatigable St. Francis Xavier arrived with the Good News in the secret empire of the East in 1549, the first odours of sanctity …

Of all the common objects we use every day, few – perhaps no other – elicit such peculiar considerations as the clock. Simple in appearance, it is, however, a complex device which, in the most diverse shapes and sizes, constitutes part of our furnishings and amenities, adorning both conspicuous public …

Music speaks directly to the soul, tugging at the strings of our highest sensibility, modelling states of mind, often framing poems or prayers which acquire greater eloquence through the harmonization of instruments and voices. In the Principality of Wales, in the United Kingdom, there is a hymn from the 19th …

We live in a society that has become accustomed to the disposable, the practical and the ephemeral, and which is, as a consequence, increasingly unconcerned with beauty, the sublime and the enduring. For this reason, it may be difficult for us to appreciate a certain oriental art form, kintsugi, which …

The eternal, virginal snows of the Alps, which are constantly battered by icy winds, nobly crown the peaks of imposing rock formations. During the 19th century, perhaps driven by nostalgia for the epic spirit which shone so brightly in the Europe of bygone days, many young people set out to …