Local artist's work hangs in Holy Land

This same painting had been placed in the Franciscan Crusaders Chapel in May 2008 during a special Mass but had to be removed two years later due to high humidity and water filtration. It was placed in temporary storage until this past December, when after meetings with the Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Lands, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the reinstallation was approved and completed.

According to Lichacz, Franciscan authorities confirmed that, �to the best of their knowledge, no living artist has ever, in the history of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, hung his or her artwork (permanently) there.�

Lichacz is a citizen of both Panama and the U.S. She and her husband, John, divide their time between both nations, attending Corpus Christi Parish in Miami when they are in South Florida.

�Blood Money � 30 Pieces of Silver� is crafted in Lichacz�s unique style, using a montage of pre-Columbian shards, or ancient ceramics. Aside from the obvious symbolism, these shards represent her heritage as a Latino woman � born in Monagrillo, Panama � and the indigenous conversions that have made the Americas home to the highest concentration of Catholics.

Lichacz describes her work as harnessing �the raw emotional energy of Pre-Columbian art to Old and New Testament themes.�

"It is said that my birthplace of Monagrillo was the birthplace of ceramics in Panama, perhaps in all of Latin America, sometime in the year 8,000 B.C.," she writes in her website. "So I guess it is appropriate that almost 10,000 years later a woman should be born in Monagrillo whose artwork celebrates earthen vessels."

Aside from her artistic talents, Lichacz has an inspiring personal story: For 49 years she has endured more than a dozen surgeries to remove recurring tumors � both benign and malignant � in her brain.

�I have been dying for so long the only thing that has saved me is my faith in God, my family and my paintings,� said Lichacz, who added that often when she was being prepped for surgery her doctors would tell her they were pessimistic about her chances of survival. She would reply: �With the help of God and the Blessed Mother, I will survive.�

�Blood Money - 30 Pieces of Silver� is not the first of Lichacz�s paintings to hang in the Holy Land. �Cana Is Forever,� a 46" x 96" oil with pre-Columbian shards on wood which is dedicated to Jesus' first public miracle, is part of the permanent collection at the Holy Shrine of the First Miracle at Cana in Galilee. Another of her works, �Voces de America,� has hung in the Vatican Museum of Contemporary Religious Art since 1983.

�Spreading the word of God is what we�re supposed to do,� said Lichacz, who also serves as ambassador-at-large for the Republic of Panama. �We have to keep on fighting for our faith because I am one woman who keeps on fighting.