The Saints in Art, With Their Attributes and Symbols Alphabetically Arranged
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The Saints in Art, With Their Attributes and Symbols Alphabetically Arranged (1908) is a book on Saint symbolism in art by Margaret Emma Tabor .
Full text
INTRODUCTION
r ~pHIS little book is intended to meet the ' demand of the ever - increasing number of visitors to churches and picture galleries, at home and abroad, who, with little know- ledge of Christian hagiology, or the eccles- iastical history of the Middle Ages, wish to know more of the subjects represented in the works of art they see than is given in ordi- nary catalogues and guide-books. Many of the incidents frequently depicted, and many of the attributes given to the saints, are, for want of knowledge of the legends to which reference is made, to some extent unintel- ligible. From the point of view of art this may be unimportant, but it is reasonable to suppose that, for just appreciation of a work of art, it is better to know something of the subject that the artist portrays ; and for those people who look at pictures chiefly as illus-
- 968
vi THE SAINTS IN ART
tration the lack of such knowledge must be a serious drawback.
No pretension is made to any original research. The excellent works of Mrs Jameson and Lord Lindsay are well known, and of the greatest value. But for the ordi- nary tourist, Mrs Jameson's four large volumes (" Sacred and Legendary Art," in two volumes ; " Legends of the Madonna"; " and Legends of the Monastic Orders ") are impossible, though much to be desired, as travelling companions. This is an attempt to provide an epitome of these, and other books of the kind, in a port- able shape. The process of eliminating from the legends all but what is necessary for the better understanding of their representation in works of art has left in many instances rather a bald and inconsequent account, and should there appear to be any lack of sym- pathy or reverence in the treatment of sacred subjects, the need for extreme brevity must be the excuse. Biblical characters are only included in so far as they are the subjects of traditions or legends beyond the Bible nar- rative, and well-known historical personages,
INTRODUCTION vii
about whom information is easily available, are very shortly treated. Since the object is to understand the traditions as they presented themselves to the minds of the artists, the border line between history and fiction has been almost entirely ignored, and obvious chronological errors, and confusion between saints of the same name, have been allowed to pass unchallenged. The date of the feast of the saint has been given in each case, and where representations of a saint are specially famous, the name of the artist, and the church or gallery where the picture, fresco, or statue is to be seen, are mentioned.
M. E. T.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Adelaide, St. (of Bergamo) i
Adrian, St. (Patron Saint of Soldiers) . . I
Afra and Julia, SS. (Patron Saints of Brescia) . 2
Agatha, St. . . . . . .2
Agnes, St. (Span. Inez) .... 4
Alban, St. . . . . . .5
Albert, St. (Bishop of Vercelli, and Patriarch of
Jerusalem ..... 5
Albertus Magnus, St. . . . .6
Alexander, St. (of Bergamo) .... 6
Alexis, St. (Lat. S. Alexius ; Ital. Sant 5 Alessio) . 6
Ambrose, St (Ital. Sant' Ambrogio). (Patron Saint
of Milan). ..... 8
Andrew, St. (Biblical, Patron Saint of Russia and
Scotland ...... 10
Angelus the Carmelite, St. . . . .10
Anne, St. (the mother of the Virgin) . • . . 11
Ansano, St. . . . . . .11
Anselm, St. . . . . . .11
Anthony, St. (the Hermit). (St. Paul) . .11
Antoninus, St. (of Florence) . . . .14
Antony, St. (of Padua) . . . .15
x THE SAINTS IN ART
Apollinaris, St.
Apollonia, St. (Fr. Ste. Apolline)
Apollonius, St. ...
Apostles, the Twelve (Biblical)
Aquinas, St. Thomas .
Archangels .....
Athanasius, St. ... .
Augustine, St. (the greatest of the Latin Fathers)
Augustine, St. (of Canterbury)
Barbara, St. (Patroness of Armourers and Fortifica
tions) . . . ,
Barnabas, St. (Biblical) Bartholomew, St. (Biblical) . Basil, St. (the Greek Father) . Bavon, St. (Flem. St. Baf) . Benedict, St. (Ital. San Benedetto ; Fr. St. Benoit
Span. San Benito) Benedict (or Bennet Biscop), St. Bernard, St. (of Clairvaux)
Bernardino, St. (of Siena, Founder of the Observants) Bernardo Dei Tolomei, St. . Blaise, St. (Ital. San Biagio) . Bonaventura, St. ("The Seraphic Doctor") . Boniface, St. (Primate of Germany) . Bridget, St. (of Sweden)
Bruno, St. (Founder of the Carthusian Order) Catherine, St. (Patroness of Philosophy, Learning,
Schools, and Colleges) . Catherine, St. (of Siena) Cecilia, St. (Patroness of Music)
CONTENTS
XI
PAGE
Charles Borromeo, St. . .
45
Christina, St. (Patroness of Bolsena, her traditional
birthplace) ....
. 46
Christopher, St. .
47
Chrysostom, St. John
49
Clara, St. (Ital. Santa Chiara)
5o
Clement, St. .
52
Clotilda, St. .
53
Constantine, Emperor
53
Constan tius, St. (Ital. San Constanzo)
53
Cosmo and Damian, SS. (Patrons of the Medic
i
Family and of Doctors) .
54
Crispian, St., and Crispianus, St.
55
Cross, St., or Holy Cross (Ital. Santa Croce)
55
Cunegunda, St. . ...
55
Cuthbert, St. .
55
Cyprian, St. (Bishop of Carthage)
56
Cyprian, St. (the Magician of Antioch)
56
Cyril, St. (of Alexandria) >
57
Damian, St. .
57
Denis, St. (of France). Dionysius, St. (the Areo
pagite). (Ital. San Dionisio or Dionigi)
57
Diego, San (d'Alcala). (S. Didacus or Didace)
59
Dominic, St. (Ital. San Domenico ; Span. San Do-
mingo ......
59
Donatus, St. (of Arezzo) ....
61
Dorothea, St. .
62
Dunstan, St. .
63
Edmund, St. (King and Martyr)
63
Edward the Confessor, St. .
64
Xll
THE SAINTS IN ART
Elizabeth, St. (mother of St. John the Baptist, Biblical,
65
Elizabeth, St. (of Hungary)
65
Eloy, St. or St. Loo (Lat. S. Eligius : Ital. Sant
Aloor L6 or Eligio) (Patron of Goldsmiths, Black-
smiths, and Workers in metal)
67
Ephrem, St. (of Edessa) .
67
Erasmus, St. (Ital. Sant' Elmo or Erasmo ; Span .
Sant Ermo or Eramo ; Fr. St. Elme)
68
Ercolano, St. (Bishop of Perugia about 546) .
69
Etheldreda, St. ....
69
Eulalia, St. (A Spanish virgin martyr)
69
Euphemia, St. .
70
Eustace, St. .
7i
Evangelists (Biblical) ....
72
Faustinus and Jovita, SS.
73
Felicitas, St. .
73
Felix, St. (of Cantalicio). (Ital. San Felice), (tht
first saint of the Order of Capuchins)
74
Ferdinand of Castile, St.
74
Fina, St. . . .
75
Flavia, St. .....
76
Florian, St. .
76
Francesca Romana, St.
76
Francis, St. (of Assisi). (Ital. Francesco) .
77
Francis Borgia ....
So
Francis de Paula, St. .
80
Francis Xavier, St. .
81
Frediano, St. (of Lucca)
82
Gabriel, St. (the Archangel, primarily the messenger
)
angel .....
82
CONTENTS
Xlll
Geminianus, St. (Bishop of Modena about 450, i
UK
Patron Saint of that city) .
82
Genevieve, St. (of Paris). (Ital. S. Genoveva)
83
George, St. (of Cappadocia). (Patron Saint
f
England) .....
84
Gereon, St. .
86
Gervasius and Protasius, SS. .
86
Giles, St. (Lat. Egidius ; Ital. Egidio ; Fi
\ Gflles
or Gil)
S7
Giobbe, San ....
88
Giovanni et Paolo, SS.
88
Giovanni Colombini, St.
88
Grata, St. .
89
Gregory, St. .
89
Gregory Nazianzen, St.
9i
Gudula, St. .
92
Helena, St. .
92
Henry, St. (of Bavaria)
94
Hermengild, St,
94
Hilarion, St. .
95
Hilary, St. .
95
Hilda, St
95
Hippolytus, St. (Ital. Sant' Ippolito)
. 96
Hubert, St. (Patron of the Chase, and of Do£
P)
. 96
Hugo, St. (Bishop of Grenoble)
97
Humilitas, St. ...
97
Hyacinth, St. ...
97
Ignatius Loyola, St. (the Founder of the Jesuits)
. 98
Ignatius Theophorus, St. (Bishop of Antioch in
til
time of Trajan)
99
xiv THE SAINTS IN ART
PAGE
Ildefonso (or Alphonso), St. (the Patron Saint of
Toledo) . ..... 99
Isidore, St. . . . . . . ioo
Isidore, St. (Ital Sant' Isidoro Agricola ; Span.
San Isidro el Labrador) (the Patron Saint of Madrid) ioo James, St. (The Great). (Biblical.) (Fr. St. Jacques
Majeur ; Ital. San Giacomo, or Jacopo, Maggiore ;
Span. San Jago, or Santiago) . . . 101
James, St. (the Less). (Biblical.) (Ital. San Giacomo,
or Jacopo Minore ; Fr. St. Jacques Mineur) . 103
Januarius, St. (Ital. San Gennaro ; Fr. St. Janvier) 104 Jerome, St. (Lat. Hieronymus ; Ital. Girolamo)
(Patron Saint of Scholars) . . .104
Joachim, St. (father of the Virgin) . . . 106
Job, St. (Ital. San Giobbe). (Biblical.) (Patron
Saint of Hospitals, and protector against leprosy,
at Venice) . ..... 107
John the Baptist, St. (Ital. Giovanni Battista.)
(Biblical) ...... 107
John, St. (Capistrano) .... 108
John the Evangelist, St. (Ital. San Giovanni ; Ger.
Johann). (Biblical) . . . .108
John Gualberto, St. (Founder of the Order of
Vallombrosa) . . . . .110
John de Matha, St. (Founder of the Trinitarians) . 112 John Nepomuck, St. (Ital. San Giovanni Nepomuceno) 113 Joseph, St. . . . . . .114
Juan de Dios, St. (Founder of the Hospitallers, or
Brothers of Charity) . . . .114
Jude, St. . . . . . "5
CONTENTS xv
PAGE
Julia, St. (of Brescia) . . . . .115
Julia, St. (of Cilicia) (the Patron Saint of Rimini) . 115 Julian Hospitator, St. (Patron Saint of Travellers,
Boatmen, Ferrymen, and Wandering Minstrels) . 116 Justa and Rufina, SS. . . . .117
Justina, St. (of Antioch) . . . .118
Justina, St. (of Padua) . . . .118
Lambert, St. (Bishop of Maestricht) . .119
Lawrence, St. (Ital. San Lorenzo; Fr. St. Laurent) 119 Lazarus, St. (Biblical) . . . .121
Leander and Isidore, SS. . . ... 122
Leocadia, St. (Patron Saint of Toledo) . .122
Leonard, St. (of Aquitaine). (Fr. St. Leonard or
Lionart.) (Patron Saint of Prisoners and Slaves) . 123 Longinus, St. (Patron Saint of Mantua) . '124
Lorenzo Giustiniani, St. . . . .125
Louis Beltran, St. (or Bertran) . . . 125
Louis, St. (of France). (Ital. San Luigi) . . 125
Louis, St. (of Toulouse). (Ital. San Ludovico) . 126 Lucy, St. (Ital. Lucia ; Fr. Luce) . . .127
Luke, St. (Biblical) . . . . . 129
Lupo, St. ..... . 129
Magi (the Wise Men of the Three Kings). (Biblical) 129 Marcella (or Martilla), St. . . . .130
Margaret, St. . . . . . .131
Mark, St. (Biblical). (Ital. San Marco) . .132
Martha, St. (Biblical). (Patroness of Cooks and
Housewives) . . . . .134
Martin, St. (of Tours) . , . 134
Martinian, St. (Centurion at the Mamertine Prison) 136
xvi THE SAINTS IN ART
PAGE
Mary of Egypt, St. (Fr. La Gipesienne ; La
Jussienne) . . . . . .136
Mary Magdalene, St. (Biblical). (Patroness of
Marseilles, and of Penitent Women) . .137
Mary the Virgin, St. (Biblical) . . 139
Matthew, St. (Biblical) . . . .145
Mattias, St. (Biblical). (Ital. San Mattia) . . 145
Maurice, St. (Ital. Maurlzio.) (Patron Saint of
Foot-soldiers, and of Savoy) Maurus, St. .
Maximin, St. ....
Michael, St. (the Archangel). (Ital. San Michele or
Sammichele) ....
Miniato, St. . Monica, St. . Natalia, St. .
Nazarius and Celsus, SS. (two martyrs of Milan) Nicholas, St. (of Myra) Nicholas, St. (of Tolentino) . Nilus, St. (of Grotta Ferrata)
Norbert, St. (the Founder of the Premonstratensians) Omobuono, St. (Patron Saint of Tailors) Onophrius, St. (Ital. Onofrio or Honofrio) . Ottilia, St.
Pantaleon, St. (Patron of Physicians) Paul, St. (Biblical) .... Paul, St. (the Hermit) Peter, St. (Biblical). (Ital. San Pietro or Piero
Fr. St. Pierre ; Span. San Pedro) . Peter, St. (of Alcantara)
CONTENTS
xvi 1
Peter Exorcista and Marcellinus, SS.
Peter Martyr, St. (Ital. San Pietro (Piero) Martire
Fr. St. Pierre le Dominican) Peter Nolasco, St. . Petronilla, St. ...
Petronius, St. (Bishop and Patron Saint of Bologna Philip, St. (Ital. Filippo). (Biblical) Philip Benozzi, St. .
Philip Neri, St. ... .
Phocas, St. (Ital. San Foca) . Placidus, St. .
Praxedes and Pudentiana, SS. Prisca, St. . Processus, St. (the Centurion at the Mamertin
Prison) ..... Procopius, St. ... .
Proculus, St. (the Military Patron of Bologna) Pudentiana, St. . .
Ranieri, St. (Fr. St. Regnier.) (The Patron Saint
of Pisa) ..... Raphael, St. (the Archangel) Raymond, St. (de Penaforte) Raymond Nonnatus, St. (Span. San Ramon) Regulus and Frediano, SS. (Patrons of Lucca) Reparata, St. ....
Roch, St. (Ital. San Rocca.) (Protector against
sickness and plague) Romain, St. . Romualdus, St. .
Romulus, St. (First Bishop of Fiesole) b
PAGE 162
162
163 I64 I64 I6 5 I6 5
165 166 166 l67 I67
168 168 168 168
l69 I69 I70 171 171 172
172
174 174 175
xviii THE SAINTS IN ART
Rosa, St. (of Viterbo)
Rosalia, St. (of Palermo)
Rufina, St. .
Sabina, St.
Scholastica, St. ... .
Sebald, St. .
Sebastian, St. (Protector against Plague or Pestil
ence) .....
Secundus, St. ....
Sibyls ......
Simon Stylites, St. .
Simon Zelotes and Jude, SS. (Thaddeus or Lebbeus) (Biblical) ....
Sixtus, St. .
Sophia, St. (or Heavenly Wisdom) .
Stephen, St. (Biblical). Deacon and Protomartyr)
Sylvester, St. (Pope) ....
Thecla, St. (Apocryphal N. T.)
Theodore, St. .
Theresa, St. .
Thomas, St. (Biblical). (Span. San Tome) .
Thomas Aquinas, St. ...
Thomas de Villanueva, St. . Tobit and Tobias . .
Torpe, St. (or Torpet) Tryphonius, St. ...
Urban, St. .
Ursula, St. (Patroness of Girls and the Teachers of
Girls)
Veronica, St. .
CONTENTS xix
PAGE
Victor, St. . . . . .193
Vincent, St. (a famous Patron Saint in Spain and
France) . . . . . 194
Vincent, St. Ferraris ..... 195
Vincent de Paule, St. .... 195
Vitalis, St. . . . . . .196
Vitus, St. (Patron Saint of Dancers and Actors) . 197 Wise Men (Magi) ..... 198
Walburga, St. (Walpurgis, Valpurge, or Gualbourg) . 198 Zacharias, St. (Biblical) . . . .198
Zeno, St. . . . . . 199
Zenobio, St. . . . . . .199
Index
201
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
St. Christopher, St. Jerome, and St. Augus- tine . .... Frontispiece
From the painting by Giovanni Bellini in the Church of St. Chrysostom, Venice. (Photo. Anderson, Rome)
FACING PAGE
Virgin and Child, with SS. Antony and Barbara 12
From the painting by Bernardino Luini in the Brera, Milan
St. Bartholomew . . . 24
From an engraving by Albrecht Diirer in the British Museum
A Canon with St. Bernardino, St. Donatian, and
St. Martin ..... 30
From the painting by Gheeraert David at the National Gallery
St. Catherine of Siena ....
From the painting by Sano di Pietro at Siena. (Photo. Lombardi, Siena)
St. Cecilia, with SS. Agatha, Agnes, Barbara and Lucy ..... 44
From the painting by A. Bonvicino (known as II Moretto da Brescia) in the Church of St. Clement, Brescia. (Photo. Alinari, Florence) xxi
XX11
THE SAINTS IN ART
FACING PAGE
St. Christopher . . . . .48
From the painting by Dierick Bouts at Munich (Photo. Hanfstaengl Munich)
St. Dominic . . . . .60
From the painting by Giovanni Bellini in the National Gallery
St. Francis preaching to the Birds . . 78
From the fresco by Giotto di Bordone in the Upper Church at Assisi. (Photo. Alinari, Florence)
St. George and the Dragon . . .84
From the painting by Carpaccio in the Church of San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice. (Photo. Anderson, Rome)
St. Jerome . . . . . 104
From an engraving (1514) by Albrecht Diirer in the British Museum
St. John the Baptist, with SS. Francis, Lawrence, Cosmo, Damian, Anthony, and Peter Martyr . . . . .108
From the painting by Fra Filippo Lippi in the National Gallery
Madonna and Child with SS. John the Evan- gelist, Catherine, Lucy, and Jerome . .110
From the painting by Giov. Ant. Bazzi (known as Sodoma) in the Pinacoteca at Turin. (Photo. Alinari, Florence)
The Crucifixion, with St. Mark and the other
Saints . . . . . 13 2
From the painting by Fra Beato Angelico in the Museum of St. Mark, Florence. (Photo. Anderson, Rome)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii
FACING PAGE
Madonna and Child, with SS. Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Francis, Catherine, Cosmo, and Damian . . . .138
From the painting by Botticelli in the Pitti Palace, Florence
St. Michael and the Dragon . . .147
From the painting by Piero della Francesca in the National Gallery
" Madonna Ansidei " — Virgin and Child, with SS. John the Baptist, and Nicholas of Bari . 150
From the painting by Raphael in the National Gallery. (Photo. Hanfstaengl)
St. Peter Martyr . . . . .162
From the painting by Fra Beato Angelico in the Museum of St. Mark, Florence
St. Raphael and Tobias . . . .169
From a painting (Tuscan School) in the National Gallery
St. Ursula and her Maidens . . . 190
From the painting by Carpaccio in the Academy, Venice. (Photo. Naya, Venice)
INDEX OF SYMBOLS AND ATTRIBUTES
Anchor. — Symbol of hope. See St. Clement.
Anvil. — See St. Adrian.
Apple. — Emblem of the Fall, in the hand of Infant
Christ signifies Redemption from consequences
of the Fall. Arrow. — Symbol of pestilence. Also instrument of
martyrdom. See SS. Sebastian, Ursula, Chris- tina, and others. Asperges. — Brush used for sprinkling holy water.
See St. Benedict. Axe. — See SS. Matthias, Peter Martyr, Proculus. Bag or Purse. — See SS. Matthew, Lawrence. Balance to weigh souls. — See St. Michael. Balls, Three. — See St. Nicholas. Banner. — Symbol of victory, especially spiritual victory.
See SS. George, Julian, Maurice, Ursula and
others. Beehive. — See St. Ambrose. Bell. — To exorcise demons. See St. Anthony, the
Hermit
xxvi THE SAINTS IN ART
Book.— Attribute of writers. See SS. Paul, Augustine
and others. Book. — Emblem of learning. See St. Catherine. Box of Ointment. — See St. Mary Magdalene. Box. — See SS. Cosmo and Damian, St. Raphael. Breast.— See St. Agatha. Bull.— See St. Sylvester
Cauldron. — See SS. John the Evangelist, Vitus. Chains. — See St. Leonard. Child.— Christ Child. See SS. Anthony of Padua,
Christopher. Church Model carried.— See St. Jerome. Generally
denotes the founder. See St. Henry, Petronius
and many others. Circle or Ring. — Ancient symbol of Eternity. Cloak. — See SS. Martin, Raymond. Club or Fuller's Bar. — See SS. James the Less, Jude. Comb or Rake for wool. — See St. Blaise. Cross. — Symbol of Atonement of Christ, hence of
Christian Faith. See SS. John the Baptist, Philip,
Margaret, Helena. Crow or Raven.— See SS. Anthony, Vincent. Crown. — Symbol of victory. See Martyr Saints. Crown. — Attribute of royalty. See Royal Saints. Crown of Thorns. — See St. Louis, St. Catherine of
Siena. Cup or Chalice.— See SS. Barbara, Benedict. Cup with Serpent.— See St. John the Evangelist.
SYMBOLS AND ATTRIBUTES xxvii
Cup with Spider. — See St. Norbert.
Dog. — See SS. Dominic, Roch.
Dove. — Symbol of the Holy Ghost. See St. Gregory,
and others. Dove. — Symbol of purity. See Virgin Mary, and
female saints. Dove. — Emblem of the soul, issues from the dying.
See St. Eulalia. Dragon or Serpent. — Emblem of Satan or sin. See
SS. George, Michael, Theodore, Margaret, Martha,
and others. Eagle. — See St. John the Evangelist. Eyes on a Plate, or a Book. — See SS. Lucy, Ottilia. Falcon. — See St. Bavon. Fire. — Emblem of religious fervour, or instrument of
martyrdom. Fish. — Early Christian symbol of Christ, and emblem
of Christian Faith. Fish. — Symbol of Conversion ("Fishers of men").
See St. Peter, and other bishops. Fish. — See St. Raphael. Flame or Flaming Heart. — Symbol of fervent piety
or love. See SS. Augustine, Theresa, and
Jesuits. Girdle, the Virgin's. — See St. Thomas. Gridiron. — See St. Lawrence. Halberd. — See SS. Matthias, Simon, and Jude. Handkerchief or Veil. — See St. Veronica.
xxviii THE SAINTS IN ART
Head carried. — See SS. Denis, Cuthbert, Grata,
Proculus. Heart.— Symbol of Charity. See " Flame." Heart crowned with Thorns. — See St. Ignatius Loyala,
and Jesuits. Inkhorn. — See St. Matthew. Keys.— See St. Peter.
Knife. — See " Axe." See St. Bartholomew. Lamb. — Symbol of Christ. See St. John the Baptist. Lamb. — Emblem of purity and innocence. See St.
Agnes. Lamp or Lantern or Taper. — Emblem of piety. See
SS. Gudula, Lucy, Genevieve. Lance or Javelin. — See SS. George, Lambert, Longinus. Lily. — Symbol of purity. See St. Mary, Virgin, SS.
Gabriel, Dominic, Anthony of Padua, Clara. Lion. — Symbol of Christ, the Lion of Judah. Lion, winged. — See St. Mark the Evangelist. Lion. — Emblem of solitude or fortitude. See SS.
Jerome, Anthony. Lion. — Instrument of martyrdom. See SS. Adrian,
Ignatius, Euphemia. Millstone. — See SS. Christina, Victor. Mitre. — Denotes bishop or archbishop or abbot. Mountain. — Early symbol of Paradise, or the Church. Mule. — See St. Anthony of Padua. Nimbus or Circlet of Glory round the head. — Signifies
sanctity.
SYMBOLS AND ATTRIBUTES xxix
Olive Branch or Leaf. — Emblem of peace. See SS.
