Renaissance woman: Study of Michelangelo leads retired psychologist back to her faith

(CNS photo/ Handout via Detroit Catholic)

By Gigi De La Torre | Catholic News Service

For centuries, Renaissance art has captivated hearts and souls. Christine Panyard, a retired psychologist of 43 years and a parishioner at the Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn, Mich., is no stranger to the transformative effects of religious art. 

In her new book, “Stalking Michelangelo, Finding God,” Panyard shows how the truth, goodness and beauty in these sculptures and paintings, which depict God and the grandeur of His creation, transformed her from a “very lapsed” Catholic to one on fire for her faith.

For her, it all began with Michelangelo. “I’ve always loved travel and history and became fascinated, probably obsessed, with Renaissance art and especially Michelangelo,” Panyard, 75, told Detroit Catholic, the online news outlet of the Archdiocese of Detroit. 

Panyard studied personality and intelligence levels. She wanted to know “what made this genius tick.”

This would lead her to encounter Christ through a medium in which she never encountered Him before: art.

“I was impressed by the grandeur of (Michelangelo’s) work,” Panyard said. “He created the most impressive building in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica, the most beautiful statue in the world, the Rome Pietà, and the most glorious frescoes ever seen, the ceiling and altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.”

(CNS photo/ Paul Haring)
"The Last Judgement" by
Michelangelo is pictured
in the Sistine Chapel.

While gazing at Michelangelo’s masterpieces, Panyard realized she could not truly understand his genius unless she understood the biblical stories and themes present in Renaissance art. As a result, she began studying Scripture and spent countless hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Much Renaissance art can be found in churches, such as the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. It was while in these churches, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, that Panyard first began to feel God’s grace working on her soul.

“I would go into churches and the organist would begin to play or monks would start chanting. I would get to sites in time to see an ordination, the anniversary celebration for a cardinal or even Pope Benedict celebrating a Mass to canonize a group of saints,” Panyard said. 

She attributes the experiences to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. “I believe that the power of the Blessed Sacrament changed me and brought me back to church,” Panyard said.

“I started to notice that I was praying more. At first just a Sign of the Cross when I entered a church or a short prayer before the tomb of someone from that era I admired. Then, I started showing up just as a rosary or Mass was starting,” she explained.

“Slowly … I was transformed from being a very lapsed Catholic to a member of a Secular Discalced Carmelite community,” Panyard said.

Panyard hopes to make her definitive promises in the Secular Discalced Carmelite community at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Grotto) Parish in Detroit in January 2024. She made her temporary promises in January 2021.

Thanks to her reconversion, Panyard said, “I no longer focus on pain and perversion as I did as a psychologist, but focus on beauty and spirit.”

— “Stalking Michelangelo, Finding God” by Christine M. Panyard. Wipf and Stock Publishers (Eugene, Ore., 2022). 124 pp., $15.00.