The Portrait of Our Lord Recently Restored

Because we were noticing some concerning changes (primarily due to time and exposure) to the portrait of Our Lord, we took the painting to ICA Art Conservation in Cleveland on September 10th. We thank the talented team at ICA for restoring the 81-year-old portrait. We rehung Our Lord’s likeness above the altar in Rhoda’s bedroom on October 21st.

Regarding the history of the portrait, Jesus once appeared to Rhoda as a soldier and requested His image be painted. While the portrait was painted by Sister Rosalia (a Sister of Charity of Saint Augustine) in 1943, Rhoda painted the eyes with Our Lord guiding her hand. The portrait remained in the home after Rhoda’s death in 1948 but was eventually gifted to Mother Angelica after the death of Rhoda’s daughter, Anna Mae in 1995. The portrait of Jesus then remained in Mother Angelica’s care and hung in her cell at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery until Mother’s passing in 2016. We pray you will take joy in His portrait whenever you may visit the Rhoda Wise House and Grotto.