Gabriel, Agnes, Pantaleon. Organ or similar instrument. — See St. Cecilia. Ox. — See St. Luke the Evangelist. Palm. — Symbol of victory, in the hand of all
martyrs. Peacock. — Symbol of resurrection, mortal changed to
immortal. Pelican. — Early symbol of Christ. Pig. — Symbol of lusts of the flesh. See St. Anthony
the Hermit. Pincers. — See SS. Agatha, Apollonia. Pyx or Host. — See SS. Clara, Thomas Aquinas, Bona-
ventura. Plague-spot on thigh. — See St. Roch. Plough. — See St. Isidor. Pot— See "Box." See St. Martha, SS. Justa and
Rufina. Purse. — See " Bag." Three purses. See St. Nicholas
of Myra. Rainbow, Three-coloured. — Early emblem of the
Trinity. Raven. — See " Crow." Ring. — Emblem of Eternity. Ring. — Symbol of marriage. See St. Catherine. River. — Early emblem of eternal life. River.— See Evangelists, St Christopher, St. Julian
Hospitator.
xxx THE SAINTS IN ART
Roses. — See SS. Dorothea, Elizabeth of Hungary,
Cecilia, Rosa. Saw. — See SS. Simon and Jude. Scallop shell in hat. — Denotes a pilgrim. Scourge. — Denotes penance. Scourge knotted. — See St. Ambrose. Serpent. — See " Dragon." Shears. — See St. Agatha. Sheep, twelve. — Early symbol of the Apostles. Sheep.— Emblem of the faithful, with the Good
Shepherd. Sheep. — See St. Genevieve. Ship. — Early Christian symbol of the Church. Skull. — Symbol of mortality or penance. See St.
Anthony and others. Spade. — See SS. Isidor, Phocas. Square, carpenter's. — See St. Thomas. Staff. — Symbol of pilgrimage. See SS. James,
Roch. Stag. — Symbol of solitude and piety. Or, denotes a
hunter. See St. Julian. Stag with Crucifix. — See SS. Eustace, Hubert. Stag, wounded. — See St. Giles. Standard. — See " Banner." Star. — See SS. Dominic, Nicholas of Tolentino,
Thomas Aquinas. Stigmata. — See SS. Francis, Catherine of Siena. Stone. — See SS. Stephen, Bavon, Jerome.
SYMBOLS AND ATTRIBUTES xxxi
Sword. — Symbol of martyrdom in general.
Sword. — Attribute of martyrs who died by the sword.
See SS. Paul, Adrian, Catherine, Justina, Protasius,
and many others. Tools, cobblers'. — See St. Crispin. Tools, smiths'. — See St. Eloy. Tooth. — See St. Apollonia. Tower. — See St. Barbara. Unicorn. — Symbol of chastity. See St. Justina of
Antioch. Veil. — See St. Veronica, St. Agatha. Vine. — Early symbol of Christ or the Church. Wheel, broken. — See St. Catherine.
THE SAINTS IN ART
Adelaide, St. (of Bergamo). (See St. Grata.)
Adrian, St (Patron Saint of Soldiers). (Stk September) A Roman of noble birth, who served in the guards of the Emperor Galerius. His wife Natalia was a Christian. When the tenth persecution broke out in Bithynia (a.d. 290) it fell to the lot of Adrian to superintend the execution of the Christians ; and, overcome by their constancy in suffering, much to the joy of his wife, he was converted to her faith. Having been cast into prison, scourged, and tortured, he was finally sentenced to have his limbs cut off on a blacksmith's anvil. Thus he died, and his body was car- ried by the Christians to Byzantium. Natalia, who comforted and encouraged her husband
2 THE SAINTS IN ART
to the last, passed the remainder of her life in widowhood near his tomb, but has always been given the honours of martyrdom, be- cause of her sufferings and constancy.
He is represented in armour, sometimes with a lion or sword \ his distinguishing at- tribute is an anvil.
Afra and JULIA, SS. (Patron Saints of Brescia). ($tk August)
Both were virgin martyrs, and have churches dedicated to them. They are often associated in pictures with St. Apol- lonius, the Bishop, and SS. Faustinus and Jovita, all patrons of Brescia.
In the Church of St. Afra, Brescia, is a picture of the martyrdom, ascribed to Veronese.
AGATHA, St. ($th February)
According to the legend was a Christian maiden of Catania, in Sicily, in the reign of the Emperor Decius. Quintianus, who was sent to govern Sicily, when he heard of her beauty and virtue, sent for her, and tried
THE SAINTS IN ART 3
by all means in his power to get her for him- self. Agatha said that neither wild beasts nor fire nor scourging would move her, she would remain the servant of Christ. Then Quintianus had her bound and beaten, and ordered his slaves to tear her breasts with iron pincers. She was then carried to a dark dungeon, where St. Peter, accompanied by a youth bearing a torch, appeared in the night with ointment, and healed her. Then Quin- tianus had her thrown into a fire, but an earthquake came at the moment, and ter- rified the people so much that they begged him to stop the murder. Agatha was carried to a dungeon, but died of her wounds. Her tomb became a sacred spot to Christians, and, at a great eruption of Mount Etna, they took her silken veil from it, fixed it on a lance, and went forth to meet the lava, which ceased to flow at their approach, and the eruption ended.
She is represented with a martyr's palm and the instruments of her torture, pincers or shears^ or with her breasts in her hand or on a salver. She sometimes has a long veil.
4 THE SAINTS IN ART
A picture of the martyrdom is in the Pitti, Florence, by Sebastiano del Piombo.
AGNES, St. (Span. Inez). {21st January)
One of the oldest Christian legends is that of St. Agnes, the Roman virgin martyr. From childhood she was distinguished for her purity and sanctity. While still a girl, Sem- pronius, the son of the Prefect of Rome, fell in love with her, but all his gifts and flattery availed him nothing. When the Prefect saw his son sick, he added his persuasions, but she refused absolutely,saying that Christ was her spouse. Then he grew angry, and ordered all sorts of torments : she was stripped of clothing, but her hair suddenly grew so long that it covered her entirely. When the onlookers, terrified, shut her up, an angel ap- peared to her, bringing a shining garment. When Sempronius approached her, he was smitten with blindness and convulsions, and the Prefect ordered her to be burnt as a sorceress. But the flames refused to touch her, burning the executioners instead. She was then killed with the sword, preserving
THE SAINTS IN ART 5
her purity to the end, and the legend says that she appeared afterwards to people worshipping at her tomb, accompanied by a snow-white lamb.
She is represented as very young and fair, with a lamb.
Alban, St. {22nd June)
The first British martyr. He was born at Verulamium (St. Alban's), in the third century. During the persecution under Diocletian he sheltered in his house a Christian priest, by whose teaching and example he was con- verted. Soon afterwards he suffered martyr- dom. A church was built on the spot, in later times the site of the celebrated Benedic- tine monastery.
Albert, St. (Bishop of Vercelli,and Patriarch of Jerusalem). (%th April) He is regarded as the Founder of the Carmelite Order. In 12 14, when about to embark at Acre to attend a council at Rome, he was murdered by a ruffian whom he had
6 THE SAINTS IN ART
reproved for his crimes. He therefore bears the pabn ) as a martyr. He wears the Carmel- ite habit.
In a picture by Dosso Dossi, in the Carmine, Modena, he is trampling on the fiend in the form of a woman.
Albertus Magnus, St. {i$th November)
One of the greatest philosophical thinkers of the Middle Ages. He was a Dominican friar, and Bishop of Ratisbon. He is often represented with St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Dominican habit.
In a picture, ascribed to Fra Angelico, in the Accademia, Florence, he is delivering his lectures, and in Fra Angelico's picture of" The Risen Christ," in the National Gallery, he appears as a Bishop.
Alexander, St. (of Bergamo). (See St. Grata.)
Alexis, St. (Lat. S. Alexius ; Ital. Sant' Alessio). ( 1 7th July) The long-desired son and heir of rich Roman parents. When still young he vowed
THE SAINTS IN ART 7
himself to the service of God, but his father insisted upon his marrying a noble Roman maiden. After the marriage festival he fled in a small boat by the river to Ostia. There he took ship, and came to Asia Minor, where he lived in great poverty, and taught, and ministered to the people. After a time he returned destitute to Rome, and came to his father's house, where no one recognised him, and he was lodged in a hole under the marble steps of the door. His father, mother, and wife were still mourning his loss, but he made no sign, and at last came near to death. Then he wrote down all he had gone through on paper, and while Innocent I. was cele- brating Mass before the Emperor Honorius a voice was heard, telling them to seek Alexis in the house of his father Euphemian. So they came to the place, but meanwhile Alexis had died. He was given the honours of martyrdom because of his sufferings and constancy, and became the Patron Saint of Beggars.
He is represented as a pilgrim or beggar, ragged, and carrying a palm or a cross.
8 THE SAINTS IN ART
Ambrose, St. (Ital. Sant' Ambrogio). (Patron Saint of Milan.) (jtk December) Son of a prefect of Gaul, born at Treves, about 340. Legend says that, as a forecast of future eloquence, a swarm of bees alighted on his mouth when he was a baby in the cradle, and did him no harm. On leaving Rome, where he was educated, he went to Milan, and, after becoming distinguished at the Bar there, he was made governor of the province. In 374, on the death of the Archbishop of Milan, a great controversy arose between the orthodox Catholics and the Arians. On the day of the election, Ambrose addressed the violent multitude, and, when he had reduced them to silence by his eloquence, a small child in the crowd shouted out: " Ambrosius Episcopus ! " The voice was considered an intimation from Heaven, and, much against his will, by the consensus of the people and the command of the Emperor, St. Ambrose was shortly afterwards consecrated Bishop. He set to work to be worthy of his office, the importance and authority of which he fully realised. He insisted on the supremacy of
THE SAINTS IN ART 9
the Church over the civil power, by various acts, culminating in his famous action towards the Emperor Theodosius for his massacre in Thessalonica. He excommunicated him, and insisted on his public penance in the cathedral at Milan. There are legends of his healing the sick and lame, and seeing the burial of St. Martin of Tours in a vision. He also had a miraculous dream, in which the burial place of the bones of the martyrs St. Gervasius and St. Protasius were revealed to him, and he had them deposited in Milan Cathedral. Christ visited him on his deathbed; an angel woke the Bishop of Vercelli to give him the last sacrament ; he was borne to heaven by angels.
He is usually represented as a bishop, sometimes with a beehive at his feet. More often his attribute is a knotted scourge, with three thongs, representing the Trini- tarian doctrines, which put the Arians to flight.
Pictures by Vivarini and Basaiti in the Frari, Venice, and by Ferrari at Vercelli.
io THE SAINTS IN ART
Andrew, St. (Biblical, Patron Saint of Russia and Scotland). (30/^ November)
Tradition says that St. Andrew, after preaching in Russia, went to Greece, where he converted the wife of the Proconsul, and was consequently scourged, tortured, and finally crucified. According to legend his cross was in the form of an X (St. Andrew's cross), and he was bound to it with cords. Before his crucifixion he knelt and adored the cross, in remembrance of his Master's death.
He is represented generally as an old man, with the transverse cross.
Angelus the Carmelite, St. ($th May) According to legend he came from the East about 12 17, and preached at Palermo and Messina. Having rebuked the wicked- ness of Count Berenger, a powerful noble of that country, he was hanged upon a tree, and shot with arrows.
He bears the palm as a martyr; some- times red and white roses are seen falling from his mouth, symbols of his eloquence.
THE SAINTS IN ART n
ANNE, St. (the mother of the Virgin). (See St. Mary Virgin.) (2.6th July)
Ansano, St.
Formerly the Patron Saint of Siena. He was a Roman martyr, beheaded under Diocletian.
He is represented in old Sienese pictures as a young martyr.
Anselm, St. (2 1st April)
One of the most pious and learned ec- clesiastics of his time, known as the " second father of scholasticism." He is renowned for the courage with which he upheld the rights of the Church against his king, William Rufus. He is sometimes confused with St. Anselm of Lucca, who is represented as a bishop, sometimes with a scroll in honour of the Virgin.
Anthony, St. (the Hermit). (17th Jan- uary) (St. Paul, 15th January) Was born at Alexandria, in the third century. He was early left an orphan, with
12 THE SAINTS IN ART
an only sister, with whom he divided his inheritance, sold his portion, and went to live among hermits. According to the legend he was tormented grievously by demons, who tempted him with every worldly delight, rich clothing, delicious viands, and beautiful women appeared be- fore him, but by prayer he overcame them. Then they assumed the hideous shapes of monsters, serpents, and every kind of poisonous animal, and these tormented him, but Christ comforted him. He fled to a more secluded cavern, where he lived for twenty years, without human intercourse of any kind. Then he came out of his soli- tude, and preached and taught, performing miracles, and persuaded many to become his disciples. When he had lived for seventy- five years in the desert, he was told in a vision of St. Paul, the hermit, who had been living in penance for ninety years, and he at once resolved to go to see him. So he set out across the desert. After journey- ing several days, and meeting on the way a centaur and a satyr, he came at last to
MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SS. ANTONY AND BARBARA
From the painting by Bernardino Luini in the Brera, Mila?i
THE SAINTS IN ART 13
a cave in the rocks, where St. Paul dwelt, beside a stream and a palm-tree. The two men embraced, and St. Paul inquired of the world since he had left it. While they talked, a raven came, bringing a loaf of bread in its beak. St. Paul said that it had come every day for sixty years, but that to-day the portion was doubled. He then told St. Anthony to go back to his monastery, and fetch a cloak that had been given him by St. Athanasius, the bishop, for he was about to die, and wished to be buried in it. So St. Anthony set out, and as he was returning with the cloak he saw a vision of St. Paul ascending to heaven, and on his arrival at the cave he found his body, dead, in the attitude of prayer. He had no strength left to dig a grave, but two lions came and dug it with their paws, and St. Anthony wrapped the body in the cloak and buried it. He died fourteen years later, and was buried secretly, according to his wish.
He is represented as very old, in his monk's habit (as the founder of monachism), often with a crutch, and asperges, or a bell (to
14 THE SAINTS IN ART
exorcise evil spirits), and a pig, to represent sensuality and gluttony overcome by him.
Picture by Vittore Pisano, in National Gallery.
St. Paul is very old, with long white hair, half naked, his only garment of matted palm leaves, sometimes with a raven and a stream.
Represented in Fra Angelico's "Risen Christ," in National Gallery.
Antoninus, St. (of Florence). {\oth May) Born about 1384. At the age of fifteen he presented himself for admission at the Dominican Convent at Fiesole, but he looked so small that the Prior told him to go away, and learn the Libro del Decreto by heart, and then to come again. To his surprise, Antoninus, who had indomitable perseverance, returned next year, and re- peated the whole book. He was admitted, and after studying for a year at Cortona returned to Fiesole. Among his companions his great friend was Fra Giovanni, afterwards known as " II Beato," or " Angelico," the celebrated artist of Florence. When Fra
THE SAINTS IN ART 15
Angelico was painting in Rome for the Pope he won great favour by his purity and wisdom, and on the death of the Arch- bishop of Florence he was offered the dig- nity. But he entreated the Pope to choose rather Fra Antoninus, who had done great service by his unworldliness and gentle but irresistible power. The Pope willingly did so, and Antoninus became the model of a wise prelate, greatly beloved by the people of Flor- ence. He died thirteen years later, in 1459.
He is represented as an archbishop, and wears the Dominican habit. His portrait, by Fra Bartolomeo, is in San Marco, Florence.
ANTONY, St. (of Padua), iiyh June)
Born in Portugal, towards the close of the twelfth century, he assumed the Franciscan habit, and devoted himself to missionary work. He went to Morocco, but was obliged by sickness to return to Europe. He then joined St. Francis at Assisi, who sent him to teach divinity in several universities, includ- ing Padua. After this he devoted himself
1 6 THE SAINTS IN ART
entirely to preaching, and became renowned for his persuasive eloquence. Like St. Francis, he loved Nature and all animals, and a legend relates that, when the people of Rimini refused to listen to his preaching, he went to the sea- shore, and said : " Hear, O fishes, what the unbelievers refuse.' , Whereupon innumer- able fishes, large and small, lifted their heads out of the water, and listened to his sermon. Many miracles are recorded of him. One, often represented, was on the occasion of his preaching a funeral sermon for a very rich and avaricious man. After condemning him, he said his heart would be found in his trea- sure chest, if his friends and relations sought it there ; and so it was, and on opening the body the heart was missing. There is also a story that a certain heretic asked him for a proof of the Real Presence, and that St. Antony made the man's mule bow down before the Host, and remain kneeling till it had gone by. It is said that one day, while he was preaching on the Incarnation, the Infant Christ appeared, standing on his book. He is much revered in Padua, where
THE SAINTS IN ART 17
his church is famous, and he is termed simply " II Santo."
He is represented young, in the Franciscan habit ; often with a lily or a crucifix in his hand, or with the Christ Child standing on his book, or carried in his arms. Sometimes a flame of fire is seen in his hand or in his breast, and sometimes a mule kneeling near him.
His life is illustrated by various artists in reliefs and frescoes at Padua. Representa- tions of the saint are very frequent in churches, especially in France. He is revered as the restorer of lost property to its rightful owners.
Apollinaris, St. {2ird July)
The first Bishop of Ravenna. He was martyred in the reign of Vespasian, at the place, three miles from the city, where his church now stands, called St. Apollinare in Classe.
Apollonia, St. (Fr. Ste. Apolline). (gth February) Was the daughter of rich parents at Alex- andria, in the third century. Before her birth,
B
1 8 THE SAINTS IN ART
her mother, after vainly praying to her gods, had besought the Virgin for a child. Apol- lonia heard this, and in her youth became a Christian. Directed by an angel, she came to St. Leonine, a disciple of St. Anthony, and was baptised. An angel appeared to her bringing a white garment, and told her to go and preach in Alexandria. This she did ; but her father gave her up to the governor, who bade her fall down before his idols. When she refused she was bound to a column, and her teeth were pulled out one by one with pincers ; as she persisted in the faith she was killed, one legend says by fire, another with the sword.
Her distinguishing attribute is a pair of pincers, occasionally a tooth. Frescoes by Luini at Saronno.
Apollonius, St.
Bishop of Brescia about the year 300.
Apostles, The Twelve (Biblical)
In old Byzantine work sometimes repre- sented as sheep, often issuing from the cities
THE SAINTS IN ART 19
of Bethlehem and Jerusalem — the cities of CHRIST'S birth and death. Occasionally as men, with scrolls in their hands, bearing the various clauses of the Apostles' Creed, which they are supposed to have formulated at their last meeting on Mount Olivet, before they set out to preach.
Aquinas, St. Thomas. (See Thomas Aquinas, St.)
Archangels.
" The seven holy angels who stand in the presence of God." Of these, four only in Christian art are distinguished by name — viz. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. The first three are reverenced in the Catholic Church as saints. (See Michael, St., etc.)
Athanasius, St. (2nd May)
One of the Greek Fathers, was born in Alexandria about 298. He won renown as a champion of orthodoxy at the Council of Nice (325). The next year he became Bishop
2o THE SAINTS IN ART
of Alexandria, and waged perpetual warfare against the Arians till his death, in 372.
He is represented generally in groups of the Greek Fathers, and distinguished by name.
Augustine, St. (the greatest of the Latin Fathers). (28^ August) Was born in 354 A.D., in Numidia. His mother, Monica, was a Christian, and, accord- ing to tradition, was most anxious to bring up her son in her faith, herself taking him to school in early youth. But it was not till after a stormy, restless period, followed by great success in law at Rome, that he came to Milan, where, under the influence of St. Ambrose, he was baptised, in the presence of his mother, in 387. He gave himself up to study for some years, was then ordained, and shortly became Bishop of Hippo, near Car- thage. Here he wrote his chief theological works and his confessions. He devoted himself to his diocese, refusing to leave his flock when North Africa was overrun by the Vandals, and died in Hippo, during the
THE SAINTS IN ART 21
siege of that town in 430. He was con- sidered the Founder of the Augustine Order of Friars, and became the Patron Saint of Theologians. He relates many of his visions, the most famous being that, while meditat- ing on the Trinity on the seashore, the Christ Child appeared to him, filling a hole in the sand with water. St. Augustine asked Him what He was doing. He said : " Trying to pour all the water of the sea into this hole." " Impossible," said Augustine. " Not more than for thee, O Augustine, to explain the mystery on which thou art meditating ! "
He is represented with his bishop's mitre and crozier, or in the black habit of his order, sometimes with a pen or a book, one of his own works, or a flaming heart. Often his mother is with him, generally with a grey or white coif. He is less easy to distinguish than the other Fathers, but is a very favourite figure in art.
His life is illustrated in frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli at San Gimignano, pictures by Botti- celli in the Accademia, Florence, and by Garofalo in the National Gallery.
22 THE SAINTS IN ART AUGUSTINE, St. (of Canterbury). {2.6th May) He was sent by Gregory the Great to found the Roman Church in England, where the earlier British Church had been to a great extent extirpated, or driven West, by the pagan invaders. He converted Ethelbert, King of Kent, and as a result of his labours a large part of the country became Christian. His career forms a well-known chapter in our early history.
Barbara, St. (Patroness of Armourers and Fortifications). ($th December) According to legend, she was the daughter of a nobleman, named Dioscorus, of Helio- polis. He loved her so dearly that, fearful lest she should be taken from him in marriage, he shut her up in a solitary tower. Here she contemplated, and meditated on the stars, and despised the false gods of her parents. She heard of the fame of Origen and his teaching at Alexandria, and wrote to him secretly for instruction in the Faith. Origen sent her one of his disciples, disguised as a physician, and by him she was taught and
THE SAINTS IN ART 23
baptised. During her father's absence from home she made the workmen, who were constructing a splendid bathroom in her tower, put in three windows instead of two. When questioned by her father about it, she said that light came into her soul through three windows — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He was enraged at her conversion to Christianity, and, all his love for her turning to hate, he tried to kill her. Though she was miraculously ren- dered invisible and concealed for a time, he found her at length, and, after all en- deavours to persuade her had failed, he cut off her head with his own hand, on a moun- tain near the city. As he came down after the martyrdom, fire descended from heaven and destroyed him, so that not a trace re- mained.
She is represented with crown and palm of martyrdom, often with a book, but her distinguishing attribute is a tower, often with three windows. She is invoked against sudden death, in the belief that she will save people from dying without the last
24 THE SAINTS IN ART
sacraments ; hence she is sometimes repre- sented with the cup and wafer.
Pictures by Palma Vecchio in S. Maria Formosa, Venice, and by Matteo di Giov- anni, in S. Domenico, Siena.
Barnabas, St. (Biblical). {\\th June) Tradition says that, when he went forth
preaching, he carried with him the original
copy of the Gospel of St. Mark, and with
it performed many miracles. He was the
first Bishop of Milan.
He is represented with St. Paul or St.
Mark, sometimes holding St, Mark's Gospel
in his hand.
Bartholomew, St. (Biblical). (24/A August) By some identified with Nathanael. Ac- cording to tradition he preached the Gospel in India and the Far East. Returning through Armenia and Asia Minor, he suffered mar- tyrdom at Albanopolis. He was flayed alive, and then crucified.
He is represented of a dark complexion ;
ST. BARTHOLOMEW
Fro7?i an engraving by Albrecht Dllrer
THE SAINTS IN ART ' 25
sometimes holding his skin in his hand. His attribute is a large knife.
Basil, St. (the Greek Father). {\\th June) Was born in 328, and belonged to a family of saints. He was the fellow-student of St. Gregory Nazianzen and Julian the Apostate. He became Bishop of Caesarea in 370, and came into conflict with the Emperor Valens over the Arian controversy. He wrote in- numerable theological works, and founded monachism in Asia Minor. He died in 379. He is represented as one of the Greek Fathers, generally distinguished by his name inscribed.
Bavon, St. (Flem. St. Baf). (1st October)
The Patron Saint of Ghent and Haarlem. A nobleman of Brabant, born about 589, who lived for nearly fifty years a worldly, dissipated life. Then the preaching of St. Amand induced him to give away all that he had, and to retire, as a hermit, to a forest near Ghent, where he lived in a hollow tree, on wild herbs, till he died, about 657.
26 THE SAINTS IN ART
He is represented either as a prince with a falcon, or as a hermit in a hollow tree. Some- times a large j#?#*, which he used to carry as a penance, is seen beside him.
Benedict, St. (Ital. San Benedetto; Fr. St. Benoit; Span. San Benito). {list March) The Founder of the Benedictine Order. He was born of a noble family in Spoleto, in 480, and was sent to study at Rome, where he showed great promise, but disgusted at the prevailing profligacy, and attracted by the teaching of St. Jerome on the efficacy of solitude, he became a hermit, at the age of fifteen. His nurse, Cyrilla, who had never left him, tried to follow him, but he fled secretly, and hid in the wilderness of Subi- aco. Here he underwent many temptations, and once, distracted by earthly desires, he threw himself into a thicket of briars, and arose bleeding, but calm. He tended the poor and sick, and after a time a society of hermits succeeded in making him its head. But his life was too strict for them, and one
THE SAINTS IN ART 27
of them tried to poison him in a cup of wine. The saint, however, made the sign of the cross before drinking, and, so legend tells us, the cup miraculously fell to the ground, and broke. Then St. Benedict returned to Subiaco, and, with the help of his many dis- ciples, founded twelve monasteries. Among those who were brought to him were two boys, Maurus and Placidus, sons of Roman senators. Both afterwards became famous — St. Maurus introducing the Benedictine Rule into France, where it flourished exceedingly, and St. Placidus into Sicily, where his sister, St. Flavia, joined him, and was martyred with him. St. Benedict had a powerful enemy, Florentius, who did all he could to destroy his work, attempting to take his life, and to draw his disciples into tempta- tion. When he heard that on Monte Cas- sino the worship of Apollo still continued, he went and preached there, prevailed on the people to destroy all traces of idolatry, and laid the foundation of what has since been regarded as the parent monastery of his Order. There he promulgated his Rule
28 THE SAINTS IN ART
— a perpetual vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience, combined with manual labour. For fourteen years he ruled over his con- vent at Monte Cassino, and his latter days were cheered by the help of his sister, Scholastica, who is considered the first Bene- dictine nun. He died in 543. Innumerable legends of his miracles are related.
