Heavenly Light - A Miraculous Story
Heavenly Light
The original of this painting was sold at Johns’ first solo exhibition on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in 2013
The buyer was a lady named Rev’d Pat Hawkins and she was the first person to visit the exhibition. She mentioned to John that to her, the picture signified the vision of St Cuthbert seeing the spiritual light of the Angels taking St Aidan to heaven, pointing out the ‘Angel wings’ in the heavens. Originally titled ‘Sunburst through the clouds’ John graciously asked her to rename the painting, hence the new title ‘Heavenly Light’
A year on, with the help of his family, John opened ‘Impressions’ art gallery on Holy Island. Subsequently, since then, various people have spotted things in the painting such as ….. the cross, the three doves signifying Father, Son & Holy Spirit, and the steps to Heaven. All of which were not intentionally included in the painting by John.
A couple of years later John was fortunate to find Revd Hawkins whom he remembered had lived in Wolverhampton (little did she know that she was a messenger) and had by now been relocated to Lichfield Cathedral mews.
John was stunned when he realised that there was a third saint from the island involved in the story…. St Chad. The painting had miraculously followed St Chad all the way to Lichfield Cathedral.
St Chad was a pupil of St Aidan on Lindisfarne and was later given land by the king of Murcia to build the monastery at Lichfield.
John was fortunate to re-purchase the original painting from Revd Hawkins.
A few months ago, a couple from Lichfield, Eric and Gail Lunt, (2 more messengers) visited the Gallery on Holy Island looking for an image to promote a concert by Franz Joseph Hayden ‘The Creation’ and asked for permission to use ‘Heavenly Light’ as the focal image. To say this was a privilege is an understatement.
What an amazing journey this painting has had connected to the Saints.
John attended the concert on the 8th December, selling prints of Heavenly Light, and bringing with him the original painting to show St Chad and all the visitors.
His sincere thanks goes to all messengers / angels for making this possible.
