Franciscan missionaries first brought Christianity to the American Southwest, and the founder of their order continues to be a popular subject for the modern-day saint-makers of New Mexico. This week's new images of St. Francis in the Sacred Art Pilgrim collection are the work of two notable contemporary santeros: Fernando Bimonte, for many years the "resident artist" at the Sanctuary of Chimayo, a popular New Mexican pilgrimage site; and Marie Romero Cash, a leading figure in the sacred art scene in Santa Fe, who created the Stations of the Cross images in the city's Roman Catholic cathedral. Bimonte depicts the holy Birdman of Assisi in a flowering grove ministering to one of his feathered flock in a mixed media wood panel painting. Romero Cash presents a second popular Franciscan motif (left) of the saint contemplating a crucifix and skull, symbols of the sacrificial death of Christ and of his own mortality. It is painted in natural pigment on gessoed wood in the traditional style of New Mexican saint-makers and has a hammered tin fame of the kind Romero Cash's parents used to make in the family kitchen, when she was growing up. This new pair of paintings can be found in the galleries of the Fernando Bimonte and Marie Romero Cash profile pages in the Sacred Artists section. (John Kohan)