He is usually represented bearded, gener- ally in a black, but sometimes in a white, habit, holding the asperges (for sprinkling holy water), or his pastoral staff as abbot ; some- times with a raven, or broken cup, or broken sieve, or with a book.
Frescoes by Spinello Aretino in San Mini- ato,Florence,and picture by Memling in Uffizi.
Benedict (or Bennet Biscop), St. (\2tk January) Born of a noble Northumbrian family, he founded, in 677, two important monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, which he adorned with many pictures. He made five journeys into Italy, and brought back architects, sculptors, and workers in metal. He also
THE SAINTS IN ART 29
laboured for the improvement of Church music, and of education generally. Bede was among his pupils.
Bernard, St. (of Clairvaux). {20th August) The importance of St. Bernard as a subject of art bears no proportion to his importance in history, or a long account of his life would be his due. He was born near Dijon, of noble parentage, in 1090. He studied at the University of Paris, and at the age of twenty entered the Benedictine Monastery of Citeaux, where the Reformed Order of Cistercians had lately been instituted. A few years later, this monastery becoming over- crowded, the Abbot sent St. Bernard on a mission to found another. He wandered forth with twelve monks, and came to a wilderness, which in due time, by dint of hard work, became a smiling land, and on it arose the Abbey of Clairvaux. St. Bernard became the leading ecclesiastic and politician of his age, the counsellor of popes and kings, and the theological adversary of Abelard. Worn out by his fiery zeal and rigorous life,
30 THE SAINTS IN ART
he died at the age of sixty-three. His writ- ings had great authority. Legend says that when he was writing his famous " Homilies on the Song of Solomon," in praise of the Virgin, she herself appeared to him, and moistened his lips with the milk from her bosom, giving him ever afterwards super- natural eloquence. He is remarkable for his extreme devotion to the Virgin, and the white habit of the Cistercians was said to have been adopted by her special com- mand to him in a vision.
He is represented in the white habit of the Cistercians, carrying a book, or writing in it, or presenting books to the Madonna. His vision is a favourite subject, notable examples being Fra Lippo Lippi's, in the National Gallery, and Filippino Lippi's, in the Badia, Florence.
Bernardino, St. (of Siena, Founder of the
Observants). {20th May)
Born of a noble family at Massa in 1380.
When he was yet a youth, plague broke out
in Siena, and many priests and physicians
CANON WITH ST. MARTIN, ST. DONATIAN AND ST. BERNARDINO
From the painting by G/iereaert David, in the A r ational Gallery
THE SAINTS IN ART 31
died. St. Bernardino, assisted by some other young men, nursed the sick day and night for months. At twenty-three he took the Franciscan habit, and preached through- out Italy with marvellous success. He re- fused several bishoprics, preferring the simple life of a friar. He founded the Re- formed Order of Franciscans, called " Osser- vanti," because they observed the original Rule of St. Francis. Always delicate, and all too zealous for work, he was taken ill at Naples, and died at Aquila. It is said that, while preaching, he used to hold in his hand a tablet, on which was carved the sacred monogram, I.H.S., encircled by rays. He is generally regarded as the founder of the " Monte-di-Pieta," an institution for lending money to the poor, intended to protect them from extortionate usurers.
He is represented in his Franciscan habit, holding a tablet with the Sacred Monogram, I.H.S., or a " Monte-di-Pieta," composed of three little mounds, with a cross, or a standard, bearing a " Pieta," planted upon it.
32 THE SAINTS IN ART
Pictures by early Sienese artists at Siena, altar-piece by Moretto of Brescia in the National Gallery. His shrine at Aquila is notable.
Bernardo Dei Tolomei, St.
Born in 1272, of a noble Sienese family, he became a distinguished Professor of Law in his native city ; but in middle life retired from the world, to Monte Oliveto, about ten miles from Siena. Here he founded the " Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto," or "Olivetani," and placed them under the Rule of St. Benedict. He died in 1 348.
He is represented in the white Benedictine habit, with an olive branch in his hand.
Blaise, St. (Ital. San Biagio). (3rd February) He was Bishop of Sebaste, in Cappadocia, and, according to legend, fled from the per- secutions of Diocletian to a mountain cave, where lions, tigers, and bears became tame at his approach, and visited him daily to ask
THE SAINTS IN ART 33
his blessing. When wild beasts were wanted for the amphitheatre, hunters came to the cave, and finding St. Blaise and the animals sitting at peace together thought him a wizard, and brought him before the governor. On the way he performed miracles. He was scourged and imprisoned, but continuing firm in his faith he was then stripped, and, his flesh having been torn with the iron combs used for carding wool, was finally beheaded.
He is represented as a bishop, with combs, the instruments of his torture, as his attribute, or in a cave with wild animals.
BONAVENTURA, ST.("The Seraphic Doctor"). (14th July)
Born in Tuscany, in 1221. When an in- fant, and very ill, he was laid by his mother at the feet of St. Francis, who exclaimed, " O buona ventura," and he was cured. Hence his name. He was brought up in piety, and when twenty-two took the Franciscan habit. He went to Paris to complete his studies, and in a few years became a celebrated teacher. Legend says that when, deeming
34 THE SAINTS IN ART
himself unworthy, he did not present himself to receive theSacrament, the Host was brought ■ to him by the hand of an angel. Though remarkable for his humility, he was greatly honoured by Louis IX., and in 1256 became General of the Franciscan Order. Some years later, he was made cardinal, and Bishop of Albano. When two nuncios came from Pope Gregory X., to present him with the cardinal's hat, they found him in the garden of a convent near Florence, washing his plate after dinner ; and he told them to hang the hat on a tree till he had finished. The great council at Lyons, in 1274, held to reconcile the Greek and Latin Churches, in which he took a leading part, proved too exhausting for his strength, for he died shortly after.
He is represented in the Franciscan habit, sometimes in a mitre, or cardinals hat, or with the latter hanging on a tree. Often he carries the Host> or an angel is giving it to him.
Fresco by Fra Angelico in the Chapel of Nicholas V. in the Vatican ; picture by Moretto in the Louvre.
THE SAINTS IN ART 35
Boniface, St. (Primate of Germany). ($th June)
The monk, Winfred, was born in Devon- shire, and taught in a Benedictine Abbey near Winchester. In middle life he conceived a great desire to go and preach the Gospel in Germany, and went to Rome to solicit aid from Pope Gregory II. Here he changed his name to Boniface. He then started on his mission, visiting Thuringia, Bavaria, and Saxony, and in 732 was created Primate of all Germany, and soon afterwards first Bishop of Mainz. In his seventy-fourth year he set out again on a missionary journey, and, with St. Ambrose's " De Bono Mortis" in his cloak, - penetrated for the second time into Friesland. There he was murdered by the pagans. His blood-stained book was exhibited for many centuries as a relic.
He is represented as a bishop, in one hand the crozier^ in the other a book pierced by a sword, or baptising a convert, with one foot on a prostrate oak, the symbol of Druidism.
36 THE SAINTS IN ART
Bridget, St. (of Sweden). {Zth October)
Not to be confounded with St. Bridget of Ireland. She was connected with the royal family of Sweden, married to Ulf Gud- marsson, and the mother of eight children. After her husband's death she founded the monastery of Wastein, for sixty nuns and twenty-four monks, under the Rule of St Augustine. The nuns have always been called " Briggittines."
She afterwards went to Rome, where she persuaded the Pope to introduce reforms, and dictated her celebrated work " Celestial Revelations." After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she died at Rome, in 1373, was canonised in 1391, and has since been regarded as one of the Patron Saints of Sweden.
She is represented as of mature age, in nun's attire, bearing the crozier of an abbess, and sometimes the pilgrim's staff and wallet. A picture of her, delivering the Rule of her Order, by Sogliani is in the Uffizi, Florence.
THE SAINTS IN ART 37
Bruno, St. (Founder of the Carthusian Order). (6th September) He was born at Cologne, and educated at Rheims. Becoming distinguished for his ability, he was appointed teacher of theology at Rheims. Here he persuaded six of his friends to join him in a life of seclusion and penance, and, after giving away their posses- sions, they set out for Grenoble. In the meantime, Hugo, Bishop of Grenoble, had a dream, in which he saw seven stars move before him, and stand over a certain spot in his diocese. When Bruno and his com- panions arrived, and asked him for a retreat from the world, he saw the fulfilment of his dream, and gave them some land at Char- treux, where they founded a monastery, afterwards " La Grande Chartreuse." His Rule was more austere than that of the other Reformed Benedictines, and his monks were most industrious, both in cultivating the land and in transcribing books. He went to Rome to help Pope Urban II., one of his old pupils ; but, finding life at the Papal Court uncon- genial, retired to a desert in Calabria, where
38 THE SAINTS IN ART
he founded " La Torre," another convent of his Order. There he died in iioi, but was not canonised till five hundred years later.
He is represented with shaven head, in the loose habit of the Carthusians, distinguished by the white scapular, hanging down before and behind, and joined at the sides by bands.
Picture by Quercino, in Gallery of Bologna.
Catherine, St. (Patroness of Philosophy, Learning, Schools, and Colleges). (25/// November) Called St. Catherine of Alexandria, or in Italian "delle Ruote," to distinguish her from others of the name. According to legend, St. Catherine was the daughter of Costis, a brother of Constantine the Great, and of Sabinella, daughter of the King of Egypt. Very early she showed signs of extraordinary ability and virtue. At the age of fifteen she was learned in the works of Plato, and sur- passed her masters, who were the seven wisest men of the day. Her father died at this time, and she became queen, but she continued her life of study, and, very much
THE SAINTS IN ART 39
against the wishes of her people, she refused to marry, till, she said, a prince with all the virtues should come to woo her. A vision appeared to an old hermit in the desert near Alexandria, in which the Virgin told him to go to Catherine and comfort her, telling her that the Saviour of the world would be her bridegroom. She asked what she should do to become worthy of Him, and learnt the Christian faith from the hermit, and was baptised, together with her mother. The same night the Son OF God appeared to her, in a vision, and put a ring on her ringer. When she saw it she determined to give up the world, and live entirely for the service of the Church. Maximin the tyrant now began his persecutions of the Christians at Alex- andria, and Catherine's opportunity came. She argued so forcibly with Maximin that he called together fifty of the most learned philosophers of the empire, promising them great rewards if they could refute her. But she disputed so wisely that, one after another, they acknowledged themselves vanquished and accepted Christianity. Maximin con-
40 THE SAINTS IN ART
signed them all to the flames, and, struck by her beauty, had Catherine brought to his palace. Failing utterly in all his attempts against Catherine, he ordered her to be scourged and thrown into a dungeon ; but her virtue and her miraculous preservation in prison had such influence that the Em- press and Porphyry, a minion of Maximin, and their attendants, were, during his absence from home, converted. At this Maximin waxed more furious than ever ; he had his wife, Porphyry, and the other converts put to death, and on Catherine refusing with scorn to become his Empress he ordered her to be bound on the sharp points of four revolving wheels, and torn to death. Catherine went out gladly to die, but an angel came and broke the wheels, the fragments of which killed thousands of the onlookers. She was then carried outside the city, tortured, and finally beheaded ; and the angels came and carried her body away to the top of Mount Sinai. These legends were most popular in Europe in the Middle Ages, and St. Catherine is a universal favourite in the world of art.
THE SAINTS IN ART 41
She is represented as young, beautiful, and crowned, with a palm, book, or sword in her hand ; but her distinguishing attribute is a spiked wheels often broken. In pictures of the marriage of St. Catherine the wheel is often omitted ; a ring is being placed on her finger by Christ. Her burial by angels is a favourite subject.
Her life is illustrated in frescoes by Maso- lino in S. Clemente, Rome ; pictures of her mystical marriage by Borgognoni, in the National Gallery, and her martyrdom and burial, by Luini, in S. Maurizio and in the Brera, Milan.
Catherine, St. (of Siena). (30M April)
Born in 1347, the youngest child of a rich dyer of Siena. She was a visionary from early youth, and prayed that, like her name- sake of Alexandria, she might be the Bride of Christ. After years of ill treatment by her family, because of her extreme piety and her refusal to marry, she sought admission to the Third Order of St. Dominic, but still lived in her father's house. According to
42 THE SAINTS IN ART
legend she endured severe temptations, but overcame them by prayer and fasting, and went about nursing the sick. She had a vision of Christ bringing in his hands a crown of gold and a crown of thorns. She chose the latter, and put it on her head. It is also related that one morning, when pray- ing before the crucifix in the Chapel of St. Christina at Pisa, she, like St. Francis, re- ceived the " Stigmata." Her fame spread, and she was chosen by the Florentines, who had been excommunicated in 1376, as their mediator with the Pope, then at Avignon. It is said that she helped to persuade him to return to Rome, which he did the same year. She died at the age of thirty-three. Her actions had great influence on the political history of her time, and she wrote books which are among the Italian classics. Her last years were spent at Rome, working for the unity and reformation of the Church.
She is represented in the habit of her Order, and is at once identified by the Stig- mata. She generally has a lify t but often a crown of thorns. She is also sometimes
ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
From, the painting by Sano di Pietro at Siena
THE SAINTS IN ART 43
painted, like her famous patroness and namesake, St. Catherine of Alexandria, re- ceiving the marriage ring from the Infant Christ.
Her portrait, by Andrea di Vanni, is in San Domenico, Siena, and frescoes and pictures in her house and in the Accademia there.
Cecilia, St. (Patroness of Music). {22nd November) Was, according to legend, the daughter of noble Roman parents, in the reign of the Emperor Severus. They secretly professed Christianity, and, from her childhood, Cecilia was remarkable for her piety. She always carried a copy of the Gospels concealed in her robe, and vowed herself to Christ and chastity. She used her great gift for music to the glory of God, and invented the organ for His service. When she was about sixteen her parents married her to a young Roman noble, Valerian, whom she persuaded to re- spect her vows of chastity, and he was con- verted to the Faith. He sought St. Urban in the Catacombs, and was baptised by him.
44 THE SAINTS IN ART
When he returned, he found, with his wife, an angel, who crowned them both with roses gathered in Paradise. Valerian, in response to the angel's offer to grant any request of his, asked that his brother, Tiburtius, might also be converted. Soon after Tiburtius came in, and noticed the scent of roses, but, being still unconverted, could not see them. Cecilia then reasoned with him so convinc- ingly concerning the Faith that he also went to St. Urban and was baptised. All three went about doing good, till the Prefect of Rome ordered the two brothers to be thrown into a dungeon. They were in charge of a centurion, Maximus, who was converted, and died with them shortly after. Cecilia buried them, and then became the object of the Prefect's tortures. He had her thrown into a boiling bath, with flames under it, but she was unhurt, so he sent his executioner, who gave her three wounds in the neck and breast, and left her half dead. She bequeathed all her goods to the poor, desired St. Urban to convert her house into a place of worship for the Christians ; then, after three days, still
ST. AGATHA
ST. LUCY
. AGNES BARBARA
ST. CECILIA From the painting by II Moretto da Brescia in the Church of St. Clement, Bn
THE SAINTS IN ART 45
singing praises to God, she died. Her house became a church, which was rebuilt over her remains in the ninth century, when she ap- peared to Pope Pascal I., and told him where her body was buried. Later she became the Patron Saint of Musicians.
She is represented with a palm, sometimes crowned with roses, and is easily distinguished from other virgin martyrs by her organ or other musical instrument, or roll of music.
Famous picture by Raphael in the Ac- cademia, Bologna, and by the Van Eycks in the Berlin Museum.
Charles Borromeo, St. (4/A November)
Born in 1 537, of a noble family in Lombardy, he was dedicated to the Church from infancy, and his uncle, Pope Pius IV., made him a cardinal, and Archbishop of Milan, at the age of twenty-three. On the death of his elder brother he left Rome for Milan to take possession of his estates and his diocese. He lived in the utmost simplicity, giving away all his property, and visited the remote parts of Northern Italy. His moral standard was
46 THE SAINTS IN ART
unyielding, and he was determined to put down all abuses within his jurisdiction. In doing so he made many enemies, and his life was attempted. During the severe out- break of plague at Milan, in 1575, he ministered personally to the sick, walked barefoot through the city with a halter round his neck, and then solemnly knelt before the crucifix in the cathedral, offering himself as a sacrifice for the people. He died in 1584.
He is represented in late Italian pictures as a cardinal, with an archbishop's crozier, generally barefoot^ and with a rope round his neck.
Christina, St. (Patroness of Bolsena, her traditional birthplace). (24th July) According to legend, her father was a Roman governor in the third century. She was early converted to Christianity, and dis- tributed his idols of gold and silver to the poor. In a rage he ordered her to be beaten and thrown into a dungeon, but this was without avail : she remained firm in the Faith.
THE SAINTS IN ART 47
She was then thrown into Lake Bolsena, with a millstone round her neck, but angels watched over her, and brought her safe to land. After various other tortures her father died, and the persecution was continued by his successor, Julian. He had her tongue cut out, and tried vainly, in other ways, to break her spirit ; at last she was tied to a post and shot with arrows. So she died, and was carried to heaven by angels.
She is represented with a palm and crown> and sometimes an arrow : her distinguishing attribute is a millstone.
Picture by Vincenzo Catena in S. Maria, Mater Domini, Venice.
Christopher, St. (2$thjuty)
Legend says that he was a giant, a native of Canaan. He was so proud of his size and strength, that he w r ould take service with no one but the most powerful monarch in the world. So he set out to find him, and came to the Court of King Maximus, renowned for riches and power. He served him till he noticed that even this great king made the
48 THE SAINTS IN ART
sign of the cross at the mention of the devil ; then he left him and sought the service of Satan, as a more powerful ruler. Satan appeared to him, leading his armed hosts, and he followed him, till, coming to a cross by the wayside, Satan trembled. Christopher, astonished, inquired the reason, and finding that Christ was more powerful than Satan he sought Him. He found a hermit who in- structed him in the Christian faith, but he refused to be bound by prayers and fastings. So the hermit told him that if he could not worship he could serve Christ, and sent him to a certain river where there was a ford, and told him to carry over on his shoulders all who wished to cross. Christopher rooted up a palm-tree for a staff, and day and night carried over all who came to the ford. One night a child came, and Christopher lifted him on his shoulders and entered the river. But the waters rose, and the waves and wind roared, and the child grew heavier and heavier, so that he could hardly get across. When at last they reached the bank, the child said he had carried over Him who made the world,
ST. CHRISTOPHER
Front the painting by Dierick Bouts at Munich
"V
THE SAINTS IN ART 49
and that his service was accepted, and that, as a token, if he planted his staff in the ground, in the morning it would bear leaves and fruit. Then the Christ Child vanished, and it happened as He had said. And he fell down and worshipped, and went forth to encourage the Christians, calling his name Christopher, for he had carried CHRIST. After many sufferings and tortures, he was im- prisoned and beheaded.
He is represented as very tall and strong, generally fording a river with a huge staff in his hand, and carrying the Christ Child on his shoulders.
Fresco by Titian in Palazzo Ducale, Venice.
Chrysostom, St. John. (27th January)
The most renowned of the Greek Fathers. Born about 350, of noble parents, at Antioch, he began his public life at the bar, but while still young he left his widowed mother, and passed several years in the desert in penance. Returning to Antioch, worn out by his abstinence, he was ordained, and became renowned for his preaching. By the universal
50 THE SAINTS IN ART
wish of the people he was appointed Arch- bishopof Constantinople, in 398, and performed the duties of his office with the greatest vigour and determination. He denounced the licen- tiousness of his time, and brought upon him- self the animosity of a large section of the clergy, and of the Empress Eudosia. By her influence he was deposed and ultimately banished. He died in exile. He wrote a very great number of homilies, commentaries, and orations, and was celebrated, as his name (golden mouth) implies, for his eloquence. A story is told that in the desert he went on hands and knees, and without clothes, for many years, in expiation of a sin in the early days of his ministry.
He is generally represented with the other Greek Fathers, distinguished by their names inscribed. Several pictures illustrate the legend of his penance.
Clara, St. (Ital. Santa Chiara). (\2th A ugnst) The eldest daughter of a noble family at Assisi. While very young, she decided to
THE SAINTS IN ART 51
devote herself to a religious life, but her parents objected. However, she was deter- mined to renounce the world, and one Palm Sunday she fled from her father's house to the Chapel of the Porzioncula, where St. Francis dwelt, and put herself under his care. Her parents tried in vain to bring her back, and soon her younger sister, Agnes, and many other ladies of Assisi, joined her ; and the Order of " Poor Clares " was in- stituted. Their Rule was as severe as that of St. Francis, and after a time St. Clara's health gave way. When the Saracens over- ran the neighbourhood of Assisi and ap- proached the convent, St. Clara, though long bedridden, rose up, and taking the Pyx, containing the Host, placed it on the threshold, at the same time singing a psalm. The enemy fled. This miraculous de- liverance brought great fame to the Order. St. Clara died, after much suffering, in 1253.
She is represented as a nun, in a grey habit with a cord, holding a cross or lily ; but her more distinctive attribute is the Pyx.
Frescoes by Giotto in Santa Croce, Flor-
52 THE SAINTS IN ART
ence, and in the Upper Church of San Fran- cesco, Assisi.
Clement, St. (2yd November)
A disciple of SS. Peter and Paul, and third Bishop of Rome. In the reign of Trajan he was banished, together with other Christians, to an island, where they suffered great priva- tions and had no water. According to the legend, in answer to St. Clement's prayers, a lamb appeared to him on a hill, and he, recog- nising it as a vision from Heaven, dug there, and a stream of water flowed forth. After this miracle he was tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea, but in answer to the prayers of his followers the waters drew back, and disclosed a small ruined temple in which was his body with the anchor round his neck. This miracle is said to have happened yearly, and pilgrims went to wor- ship at the shrine. A woman, leaving her child there asleep, found it the next year unhurt.
He is represented as Pope, often with an anchor in his hand or beside him.
Frescoes in San Clemente, Rome, and
THE SAINTS IN ART 53
picture by Ghirlandaio in Accademia, Flor- ence.
Clotilda, St. (3rd June)
A princess of Burgundy, who became the wife of Clovis, King of France. When in imminent danger of defeat by the Huns, Clovis commended himself to Clotilda's GOD, and, having obtained a complete victory, was baptised by St. Remi. In consequence of a vision by St. Clotilda, the three lilies (fleurs- de-lys), were substituted for the three frogs or toads (crapauds) in the arms of France.
She is represented in royal robes, with long white veil and jewelled crown ; either kneeling in prayer, or bestowing alms ; or attended by an angel holding a shield bear- ing the three fleurs-de-lys.
Constantine, Emperor. (See St. Sylvester and St.. Helena.) (20th January)
CONSTANTIUS, ST. (Ital. SAN CONSTANZO) He was Bishop of Perugia in the third or
fourth century, and was martyred in the
reign of Marcus Aurelius.
He is often represented with San Ercolano.
54 THE SAINTS IN ART
Cosmo and Damian, SS. (Patrons of the Medici Family and of Doctors). (27th September)
Were two Arabian brothers who lived in Cilicia. They were brought up by their mother in every Christian virtue, and, in order to help the poor and sick, they studied medicine. They became the most distin- guished physicians, but refused all payment for their services. According to the legend, in the reign of Diocletian they were im- prisoned and then thrown into the sea, ! but an angel preserved them. Then they were cast into the fire, but were not consumed ; and bound to crosses and stoned and shot at, but neither stones nor arrows could touch them, falling instead on those who threw them. Finally they were beheaded.
They are always represented together, dressed in red robes with fur, the habit of physicians ; they hold boxes or lancets in their hands. Sometimes they are tending the sick or performing operations. Very frequently introduced into paintings by Florentine
THE SAINTS IN ART $5
artists — Fra Angelico, Lippo Lippi, Botticelli, and others.
Crispian, St. and Crispianus, St. (35/ft
October)
Two brothers, shoemakers, who went with St. Denis, preaching the Gospel in France. They continued to work at their trade, mak- ing shoes for the poor without fee. They suffered martyrdom by the sword, at Soissons, about 300. They became popular in England as protectors of the Shoemakers' Guild.
They are represented together, with their cobblers' tools.
Cross, St. or Holy Cross (Ital. Santa Croce). (See St. Helena.)
