It was a night where what we thought we knew, was made new.
For many of us, the Nicene Creed is a foundational but familiar profession of faith, memorised and recited from childhood at each Mass, that affirms our core Catholic beliefs.
Yet, during a special Fidelis event on 13 May held at the Australian Catholic University, this foundational text—1700 years old this month—was illuminated anew.
Through the power of sacred art, the talk entitled “The Beauty of the Nicene Creed,” reminded the 300 gathered that this affirmation of belief is not just a set of words to be recited, but a divine proclamation full of beauty and profound meaning.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP opened the evening with a prayer to Our Lady of Fatima.
Then Fr Marcus Holden—renowned international speaker, theologian, and newly appointed Rector of the Pontifical Beda College in Rome—took the stage. His presence and insights infused the event with reverence and scholarly depth.
As a guest of the Sydney Catholic Youth team and the Parish Renewal Team, Fr Holden combined profound theological knowledge with the aesthetic beauty of classic and modern religious art.
His goal—to make the truths embedded in the Creed “come alive.” He noted it’s a declaration “we sometimes take for granted,” but that the “Creed is like a light that guides us through the world.”
As he dissected the Creed line by line, two giant screens showcasing some of the greatest examples of religious art were employed to illustrate and illuminate the profound declarations of our faith.
Showcasing works from the Renaissance to the Baroque period, touching on famous and not so familiar art works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio and modern artists such as Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Elizabeth Wang, Fr Holden breathed new life into the Nicene Creed.
In this way, he showed how artists, both classic and modern, have interpreted and expressed the profound truths contained within its lines, for generations.
For example, in explaining “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” Fr Holden highlighted Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam,” emphasising the divine act of breathing life into man, symbolising God’s love and divine intentionality.
“It’s showing us that, as Genesis says, from the slime of the earth, God breathed into man a life and makes him a living being. And of course, there’s a lot of symbolism in this language, but it’s real,” Fr Holden said.
Fr Holden also pointed to the presence of Eve in the painting, noting how in the image, “the intentionality of God is that there is male and female from the very beginning.”
“It illustrates how from the beginning, humanity was created as male and female, reflecting God’s plan for the diversity and unity of mankind.”
History student Olivia Guy, 19, believes she won’t recite the Creed in the same way again: “I’m not just saying words because I grew up Catholic, I’m not just repeating them because I memorised them. I’m saying them now because I know the understanding behind it,” she said.
ACU student Amy Malvern believed the Fidelis event re-awakened the ancient text for her.
“It’s beautiful to really sit and think and really know that we’ve got that truth, that we’ve had that truth since the time of Jesus and since before then. And seeing it through all the artworks is really powerful,” she said.
Campbell Evans, Team Leader for Sydney Catholic Youth who organised the event within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation (SCE), observed that using art was a clever and powerful way to help young people engage with such an ancient yet living tradition.
“People don’t connect young adults with this kind of ancient imagery. And yet through social media they are so intuitive with imagery. Having Fr Marcus unpack the beauty for us in this way is so in tune and so powerful for the young people here,” he said.
The Director for the Sydney of Evangelisation Daniel Ang emphasised the creativity of unpacking the creed through arresting and powerful images.
“I think that spoke to a lot of our young people here. It’s an accounting, an experience of the Creed that perhaps we haven’t heard before,” he said.