Yoopers for Seminarians

Editor’s Note: The Diocese of Marquette Vocations Office uses this icon for prayer cards. Fr. Ben Hasse encountered this image through The Printery House when he was a seminarian and later as vocations director asked for permission to use it. Here’s the story behind the icon and the iconographer. This image is featured on the miniature seminary poster which is included in the UP Catholic. 

Br. Claude Lane has painted more than 300 icons. One of those is an icon that is used by the Diocese of Marquette Vocations Office. The inspiration for this icon comes from Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”
 
Br. Claude says this is not a typical subject for traditional iconography, which relies more on the Gospels for the depictions of the Lord.
 
“But an American evangelical artist Warner Sallman made the theme popular in the mid-20th century,” Br. Claude says. “I always loved his painting of the subject, and when Abbot Joseph Wood (who also loved it; he was a convert from Methodism) asked if I had ever seen or done it, I jumped at the chance. It became our jubilee icon for 2000.”
 
Br. Claude began writing icons in 1985. (It’s traditional to describe the process of creating an icon as writing rather than painting. An icon is meant to reveal the Word and an expression of Christ’s self-revelation.) He entered Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon in 1972 and made his final vows in 1974 as Br. Claude.
 
His interest in icons started as an 11-year-old. “My grandparents were Germans from Russia and talked often of the old country. This sent me to the library for books on Russia which contained photos of icons, which I took to, and began drawing.”
 
To create an icon, Br. Claude says the time varies. “I give about a week to each figure,” he says. “Then time to paint the background and border. The painting is relatively easy; the hard part is the initial designing and drawing of the pattern, which is used to trace onto the prepared icon board.”
 
Br. Claude continues to paint; he took a break after having cataract surgery in January. He now is working on a St. Homobonus icon, patron of tailors, for the abbey’s tailor shop. “And, I am also now teaching two postulants the art, so it doesn’t die with me,” he laughs.

Learn more about the Mount Angel Abbey and Br. Claude’s iconography.