Cunegunda, St. (See St. Henry of Bavaria.) (3rd March)
Cuthbert, St. (2,0th March)
A shepherd in the valley of the Tweed, who entered the monastery of Melrose, and afterwards dwelt for some years as an anchorite on Lindisfarne, or Holy Island,
56 THE SAINTS IN ART
then a barren islet off the coast of Northum- berland. At length he became Bishop of Lindisfarne, then the seat of the Northumbrian bishopric. Many wonders are recorded of him. After his death the see was removed to Durham, where his relics found their ultimate resting-place.
He is represented as a bishop, with an otter at his side, signifying his living in the midst of waters, or in allusion to the legend that one night, when he lay exhausted by his penance on the cold shore, two otters, by lick- ing him, revived his benumbed limbs. But his more distinctive attribute is the crowned head of King Oswald^ carried in his arms.
Cyprian, St. (Bishop of Carthage). (i6tk September) A celebrated Father of the Church, ^who was martyred in the reign of Valerian.
Cyprian, St. (the Magician, of Antioch). (26th September) Who, according to the legend, was called upon by Aglaidos, the lover of St. Justina, to
THE SAINTS IN ART 57
help him to win her from her devotion to Christianity. Cyprian himself fell in love with her, but no tortures of his demons could move her, and when they acknowledged themselves powerless he was converted to the service of Justina's God. Together they preached and taught, and together they were beheaded, by command of Dio- cletian.
He is represented with palm and sword ; trampling on magical books ; generally with St. Justina.
Cyril, St. (of Alexandria). (28M January) One of the Greek Fathers, generally re- presented with the other four, and distin- guished in Byzantine art by name.
Damian, St. (See St. Cosmo.)
Denis, St. (of France). Dionysius, St.
(the Areopagite). (Ital. San DlONlSIO
or DlONlGl.) {$rd October)
An extraordinary legend identifies these
two saints, the Bishop of Paris ia the third
58 THE SAINTS IN ART
century with the convert of St. Paul! It says that Dionysius became the first Bishop of Athens, and, after the martyrdom of St. Paul, was sent by St. Clement to France, with SS. Rusticus and Eleutherius as his fellow- workers. He settled in Paris, and sent missionaries throughout France, and even to Germany. He was accused to the Emperor Trajan, who sent a proconsul to Paris to arrest him, and he was beheaded, together with his two companions, and their bodies thrown to the wild beasts. But St. Denis rose to his feet, and, taking up his head, walked, angels singing by the way, to the Mount of Martyrs (Montmartre), where the three bodies were buried. He became the Patron Saint of the French Monarchy in the reign of King Dagobert, and his name the war-cry. The Neoplatonic writings " On the Celestial Hierarchy" were ascribed to him in the Middle Ages.
He is represented as a bishop, often carry- ing his head as his attribute, but several other less important saints are occasionally thus depicted.
THE SAINTS IN ART 59
With other saints in Ghirlandaio's picture in Accademia, Florence.
Diego, San (d'Alcala). (S. Didacus or DlDACE.) {i^th November) A Capuchin monk at Alcala, in Spain, in the fifteenth century. He was canonised at the request of Philip II. in 1588. Many miracles are recorded of him. He is said to have acted as cook to his monastery, and on one occasion, when detected giving away bread to the poor, on opening his tunic, the loaves were found converted to roses.
Dominic, St. (Ital. San Domenico ; Span. San Domingo). (4/A August) The Founder of the famous Dominican Order. He was born at Calaruga, in Castile, in 1 1 70. Legend says that before his birth his mother dreamt that she brought forth a black and white dog, carrying in his mouth a burning torch. Also that at his christening his godmother saw a star de- scend from heaven and settle on his brow. After studying at Valencia, he assumed the
60 THE SAINTS IN ART
habit of a canon of St Augustine, and was soon distinguished for his learning and vigour. In 1207 he went to Rome, and ob- tained permission from the Pope to preach in the south of France against the Albi- genses. There he disputed, and upheld the Church. What share he had in the actual crusade and suppression of the heretics is doubtful. St. Dominic joined to himself several other preachers, who went with him on his missions, and out of this association his Order sprang. During his stay in Languedoc he is said to have introduced the rosary, which had great influence in exciting the devotion of the people. In 12 1 8 he came to Rome and instituted the Order of Dominican Nuns. He then founded convents in various cities of Europe, preach- ing with great enthusiasm till his death at Bologna, in 1221. Stories of St. Dominic's visions and miracles are numerous. When in Rome he had a vision of St. Peter and St. Paul, who gave him a staff and the Gospel, saying : " Go, and preach the word of GOD." When arguing with the Albi-
ST. DOMINIC
From the f>ai?iting by Giovanni Bellini in the Natiojial Gallery
THE SAINTS IN ART 61
genses he threw his book into the flames, and it leaped up three times from the fire. One day as he sat with his friars in the refectory, with nothing to eat, two angels appeared to him, bringing food and wine. On more than one occasion he restored the dead to life. His Order is particularly dis- tinguished in the history of art, for several friars belonging to it were themselves painters of the greatest merit, especially Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo.
He is represented in the habit of his Order, black cloak over white tunic. Generally with a star on his forehead and a lily in his hand. Sometimes a dog with a flaming torch in its mouth is his attribute.
Frescoes by Fra Angelico in San Marco, Florence; sculptures on his tomb at Bol- ogna by Fra Guglielmo ; frescoes in Spanish Chapel, S. Maria Novella, Florence.
Donatus, St. (of Arezzo).
Of noble birth, he was educated with the Emperor Julian ; but when Julian apostatised to paganism Donatus took refuge at Arezzo,
62 THE SAINTS IN ART
of which he became bishop. He and his companion, the monk Hilarion, performed many miracles, healing the sick, and ex- orcising demons. They both suffered mar- tyrdom, Hilarion being scourged to death, and Donatus tortured and decapitated. Their bodies lie under the high altar of the cathedral, where their shrine has sculptures by Giovanni di Francesco of Arezzo and Betto di Francesco of Florence (1369-1375)
Dorothea, St. (6th February)
A virgin martyr of the Greek Church. A native of Cappadocia. For her devotion to Christianity she was persecuted by Fabricius the Governor, tortured and imprisoned, but she was immovable, and was finally con- demned to be beheaded. As she was led forth to die, a young man, Theophilus, mocked at her and said : " Send me some of the fruit and flowers from that garden you speak of, where you are going to your bride- groom ! " Dorothea smiled, and said : " Thy request is granted." When she was on the point of death an angel appeared beside
THE SAINTS IN ART 6 3
her with a basket containing three apples and three roses, and she ordered them to be carried to Theophilus. He, greatly astonished, ate of the fruit, and became a servant of CHRIST, even to the death of martyrdom.
She is represented as young and beautiful, with roses as her distinguishing attribute, sometimes an attendant angel carries the flowers and fruit.
Dunstan, St. (19/A May)
Born in 924, and educated at the Abbey of Glastonbury, where he became a monk. He was a favourite of King Athelstan, and Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Edgar. The important part he played in the history of the period is well known.
Edmund, St. (King and Martyr). {20th November) A king of the East Angles, who, after being defeated in battle by the Danes, in 870, was shot at with arrows, and then be- headed. The story runs that when his
64 THE SAINTS IN ART
followers sought for his body they found a huge grey wolf reverently watching over it. They bore it away, the wolf quietly following, and interred it at the town since called Bury St. Edmund's, where his shrine became famous, and a place of pilgrimage. He is represented with an arrow in his hand ; sometimes the grey wolf crouches at his feet.
Edward the Confessor, St. ( i ith October) His history as king of England need not here be dealt with. He is the subject of many legends, of which the following is the most important. One day, returning from Mass at Westminster, he gave his ring to a pilgrim, who asked an alms for the love of God and St. John. Twenty-four years later, two English pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land, met another pilgrim, who an- nounced himself to them as St. John, and sent word by them to King Edward, that he thanked him for his alms, and that in six months he should be with him for ever. This message gave the King great joy, and
THE SAINTS IN ART 65
he died, as predicted, on 5th January 1066.
He is represented crowned, in royal robes, the sceptre (surmounted with a dove) in one hand, in the other the ring of St. John.
Elizabeth, St. (mother of St. John the Baptist, Biblical). (\oth February)
Elizabeth, St. (of Hungary). (\oth No- vember)
Born in 1207, daughter of Andreas II., King of Hungary, she became in the Middle Ages the traditional type of female charity. Even from babyhood she showed extreme virtue, and when about four was betrothed to Prince Louis of Thuringia. Brought up at the court of her future hus- band, whose relations mocked at her piety, she was in due time married to him. She continued her life of devotion and charity, giving away even the royal mantle from her shoulders to a beggar, and visiting the poor and sick. It was related that one day, find-
E
66 THE SAINTS IN ART
ing a child with leprosy cast out from his home, she took him in her arms to the castle and laid him in her own bed. When her husband returned, he went, with reproaches on his lips, and lifted the coverlet from the child. To their astonishment in its place lay the Infant CHRIST, who smiled and vanished. Another day Louis met her carrying in her robe a supply of food for the poor. She was ashamed when he asked her what she was carrying, but when he in- sisted on looking, nothing was there but red and white roses. So her charities continued. At length Louis was called upon to go on the Third Crusade, and, to their great grief, parting was inevitable. He never returned, and his brothers seized his domains, and turned Elizabeth and her four children out of their home in midwinter. Later on her son was reinstated, but St. Elizabeth gave herself up to a life of piety and the most rigorous penance, till she died, at the age of twenty-four.
She is generally represented crowned, sometimes as a nun, with her lap full of
THE SAINTS IN ART 67
bread, or of roses, and often giving charity to a beggar, or a sick child.
Fresco by Giotto in Santa Croce, Florence.
Eloy, St., or St. Loo (Lat. S. Eligius;
Ital. Sant' Alo or Lo or Eligio)
(Patron of Goldsmiths, Blacksmiths,
and Workers in Metal). {\st December)
A goldsmith at Limoges, in the seventh
century. He went to Paris, where, by his
skill as a workman, he won great favour
with King Clotaire II., and his successor,
King Dagobert, both of whom employed
him in affairs of State. He afterwards
became Bishop of Noyon, but, according
to the legend, still worked at his trade,
making shrines and Church ornaments.
He was much beset by the devil, who even
took possession of a horse brought to him
to be shod, which was so unmanageable that
the bystanders fled ; but St. Eloy cut off its
leg, fixed on the shoe, and then, making the
sign of the cross, replaced it on the body.
He is represented either as a bishop or as a smith ; in either case generally accom-
68 THE SAINTS IN ART
panied by his smith's tools — tongs, hammer, or bellows.
Bas-relief by Nanni di Banco outside Or San Michele, Florence.
Ephrem, St. (of Edessa). (July 9th)
One of the early hermits of Syria. He
wrote homilies and epistles, which were of
great authority.
He is represented in pictures of the hermit
life.
Erasmus, St. (Ital. Sant' Elmo or Erasmo; Span. Sant. Ermo or Eramo ; Fr. St. Elme). (2nd June)
A bishop in Southern Italy, martyred under Diocletian and Maximian. His in- domitable fortitude under torture caused a new and awful death to be invented for him. He was cut open, and his entrails wound on a sort of wheel like that used for winding wool.
He is represented as a bishop, old, and with a wheel as his attribute, or suffering martyrdom.
THE SAINTS IN ART 69
ERCOLANO, St. (Bishop of Perugia about 546). (1 si March)
During the siege by the Goths under Totila, he helped and encouraged the people. On the taking of the city he was beheaded on the ramparts, and his body thrown into a ditch ; it was afterwards found and buried.
Frescoes by Benedetto Bonfigli in picture gallery, Perugia.
Etheldreda, St. (June 23rd).
Daughter of Ina, King of East Anglia. She was married at an early age to Toubert, a prince of the Fenland, and afterwards to Egfrid, King of Northumbria, but, after some years, obtained his permission to withdraw from the, world, and take the veil at Cold- ingham.
The next year she founded her celebrated monastery on her own lands at Ely.
Eulalia, St. (A Spanish virgin martyr). (10M December) When the edict of Diocletian was published, she fled, at the age of twelve, from her mother's
7o THE SAINTS IN ART
house, and reproached the prefect for his cruelty. She was tortured and put to death. As she died, a white dove issued from her mouth and flew to heaven.
There is also St. Eulalia of Barcelona, with a similar story, evidently confused with this one.
A very early representation is in the procession of virgin martyrs at Rav- enna.
Euphemia, St. (16th September)
Suffered martyrdom at Chalcedonia, in Bithynia, at the beginning of the fourth century. She was thrown to the flames, and then to the lions, but both were miraculously rendered harmless, and she was then run through with a sword. A description of a picture of her, contained in a homily by Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, in Pontus, about 350-400, is still extant.
She is represented with a palm, or a lily, and with a lion.
Picture at Naples, formerly ascribed to Mantegna.
THE SAINTS IN ART 71
Eustace, St. (20th September)
A Roman soldier, and captain of the guards, under the Emperor Trajan. Ac- cording to the legend, he was devoted to the chase, and one day, when pursuing a stag, he saw between its horns a crucifix shining, and heard a voice saying : " Thou shalt suffer many things for my sake." He, his wife, and two sons, were baptised, and soon afterwards came to extreme poverty. By various accidents he lost both his wife and sons. After many years he was re- stored, during the reign of Hadrian, to all his honours ; and his wife and two sons re- turned to him, rescued miraculously from pirates and wild beasts. But on the occasion of a Roman victory they refused to join in a sacrifice, and, by order of the Emperor, were shut up in a brazen bull, and burnt to death.
He is represented as a Roman soldier, or an armed warrior, the stag with the crucifix being near him. His military dress dis- tinguishes him from St. Hubert. Pictures of the martyrdom are also to be met with.
72 THE SAINTS IN ART
Picture by Vittore Pisano in the National Gallery.
Evangelists (Biblical)
The Four Evangelists are very frequent in pictorial art. In early times they were represented as four books, or as four rivers issuing from Paradise. Later the four living creatures of Ezekiel, and the four beasts of the Apocalypse, were taken to represent the Four Evangelists ; St. Matthew with the face of a man, representing Christ as man ; St. Mark as a lion ; St. Luke as an ox ; and St. John as an eagle, for he soared in contemplation of the Divine. The four combined in one make a " Tetramorph." Separately they are commonly depicted as winged, and each holding a book ; and in later times as men with heads of the symbolic animals, or attended by the animals as emblems, or, omitting the symbol, as men, each holding his Gospel.
Fresco in Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella ; Raphael's " Vision of Ezekiel,"
THE SAINTS IN ART 73
and Fra Bartolomeo's " Risen Christ " in Pitti, Florence.
FAUSTlNUSand JoviTA, SS. (i$th February) Patron Saints of Brescia. Two brothers who suffered martyrdom under Hadrian about 120. They are often associated in pictures with St. Apollonius, Bishop of Brescia.
Felicitas, St. (10th July and 2^rd November)
During the persecutions in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a rich Roman widow, the mother of seven virtuous sons, was brought before the tribunal of Publius the Prefect. One by one her sons were led forth, tortured, and then put to various painful deaths be- fore her eyes. To increase her suffering, she was then imprisoned for four months, before she too was brought out to torture and death. The story closely resembles that of the Jewish matron in the Second Book of the Maccabees.
She is represented hooded, or veiled, as a
74 THE SAINTS IN ART
widow, with a.paltn, generally with her seven sons as attributes.
Felix, St. (of Cantalicio). (Ital. San
Felice), (the first saint of the Order
of Capuchins). (21st May)
Born in Umbria, in 1513. He lived in
the monastery at Rome, and spent his time
in begging for its needs. A legend says
that one stormy night, when on his usual
errand, a radiant child appeared to him,
and gave him a loaf of bread as an alms,
and then, with a benediction, vanished.
He is represented in the Capuchin habit, carrying a beggar's wallet.
Ferdinand of Castile, St. (30M May)
The son of Alfonso, King of Leon, and Berengaria of Castile. He vowed never to draw his sword against the Christians, but fought with great success against the Moors, driving them out of a large part of Spain. At the battle of Xeres, Santiago himself is said to have appeared, fighting for him. His only daughter, Eleanor, who inherited
THE SAINTS IN ART 75
her father's virtues, married Edward I. of England. He died in 1252, and was canon- ised in 1668.
He is represented in Spanish art in armour, crowned, holding a sword, or an orb.
Fina, St.
Patron Saint of San Gimignano in Tuscany. A poor girl, who patiently endured cruel sufferings from disease, lying upon an oaken plank. She was warned of her approaching release by a vision of St. Gregory, and died in 1253, at the age of fifteen, when all the bells of the town rang of their own accord, and her room was found full of flowers. Her dead hand cured her nurse of a grievous malady.
She is sometimes represented lying on her board, and beholding the apparition of St. Gregory above her.
Her life is illustrated by frescoes by Dom- enico Ghirlandaio in the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano, where her feast is still cele- brated, every five years, on the first Sunday in August.
76 THE SAINTS IN ART
Flavia, St. (See St. Benedict.)
Florian, St. {^th May)
A native of Ems, and one of the eight Tutelar Saints of Austria. He was a Roman soldier, who professed Christianity, and was martyred in the reign of Galerius, being thrown into the River Ems with' a stone tied round his neck. Many miracles are recorded of him, among them that he extinguished a conflagration with a pitcher- ful of water.
Francesca Romana, St. (gth March)
Born in Rome, in 1384, and married to a rich noble. She was distinguished for her virtue and piety. The legend of her is char- acteristic. Though unwearied in her devo- tions, yet if called away by her husband, or by any domestic duty, she would close her book, saying : " A wife and a mother, when called upon, must quit her GOD at the altar, and find Him in her household/' Once, when reciting the Office of the Virgin, she was called away four times, always at the
THE SAINTS IN ART 77
same verse, and returning the fifth time she found that verse written on the page in letters of gold by the hand of her guardian angel. On her husband's death, she joined an Olivetan congregation of Benedictine nuns, and became their Superior, living in great sanctity till she died.
She is represented as a Benedictine nun, with her guardian angel, and holding the book of the Office of the Virgin in her hand.
Francis St. (of Assisi). (Ital. Francesco.) {17th September and 4th October) This famous saint, the Founder of the Franciscan Order, was born at Assisi in 1 182. His father was Pietro Bernadone, a silk and wool merchant, and it is said that he had his son taught French at an early age for the sake of his trade, and that in con- sequence the boy's companions called him Francesco, though he was christened Gio- vanni. As a youth he was gay and worldly, but a grievous illness caused him to turn to serious thoughts, and he determined to retire
78 THE SAINTS IN ART
from the world. While he knelt before the crucifix in the Church of St. Damiano he heard a voice saying : " Francis, repair my Church" ; and he at once set to work to raise money for this purpose, and practised such austerities that he was thought mad. His father tried to restrain him, and brought him before the Bishop of Assisi, but he abjured his parents, his heritage, and all his possessions, stripping off even his clothes in his enthusiasm for poverty. He then wandered barefoot over the mountain wilds, praising God for the earth his mother, and the moon his sister, and had for his com- panions the flowers and the stars. Thus prepared, he set out on his mission. Very soon he had many followers, stirred by his enthusiasm, and he found it necessary to bind them together by a rule of life. Ab- solute poverty was the first condition. In 1210 St. Francis went to Rome, and after some difficulty obtained the sanction of Pope Innocent III. to the institution of his Order. Ten years later the number of his friars had grown to 5000, and missionaries went out
ST. FRANCIS PREACHING TO THE BIRDS From the fresco by Giotto di Bordone in the Upper Church at Assist
THE SAINTS IN ART 79
into various countries. He himself then went to Egypt to preach to the Ma- hometans, and was brought before the Sultan. He offered to throw himself into the flames, on condition that the Sultan and his people would become Christians, but he was sent back to Italy without hurt, and without a convert, though five of his mission- aries were martyred in Morocco. A few years after his return he resigned his office of Superior at Assisi, and again retired to the mountains, where he spent his days in prayer and contemplation. Here he had his celebrated vision of CHRIST crucified, and received the " Stigmata," or " Five Wounds," in his hands, feet, and side. He died in 1226, and was canonised two years later, when the foundation of his great church at Assisi was laid.
Legends of his life and visions are in- numerable. Those most often represented, besides the incidents just mentioned, are : his vision of the Virgin coming down and placing the Divine Child in his arms ; his meeting and espousing Poverty, Chastity,
8o THE SAINTS IN ART
and Obedience, as three poor maidens ; his preaching to the birds ; and his death in the midst of his friars.
He is represented in the grey or brown habit of his Order, with a knotted cord y often with a crucifix , and is always clearly dis- tinguished by the Stigmata.
Frescoes by Giotto and his followers at Santa Croce, Florence, and at Assisi ; by Benozzo Gozzoli at Montefalco, and by Ghirlandaio in Santa Trinita, Florence.
Francis Borgia, St. {\oth October)
Duke of Gandia, in Spain. He held high office under Charles V., but gave up the world, and joined the Jesuits. In 1555 he became the third General of the Order.
He is represented in Spanish art in his Jesuit habit.
Francis de Paula, St. (2nd April)
The founder of the Reformed Franciscan Order of the Minimes. He was born at Paola, in Calabria, and from infancy dedi-
THE SAINTS IN ART 81
cated by his parents to a religious life. At the age of fifteen he became a hermit in a cave near Reggio. In course of time others joined him ; cells and a chapel were built, and in 1436 he instituted the " Hermits of St. Francis," or " Minimes," so called as being the least of all in the Church of God. Such was the fame of his sanctity that he was sent for to visit Louis XI. on his death- bed at Plessis-le-Tours. After the death of Louis he remained at the French Court, where he had considerable influence during the reigns of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. He died at Plessis-le-Tours in 1507. Picture in S. Andrea delle Fratte, Rome.
Francis Xavier, St. {3rd December)
Born of noble family at his father's castle among the Pyrenees. He went to Paris to study theology, and there became the friend and associate of Loyola. He joined the Jesuit community, and was sent as a mission- ary to Goa in India. He spent the rest of his wonderful and laborious life in the
F
82 THE SAINTS IN ART
East, and, after encountering many hardships and obstacles, he died in an attempt to reach China.
Frediano, St. (of Lucca). (See St. Reg-
ULUS.)
Gabriel, St. (the Archangel, primarily the messenger angel). (iStk March)
He foretold the birth of St. John the Baptist, and of the Virgin Mary, but his chief importance in art is as the Angel of the Annunciation.
He is represented winged, generally with a lily, sometimes with a sceptre or scroll in his hand.
Geminianus, St. (Bishop of Modena about 450, and Patron Saint of that city). (31 st January and ^th April)
When Modena was threatened by Attila, King of the Huns, he saved it by his intercession.
THE SAINTS IN ART 83
He is represented as a bishop, sometimes holding a model of the cathedral, or city of Modena in his hand.
Paintings of his life and miracles in the Municipio, San Gimignano.
Genevieve, St. (of Paris). (Ital, S. Geno- VEVA.) {^rd January) A shepherdess of Nanterre, near Paris. When seven years old she was noticed by St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, as he was passing through her native village, and con- secrated by him to the service of GOD. Many miracles are recorded of her even in childhood. Her mother, on boxing her ears, was struck blind, but her sight was restored two years afterwards by her daughter's prayers. When her parents died, she went to Paris, where she lived in piety and chastity with an old kinswoman. For many years she underwent many persecutions, both from men and demons, but only increased in virtue. When Attila was about to lay siege to Paris, and the inhabitants became panic-stricken, she came forth as their leader, and exhorted them with
84 THE SAINTS IN ART
such enthusiasm that she restored their faint- ing spirits. Later on, when Childeric besieged Paris, she was indefatigable in her ministra- tions, and herself took command of the boats that brought in provisions. After the capture of the city, Childeric treated her with the same veneration as she received from the Parisians, and through her influence his son Clovis and his wife embraced Christianity. She died in a good old age, and was buried by the side of the King and Queen.
She is generally represented veiled, with a lighted taper, or as a shepherdess, with sheep around her, and with a distaff, or book, in her hand.
GEORGE, St. (of Cappadocia). (Patron Saint of England.) (23^ April) According to legend he was born of Christian parents, in the reign of Diocletian, in Cappadocia, and became a tribune in the army. While travelling through Lybia, he came to a place where a monstrous dragon, living in a marsh, ravaged the neighbourhood. The people were compelled to offer, first sheep,
THE SAINTS IN ART 85
and, when these were exhausted, children, to appease it. These were taken by lot, and, when at last the lot fell on the King's daughter, Cleodolinda, the people insisted that she should be sacrificed. So she was led out as a victim, to the dragon, and she wept. Now St. George happened to see her, as he passed by. She bade him hurry on, lest he should perish too, but he, making the sign of the cross, attacked the dragon, and, after a fierce combat, pierced it with his lance. Then he bound the dragon fast with the girdle of the princess, and they led it after them into the city. When he told the people that he had conquered through the might of his God, the king, and many thou- sands were converted, and baptised. During the persecutions of Diocletian, St. George was submitted to the most cruel tortures ; he was bound to a cross, and torn with sharp nails ; he was burnt and beaten, and given a deadly poison to drink, but, making the sign of the cross, he remained unhurt. Many other miraculous escapes are told of him (notably his immunity in a cauldron of boiling oil,
86 THE SAINTS IN ART
after his destruction of the temple of Apollo). Finally his persecutors were exasperated, and he was beheaded. He has had particular veneration in England since the time of Richard the First, whose armies were under his special protection.
