What is a Roman Catholic icon?

Answer 1

It's just Catholic, not Roman Catholic. Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the official Catholic Church.

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Catholic icons are depictions of saints, Biblical scenes, or Catholic history. Usually icons are painted as pictures on canvas or walls, or they are painstakingly carved from wood or stone as statues or reliefs. Most proper to the word "icon" are those pictures painted in the Byzantine style. Icons are usually found in churches, public places and private homes where they are featured in places of honour that they might be venerated and viewed by the faithful.

Answer 2

There is no Roman Catholic Church, it's just Catholic, not Roman Catholic. Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the official Catholic Church. So I am assuming that you are asking about the Catholic Church and icons.

In the Pentateuch, (the first five books of The Bible) God commanded images several times, like when He described how the Temple was to be built: The tabernacle and temple along with their articles contained many representations of cherubim (Exodus 25:17-22; 26:1, 31; 36:8; 1 Kings 6:23-35; 7:29-36; 8:6-7; 1 Chronicles 28:18; 2 Chronicles 3:7-14; 2 Chronicles 3:10-13; 5:7-8; Hebrews 9:5). Then, of course, there was the serpent in Numbers 21:9 that Moses made for the people to look at. God only says in the Ten Commandments that you should not make images to bow down to and worship. But He definitely commanded us to make images.

Icons are covered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 1156, 1161, 1162, 1192, 2131, 2705.

Icons are used in prayer, and the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787: justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons - of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the son of God introduced a new "economy" of images. (CCC 2131) fromThe Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994 1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new "economy" of images:

"Previously, God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an image. But now that He has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I have seen of God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, His face unveiled." (St. John Damascene, De image. 1, 16: J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca {Paris, 1857-1866} 96:1245-1248.)

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1162 "The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God." (St. John Damascene, De image. 1, 27: J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca {Paris, 1857-1866} 94:1268A, B.) Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory and is then expressed in the new life of the faithful.