FRESCOES IN THE APSE
OF THE HOLY FAMILY CO-CATHEDRAL

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The entire painting was done while the Church was being given its finishing touches. ( marbles, altars, decorations etc). The painting measures approx 8 metres x 8 metres.

THE ARTIST was an Italian painter from Turin, CARLO RAPP by name, who did the job and resettled it after the collapse of the roof. He is self-portrayed in a small oval at the bottom of the frescoes, on the right side. He was asked to sign in this manner, as earlier, he had put his name on a cartiglio at the feet of the Child Jesus, the Child Jesus pointing at it with his little hand.   [TOP]

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The Pro-Cathedral being dedicated to the HOLY FAMILY IN THE DESERT, all the paintings have reference to the DESERT.

On the top: A GLORY OF ANGELS with their long trumpets announce the exaltation of the HOLY FAMILY and its humiliation during the hard journey through the desert, on their way to Egypt and back, where they were exiles.   [TOP]

ADAM the one, who, through the original sin, caused the deserts - Namely : places of hardship to men. It was suggested to the artist to paint Adam, in a way that could be guessed at once: As he was not born, in the real sense of the word, he has no navel!   [TOP]

ABRAHAM THE PATRIARCH, who crossed the desert to go from Hur of the Chaldeans to the promised land. Besides, Abraham - the great ancestor of Our Lord - is also the father of the Arabs as well as of the Jews.   [TOP]

JOSEPH THE GREAT VICEROY OF EGYPT, who rescued the people in the desert during a famine, with the riches that country’s wheat.   [TOP]

AARON THE GREAT PRIEST who performed his sacerdotal ceremonies and was given power over the wandering people of God in the desert, all his life.   [TOP]

ELIAS THE PROPHET who escaped into the desert, to save his life and was granted the vision of God on Mount Horeb, in the wilderness.   [TOP]

ELISEUS THE FOLLOWER OF ELIAS, who collected the hermits of the desert around Palestine into the ‘Sons of the Prophet’. He also sweetened the brackish water of Jericho.   [TOP]

HABACUC THE PROPHET, who first crossed the desert ‘by air’ from Palestine to Babylon (by an Angel who caught him by the hair) in order to provide Daniel, in the ‘lake of lions’ with the food meant for fiel - workers.   [TOP]

ESDRAS THE LEVITE, who brought back from their exile of Babylon, the Jews, through the desert and according to tradition, returned to Mesopotamia to assist those still there.   [TOP]

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST who dwelt in the desert, as recorded in the Holy Gospel: He was the LAST of the Old Testament Saints.   [TOP]

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Here follows the group of the SAINTS IN THE DESERT of the NEW TESTAMENT:

THREE HERMITS, who kept serving God in the loneliness of the desert (The Carmelite tradition of the hermits living on Mount Carmel, existed even at the beginning of Christianity)   [TOP]

ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE ... After his conversion he dwelt for three years in the desert, as he himself refers in his Epistle.   [TOP]

STS. SIMON AND JUDE - APOSTLES, who according to traditions went till central Persia to preach the Gospel and were martyred there near Kerman. The Chaldeans consider them as their evangelisers. Thus, they had to cross the desert to reach there.   [TOP]

ST. PAUL THE FIRST HERMIT commemorated even in the Calendar with this title, ‘The father of the Anachorites’.   [TOP]

ST. ANTHONY ABBOT greatly venerated by the Orientals. Certainly the greatest among the hermits in the desert.   [TOP]

ST. ATHANASIUS THE PATRIARCH did conceal for long periods in the desert, during the persecutions he had to endure.   [TOP]

ST. MARY OF EGYPT the converted sinner, who passed her life of penance by absconding into the desert. Her hair overgrown served as dress, when her clothes got into rags.   [TOP]

ST. BERTHOLDUS the first of the Hermits of Mount Carmel, according to the historical sources of the Order.   [TOP]

CHARLES DE FOUCAULD the last saintly man who chose to live in the desert. (The artist was requested not to depict him seated with the others, who are honoured as Saints, but he did not find the way of settling it diferently.)   [TOP]

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In the center of the fresco: is represented the titular of the Pro—Cathedral, namely : the HOLY FAMILY IN THE DESERT. It shows the Holy Family at a stop on the painful journey from Palestine to Egypt. In Arab fash ion, a carpet is strewn on the ground, where Our Lady is shown, squatted and b earing the Child Jesus, to whom St. Joseph offers a cup. This was meant especially to encourage Catholics, who come to Kuwait, to bear and sanctify the hardships they have to face both from the climate as well as being far away from their homes.   [TOP]

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On the left: looking towards the painting (actually, in ‘cornu evangelii’ according to the position of the officiating minister) Pope Pius XII gives through the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda Fide, to the Very Rev. Fr. General of the Discalced Carmelites at the time, Fr. Anastasius of the Most Holy Rosary, the decree for the erection of the Vicariate Apostolic of Kuwait.   [TOP]

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On the right: Bishop Teophano Ubaldo Stella, is seen holding a miniature replica of the Holy Family Cathedral. He served as first Bishop and "Pastor of the flock" in the Vicariate Apostolic of Kuwait. (Looking towards the painting) - a Discalced Carmelite priest, on bended knees, prays for the Church in Kuwait. (At the bottom-right) - The artist, Carlo Rapp, who was commissioned to do the paintings.   [TOP]

The image of the frescoes which appears above on this page has been reconstructed from a series of photographs taken from different angles, as it was next to impossible to obtain one complete picture of the frescoes. The image is a replica to the extent possible ... however, there exist minor differences in the shape, colour and general outline of the painting.

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