He is represented armed, often on horse- back, with a lance (sometimes broken) or sword in his hand, slaying the dragon.
Frescoes by Carpaccio in San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice.
Gereon, St. (See St. Maurice.)
GERVASIUS and PROTASIUS, SS. (19th June)
According to legend, they were twin brothers, and giants, who suffered for the faith under Nero, and were sent bound to Milan, where they were martyred, and buried in a private garden. The spot was revealed in a vision to St. Ambrose when he was anxiously desiring relics for his new cathedral of Milan (see St. Ambrose), and their remains, which showed miraculous healing properties,
THE SAINTS IN ART 87
were removed thither, and the church dedi- cated to them, till the death of St. Ambrose, when it became St. Ambrogio Maggiore. They became popular in France as SS. Gervais et Protais, and pictures of them are not uncommon.
Generally represented together, St. Gervais with a scourge with thongs, St. Protais with a sword.
Giles, St. (Lat. Egidius ; ltal. Egidio ; Fr. GiLLES or Gil). (\st September) According to legend was a noble Athenian, who fled from his country to France, and became a hermit, in a wilderness at the mouth of the Rhone, not far from Nismes. Here he lived in a cave, on herbs and the milk of a hind. One day the King was hunting near by, and shot the stag, which ran to St. Giles' cave for refuge. There he was found by the hunters — an old man, kneeling at prayer, and they asked his forgiveness and blessing. He refused to leave his cave, and died there about 541. There arose on the spot a famous
88 THE SAINTS IN ART
monastery, afterwards Benedictine. St. Giles became later very popular in England and Scotland.
He is represented generally as an old Benedictine monk. A wounded hind, pierced with an arrow, is his attribute.
Giobbe, San. (See St. Job.)
Giovanni et Paolo, SS. (26th June)
Two Roman brothers, who were martyred in the reign of Julian the Apostate. They were officers in the service of Constantia. Their ancient church, on the Coelian Hill at Rome, stands in the site of their house, and has existed since 499.
Giovanni Colombini, St.
A wealthy Sienese merchant, who devoted himself to a life of complete poverty and abnegation, labouring for the conversion of souls. He founded the Order of the Gesuati, and died in 1367.
He is represented in Sienese art in white
THE SAINTS IN ART 89
habit and leather girdle, or a white hood and grey habit.
Picture by Sano di Pietro in the Ac- cademia at Siena.
Grata, St.
Daughter of St. Lupo, Duke of Bergamo, and St. Adelaide, his wife. After the death of her husband she became a Christian, and converted her parents. When St. Alexander, one of the soldiers of the Theban Legion, was beheaded, she wrapped the head in a napkin, and buried his remains honourably. After her father's death she ruled over Ber- gamo with wisdom and benevolence, promot- ing the spread of Christianity, till her death, in 300 A.D.
She is represented in pictures by Bergamese artists, often with her parents, and carrying the head of St. Alexander.
Gregory, St. (12/A March)
Was born at Rome in 540 A.D. He held high office as a lawyer there before he gave away all his possessions and took the Bene-
9o THE SAINTS IN ART
dictine habit. He became very prominent in Rome, nursing the sick during the plague, and caring for the poor, and when Pelagius died he was made Pope, much against his will. He was renowned for his love of peace and his hatred of slavery and persecution. He insisted on the doctrine of Purgatory, and the celibacy of the clergy. He person- ally supervised the services of the Church, giving his name to the famous chants. It was said that his celebrated Homilies were dictated to him by the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, which sat on his shoulder. His extreme kindness and popularity gave rise to innumerable legends. When Pope he en- tertained twelve poor men at supper every night : one day he saw that a thirteenth was there who, when questioned, turned out to be a beggar, whom he had once befriended, in the form of an angel, or, some say, of CHRIST Himself. There is also a legend that once at Mass, in answer to his prayer, to convince some one who doubted the Real Presence, the Crucified CHRIST appeared on the altar, sur- rounded by the instruments of His Passion.
THE SAINTS IN ART 91
Another says that a consecrated cloth (Brandeum), which had wrapped the body of St. John the Baptist, flowed with blood when he cut it on the altar. By his prayers, the souls of many were released from tor- ments — the case of the Emperor Trajan be- ing particularly famous, and commemorated in literature and painting.
He is represented as a tall, dark man, generally as Pope, often with a dove at his ear or over his head, frequently with a book, his Homilies, in his hand.
Pictures by Andrea Sacchi, in the Vatican.
Gregory Nazianzen, St. (gtk May)
The friend and fellow-student of St. Basil, another Greek Father. He lived many years in austere penance, and was called into pub- lic life by his father, whom he succeeded as Bishop of Nazianzus in 362. He spent a great deal of his energy in Constantinople, preaching against the Arians ; and afterwards was made Bishop of Constantinople, but the bitter controversies there caused him to resign in disgust, and he lived in retirement,
92 THE SAINTS IN ART
writing hymns and poems till his death, in 390.
He is usually represented with the other Greek Fathers, only distinguished by his name.
GUDULA, St. (§ih January)
The Patron Saint of the city of Brussels. According to legend she was a noble virgin, early consecrated to the service of God. Her life was specially holy. She was accustomed to rise in the night and worship at the Church of Morselle, some distance from the city, guiding her steps thither by a lantern. Satan frequently blew it out, but it was always rekindled at the prayer of the saint. She died about A.D. 712.
She is represented with a lantern ; some- times a demon is seen near.
Helena, St. (See also St. Sylvester.) (&tk August. Invention of the Cross y yd May). There is good authority for believing that
St. Helena was a British woman, though her
THE SAINTS IN ART 93
parentage and place of birth are much dis- puted. She married Constantius Chlorus, and was the mother of Constantine. In her old age she became a Christian, and her great desire was to find the actual cross of CHRIST, which she had seen in a vision. She accord- ingly came to Jerusalem, with a great army, on pilgrimage, and diligently sought for the cross. Finally the three crosses of Calvary were found buried together at Golgotha. To distinguish the cross of Christ from the other two, they were all three placed in turn on the body of a dead man, and at the touch of the true cross he rose up. She instituted the annual celebration of the day commonly called " The Invention of the Cross." She divided the cross into three parts, and bring- ing one to Rome, built the Church of Santa Croce, where it was preserved as a relic.
She is represented crowned, and often in imperial robes, with a very large cross.
Picture by Paolo Veronese, in National Gallery. Frescoes in Santa Croce, Florence, by Agnolo Gaddi, and in San Francesco, Arezzo, by Piero dei Franceschi.
94 THE SAINTS IN ART
Henry, St. (of Bavaria). (15/A July and 2?z^ March)
Born in 972, and elected Emperor in 1002. He founded the magnificent Cathedral of Bamberg, in Franconia, and waged war against the idolaters of Poland and Sclav- onia. Legend relates that, in one of his battles, his three saintly protectors, St. Lawrence, St. George, and St. Adrian, were seen fighting by his side. In Southern Italy he expelled the Saracens from the territories which they had subdued. He also founded the Church of St. Miniato at Florence, and died at Rome, in 1024. His wife, St. Cune- gunda, is also famous. To refute malicious reports she submitted to trial by ordeal, and walked unhurt over red-hot ploughshares. After her husband's death she took the Benedictine habit, and died in 1040.
He is represented in complete armour, with the Imperial crown, sword, and orb, and often bearing a model of the Cathedral of Bamberg.
Hermengild, St. (See St. Leander.)
THE SAINTS IN ART 95
Hilarion, St. {21st October)
One of the early hermits. According to legend, a native of Gaza, in Palestine, and sent to Alexandria to study philosophy. He was converted by St. Anthony, the hermit, and founded the first monastery in Syria. He is said to have taught St. Basil, the Greek Father, and to have vanquished a dragon by the sign of the cross.
He is introduced into Fra Lippo Lippi's picture of " The Nativity," in the Accademia, Florence.
Hilary, St. {14th January)
Bishop of Poitiers in the fourth century, is revered throughout North Italy as Sant' Ilario. His writings still survive, and he is the Patron of Parma.
Hilda, St. (iSt/i November)
Great - grand - daughter of Edwin, first Christian king of Northumbria. She is celebrated as the Abbess of Whitby, where she ruled with wisdom and prudence over large communities of both monks and nuns.
96 THE SAINTS IN ART
Hippolytus, St. (Ital. Sant' Ippolito). (See St. Lawrence.)
Hubert, St. (Patron of the Chase, and of Dogs). ($rd November)
A nobleman of Aquitaine, given up to the chase and other worldly pursuits. One day, according to the legend, as he was hunting in the Forest of the Ardennes, in Holy Week, he met a white stag with the crucifix between its horns. He at once renounced the world, and became a hermit. Under the teaching of St. Lambert he was ordained priest, and was finally Bishop of Liege, where he died, in 727. Thirteen years afterwards his body was disinterred, and it was found entire — even the episcopal robes being without spot or stain. A century later the body was removed from Liege to the Abbey Church of the Benedictines of the Ardennes.
He is represented as a bishop, with a hunting-horn , or a book. The stag with the crucifix is his attribute.
THE SAINTS IN ART 97
Hugo, St. (Bishop of Grenoble). (See St. Bruno.)
Humilitas, St. (See St. John Gualberto.) The foundress of the Vallombrosan nuns was Rosana, the wife of Ugolotto Caccia- nemici of Faenza. She persuaded her husband to take the monastic habit, and was beatified as Sant 'Umilta.
Hyacinth, St. (\6th August)
Was born in Silesia in the thirteenth century. When at Rome, he was influenced by the preaching of St. Dominic, and, taking the habit of his Order, gave up his life to mis- sionary 'abours among Tartars and Russians, Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes. He under- went great privations, and finally returned to the monastery of his Order, which he had founded at Cracow, where he died, in 1257. He was not canonised till 1594. It is told of him that when his Convent of Kiov, in Russia, was attacked by the Tartars he escaped, carrying the Pyx and an image of the Virgin ; and on arriving with them on
G
9 8 THE SAINTS IN ART
the banks of the Dniester he walked in safety over the surface of the river. He is also said to have resuscitated a youth who was drowned. These incidents are sometimes represented.
Picture by Francesco del Cossa, partly in the National Gallery, partly in the Vatican.
Ignatius Loyola, St. (the Founder of the Jesuits). (31st July) Born in Spain in 1491, he became a page at the Court of King Ferdinand. He entered the army, but was severely wounded in 1521, and his career was entirely changed. After a period of penance and visions, he under- took a course of study in preparation for preaching. While at Paris he formed a community with five associates, who bound themselves, besides the usual vows, to preach and teach in any part of the world to which he might send them. After some years his institute was confirmed by the Pope, under the name of the " Society of Jesus." He became the first General of his Order, died in 1556, and was canonised in 1622.
THE SAINTS IN ART 99
Necessarily he only appears in pictures of the declining period of art. He is repre- sented in ecclesiastical dress, the monogram of his Order (I.H.S.) being introduced, or its device, the heart crowned with thorns.
Ignatius Theophorus, St. (Bishop of Antioch in the time of Trajan). (1st February)
He was a friend of Polycarp, and, accord- ing to legend, both were disciples of St. John the Evangelist. There was a tradition that he was the child that CHRIST "set in the midst" of his disciples. When Trajan came to Antioch, he ordered St. Ignatius to sacri- fice to his gods, and, on his refusal, had him brought in chains to Rome, and thrown to the lions in the amphitheatre.
He is represented as a Greek bishop, and generally suffering martyrdom.
Ildefonso (or Alphonso), St. (the Patron Saint of Toledo). (23rd January) A Benedictine monk, who became Arch- bishop of Toledo in 657. He wrote in defence
ioo THE SAINTS IN ART
of the perpetual virginity of the Madonna, who therefore regarded him with special favour, and is said to have appeared to him in a vision, seated on his ivory throne in the cathedral, and, as he knelt before her, placed upon his shoulders a chasuble or cassock of heavenly tissue.
The investiture of St. Ildefonso is a favourite subject with Spanish artists, and is repre- sented by Sodoma in S. Spirito, Siena. (See also St. Leocadia.)
Isidore, St. (See St. Leander.)
Isidore, St. (Ital. Sant' Isidoro Agri- cola ; Span. San Isidro el Labra- dor) (the Patron Saint of Madrid.) (\$tk May) He worked as a ploughman for a hard master, who, it is said, went one day into the field to reprimand him, and found him on his knees praying, while two angels guided the plough.
He is represented in Spanish pictures with a spade or a plough.
THE SAINTS IN ART 101
James, St. (The Great). (Biblical.) (Fr. St. Jacques Majeur; Ital. San Gia- COMO, or JACOPO, MAGGIORE; Span. San Jago, or Santiago.) {2$tkjufy) The Patron Saint of Spain, where, accord- ing to tradition, he preached the Gospel, and, in obedience to a command given to him by the Virgin in a vision, built a church on the banks of the Ebro. Thence he returned to Judaea, where he converted Hermogenes, a sorcerer, and Philetus, one of his pupils. He was beheaded by order of Herod Agrippa, and his body was carried to Joppa, and put on a ship, which was directed by angels to Spain. Here, in the country of Queen Lupa, the body was landed, and placed on a stone, which turned to wax, and entombed it. The Queen in her anger ordered wild bulls to be harnessed to a car, to take the body to de- struction. The bulls, tamed by the sign of the cross, drew it to the palace, to the aston- ishment of the Queen, who was converted, with all her people. The body of the saint was then buried in a magnificent church built by the Queen, but was lost during the
io2 THE SAINTS IN ART
invasions of the Barbarians, till the year 800, when it was found by a holy friar, and re- moved to Compostella. His shrine there became a place of pilgrimage, where many miracles were worked. A German pilgrim and his wife (so runs the tale), on their way to Compostella, lost their son through the malicious intrigue of an innkeeper's daughter, and told their sad story to St. James. On their return, arriving at the spot where their son's body hung on a gibbet, they stood still, and wept. Suddenly their son spoke, and told them not to weep, for St. James was sustaining him. The parents hurried to the judge who had condemned him, and on hear- ing the story he, being at a meal, laughed and said : " If your son is alive, so are those fowls on the table." Immediately the fowls rose up, crowed, and walked. In a battle against the Moors at Clavijo, in 939, St. James was said to have appeared on a white charger, at the head of the Christian host, and " Santiago " was henceforth the war- cry of the Spaniards. Very many similar appearances are recorded of him.
THE SAINTS IN ART 103
He is usually placed fourth among the Twelve Apostles, and is often represented as a pilgrim, with a long staff and a wallet, sometimes with scallop shells, cape, and hat ; also on his white charger with a white banner.
His life is represented in frescoes by Man- tegna at the Eremitani Church in Padua, and by Sodoma in S. Spirito at Siena.
James, St. (the Less). (Biblical.) (Ital. San
Giacomo, or JACOPO MiNORE; Fr.
St. Jacques Mineur.) (1st May)
By tradition he was the first Bishop of
Jerusalem, excited the crowd by the fervour
of his preaching, and was thrown down from
the pulpit, or from a parapet of the Temple,
and killed by a blow from a fuller's club.
Various miraculous incidents are recorded
of him, some of which are also attributed to
St. James the Great.
He is to be distinguished from the other Apostles by his instrument of martyrdom, the fuller's club.
104 THE SAINTS IN ART
Januarius, St. (Ital. San Gennaro; Fr. St. Janvier), {igth September) The Patron Saint of Naples. Legend says that he was Bishop of Benevento in the third century, and came to Naples during the persecutions, to encourage the Christians. There he suffered martyrdom in 303. He is the special protector of Naples against eruptions of Vesuvius, and is greatly rever- enced in that city, where it is still -believed that his blood liquefies annually on his festival.
Jerome, St. (Lat Hieronymus ; Ital. Giro- LAMO) (Patron Saint of Scholars). (30/A September) The most learned of the Latin Fathers, and a native of Dalmatia. He came as a youth to Rome to study, and early became famous for his love of learning. He professed the Chris- tian faith and was baptised. He travelled in Gaul and later in Syria, where he visited hermits and ascetics. Later he retired to the desert of Calchis, where he stayed four
ST. JEROME IN HIS STUDY
From an engraving (1514) by Albrecht Dilrer
THE SAINTS IN ART 105
years in solitude, doing penance, living, as he describes, " with scorpions and wild beasts, among rocks and precipices." Here he had a vision of the Last Trump. He applied him- self to the study of Hebrew, and translated the Old Testament as well as the New into Latin (the Vulgate). He visited Palestine and Jerusalem, then he returned to Rome and became secretary to Pope Damasus. He preached abstinence, and had great in- fluence, but, after a few years, he retired to the monastery he had founded at Bethlehem, and employed himself with his writings till he died, at the age of ninety, 420 A.D. At the approach of death he was carried into the chapel of the monastery to receive the Sacrament with his disciples. A legend runs that one day, as he sat within the gates of his monastery at Bethlehem, a lion came limping in. The brethren fled, but St. Jerome went up to it, and took a thorn out of its wounded foot. The lion stayed with him, and became the keeper of the ass of burden of the establishment. One day the lion, while asleep, let the ass be taken away by
io6 THE SAINTS IN ART
some merchants. He sought it everywhere, meantime carrying the wood, etc., himself. One day he saw a caravan of merchants coming along, led by an ass, which he at once recognised as his lost charge. He drove the whole caravan into the monas- tery, where the merchants, in their terror, confessed having stolen the ass, and were absolved by St. Jerome.
St. Jerome is often represented in the desert doing penance, naked, and beating his breast with a stone. Or in his cell, writing or read- ing. A lion is almost always beside him. He may also be distinguished by his car- dinal's hat, and he sometimes carries a small church (emblematic of his great support to the Church).
Pictures by Carpaccio in S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice, by Titian in the Brera, Milan, by Cima and Catena in the National Gallery.
Joachim, St. (father of the Virgin). (See St. Mary the Virgin.)
THE SAINTS IN ART 107
Job, St. (Ital. San Giobbe). (Biblical.) (Patron Saint of Hospitals, and pro- tector against leprosy, at Venice) It is not usual for Old Testament characters to become Christian saints. Venice, from its intimate connection with the East, and its continual ravages by plague, appears to have sought relief by the intercession of Job, the grievous sufferer of old.
John the Baptist, St. (Ital. Giovanni Battista). (Biblical.) (24/A June and 29//Z August)
The Patron Saint of Florence, and a frequent subject in Florentine pictures. The whole of his life being comprised in the Gospel narrative, few legends have grown around his name.
In pictures of the Holy Family he is repre- sented as a child ; then as a boy, generally with a lamb, and as a young man in raiment of camel's hair, sometimes holding a book or a scroll with the words : " Behold the Lamb of God." But at all times his almost invari- able attribute is the cross.
108 THE SAINTS IN ART
Frescoes by Fra Lippo Lippi in the Duomo of Prato ; by Andrea del Sarto and Francia Bigio in the Cloisters del Scalzo, Florence, and by Pinturicchio in the Duomo of Siena.
John, St. (Capistrano). (23^ October)
A Franciscan friar renowned for his preach- ing and his encouragement of the Christians against the Mahometans, at the time of the capture of Constantinople. He died in 1465 and was canonised a few years after the de- liverance of Vienna from the Turks, in 1683, in commemoration of the event.
Portrait by Bartolomeo Vivarini in the Louvre.
John the Evangelist, St. (Ital. San Gio- vanni; Ger.JOHANN). (Biblical.) (See Evangelists.) {27th December) Tradition says that St. John was sent to Rome in the reign of Domitian, and cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, but was miraculously preserved. He was afterwards exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, returning thence to Ephesus, where he died
THE SAINTS IN ART 109
at the age of nearly a hundred years. A legend relates that once in Rome an attempt was made to poison him in the sacramental cup, some say by order of Domitian, but the poison issued miraculously from the cup in the form of a serpent, while his enemies fell dead at his feet, and he and the communi- cants were saved. A cup often shown in the hand of St. John may refer to this, or to Christ's words to him : " Ye shall indeed drink of My cup." Various legends in the life of St John are occasionally represented, such as his restoring to life Drusiana, a Chris- tian, at the gates of Ephesus. Also two young men, his converts, having repented of selling all their possessions, St. John told them to collect pebbles and faggots, and these he turned into gold, bidding them go and enjoy earth, since they regretted their exchange for heaven. The belief among the Apostles that " he should not die " gave rise to a legend, not widely received, that he was preserved alive in the tomb, and was translated to heaven. When the Empress Galla Placidia was returning from Con-
no THE SAINTS IN ART
stantinople to Ravenna she was overtaken by a violent storm, and vowed to St. John that if she was preserved she would build a magnificent church in his honour. This she did, and having no relic of the saint she prayed for one. He accordingly appeared to her in a vision, and left her one of his sandals, which was long preserved in her church at Ravenna.
He is represented (i) as an Apostle, gener- ally young, beardless, sometimes with book or pen, sometimes with a cup (and serpent) ; (2) as an evangelist, with an eagle ; (3) as the writer of the Apocalypse, an old man, in the Isle of Patmos, with the sea in the dis- tance.
Frescoes by Giotto at Santa Croce, Florence.
John Gualberto, St. (Founder of the Order of Vallombrosa). {\2th July) He was a noble young Florentine, bril- liant and skilled in arms. His only brother, Hugo, was killed in a quarrel, and Gualberto, in great fury, vowed vengeance, and set out in pursuit of the murderer. One day, when
MADONNA AND CHILD
ST. CATHERINE ST. LUC
ST. JEROME ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST
Frotn the painting by Sodoma in the Pinacoteca, Titrin
THE SAINTS IN ART in
riding out from Florence, and about half-way up the winding road to St. Miniato, he met his enemy face to face at a bend in the road. There was no escape, and, falling on his knees, the unfortunate man begged for mercy in the name of Christ. Gualberto, who had drawn his sword, after a terrible mental con- flict held out his hand, and spared the man. They embraced and parted. Gualberto went on to the Church of St Miniato, and there, having knelt before the crucifix and wept, praying for forgiveness as he had forgiven, he fancied that the Figure on the Cross bowed its head. He then entered the Benedictine Order, and dwelt for some time as a humble penitent in the Monastery of St. Miniato. Later on he retired to Vallombrosa, and there gathered around him a small company, which grew into the Order of the Monks of Vallombrosa. He died in 1073.
He is represented in the light grey habit of his Order, kneeling, and holding a cross.
Introduced into Fra Angelico's fresco of " Crucifixion " in chapter-house of San Marco. Florence. Life represented in bas-relief by
ii2 THE SAINTS IN ART
Benedetto da Rovezzano in the Bargello, Florence.
John de Matha, St. (Founder of the Trinitarians). {%th February) Born of a noble family in Provence, in 1 154. Early consecrated to the service of God, he became a student at the University of Paris. He was ordained priest, and, at his first per- formance of divine service, beheld a vision of an angel, clothed in white, with a red and blue cross on his breast, and his hands upon the heads of two slaves, kneeling beside him. Believing himself thus called to the deliver- ance of captives, he retired from the world to a desert place, and, with the help of another benevolent man, Felix de Valois, determined to found a new institution, and went to Rome to obtain the sanction of the Pope. There they found that the Pope himself had had a similar vision, and he at once ratified the Order, under the name of the " Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives." John and Felix then travelled through France, collecting money, and made
THE SAINTS IN ART 113
three voyages to Africa, to exchange prisoners and redeem captives.
He is represented in a white habit, with a blue and red cross upon his breast, and fetters in his hand or at his feet ; generally the angel and the two captives are seen in the back- ground.
John Nepomuck, St. (Ital. San Giovanni Nepomuceno). (\6tk May)
A canon regular of St. Augustine, who, for refusing to betray the secrets of the con- fessional, was brutally murdered at Prague by order of the Emperor Wenceslaus, being thrown from a bridge into the River Moldau. Five stars were said to shine as a crown above the spot. He was honoured as a martyr, and became, in Austria and Bohemia, the Patron Saint of Bridges and Running Water, and also of Silence.
He is represented in the Augustine Habit one hand holds the cross, the other is ex- tended in benediction. Five stars are seen above his head. Sometimes he is shown with his finger on his lip, or a padlock on his mouth. h
ii 4 THE SAINTS IN ART
Joseph, St. (See St. Mary the Virgin.) {igth March)
JUAN de Dios, St. (Founder of the Hos- pitallers, or Brothers of Charity). (8tk March) Born of poor parents at Monte Mayor in Portugal, in 1495, he was seduced from his home by a priest, who abandoned him on the road. He became a shepherd, and afterwards a brave and reckless soldier of fortune. After many strange adventures, he returned home, to find that his parents had died of grief at his loss. Remorse seized upon him, and he determined to go to Morocco, and minister to the Christian captives there. At Ceuta he entered into the service of a Portuguese nobleman, who had lost all his possessions, and maintained the whole family by his labour. Returning to Spain, he went, in obedience to a vision, to Granada, where, at a festival, he was seized with a frenzied excitement bordering upon madness. On his recovery he devoted himself entirely to the relief of the sick and poor, and, with the
THE SAINTS IN ART 115
help of a few charitable people, founded the first Hospital of the Order of Charity. After ten years of fervent and self-denying life he died, in 1550, and was canonised by Pope Alexander VIII. in 1690.
