At the recently renovated Cor Jesu Chapel at Miami-based Barry University, the artist behind the new crucifix is Fr. Cristóbal Torres Iglesias, OP, who also serves as University chaplain.
Torres, who became a late vocation friar in the Dominican order at age 37, says the crucifix pays homage to the founding of Barry University by a community of women preachers in 1940.
The scene depicts a living Jesus, flanked by four Dominican women of various historical periods standing and interacting with one another. To the left of Jesus are Venerable Teresa Chicaba, holding a scroll with the Proverbs 9:1 verse “Wisdom has built her house,” and Saint Rose of Lima, lovingly gazing at Jesus. To his right stands Mother Mary Gerald Barry, OP, prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, one of Barry’s founders and its first president, holding a scroll containing her correspondence with her brothers about opening the University; and Saint Catherine of Siena, who is seen whispering in her ear urging her to take action.
“It’s a visual allegory of the founding of Barry University,” Torres says. “It includes figures from different historical periods who wouldn’t have known each other in life but would know each other in Heaven.”
Torres painted the original design in digital media and then commissioned a local Miami artist, Michael Javaharian, to craft and paint the design on it to scale. The crucifix weighs 200 pounds, and stands 8 feet tall and 7.5 feet wide.
Now 45, Torres says he has been creating art since he was 2. His work is focused on religious iconography but also includes comic books and graphic novels. His iconographical work has been exhibited in Rome, Haiti, Texas and Australia. In Haiti, Torres designed the stained glass windows for the St. Rose of Lima Chapel at Zanmi Beni Children’s Home in Port au Prince. He painted the Dominican Last Supper, which is exhibited in Texas and is part of an exhibition in Sydney, Australia. He’s currently part of a team illustrating the second volume of a graphic novel called “The Shepherd,” which will be published later this year by Caliber Comics.
Torres describes his religious iconographical work as a form of visual theology — visual storytelling that invites the observer to engage theological questions, always from a place of prayer and encounter with God. As for graphic novels, Torres believes they share a deeper affinity with religious iconographical traditions than we might think. He loves the graphic novel’s ability to tell powerful stories that explore rich, mythical themes and imagery in ways that make it unique from other art forms.
Torres, who was born in New York and grew up in New Jersey and Florida, received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University, a master’s degree in social work from New York University, and a second master’s degree in theology from Barry University. He is now pursuing his doctorate of ministry at Barry.
Although he felt the calling to become a priest at the age of 8, Torres worked as a public school teacher before joining the Dominican order. As chaplain at Barry, he oversees the liturgical life of the University, where he is highly sought after due to his inspirational preaching style.