The old woman was a descendant of one of two virgins who had attended the Theotokos before her dormition in her last days on earth she had given each of them one of her garments as a blessing. Seeing the miracles wrought in a small shrine in her house, they learned from her that she had the robe of the most holy Mother of God stored in a small chest in her house. July 2 † The Placing of the Honorable Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos at Blachernae During the reign of Leo the Great (457-474), two noblemen on pilgrimage to the Holy Land stayed at the home of an old widow. But a doctor and a former teacher who envied their reputation lured them into the countryside on the pretext of collecting herbs, then killed them. At this he proclaimed the truth of Christianity and released them. The brothers refused to do so, but to show the truth of the Christian faith, they healed the Emperor of a grave infirmity. According to the Prologue, they were summoned before the Emperor Galerius, who interrogated them and commanded them to worship the gods. As Christian physicians, they freely performed their healing services for men and for beasts, asking the healed only to believe in Christ in thanks for their healing. Though they inherited great wealth, they gave most of it to the poor and needy, only setting aside enough for themselves to devote their lives to the service of Christ. The two commemorated today were brothers from Rome. In 2004 the National Gallery of Jamaica in Kingston opened the exhibition The Rainbow Valley: Everald Brown, A Retrospective.July 1 † Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, martyrs at Rome (284) There are three pairs of Unmercenary Physicians named Cosmas and Damian. Brown’s work was included in a variety of important exhibitions of Jamaican art, both at home and throughout the Western hemisphere. Brown died unexpectedly while visiting family in New York in 2003. Curator José Gómez Sicre included his work in five group exhibitions at OAS headquarters starting in 1972. “Brother Everald’s” artistic production consisted of paintings of his religious visions, carved musical instruments, and wood carvings where totemic shapes or “ladders” consisting of figures, one on top of the other, are prevalent. Clinton also assisted his father in the preaching ministry at The Assembly of the Living. The iconography and narrative within his art were grounded in such visions. With his wife “Sister Jenny” and their son Clinton, who was also a painter, “Brother Everald” shared his meditative and visionary experiences. Ann Mountains, not far from where he was born. The church was located at 82 1/2 Spanish Town Road in West Kingston until 1973, when the violent socio-political climate forced him to move with his family to Murray Mount in the St.
Brown went by the name “Brother Everald” and as such in the early 1960s he established The Assembly of the Living, a mission of the Ethiopian (Coptic) Orthodox church, where the practices of Rastafarianism were carried out. A carpenter by trade, as well as a musician, painter, and carver, Brown was engaged with both Rastafarianism and reggae, and his art was imbued with older Afro-Jamaican popular culture, such as Revivalism and Kumina. Brown intended for works such as this Totem to convey an aspirational message of ascendancy and redemption.Įverald Brown was born in Jamaica. The carving conveys both the interdependency of community and spirituality. The grouping evokes a holy family, as well as a communion of saints reaching up to the heavens. The modesty and humility of the depicted figures stress the accessibility of salvation for the meek and disenfranchised. Their facial expressions range from joy to serious piety. The figures literally become a totem as each one stands on the other’s shoulders. From the bottom to the top, the sculpture consists of a small base representing the ground, some animals, and a group of seven figures, both male and female, one of which holds an infant. Totem is carved out of what looks like a slightly bent tree branch. Reggae music also served as a call to consciousness regarding the integration of social justice and spiritual fulfillment in Brown’s ministry. An active Rastafarian, Brother Everald, his wife, and son, shared religious visions through the use of meditation and cannabis. A member of the Ethiopian (Coptic) Orthodox Church, Brown’s various mediums of expression -painting, carving, and singing- were means of communicating spiritual visions to his brethren, as well as prayerful desires to the Almighty. “Brother Everald” Brown belongs to the family of self-taught and visionary artists, which curator José Gómez Sicre defined with the Spanish word primitivos, and in English have been referred to as folk artists.
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