He is represented in the dress of the Capuchins, with a long beard, and holding in his hand a pomegranate {pome de Granada)^ with a cross standing on it, and with a beggar kneeling at his feet.
Jude, St. (See SS. Simon and Jude.) (28^ October)
Julia, St. (of Brescia). (See St. Afra.)
Julian, St. (of Cilicia) (the Patron Saint of Rimini). (22nd June) He was a Greek martyr, who was thrown into the sea in a sack full of serpents, but his body was (according to legend) guided on the waves by angels, till it arrived on the shores of Rimini, where a church was erected in his honour.
n6 THE SAINTS IN ART
Julian Hospitator, St. (Patron Saint of Travellers, Boatmen, Ferrymen, and Wandering Minstrels). {6th July) A rich nobleman who lived luxuriously in his castle. One day, so runs the tale, a deer, which he was hunting, turned round and prophesied that he would cause the death of his father and mother. Terrified at the pre- diction he fled into a distant country, where he was honourably received by the prince, and given a beautiful wife, with whom he lived happily for some years. Meanwhile his parents, mourning deeply, sent messengers everywhere for news of him, and at length, dressed as pilgrims, set out themselves to find him. Arriving at his castle during his absence, they were hospitably entertained by his wife, and on making themselves known, were allowed to rest on her own bed. Julian, on his return, seeing a man in his bed, killed them both instantly. When he discovered his deed, he and his wife went out into the wilds to do penance, and built a hospital for the poor, and a cell for themselves, while Julian in charity ferried travellers across a
THE SAINTS IN ART 117
rushing torrent that ran by. One night in midwinter he brought over a leper, so ill that he carried him in his arms, and put him in his own bed, where his wife nursed him. In the morning the leper told them that God had accepted their penance, and then vanished. Shortly after, full of good works, they died.
He is represented young, in rich attire, with hunting-horn or stag ; sometimes a river and boat are seen in the background.
JUSTA and Rufina, SS. (29th July)
Patronesses of Seville, being daughters of a potter in that city, with whom they worked, giving all they could to the poor. When some women came to their shop to buy vessels for the sacrifice to Venus, the sisters refused to sell for such a purpose, whereupon all their earthenware was broken by the would-be purchasers. When Justa and Rufina, in retaliation, broke the image of Venus, they were seized by the populace, accused of sacrilege before the Prefect, and, confessing themselves Christians, were tor-
n8 THE SAINTS IN ART
tured and martyred, in the year 304. They are a favourite subject of all painters of the Seville School.
They are represented with pots ; sometimes the Giralda (tower) of Seville, supposed to be under their special protection, is seen near them.
Justina, St. (of Antioch). (See St. Cyprian of Antioch.) {26th September) Her attribute is a unicorn, regarded as the emblem of chastity, because of an ancient fable that it could never be captured, except by a stainless virgin.
Justina, St. (of Padua). {7th October)
Frequent in Paduan and Venetian paint- ings, and to be distinguished from Justina of Antioch, a famous saint of the Eastern Church. She was born at Padua in the third century, a daughter of King Vitalicino, who was baptised by St. Prodocimo, a disciple of St. Peter. In the reign of Maximian she was killed by a sword thrust through her breast.
THE SAINTS IN ART 119
She is represented as a princess, with a crown, and a palm, and a sword through her breast. Sometimes confused with St. Justina of Antioch, and given her attribute, a unicorn.
Picture by Paolo Veronese, in her church at Padua, and by Tintoretto, in the Acca- demia, Venice.
Lambert, St. (Bishop of Maestricht). {17th September)
He lived in the dark period of the later Merovingian kings, and dared to remonstrate with Pepin, the " Maire du Palais," for his conduct. In consequence, he was murdered in his house near Maestricht, as he knelt in prayer, in 709.
He is represented in episcopal robes, with a martyr's palm in his hand, and a lance or javelin at his feet.
Lawrence, St. (Ital. San Lorenzo ; Fr. St. Laurent). {\oth August) Tradition says he was a native of Aragon ; deacon to Pope Sixtus II. He was after- wards chosen as the first archdeacon, and
120 THE SAINTS IN ART
given charge of the vessels and embroideries of the altar, and of its services. When Sixtus was led away to martyrdom, Lawrence be- sought that he might go with him, and wept ; but Sixtus said that he should follow in three days to a much more painful death. Mean- while he told him to take all the possessions of the Church, and distribute them to the poor, which St. Lawrence did, visiting from house to house. On his rounds he came to the house of a devout widow, Cyriaca, on the Ccelian Hill, who concealed and ministered to the Christians. She was sick, and he healed her by laying on of hands, and washed the feet of the Christians in the house. When the Prefect heard that St. Lawrence had the treasures of the Church, he threw him into prison, under the charge of a certain Hippolytus, who was converted and baptised, with all his family. The Pre- fect then asked where the treasures were, and St. Lawrence said he would show him in three days, at the end of which time he called together the poor and sick, and said : " Here are the treasures of Christ's Church."
THE SAINTS IN ART 121
The Prefect, in a rage, ordered St. Lawrence to be bound on a gridiron, and roasted over fires. In the midst of his torture he uttered his famous taunt : " Seest thou not that I am roasted on one side ? Turn me on the other." So he died, and Hippolytus came in the night, and took the body, and buried it. When the Prefect heard this he seized Hippolytus, and commanded him to be tied to the tail of a wild horse, and so he too suffered martyrdom.
St. Lawrence is represented young, as a deacon. Sometimes he holds a dish or bag of gold, the treasure of the Church, or a censer, or cross ; but his distinguishing attribute is a gridiron.
His life is represented in Fra Angelico's frescoes in the chapel of Nicholas V. in the Vatican.
Lazarus, St. (Biblical). (See St. Mary Magdalen.) (17th December)
Often with SS. Martha and Mary.
Represented as a bishop : sometimes a bier or graveclothes are introduced.
122 THE SAINTS IN ART
Leander and Isidore, SS. (27th February and /\.th April) Two Spanish brothers, who were success- ively Bishops of Seville, and are patrons of that city. They were often represented with the martyr, Prince Hermengildus, who was killed by his father for relinquishing the Arian doctrines. St. Isidore was a famous theological writer and encyclopedist, and his works were much used in the Middle Ages.
Leocadia, St. (Patron Saint of Toledo). {gth December) She was a native of that city, and during the persecution of Diocletian she was thrown into a dungeon. While there she heard of the martyrdom of her friend, St. Eulalia, and prayed that she might join her. Her prayer was granted, for she died in prison. She has always been held in great reverence in Toledo, where magnificent churches have been built in her honour. Another legend says that she was thrown from the rocks and killed, and afterwards appeared to St. Ilde-
THE SAINTS IN ART 123
fonso, telling him, that his work in honour of the Virgin was approved in heaven. She left with him a portion of her veil, which was preserved as a relic. (See St. ILDEFONSO.)
Leonard, St. (of Aquitaine). (Fr. St.
Leonard or Lionart.) (Patron
Saint of Prisoners and Slaves.) (6th
and yth November)
According to legend, he was a youth at
the court of King Theodobert of France.
He was converted, and baptised by St.
Benignus, and became endued with a spirit
of charity. He spent his time in visiting
and ministering to prisoners (sometimes
seeking their pardon from the King) and his
money in liberating captive slaves. Finding
it difficult to combine the duties of a courtier
with the life he desired, he became a hermit,
and lived for several years in the desert near
Limoges. One day, as the King, with his
wife and courtiers, was out hunting in the
neighbourhood, the Queen was suddenly
taken ill, and seemed about to die, when
124 THE SAINTS IN ART
she was relieved by the prayers of St. Leonard, and safely brought forth a child. The King, in gratitude, gave him a piece of land there, and he cleared it, and formed a religious community, in which he died, in 559. He was ordained deacon, but took no higher order, though he became abbot of the institution he founded. He is claimed by the Benedictines.
He is represented as a deacon, or in the black or white tunic of his order, holding fetters, his distinguishing attribute.
LONGINUS, St. (Patron Saint of Mantua). (i$th March)
The soldier who pierced the side of Christ, at the crucifixion, was, according to legend, a centurion, named Longinus. He was baptised, and became a Christian teacher, and suffered martyrdom.
He is represented in armour, with a long lance, in pictures of the Crucifixion, or as Patron of Mantua.
Mantegna's " Madonna of the Victory," in the Louvre.
THE SAINTS IN ART 125 Lorenzo Giustiniani, St. {$th September) Born of a noble family, in 1380. At the age of nineteen, called to the service of God by a miraculous vision, he took refuge with the Augustine Hermits at San Giorgio in Alga. Becoming distinguished for his chari- ties and penances, he was appointed Bishop of Castello, and a few years afterwards the first Patriarch of Venice. He died, greatly venerated for his humility and zeal, in 1455.
Louis Beltran, St. (or Bertran). (gtk October) A native of Valencia, who took the Dominican habit, and became a celebrated preacher and missionary in the sixteenth century. He travelled as far as Peru, where he taught for several years, and then re- turned to Spain. He was a friend of St. Theresa.
Louis, St. (of France). (Ital. San Luigi.) (25/^ August) The history of Louis IX., King of France, and his eminence in virtue and piety, are
126 THE SAINTS IN ART
well known. He is claimed by the Fran- ciscans, for he assumed the habit of the Third Order of Penitence before he em- barked on his first Crusade. He was influenced by the two great passions of his age — for Crusades, and for relics ; and suc- ceeded in bringing the Crown of Thorns, as was supposed, to Paris, where he built over it the Sainte Chapelle. He died in 1270, and was canonised in 1297.
He is represented with his crown and sceptre, though these are sometimes at his feet ; and his proper attribute is the Crown of Thorns, generally held in his hand.
Frescoes by Giotto in Santa Croce, Florence.
Louis, St. (of Toulouse). (Ital. San Ludovico.) (igth August) Great-nephew of Louis IX. (St. Louis) of France, and grandson of Charles of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily. At the age of fourteen he was taken as a hostage for his father by the King of Aragon, and when he was released from captivity, after several
THE SAINTS IN ART 127
years, he gave up all his rights to his brother Robert, and became a Franciscan friar. He was soon after made Bishop of Toulouse, and died, at the age of twenty-four, in 1297.
He is represented as very young, with episcopal robes over the Franciscan habit, and generally with fleurs-de-lys on some part of his dress.
Fresco by Giotto and statue by Dona- tello, in Santa Croce, Florence, and picture by Simone Martini, in San Lorenzo, Naples.
Lucy, St. (Ital. Lucia; Fr. Luce). (13/A December) Like St. Agatha, she was a native of Sicily. She lived at Syracuse with her mother, who was a widow. They went on pilgrimage to St. Agatha's tomb, and there the mother, Eutychia, was healed of a grievous illness. St. Lucy then insisted on giving all their possessions to the poor ; this so enraged the young man to whom her relations had betrothed her that he denounced her to the Governor of Sicily as a Christian. The
i28 THE SAINTS IN ART
Governor commanded her to sacrifice to his idols, and, on her refusing, started a series of tortures to compel her, but when men tried to take her away to persecution, they miracu- lously became immovable, and men and oxen, pulling her by ropes, produced no effect whatever. As she could not be moved, he ordered her to be burnt ; this failing to hurt her, she was pierced by the sword. A more modern legend says that the youth who wooed her protested that her beautiful eyes gave him no rest, so St. Lucy, fearing that they caused him to offend, cut them out with her own hands, and sent them to him on a dish, whereupon he became a Christian. Later on she recovered her sight. She is invoked against blindness and all diseases of the eyes.
She is represented as young and beautiful, sometimes with a lamp in her hand (in refer- ence to her name), but her distinguishing attribute is her eyes on a salver, or, less frequently, the instrument with which she cut them out.
Tiepolo's " Communion of St. Lucy," in Santi Apostoli, Venice.
THE SAINTS IN ART 129
Luke, St. (Biblical). (See Evangelists.) (iStk October)
A tradition of the Greek Church makes St. Luke an artist, and his special delight was to paint the Virgin. He is supposed to have carried everywhere with him a portrait of the Virgin, and by means of it to have made many converts.
He is represented as an evangelist, with an ox t often winged, or, with his easel and brush, painting the Virgin — e.g. picture by Roger Van der Weyden, Pinacoteca, Munich, and by Jean Grossaert, in Museum Prague, and pictures of the School of Raphael, in the Accademia di San Luca, Rome.
Lupo, St. (See St. Grata.)
Magi (the Wise Men or the Three Kings).
(Biblical.) {6th January)
The mediaeval legend names the three wise
men Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar — the
first being about sixty years of age, the
second about forty, and the third, sometimes
1
130 THE SAINTS IN ART
a Moor or negro, about twenty. They were of kingly, or at least of princely, rank, and, starting from various points, they met on the way, and travelled together to Bethlehem. Tradition also says that, many years after, they were baptised by St. Thomas, during his missionary travels in the East, and that their bodies, after long wanderings, rested at length in Cologne Cathedral.
Picture by Gentile da Fabriano, in Ac- cademia, and by Diirer, in Uffizi, Florence.
Marcella (or Martilla), St.
The handmaiden of SS. Martha and Mary, who accompanied them on their voyage to Marseilles (see St. Mary Magdalene). She is said to have written the Life of St. Martha, and preached the Gospel in Sclav- onia. She is often represented in pictures of the house at Bethany, sometimes cook- ing in the background. Not to be con- fused with St. Marcella, the Roman widow, friend of St. Jerome, of whom there is a picture by Borgognone, in the Certosa of Pavia.
THE SAINTS IN ART 131
Margaret, St. {20th July)
A legend, which is of Eastern origin, says that she was the daughter of a priest of Antioch. She was sent out into the country to be nursed, and the woman who took charge of her was a Christian. Margaret was brought up in the true Faith, and determined to con- secrate her life to Christ. One day the Governor of Antioch, passing by, saw her as she was minding sheep, and, attracted by her beauty, commanded her to be brought to his palace. Margaret then declared herself a Christian, and, forsaken in consequence by her parents, she was left in the power of the Governor. He endeavoured by the most cruel tortures to subdue her, and make her his wife ; but, even when in agony so terrible that the tyrant himself hid his face, she re- mained firm. She was then thrown into a dungeon, where Satan, in the form of a dragon, came upon her. She held up the cross, and he fled ; or, a more popular version of the story, he swallowed her, but at once burst, and she came forth alive. Further tortures only caused many, at the sight of her youth
1 32 THE SAINTS IN ART
and beauty, to accept the Faith, so the Governor ordered her to be beheaded. As she died, she prayed that all women who, in remembrance of her sufferings, invoked her in childbirth, should find help.
She is represented as young and fair, tread- ing on a dragon, She has the cross, palm, or crown of martyrdom ; sometimes (in allusion to her name) she has pearls round her hair.
Picture by Giulio Romano (from Raphael's design), in the Louvre.
Mark, St. (Biblical). (Ital. San Marco.) (See Evangelists.) (2$tk April) Tradition says that St. Mark became the companion and amanuensis of St. Peter, by whose direction he went to preach the Gospel in Egypt, where he founded the Church of Alexandria. Here he performed many miracles, and on one occasion healed Anianus, a cobbler, who had wounded his hand with an awl. This man afterwards became a zealous Christian, and succeeded St. Mark as Bishop of Alexandria. St. Mark was finally seized and dragged through the streets till he
« ^£ ^
S eft
THE SAINTS IN ART 133
died, a tempest of rain and hail meanwhile overwhelming his murderers. His remains were brought to Venice about 815, and the Cathedral of St. Mark was built over them. There are various legends of St. Mark ap- pearing at later times in Venice ; in a famous one, he, with St. George and St. Nicholas, drives off a galley full of demons from the city in a fisherman's boat, with the sign of the cross. St. Mark sent the fisherman to the Doge to be paid for his labour, and gave him his ring as a token that it was St. Mark who sent him, and as the ring could not be found in its usual place among the relics, the Doge was constrained to believe the story. He is also said to have appeared at the torture and execution of a Christian slave, and to have broken the instruments in pieces.
Heis represented as an evangelist, with a lion, often winged ; as Bishop of Alexandria ; or with his pen and book ; and often with St. Peter.
A notable picture of him by Fra Barto- lomeo is in the Pitti, Florence ; illustrations of the legends by Tintoretto and Paris Bor- done are in the Accademia, Venice.
i 3 4 THE SAINTS IN ART
Martha, St. (Biblical). (Patroness of Cooks and Housewives.) (29/^ July)
According to tradition, she was the means of converting her sister (see St. Mary Mag- dalen) from her evil life, and is sometimes represented as leading her to Christ. She and Mary are symbolical respectively of active and contemplative life, or of female discretion and housewifery, as contrasted with frailty. A Provencal legend tells that while Martha was preaching near Aix, a dragon, who lived in the Rhone, devastated the country, but was overcome by her sprink- ling holy water on him, bound with her girdle, and killed.
She is represented, often in homely dress, with some household or cooking utensil, or bunch of keys 1 sometimes with a. pot of holy water in her hand, and a dragon, bound, at her feet.
Martin, St. (of Tours). {nth November)
Was born in the Roman province of Pan- nonia, in the reign of Constantine. His parents were pagans, but at an early age he
THE SAINTS IN ART 135
wished to become a Christian. He was a tribune in the army, and was sent into Gaul on a campaign. He was distinguished throughout his career for his gentleness, humility, and charity, as well as for his valour. His legion was quartered at Amiens during the very cold winter of 332, and here one day he met a poor shivering beggar, at the gate of the city, and cutting his cloak in two with his sword, gave the beggar half. That night he had a vision of CHRIST clad with the half of his cloak, and he was soon after baptised. When he reached the age of forty, he wished to leave the army and devote himself to religion, but the Emperor taunted him with fear, and St. Martin, to refute him, offered to be placed in front of the army, naked, with nothing but a cross in his hand. This was to have been done, but the enemy capitulated that very day. After leaving the army he led a retired religious life, and was made Bishop of Tours in 371. Many mir- acles are recorded of him : he raised a widow's son to life, and restored a slave of the Pro- consul from possession by a devil. He waged
136 THE SAINTS IN ART
war against the idolaters of his time, and con- verted a large part of Gaul to Christianity.
He is represented as a soldier, often on horseback, generally dividing his cloak with the beggar. Sometimes he is in episcopal robes, and a beggar is his attribute.
Frescoes of his life by Simone Martini are in the lower church of San Francesco, Assisi.
MARTINIAN, St. (Centurion at the Mamertine Prison). (See St. Peter.) {2nd July)
Mary of Egypt, St, (Fr. La Gipesienne ; La Jussienne). {2nd April) A penitent woman of Alexandria, who was turned from her evil life by supernatural power preventing her crossing the threshold of a church in Jerusalem. She retired to the desert, taking with her only three small loaves, and lived there for nearly fifty years, in the direst poverty and rags. She was discovered at length by Zosimus, a priest, who gave her the Sacrament. When he came again she was dead, and he, old and infirm,
THE SAINTS IN ART 137
was trying to bury her body when a lion came out of a wood, and dug her grave with his paws.
She is represented as old and wasted, with grey or black hair (thus distinguished from St. Mary Magdalen), sometimes holding three small loaves.
Picture by Filippino Lippi, in the Ac- cademia, Florence.
Mary Magdalene, St. (Biblical). (Patroness of Marseilles, and of Penitent Women.) {22nd July) Western art, following tradition, makes no distinction between Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, and " the woman which was a sinner," though they appear to have been historically three dis- tinct persons. According to the legend, St. Mary and her brother and sister, accompanied by SS. Maximin and Marcella (q.v.), after the Ascension, set out in a boat, without sails, oars, or rudder, and came to Marseilles. Here they converted the heathen and taught, St. Lazarus becoming the first Bishop of Mar-
138 THE SAINTS IN ART
seilles. Many miracles are related of St. Mary. A certain prince of Provence and his wife promised to believe the Gospel if they were granted a son. They set out to Jerusa- lem to prove the truth of what they were told, and on the way a son was born, but the mother died. The sailors insisted on putting the baby, and the body of its mother, ashore on a rocky, uninhabited island. The prince prayed to St. Mary for the safety of his child, and when he returned, two years later, he found it alive and well, and the woman came to life again at the approach of her husband. Tradition says that St. Mary went into soli- tude in the wilderness, and remained there thirty years, fasting, reading, and often visited by angels, who bore her at last to heaven.
She is represented as very beautiful, usually with long fair hair. Her indispensable attri- bute is a box of ointment. Sometimes she is in the desert, praying or reading, and with emblems of penance. Her figure is always symbolic of Christian penitence.
Fresco, " Noli me Tangere," by Fra
< w ~
Z B 2
2 h f*
s ° •
THE SAINTS IN ART 139
Angelico, in San Marco, Florence, and picture by Titian, in the Pitti. Series of frescoes by Ferrari, in San Cristoforo, Ver- celli.
Mary the Virgin, St. (Biblical). {2nd Feb- ruary -, 2$th March, l$th August \ 2nd July, 8tk September) According to the Apocryphal Gospel of the Life of Mary, Joachim of Nazareth espoused Anna, a maiden of Bethlehem. They both "did right in the sight of the Lord," dividing their substance into three parts — one for the Temple and its ministers, another for pilgrims and the poor, and a third for themselves and their household. After living twenty years without children, they vowed to the LORD that if He would give them a child, they would dedicate it to Him. Joachim used to go up to Jerusalem for the great feasts, and at the Feast of the Dedication, being repelled by the High Priest as childless, and unworthy to bring an offer- ing, he went apart into the wilderness, and abode with the shepherds. There an angel
140 THE SAINTS IN ART
appeared to him, and promised him a daughter, who was to be called Mary, and consecrated to the LORD, for she should be the mother of the Saviour of all nations. As a sign, the angel told him that on his return he would meet his wife at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, coming to welcome him. The same angel appeared to Anna, with the same message, and she and her husband met, rejoicing, at the gate.
When the child was born they called her Mary, and at three years old (though generally represented as much older) they brought her to the Temple, to dedicate her to the LORD ; and she ascended the fifteen steps leading up to the altar with- out assistance. This is a very favourite subject for pictures, called the " Presen- tation of the Virgin in the Temple." Mary lived in the Temple, learning and working, and grew in grace, wisdom, and stature. When she was fourteen the High Priest commanded that she, and the other virgins of the Temple, should return home, and marry, according to the custom of their
THE SAINTS IN ART 141
nation. As she refused, the elders were summoned to consider the matter. While they prayed, a voice from the sanctuary commanded that every unwedded male of the House of David should place his rod on the altar, when the rod of him who should be the spouse of Mary would bud, and the Holy Spirit as a dove would descend on it. There was among them a certain Joseph, an old man, and a widower, who, thinking him- self too old, kept back his rod. When no miracle took place the High Priest called for Joseph, who presented his rod, and it came to pass as the voice had said. It was then clear to all men that he was the chosen spouse, and they were accordingly married. An old tradition says that the other suitors broke their wands in anger.
An ancient legend relates that the Tibur- tine Sibyl appeared to the Emperor Augustus, and announced the birth of Christ, a short time before the event. The Emperor in- quired of the sibyl whether he should allow himself to be worshipped with divine honours, and she, taking him apart, showed him an
142 THE SAINTS IN ART
altar, above which was the Virgin, with the Infant CHRIST, enthroned in glory ; and a voice said : " This is the altar of the Son of the Living God." Then Augustus caused an altar to be built on the Capitoline Hill, where in after times the Church of the Ara Coeli was erected.
There is a legend that, in their flight from Bethlehem, the Holy Family passed some husbandmen sowing corn in a field, and the Virgin told them that if anyone asked when the Son of Man passed by, they should say : " When we were sowing the corn." During the night the corn grew up and ripened, and the next day, when Herod's soldiers came, the men were harvesting it. They replied as they had been told, and the pursuit was stayed. In the subject called a " Riposo," the Holy Family are seen resting under a tree, during their flight into Egypt, or while sojourning there.
