Happy New Year 2026: January 1 , Solemnity of Mary, Intro Our Lady of Calligraphy

Happy New Year 2026 to all residents of South San Francisco, and to 8 billion earthlings on the spaceship Planet Earth. Thank goodness we are still alive and kicking.

The Queen of the Angels, aka Mary, mother of Jesus is honored on January 1, which happens to be New Year’s Day. January 1, is the Octave (8th) day of Christmas , circumcision day related to Levitical Law. The Catholic Church Roman Rite celebrates the day as The Solemnity of Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation.

What can I offer to Mary on her Feast Day. My memory brought me back from June to August 2025; I painted a piece in honor of Mary celebrating Friends of Calligraphy 50th Anniversary, also Pope Francis designated 2025 as Jubilee Year. I’d not written about Mary’s painting I created since I was busy participating in five exhibitions.

January 1, 2026, her Feast Day would be appropriate to introduce her new title.

I’d researched Mary has already thousands of titles such as: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Star of the Sea, Mystical Rose, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Medjugorge, etc.

She has never taken the title “Our Lady of Calligraphy”. My reason to give her such a title was John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word…” and her father St Joaquim was a scroll maker. Scrolls are meant to be filled with written words such a King announcement, edicts, decrees,laws, poems, songs, stories written by Scribes, now known as calligraphers. Mary must have observed her father writing in calligraphy . The logic for the title.

My piece “Our Lady of Calligraphy “ was displayed in glass case at Skylight Gallery at San Francisco Public Library last June to August 2025 together with Akiho Sugiyama, “Alphabetical Names of Flowers”. Both Akiho and I had same teacher Judy Detrick for the scripts used in the pieces.

Taken from Kalligraphia Exhibition catalogue are the descriptions of the pieces.

Please see photo section for the pieces.

“Akiho Sugiyama | San Francisco, California

ALPHABETICAL NAMES OF FLOWERS
Watercolor on paper6, .
16 3⁄4 x 16 3⁄4 inches | NF
At the end-of-year cleaning last year, I found a fraktur assignment sheet from Judy Detrick’s class at Fort Mason that I took in 2014. I have used Kalligraphia 2025 as an opportunity to create a new sheet, trying to comprehend the lesson, after all these years.”

“Elizabeth Nisperos | South San Francisco, California

OUR LADY OF CALLIGRAPHY
Acrylics, watercolor, ink, pigments
19 7⁄8 x 15 7⁄8 inches | NFS
The rosary main crown consists of roses praying Hail Mary. The Mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, Luminous. Fifty rosary beads honoring Mary and Jesus. What a holy way to honor FOC on its 50th Anniversary. Virgin Mary carries Our Lady of Calligraphy for the first time.”

I chose the Rustic Script to write her title to give it an ancient look during the times when Pompeii was in its glory; there is a title Our Lady of Pompeii.

I also wrote a litany and composed a short song in honor of Our Lady of Calligraphy but that will require another article. For today on January 1, 2026, let’s celebrate her Feast, the Solemnity of Mary: Our Lady of Calligraphy because in the beginning was the Word…..