The story of the life of the Virgin in the Gospels has been elaborated and amplified by tradition to an almost inconceivable extent. Pictures of the Annunciation, the
THE SAINTS IN ART 143
Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Flight into Egypt are all so universal and well known that they need no comment. The Virgin is represented in pictures of the Finding of Christ in the Temple, and of the Death of Joseph, which is supposed to have taken place before the beginning of Christ's ministry. She also appears at the Marriage at Cana, and is occasionally introduced into other scenes, when not specially mentioned in the Gospels, and in a traditional farewell with her Son before His death, counted as one of the "Seven Sorrows of Mary." In pictures of the Procession to Calvary, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, and the Entombment, she is almost invariably present. A frequent subject is the " Deposi- tion," representing the dead body of CHRIST laid upon the ground, or resting on the lap of his mother. This is called a " Pieta," but more properly so when only the figures of CHRIST and the Virgin (sometimes attended by angels) are seen. There is a very early tradition that, after His Resurrection, CHRIST
m
144 THE SAINTS IN ART
appeared first of all to His mother, bearing a banner with the cross upon it, and sur- rounded by a company of angels, patriarchs, and prophets ; and she is generally seen in pictures of the Ascension, and of the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Many representations of the Madonna, especially those of later date, refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
There are few representations of her later years, except those connected with her Death and Assumption, the scenes of which consist of seven distinct events: (1) The announce- ment to her of her death by the Archangel Michael, bearing a palm ; (2) Her leave- taking of the apostles ; (3) Her death ; (4) She is borne to the sepulchre ; (5) Her entombment ; (6) Her assumption to heaven ; (7) Her coronation and enthrone- ment by the side of her Son. In pictures of her death the figure of CHRIST is often in- troduced, among a group of saints receiv- ing the departing soul.
(For the legend of the Girdle, see St. Thomas.)
THE SAINTS IN ART 145
Matthew, St. (Biblical). (See Evangel- ists.) (21st September)
According to tradition he preached in Egypt and Ethiopia, where he performed many miracles, restoring the son of a king to life, and healing his daughter of leprosy. One tradition describes his martyrdom under Diocletian, but according to another he died in peace.
He is represented writing, with an angel dictating to him, or holding an inkhorn ; or a bag, to signify his profession of tax gatherer, or sitting at the receipt of custom.
Mattias, St. (Biblical). (Ital. San Mattia.) (24/^ February) According to tradition he preached the Gospel in Judaea, and suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Jews, either by the lance or by the axe. In Italian pictures the former is his attribute, in German ones the latter.
146 THE SAINTS IN ART
Maurice, St. (Ital. Maurizio). (Patron Saint of Foot-soldiers, and of Savoy.) {22nd September)
He was commander of the Theban Legion of the Roman army. It numbered 6666, all Christians, and when, in the year 286, it was summoned by the Emperor Maximin to join his army, then invading Gaul, Maurice and some companies were called upon to join in idolatrous rites, and to help in extirpat- ing the Christians. This they refused to do, and the Emperor twice ordered the legion to be decimated by lot, but the remainder continued steadfast ; so a general massacre was ordered, and they perished to a man. Legend also relates that St. Gereon, with another section, met with a similar fate at Cologne.
He is generally represented in armour, with a sword and banner.
Legend represented by Luini in frescoes at San Maurizio, Milan.
Maurus, St. (See St. Benedict.) (15//& January)
ST. MICHAEL AND THE DRAGON
From the fainting by Piero delta Francesca in the National Gallery
91
THE SAINTS IN ART 147
Maximin, St.
Tradition says he was one of the seventy- two disciples sent forth to preach, and that he went with SS. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, to Marseilles. (See St. Mary Magdalene.) According to a legend he gave the Sacrament to St. Mary just before her death.
He often appears in pictures of St. Lazarus and his sisters, sometimes as a bishop.
Michael, St. (the Archangel). (Ital. San
Michele or Sammichele.) (29/A
September)
The chief of the Celestial Host, and victor
over the powers of evil. Hence he represents
the triumph of the spiritual over the material.
He is the Lord and Arbiter of souls, and
the Guardian Angel of the Hebrews. He
appears in Old Testament scenes as the
messenger angel. He also announced her
death to the Virgin Mary. (See St. Mary
Virgin.)
He is represented winged, with spear and shield, overcoming the dragon ; also with
148 THE SAINTS IN ART
a banner and cross, sometimes with a sceptre ; or weighing the souls of men in a balance.
A notable picture of him by Perugino is in the National Gallery.
Miniato, St.
According to the Florentine legend, an Armenian prince, who served in the Roman army under Decius. He was denounced as a Christian, brought before the Emperor, and thrown to the beasts in the Amphitheatre. When this and all the usual tortures failed, he was beheaded, in 254.
Monica, St. (See St. Augustine.) (4/A
May)
Natalia, St. (See St. Adrian.)
NAZARIUS and CELSUS, SS. (two martyrs of Milan). {2&th July) Legend says that St. Nazarius was the son of a Christian mother, who had him baptised
THE SAINTS IN ART 149
by St. Peter. He became a fervent Christian, and, accompanied by a youth named Celsus, preached the Gospel in Cisalpine Gaul, con- verting many. They were beheaded together at Milan.
They are always represented together, St. Nazarius as old, St. Celsus as young.
In their church at Verona is a picture of them by Bartolomeo Montagna.
Nicholas, St. (of Myra). (6th December)
Patron Saint of Children, also of Sailors, and Seaports. Popularly invoked by all in inferior positions — the young, the weak, the poor, the slave, the captive, and the sailor struggling with the sea. He was born in the third century, in Lycia, Asia Minor, to Christian parents, in answer to prayers and almsgiving. According to legend he was a prodigy from his birth, for in his first bath he stood up and joined his hands in thanks- giving to GOD. He was dedicated from childhood to the service of the Church. His parents died while he was still a youth, leav- ing him great riches, which he distributed to
ISO THE SAINTS IN ART
the poor. A certain nobleman in the city was reduced to such poverty that he and his three daughters had nothing to eat ; as there seemed no way of saving his children from an evil life he became desperate. Nicholas, hearing of this, went stealthily by night and found him weeping while the daughters slept. He threw a purse of gold in at the window and crept away. The father gave it as a marriage portion to one of his daughters, and the same thing happened for the second and the third. Finally the secret was dis- covered, but St. Nicholas insisted that the nobleman should tell no one. After some years he voyaged to the Holy Land : on the way, in a terrible storm, he rebuked the waves, and restored to life a drowned sailor. St. Nicholas then went to Myra, where he was after a time made bishop, for he happened to fulfil a prophecy that the man chosen by God for the post was the first who entered the church in the morning. While he held this office there was a great famine : he insisted that ships in the harbour, laden with wheat bound for Constantinople, should be unloaded for
MADONNA ANS1DEI
VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ST. NICHOLAS OF BARI
From the painting by Raphael in the National Gallery
'*;
THE SAINTS IN ART 151
the benefit of his people, promising the owners that when they arrived at their destination they would still be found full of wheat ; and so it was. One day, during the famine, while travelling through his diocese, he came to the house of a man who stole and ate children. He was actually preparing some for St. Nicholas, who, when he discovered, went to the tub where the limbs were, and, making the sign of the cross, the children rose up whole and well. During a visit of the tribunes of Constantine's army to Myra, some innocent men were condemned and led out to execution. St. Nicholas rushed to the spot, seized the sword, and saved the men. When the tribunes returned to Constanti- nople they were accused of treason, and thrown into prison. Remembering St. Nicholas, they called upon him, and he appeared to Constantine and ordered him to pardon them. He did so, and sent them to Myra with a beautiful copy of the Gospels for St. Nicholas, who became henceforth the Patron of Prisoners. He died in 326. His remains were afterwards
152 THE SAINTS IN ART
moved to Bari. He is called Nicholas of Bari.
He is represented as a bishop, with three golden balls, or purses, as his attribute, notably in Raphael's "Ansidei Madonna," in the National Gallery.
Nicholas, St. (of Tolentino). (10th Sep- tember)
Was born about 1239, at St. Angelo, near Fermo. He very early in life became an Augustine friar, and was renowned for his extreme activity and austerity. Legend says that at his birth a star of great splendour shot from St. Angelo, and stood over Tolen- tino, where he afterwards lived. He never tasted animal food, and when, in his last illness, a dish of doves was set before him he spread his hand over them, and they flew away.
He is represented in the black habit of his order, a star on his breast, and holds a cruci- fix, wreathed with a lily,
A picture of him by Mazzolino is in the National Gallery, and others are in the
THE SAINTS IN ART 153
churches of San Gimignano, where he is much revered.
NlLUS, St. (of Grotta Ferrata). (26/A Sep- tember)
A Greek of Tarentum, who in old age became a monk of the Order of St. Basil, and in a few years the head of his community. Driven from the east to the west of Italy by the invasions of the Saracens, he found a refuge at Monte Cassino, and afterwards at the Convent of St. Alexis, at Rome. In con- sequence of the horrors and outrages which attended the invasion of Italy by the Emperor Otho III. he fled to a lonely cavern near Frascati, over which arose in after years the magnificent Convent and Church of San Basilio of Grotta Ferrata. Here for cen- turies the Rule of St. Basil has been obeyed, and the Mass said in Greek. St. Nilus died, full of years and honours, in 1002.
Frescoes illustrating his life, by Domeni- chino, are in the chapel of St. Nilus, at Grotta Ferrata.
154 THE SAINTS IN ART
NORBERT, St. (the Founder of the Premon- stratensians). (6th June)
Born at Cologne, he was a kinsman of the Emperor Henry IV. His early years were spent at Court, in the pursuit of pleasure ; but, after a narrow escape from death in a storm, he sold his possessions and set out to preach repentance. After travelling through the north of France, and winning many followers, he had a vision in which the Virgin showed him a field {Pre Montre), where he established his Order of " Pre- monstratensians." The Rule was that of the Augustines, but the discipline more severe. St. Norbert became Archbishop of Magdeburg, and died in 1 134. A story is told that one day at Mass, when he was about to drink from the consecrated cup, he saw in it a large venomous spider. He drank not- withstanding, and miraculously remained uninjured.
He is represented as an archbishop, some- times preaching, sometimes holding a cup with a spider. His other attribute is a demon bound at his feet.
THE SAINTS IN ART 155
Omobuono, St. (Patron Saint of Tailors). {i^th November)
A merchant of Cremona ; regarded as the protector of that city, and the patron and example of all good citizens. By thrift and diligence he became rich, in spite of his boundless charity to the poor. It is said that once, on a journey with his family, he distributed all his bread and wine to some poor pilgrims, and that angels miraculously supplied his own wants. He died while kneeling before the crucifix, with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and was canonised by Pope Innocent III.
He is represented in a loose tunic and cap, trimmed with fur, distributing alms to the poor ; sometimes wine flasks stand near him.
Onophrius, St. (Ital. Onofrio or Hono FRIO). {\2th June) A monk of Thebes, and one of the very early hermits of Egypt. According to the old legend, he dwelt in a cave in the desert for sixty years, seeing no human being, speaking no word, and unclothed except by
156 THE SAINTS IN ART
leaves twisted round him, and became in appearance like a wild beast. In after years he was made Patron of Monasteries where strict solitude and silence were enforced.
He is represented as very old, with long, matted, grey hair, and with a leafy branch twisted round his loins.
Ottilia, St. ( i ith December)
Patron Saint of Alsace, was daughter of a Duke of Alsace, and was born blind. Her father ordered her to be exposed, but she was rescued by her nurse, and on being baptised by a pious bishop she received her sight. She founded a monastery at Hohenburg, in which she lived, with many nuns, in great virtue and devotion, and she died Abbess of it in 720.
She is represented as a Benedictine nun, often holding a book, on which are her eyes.
PANTALEON, vSt. (Patron of Physicians). {2Jth July) Born at Nicomedia,in Bithynia, he became, according to tradition, while still a young
THE SAINTS IN ART 157
man, the favourite physician of the Emperor Galerius Maximian. In childhood he had been taught Christianity by his mother, and Hermolaus, an old priest, continued to instruct him. He made no attempt to escape persecution, but went about, healing the sick, and working wonders, till he was accused, bound to an olive-tree, and be- headed.
He is represented in Venetian art in the long robe of a physician, sometimes with an olive instead of a palm branch in his hand, or bound to an olive-tree.
PAUL, St. (Biblical). (25/A January, 29th- $olh June) Usually illustrations are of events in his life recorded in the Bible. There is an old tradition that at the time of his conversion (a very favourite subject) he was on horse- back. While in Rome various miracles are attributed to him, and his meeting with St. Peter there is often represented (see St. Peter). According to tradition, the two
158 THE SAINTS IN ART
apostles suffered martyrdom at the same time, but, St. Paul, being a Roman citizen, was not crucified, but was beheaded outside the Ostian Gate. A legend says that on his way thither he passed Plautilla, a convert, who wept, and asked his blessing. He bade her farewell, and asked for her veil, to bind his eyes during his execution, saying that he would return it after his death. The attendants mocked, but he appeared to her after his martyrdom and returned the bloodstained veil. It is also related that his head, after it was cut off, touched the ground three times, and in each spot a well of water sprang up ; hence, the place is called " Tre Fontane " to this day.
He is represented as short, with a brown beard, high forehead, and aquiline nose, hold- ing a book and a sword. Often with St. Peter.
Paul, St. (the Hermit). (See St. Anthony, the Hermit.)
THE SAINTS IN ART 159
Peter, St. (Biblical). (Ital. San Pietro or Piero ; Fr. St. Pierre ; Span. San Pedro.) ( 1 %th January and 29th June) Beyond what is told of St. Peter in the Bible innumerable legends exist. Some of the most important are connected with Simon Magus. When the miracles of St. Peter had brought to naught the sorceries of Simon, the magician fled to Rome, where he became a favourite of the Emperor. St. Peter followed him, and was joined there by St. Paul. When Simon falsely accused the Apostles before Nero they challenged him to raise a dead boy to life, and on his failure St. Peter performed the miracle. Finally, when Simon, having undertaken to fly up to heaven, remained hanging in the air, supported by demons, at the command of St. Peter they let go, and he fell dead. During the persecutions which followed the burning of Rome the Christians besought St. Peter to leave the city, and he at length consented. As he went along the Appian Way he met Christ, walking towards Rome, and said : " Domine, quo vadis ? " (Lord,
i6o THE SAINTS IN ART
whither goest thou ?) The reply was : " I go to Rome, to be crucified afresh." St. Peter took this as a sign that he was to return and suffer all things, and at once obeyed. To- gether with St. Paul, he was imprisoned in the Mamertine dungeon, where their cus- todians, SS. Processus and Martinian, and many of the criminals, were converted and baptised. Soon after they were condemned to death, and St. Peter was crucified, with his head downwards, either in the Circus of Caligula or in the courtyard of the barracks of the Janiculum. According to legend, St. Peter's daughter, Petronilla, accompanied him to Rome, and there fell ill. The disciples wondered that the Apostle, who healed many, did not heal his own daughter, but he said : " It is good for her to be so" ; and to show the power of GOD he* raised her up. She served them at table, but lay down again, and so remained for many years. At length, "perfect through suffering," she recovered, and Valerius Flaccus, a rich young Roman, wished to marry her. He was so powerful that she feared to refuse
THE SAINTS IN ART 161
him, and told him to go away, and return in three days, during which time, in answer to her ardent prayers, she died, and was carried to the grave, crowned with roses. According to a widely accepted tradition, St. Peter is regarded by many as the first Bishop of Rome.
St. Peter is generally represented as an old man, with a short grey beard ; often with the keys, or a book, cross, or fish ; sometimes as Pope, with the tiara or triple crown ; sometimes as the Doorkeeper of Heaven.
Frescoes by Massaccio and others in the Carmine, Florence ; by Raphael in the Stanze, Vatican ; by Michaelangelo in the Capella Paolina ; by Perugino in Capella Sistina, Rome.
Peter, St. (of Alcantara), {xgth October)
A Franciscan friar, born at Alcantara in Estramadura, in Portugal, in 1499 ; he died in 1562. Legend says that through faith he walked on the sea, and in pictures he is sometimes represented as so doing.
1 62 THE SAINTS IN ART
Peter Exorcista and Marcellinus, SS. {2nd June) Two Roman martyrs, who suffered in the last persecution under Diocletian. They were thrown into prison, where they con- verted their jailer, his family, and many prisoners. They were beheaded at the same time, in a forest three miles from Rome, and are always represented together.
Peter Martyr, St. (Ital. San Pietro (Piero) Martire ; Fr. St. Pierre le Dominican). (29M April) Born at Verona about 1205. When a boy of fifteen he became an apt disciple of St. Dominic, who was preaching at Verona, and assumed the habit of his Order. He became a celebrated preacher, and, being especially zealous against the heretical sect of the Cathari, he was appointed Inquisitor- General by Pope Honorius III. Some of his enemies became exasperated at his in- tolerant persecutions, and hired assassins to murder him in a wood on his way from Como to Milan. One of the assassins struck
n.
£
THE SAINTS IN ART 163
him on the head with an axe, and then pursued the lay brother who was with him. When they returned, St. Peter had risen to his knees, and was reciting the Apostles' Creed, or, according to one account, had written " Credo " with his blood on the ground. They then pierced him with the sword.
He is represented in the Dominican habit, with an axe or a large knife struck into his head, or with a bleeding gash in his head, and carries a palm.
His portrait in fresco by Fra Angelico, in San Marco, Florence. Picture, attri- buted to Bellini, in National Gallery. His shrine, by Balduccio, is in Sant' Eustorgio, Milan.
Peter Nolasco, St. (31^ fanuary)
The son of a nobleman of Languedoc, and one of the converts of St. John de Matha, (g.v.) } in imitation of whom he founded the " Order of Our Lady of Mercy," for the deliverance of captives and prisoners
1 64 THE SAINTS IN ART
for debt. The rest of his long life, till his death in 1258, was spent in expeditions to Africa and the part of Spain then under the dominion of the Moors, whence he re- turned with hundreds of redeemed slaves. His Order, at first military, consisting of knights and gentlemen, afterwards became strictly religious, and obtained the canonisa- tion of their founder in 1628.
He is represented as an aged man, in a white habit ; bearing on his breast the arms of King James of Aragon, the badge of his Order.
Petronilla, St. (See St. Peter.) (31J/
May)
PETRONIUS, St. (Bishop and Patron Saint
of Bologna). (4/^ October)
He was by birth a Roman, who early
in life became a Christian. He banished
the Arians from Bologna, and died in
430-
Represented as a bishop, often with a
model of Bologna in his hand.
THE SAINTS IN ART 165
Philip, St. (Ital. Filippo). (Biblical.) (1st May)
According to tradition he preached the Gospel in Scythia and Phrygia. There he exorcised, in the name of the Cross, a dragon or serpent worshipped by the people. The priests bound and crucified him — according to Greek legend, head downwards.
He is represented with a cross, or a staff with a small cross on it.
Philip Benozzi, St. (23rd August)
The chief saint of the Order of " Padri Serviti," a community founded by seven noble Florentines in the thirteenth century. He was a physician, but retired to the convent at Monte Senario, near Florence, and died General of the Order, in 1285.
Frescoes illustrating his life by Andrea del Sarto are in the court of S. Annunziata, Florence.
Philip Neri, St. {26th May)
Born in 1515. He was an intimate friend of St. Charles Borromeo, and the Founder
1 66 THE SAINTS IN ART
of the Oratorians, a community devoted to works of charity.
Phocas, St. (Ital. San Foca). ($rd July) He dwelt outside the gate of Sinope, in Pontus, at the end of the third century. There, with prayer and contemplation, he cultivated a garden, and gave the produce to the poor. One night, as he sat at supper, some strangers came in, and, as he kept open house, he made them welcome, and then asked them why they had come. They said to find a certain Phocas, whom they were commissioned to kill. He said nothing, but gave them a night's lodging ; and, while they were asleep, went out, and dug a grave in his garden among the flowers. In the morn- ing he told his guests that Phocas was found, and insisted on their beheading him at the grave, and they buried him there.
In Byzantine art he is represented as an aged man, a gardener, with a spade.
Placidus, St. (See St. Benedict.) (5/// October) _
THE SAINTS IN ART 167
Praxedes and Pudentiana, SS. (21st July and igth May) Two daughters of the Roman patrician, Pudens, with whom St. Peter lodged. The whole family became Christians, and after a time the sisters inherited their entire fortune. During the first great persecution under Nero they comforted and encouraged the martyrs, ministering to them in prison, and giving them burial after death. They themselves escaped the dangers by which they were surrounded, and at length died, after distributing their remaining possessions to the poor. Their churches are among the most interesting and well known in Rome.
Prisc A, St. (iZth January)
According to legend was a noble Roman virgin, who, at the age of thirteen, was exposed in the Amphitheatre. A fierce lion, when let loose upon her, to the amazement of all, licked her feet, and she was taken back to prison and beheaded. It is said that an eagle watched over her body till it was buried, hence she is sometimes re-
1 68 THE SAINTS IN ART
presented with an eagle, as well as a lion.
PROCESSUS, St. (the Centurion at the Ma- mertine Prison). (See St. Peter.) {2nd July)
Procopius, St.
A King of Bohemia, who gave up his crown, and became a hermit, living unknown for years ; at length he was discovered by a prince, who was hunting a stag, which took refuge in his arms.
PROCULUS, St. (the Military Patron of Bologna)
He was a soldier, who killed with an axe the emissary sent to Bologna by the Emperor Maximin, to inflict persecution on the Chris- tians, and afterwards suffered martyrdom.
In pictures by artists of Bologna he is represented as a soldier, with an axe, or carrying a head.
Pudentiana, St. (See St. Praxedes.)
ST. RAPHAEL AND TOBIAS
From a painting ( Tuscan School) in the National Gallery
THE SAINTS IN ART 169
Ranieri, St. (Fr. St. Regnier). (The Patron Saint of Pisa.) {17th June)
Born about 1100. On his conversion from the vanities of the world he went to Palestine, and lived for twenty years as a hermit. He is said to have performed many miracles, mostly by means of water. Hence he is called San Ranieri dell' Acqua. He at length returned to Pisa, and died there, in the odour of sanctity.
Frescoes illustrating his life by Spinello Aretino are in the Campo Santo at Pisa.
Raphael, St. (the Archangel). (24//Z October) Is, by tradition, the Guardian Angel of humanity, the prince of all guardian angels, and he watches specially over pilgrims and wayfarers. He is the angel in the story of Tobit (Apocrypha). Tobit, a Jewish exile, had fallen into poverty, and become blind, and he prayed for death. To him was sent the angel Raphael ; and he led the young son, Tobias, into Media, to marry Sara, his rich kinswoman. But she was haunted
170 THE SAINTS IN ART
by an evil spirit, who had slain her seven husbands, each on his wedding day. Raphael bade Tobias take a certain fish, whose gall would afterwards heal his father's blindness, and whose heart and liver would drive away the evil spirit from his bride.
Raphael is represented winged, with a staff as a pilgrim, or a sword as a guardian. In illustrations of Tobit, Tobias (who is generally only a boy) is carrying the fish, and Raphael, a small box for the gall.
Notable picture by Perugino, in National Gallery, and two, formerly attributed to Botticelli, in Accademia, Florence, and Turin Gallery.
Raymond, St. (de Penaforte). (23rd? January} Was born of a noble Spanish family in 1 175. He joined the Dominican Order soon after the death of its founder, and became in due time the third General. His recorded miracles fill fifteen folio pages. On one occasion, when in Majorca, he reproved the King of Aragon, whose confessor he was,
THE SAINTS IN ART 171
for a fault, and threatened to leave for Spain, but was forbidden. So he spread his cloak on the waves, and tying one corner of it to his staff, set upright for a mast, he made the sign of the cross, and was wafted safe to Barcelona.
He is represented in his Dominican habit, gliding over the sea on his mantle.
Raymond Nonnatus, St. (Span. San Ramon). (3 1st August) Closely associated with St. Peter Nolasco (g.v.) t the Founder of the Order of Mercy, with whom he made several voyages to Africa, to redeem captives from the Moors. He was made Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX. in 1 240, and died the same year.
Regulus and Frediano, SS. (Patrons of Lucca). (iSth March) One was an African bishop, who took refuge in Tuscany, and was martyred at the invasion of Totila ; the other was Bishop of Lucca in the sixth century.
172 THE SAINTS IN ART REPARATA, St. (8tk October)
Was for many years the Patroness of Florence, and the cathedral there was formerly dedicated to her. Legend says that she was a virgin of Caesarea, who, at the age of twelve, bravely suffered torture and martyrdom under Decius. It is difficult to distinguish her from other youthful virgin martyrs ; she is not uncommon in old Florentine pictures.
Roch, St. (Ital. San Rocco). (Protector against sickness and plague.) (16th August) Born of noble parents at Montpelier, in Languedoc, at the end of the thirteenth cen- tury. According to legend, he determined from his youth to imitate the life of CHRIST, and before he was twenty years of age, on the death of his parents, he disposed of his riches to the poor, and started as a pilgrim on foot to Rome. On his way he came to a place where plague was raging, and hence- forth devoted himself to the nursing of the sick, going from city to city. At length, at
THE SAINTS IN ART 173
Piacenza, he found himself stricken with the disease, and dragged himself outside the city into a wood to die. There his faithful little dog watched over him, bringing him daily a loaf of bread in his mouth. An angel also came and dressed his wound, and ministered to him. On his recovery he turned home- wards, but when he arrived at Montpelier he was so completely changed by his suffer- ings that no one knew him. He was arrested as a spy, and thrown into prison, where he remained five years. One day his jailer found him dead in his cell, a bright light shining around, and on the wall a writing which told his name, and declared that those who prayed through his intercession would be healed of plague. He was buried with all honours, and continued to be of great renown in Montpelier. At Constance in 1414 his effigy was carried through the streets during a great outbreak of the plague, with such success that he became the Patron Saint of the Plague-stricken. His body was after- wards carried to Venice, and the Church of San Rocco erected over it.
174 THE SAINTS IN ART
He is represented as a pilgrim with his staff, and cockleshell in his hat, pointing to a plague-spot on his thigh. Generally accom- panied by his dog) often with St. Sebastian, as joint patrons of the sick.
Scenes from his life by Tintoretto are in the Scuola di San Rocco, Venice.
Romain, St. (23rd October)
Bishop of Rouen at the time of Clovis I., and preached Christianity in Normandy. He is said to have vanquished and bound a monstrous dragon, which rose in the bed of the River Seine, near Rouen — a legend allegorical of the triumph of Christianity over Paganism. He died in 639, and was succeeded by St. Ouen.
Romualdus, St. (igtk June)
Born about 956, of a noble family at Ravenna. At the age of twenty he retired to the Monastery of St. Apollinare in Classe, to do penance for a murder committed by his father, and there he entered the Benedictine Order. After seven years, disgusted by the
THE SAINTS IN ART 175
irregularities of the monks, he founded his Reformed Benedictine Order of " Camaldoli," so called from Campo Maldoli, near Arezzo, among the Apennines, where he built the parent monastery. According to the legend he saw, like Jacob, a ladder reaching to heaven, on which the monks of his Order were ascending and descending, clad in white. He therefore changed the habit from black to white. He died, at a great age, about 1027.
He is represented with a long white beard, wearing a white habit with loose sleeves.
Pictures by Andrea del Castagno and Lorenzo il Monaco, in the Uffizi, Florence, and by Andrea Sacchi, in the Vatican.
Romulus, St. (First Bishop of Fiesole). (6th July) According to legend, he w r as a noble Roman, and a convert of St. Peter, who sent him to preach at Fiesole. He suffered martyrdom under Nero.
176 THE SAINTS IN ART ROSA, St. (of Viterbo). (4/A September)
A member of the Third Order of St. Francis, in the thirteenth century. She was renowned for her charity and eloquence.
She is represented in the Franciscan tunic, and wears a chaplet of roses.
ROSALIA, St. (of Palermo). (4th September) A Sicilian virgin, who retired, at the age of sixteen, to a rocky cavern, not far from the top of Monte Pellegrino, near Palermo, where she lived till her death. Her body was afterwards discovered, and it was said a wreath of roses was found on her head, placed there by angels.
She is represented as a hermit, in a long loose habit, and generally in her cavern.
Rufina, St. (See St. Justa.)
Sabina, St. (29/A August)
A noble Roman matron of the second century, martyred in the reign of Hadrian. The church built on the Aventine, on the
THE SAINTS IN ART 177
site of her house, existed as early as 423 A.D.
Scholastica, St. (See St. Benedict.) (\oth February)
Sebald, St.
An early German saint, revered at Nurem- burg. He is supposed to have been of Anglo- Danish birth, and to have left England with St. Boniface. He travelled through North Germany to Nuremburg, where he lived, preaching and baptising, till he died in about 770.
He is represented as a pilgrim, with a shell in his hat, a rosary \ and a staffs some- times holding a church (Nuremburg) in his hand.
Sebastian, St. (Protector against Plague or Pestilence). {20th January) A native of Narbonne, of noble parentage, a faithful officer of the Emperor, in the Prae- torian Guard. He was secretly a Christian,
M /^Z?
178 THE SAINTS IN ART
and converted many to the Faith. Two of his fellow-soldiers, Marcus and Marcellinus, suffered martyrdom, encouraged by Sebastian, who shortly afterwards was condemned to be bound to a stake and shot at with arrows. Pierced by many wounds, he was left for dead, but Irene, the widow of one of his friends, came with her attendants, and found that he still breathed. She tended him night and day till he recovered, and then counselled him to fly from Rome, but he refused, and went forth boldly to meet the Emperor at the gate of his palace, and to reproach him for his cruelty. Diocletian then ordered him to be beaten to death with clubs in the Circus. Arrows, the emblems of pestilence, being considered his instrument of martyrdom, he has been invoked against plague through all ages.
He is represented as a beautiful, often almost undraped, figure, bound, and pierced with arrows.
Notable picture by Sodoma, in Uffizi, Florence.
THE SAINTS IN ART 179
SECUNDUS, St. (29/A March)
One of the martyrs of the Theban Legion, specially venerated at Asti. (See St. Maurice.)
Sibyls
According to the writers of the Middle Ages, they were ten in number, named after their respective places of birth or residence — viz. the Persian, Libyan, Delphic, Cumaean, Cythereean, Samian, Cuman, Hellespontine, Phrygian, and Tiburtine. The last was sup- posed to have shown the Virgin and Child in heaven to the Emperor Augustus in a vision (see St. Mary Virgin). All of them are supposed to have prophesied of CHRIST, more especially the Cumaean, and are introduced into Christian art, constantly associated with the prophets, apostles, and evangelists.
They are represented by graffiti on the pavement of the Duomo, Siena ; in frescoes in the Cappella Sistina, Rome, by Michael- angelo, and in S. Maria della Pace, Rome, by Raphael.
180 THE SAINTS IN ART
Simon Stylites, St. ($th January and 2djh May) A famous anchorite, who passed thirty years of his life on the top of a pillar ; a type of extreme Oriental asceticism, which he in- troduced among Christian hermits.
Simon Zelotes and Jude, SS. (Thad- DEUS or Lebbeus). (Biblical.) (2$th October) They are generally mentioned and repre- sented together. Legend says that they were both martyred in Persia, St. Simon being sawn asunder, and St. Jude killed with a hal- berd. According to one tradition they were Christ's kinsmen and companions in child- hood, and are sometimes thus represented ; but according to another they were two of the shepherds to whom Christ's birth was an- nounced, and are therefore regarded as old men at the time of His ministry. Their attri- butes are a saw and a halberd respectively.
Sixtus, St. (See St. Lawrence.) (6th August)
THE SAINTS IN ART 181
Sophia, St. (or Heavenly Wisdom), (.lit August and ^oth September) According to the Greek story, which is purely allegorical, she and her celestial progeny, St. Faith, St. Hope, and St. Charity, were all martyred by the pagans.
Stephen, St. (Biblical). (Deacon and Proto- martyr.) {26th December)
He is represented as a young man in the dress of a deacon, with a palm. His attribute is a stone.
Frescoes illustrating his life by Fra Angelico are in the Chapel of Nicholas V. in the Vatican, Rome.
Sylvester, St. (Pope). (311I December)
Bishop of Rome in the time of Constantine. During the persecutions he was concealed for some time in a cavern. The story runs that when Constantine was attacked by leprosy he inquired of his false gods for a cure, and was told to bathe in the blood of three thousand infants ; but when he saw the children torn from their mothers, and
1&2 THE SAINTS IN ART
ready to be slain, he felt that he would rather die himself, and stayed the deed. St. Peter and St. Paul appeared to him that night, and told him to send to the mountains for St. Sylvester, who would tell him where to wash and be healed. Constantine did so, and, recognising the portraits of the apostles, which Sylvester showed him, was baptised at once, and, a few days afterwards, dug with his own hands the foundation of the new Basilica, now the Lateran. When his mother, Helena, heard of his conversion she told him he should rather have followed the God of the Jews. He then told her to bring the most learned Jewish rabbis to try and refute St. Sylvester. She came, accordingly, with a hundred and forty doctors, and St. Sylvester overcame them all. But one of them, who was a magician, demanded a test, and said he could cause a wild bull, which could only be restrained by a hundred men, to fall down dead when he whispered the name of the Omnipotent in his ear. This he did, but St. Sylvester said that the Name of Christ the Redeemer would do more : it would re-
THE SAINTS IN ART 183
store the bull to life, which the magician could not do. Convinced by the perform- ance of this miracle, everyone present be- lieved. An allegorical story is also told that St. Sylvester overcame a most destructive dragon, and bound its mouth three times with a thread, sealed with the sign of the cross. He also sheltered in his house Timotheus, a Christian martyr, and when Tarquinian the Governor demanded of him the riches of Timotheus, the tyrant, accord- ing to the prophecy of St. Sylvester, died that night, a fish - bone sticking in his throat.
He is represented as Pope, a bull crouch- ing at his feet. Sometimes he has as his attribute a small dragon, or portraits of SS. Peter and Paul.
Thecla, St. (Apocryphal N. T.). (23^ Sep- tember) A virgin and martyr, popular in very early times, and honoured in the Greek Church as the first female martyr. Legend relates that when St. Paul came to Iconium he preached
1 84 THE SAINTS IN ART
in the house of Onesiphorus, and there a certain virgin, named Thecla, heard him from her window, and learnt the true Faith. Her lover, enraged, complained to the gov- ernor, who had St. Paul bound and thrown into prison. But Thecla bribed the jailers to admit her to the prison, where she con- tinued to receive the apostle's teaching, till the governor ordered St. Paul to be scourged and driven out of the city, and Thecla to be burnt to death. But as the flames would not do her any hurt, she escaped, and went with St. Paul to Antioch. There she was thrown to the wild beasts, but they would not touch her, and she was released. She then con- tinued her teaching, and wrought many miracles, so that the physicians lost all their patients. They accordingly hired men to attack her in the cavern among the moun- tains, where she dwelt, but just as her pur- suers were about to take her, a rock suddenly opened. She entered, it closed upon her, and she was no more seen.
She is represented young, with a palm, often with the wild beasts.
THE SAINTS IN ART 185
Theodore, St. (gtk November)
One of the Greek warrior saints. He was an officer in the army of the Emperor Li- cinius, became a Christian, and in his zeal set fire to the Temple of Cybele, and was beheaded, A.D. 300. He was the Patron of Venice till St. Mark became her tutelary Saint in the ninth century.
He is represented in armour, trampling on the dragon.
Theresa, St. (15/A October)
Born at Avila, in Castile, in 1515. She was one of a large family, and, in her own story of her life, she tells how, at the age of eight or nine, she and a small brother, deeply impressed by reading the lives of the saints, set off on a begging expedition into the country of the Moors, in the hope of being captured by the Infidels, and martyred. After a chequered girlhood, she entered the Carmelite Convent at Avila at the age of twenty. She was a woman of extra- ordinary character, and great mental power, but with a fervid and somewhat morbid
1 86 THE SAINTS IN ART
temperament. In middle age she set herself to reform the Carmelites, and before she died, in 1582, had founded seventeen new convents for women, and fifteen for men, all under her strict rule, and free from abuses.
She is represented in the Carmelite Habit, a white cloak over a brown tunic, with a scapulary.
Thomas, St. (Biblical). (Span. San Tome.) (21st December) According to tradition he preached the Gospel in the East, and founded a Christian Church in India, where he died a martyr, pierced with a lance. A popular legend tells that he was sent by CHRIST to King Gon- doforus of the Indies, to build a palace for him. The King gave him much gold for the purpose, but St. Thomas spent it on the poor and sick. The King threatened the saint with death, but his brother, who had lately died, came to life again, and warned him that St. Thomas was a servant of God, and that he had seen in Paradise a beautiful heavenly palace prepared for the King there. His
THE SAINTS IN ART 187
attribute, the builder's rule or square, is in allusion to this story. There is another legend that St. Thomas, who had not wit- nessed the Virgin's Ascension to Heaven, doubted the fact, and looking into her tomb found it empty. The Virgin, pitying his weakness, let down her girdle from Heaven that he might see it and believe. After many adventures the girdle ultimately came to Prato, in Italy, where it is preserved as a sacred relic.
When represented with the other apostles he is distinguished by his builder's rule ; and is easily recognised in pictures of the " In- credulity," and of the legend of the girdle.
Thomas Aquinas, St. (jth March)
Born probably at Rocca Secca, near Aquino, in Campania, in 1227. His family, Counts of Aquino, were illustrious, and he was related to the Emperor Frederick I. He was extra- ordinarily able from childhood, and showed great promise in his studies at a Benedictine school, and afterwards at the University of Naples. At the age of seventeen he assumed
1 88 THE SAINTS IN ART
the habit of St. Dominic, much against his family's wish. But their efforts to restrain him were unavailing, and in argument he converted two of his sisters. He rose to be the greatest writer and teacher of his age, but extreme humility distinguished him to the last, and he refused all preferment in the Church. He died in the Cistercian Abbey at Fossa Nova, in 1274, where he was taken ill on his way to Naples. It is related of him that as he knelt before the crucifix CHRIST spoke to him, asking him what he desired, and St. Thomas replied : " Thyself only, O LORD." His companion in Dante's " Para- diso," and sometimes in art, is his teacher in theology, St. Albertus Magnus, who was also a Dominican. It should be remembered that in his works he expressed the truths of revela- tion in the formulae of the Greek philosophy, thus bringing the wisdom and the method of Aristotle into the service of the Church ; he attempted to sum up all accessible know- ledge, and to give it form as an organic whole. This is the meaning of the alle- gorical paintings of his apotheosis — e.g. the
THE SAINTS IN ART 189
fresco in the Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novella at Florence.
He is represented in the Dominican habit, with book or pen, or the Host, and with a sun or a human eye on his breast.
Thomas de Villanueva, St. (iStk Sep- tember) Archbishop of Valencia, called "the Al- moner," born in 1448. He was an Augustine friar, remarkable for his extraordinary gener- osity to the poor and needy ; so much so, that when he was canonised it was ordained that he should be represented with an open purse, instead of a crozier, in his hand.
Tobit and Tobias. (See St. Raphael.)
ToRpfe, St. (or Torpet)
In early times the Patron Saint of Pisa ; superseded by St. Ranieri. According to the legend he was a noble Roman, who served in the guards of Nero, was converted by St. Paul, and died in 70.
i 9 o THE SAINTS IN ART
Tryphonius, St.
A Dalmatian saint, probably legendary, who by his prayers delivered his native land from a devastating monster.
He is represented as a child overcoming the basilisk, by Carpaccio, in the Church of S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni at Venice.
Urban, St. {May 25) (See St. Cecilia.)
URSULA, St. (Patroness of Girls and the Teachers of Girls). {21 st October) Was, according to legend, a British (or Bretonne) Princess of Christian parents, beautiful, virtuous, and of wondrous learning. She was sought in marriage for Conon, son of Agrippinus, the pagan King of England, by ambassadors to her father. But she made three conditions to the marriage : first, that she should be given as companions ten noble virgins, and that she and her virgins should each be accompanied by a thousand maidens ; second, that they should all together visit the shrines of the saints ; and third, that Prince Conon and his Court
ST. URSULA WITH HER MAIDENS
From the painting by Carpaccio in the Academy, Venice
THE SAINTS IN ART 191
should be baptised. These conditions were complied with : the King of England col- lected eleven thousand virgins, and Ursula and her companions sailed for Cologne. Miraculously navigated by the virgins, they arrived, and Ursula then had a vision of her martyrdom. They proceeded by boats up the Rhine to Basle, whence they crossed the Alps on foot to Italy. At length they came to the Tiber, and hence to Rome. St. Cyriacus, the Pope, went out with all his clergy to meet them, blessed them, and had tents pitched for the whole company outside the walls, towards Tivoli. Meanwhile, Prince Conon had set out on a pilgrimage to Rome, and arrived there on the same day as the virgins. He and Ursula received the Pope's blessing together, and he was baptised, taking the name Ethereus. Cyriacus would have kept them longer in Rome, but Ursula said they must depart, so, accompanied by the Pope, his bishops and cardinals, the whole party set out. Now certain people in Rome conspired with the barbarian King of the Huns to attack the company of
192 THE SAINTS IN ART
Christians on their way home. When, after a long and perilous journey, they arrived at Cologne, the pagans fell upon them, and Ethereus, Cyriacus, and all the virgins were killed. The great beauty of St. Ursula saved her in the slaughter, and she was carried before the King, who wished to marry her. But Ursula rejected him with scorn, and, in anger, he seized a bow and shot three arrows into her breast. So she, her maidens, and her betrothed, all ascended together to heaven.
She is represented crowned, with an arrow or arrows in her hand, and martyr's palm or standard of victory. When her maidens are with her she is very unmistakable.
Her life is illustrated by a series of paint- ings by Memling, in the Hospital of St John, at Bruges,and by Carpaccio,in the Accademia, Venice.
Veronica, St. (4/A February)
An old tradition says, that as CHRIST was bearing His cross to Calvary, a woman, seeing the drops of agony, wiped his brow
THE SAINTS IN ART 193
with her veil or handkerchief, and that His features remained impressed upon it. This veil was called the Sudarium, and the like- ness the Vera Icon (the true image). Legend also says that this woman was called Veronica, and was a niece of King Herod, and a recent convert to the Faith. She came to Rome with her sacred relic, which had miraculous healing powers, and she remained there with St. Peter and St. Paul, and was martyred under Nero.
She is represented in pictures of the road to Calvary, and in others with her veil or handkerchief, bearing on it the face of Christ.
VICTOR, St. (21st July and \oth May)
There are two soldier saints and martyrs of this name — one of Marseilles, and one of Milan. Both were in the Roman army under Diocletian. The former was crushed by a millstone, and is sometimes represented with one ; the latter is often represented as a Moor; both are in armour.
i 9 4 THE SAINTS IN ART
Vincent, St. (a famous Patron Saint in
Spain and France). {22nd January)
According to legend he was a native
of Aragon, a Christian from early youth.
When a deacon, during the persecutions
in Spain by the Proconsul Dacian, under
Diocletian, he, together with the Bishop
Valerius, defied authority and proclaimed
the Christian faith publicly in the tribunal.
He was tortured, torn with iron forks, and
thrown into a dungeon, half dead, but was
miraculously sustained by angels. Dacian
then tried to conquer him by seduction, gave
him every comfort, and a bed of down, on
which he at once died. His body was thrown
to the beasts, but a raven came and guarded
it from attack. It was then fastened to a
millstone, and thrown into the sea, but it
miraculously came ashore, and the waves,
at the command of God, buried it. Years
after it was carried to Valencia, and in the
eighth century the Christians, fleeing from
the Moors, took it to, what is now, Cape St.
Vincent, and there it was guarded by ravens
and crows. Finally the bones were removed
THE SAINTS IN ART 195
to Lisbon, the ship on the occasion being piloted by two crows, and were buried in the cathedral there.
He is represented as a young deacon, and his attribute is a crow or raven, but he often has only the martyr's palm, and can then be distinguished from St. Stephen or St. Lawrence by the lack of their attributes.
Vincent, St. Ferraris. ($th April)
Born at Valencia, in 1357, he took the Dominican habit, and became one of the greatest preachers and missionaries in the Order.
He is represented in the habit of the Dominicans, and holds the crucifix. Some- times he is given symbolical wings.
Vincent De Paule, St. (19th July)
Peasant-born at Puy, in Gascony, he was educated at a convent of Cordeliers. He became tutor in a gentleman's family, and studied for seven years in the University of
196 THE SAINTS IN ART
Toulouse, where he was ordained priest, in 1600. In 1605 he was captured by pirates on his way back from Marseilles to Toulouse, and was carried into slavery at Tunis. Two years later he escaped to France, together with his master and mistress, both of whom were converted by his teaching. Henceforth his life was devoted to charity. At first prisoners and galley slaves were the objects of his benevolence, which, in course of time, extended to almost every form of sin and suffering. He instituted the " Order of Sisters of Charity," and founded the Lazarite Con- gregation for men ; also the first hospital for foundlings. He died in his eighty-fourth year, in 1660.
He is generally represented with an infant in his arms, and a Sister of Charity kneeling at his feet.
Vitalis, St. (28/A April)
According to legend one of the converts of St. Peter, and the father of SS. Gervasius and Protasius. He served in the army of Nero,
THE SAINTS IN ART 197
and suffered for burying the body of a Chris- tian martyr, whom he had encouraged till his death. After being tortured, he was buried alive. He is the Patron Saint of Ravenna, where his church is most celebrated.
Vitus, St. (Patron Saint of Dancers and Actors). (i$tk June)
Was a native of Sicily in the third century. According to the legend, at the age of twelve he declared himself a Christian, and was sub- mitted to tortures by Valerian the Governor. He was thrown into dungeons, and there, angels, bright and shining, were seen dancing with him. He was compelled to escape from Sicily in a small boat with his nurse and foster-father, who were also Christians. They came to Italy, where they fell into worse per- secutions, and suffered martyrdom in a cauld- ron of boiling oil. He is invoked against the affection called after him, St Vitus' dance.
He is represented as a beautiful boy or youth, often with a cock or a cauldron of boiling oil.
198 THE SAINTS IN ART
Walburga, St. (Walpurgis, Valpurge, or GUALBOURG). (25/A February)
Was the niece of St. Boniface, and passed twenty-seven years of her life at the monastery of Winburn, in Dorset. She then went on a missionary journey with ten other nuns, and taught at Mayence, and afterwards at Eich- stadt. She was made first abbess of a Bene- dictine nunnery at Heidenheim, between Munich and Nuremburg, and died in 778. Her festival is the first of May, Walpurgis Nacht. She was skilled in medicine ; the cave near Eichstadt where she was buried became a place of pilgrimage, and it is said that an oil found there, and called Walpurgis oil, worked miraculous cures.
She is represented as a Benedictine nun, with crozier as abbess, and in her hand a vial or flask.
Wise Men. (See Magi.)
Zacharias, St. (Biblical) Father of St. John Baptist.
THE SAINTS IN ART 199
Zeno, St. {\2th April)
Bishop of Verona in the fourth century, and greatly revered in that city, where his church is famous. He was renowned for his charity and virtues, and, according to a doubt- ful tradition, was martyred under Julian the Apostate. He is said to have been very fond of fishing in the Adige. A large porphyry vase (" Coppa di San Zenone "), used by him for baptism, and preserved in the Church, was believed to have been miraculously brought from Palestine in a single night.
He is represented as a bishop with a fish, an ancient symbol of Christian conversion.
Zenobio, St. {20th October)
A noble Florentine in the reign of Con- stantine, who was secretly converted to Christianity. He went to Rome, where he became deacon and secretary to Pope Damasus I. On his return to Florence, to appease dissensions there, he was unanim- ously elected bishop. Legend relates that, on the occasion of the consecration of a church in the Apennines, messengers, bear-
2oo THE SAINTS IN ART
ing precious relics, were sent to him by St. Ambrose. One of them fell down a precipice and was killed, but his companion brought the body to St. Zenobio, who restored it to life. Also that a French lady, on her way to Rome, stopped at Florence, to see St. Zenobio, and left her little son with him. On her return she found the child dead, but she brought it to the saint, who restored it to her alive. He also brought back to life a child run over by oxen drawing a car in the streets of Florence. After an honourable life he died, in 417. On the way to burial, pass- ing through the Piazza del Duomo, his body touched the withered trunk of a tree long dead, which immediately burst out into fresh leaves.
He is represented as a bishop, with no par- ticular attribute, but scenes from his life are often depicted.
Notable examplesare thereliefs by Ghiberti, in the Duomo at Florence, and pictures by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, in the Uffizi.
INDEX
Abelard, 29
Adelaide, St., 89
Adoration of the Magi, 129
Adrian, St., 1
Afra, St., 2
Agatha, St., 2
Agnes, St., 4
Alban, St., 5
Albert, St., 5
Albertus, St., 6, 188
Albigenses, 60
Alexander of Bergamo, St.,
6,89 Alexandria, 17, 38 Alexis, St., 6, 153 Alfonso, St, 99 Alo, St., 67 Alsace, 156 Ambrose, St., 8, 86 Andrew, St., 10 Angelus, St., 10 Anne, St., 139 Annunciation, 82, 142 Ansano, St., 11 Anselm, St., 11 Anthony, St., 11 Antioch, 49, 99, 119, 184 Antoninus, St., 14 Antony of Padua, St., 15 Apocrypha, 169, 183 Apollinaris, St., 17, 174
Apollo, 27, 86 Apollonia, St., 17 Apollonius, St., 18, 73 Apostles, 18 Appian Way, 159 Aquila, 31
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 187 Ara Coeli, 142 Aragon, 119, 164 Archangels, 19 Ardennes, 97 Arezzo, 61, 175 Arians, 8, 20 Ascension, 144 Assisi, 50, jy Assumption, 144 Athanasius, St., 13, 19 Attila, 82 Augustine, St., 20
of Canterbury, 22
Augustine Order, 113, 152,
154 Augustus, Emperor, 141,
179 Aventine Hill, 176 Avignon, 42 Avila, 185
Balthasar, 129 Bamberg, 94
202 THE SAINTS IN ART
Barbara, St., 22 Bari, 152 Barnabas, St., 24 Bartholomew, St., 24 Basil, St. , 25, 95 Bavon, St., 25 Beasts, the Four, 72 Bede, 29 Benedict, St., 26 Benedictine Order, 26, 32,
35, 99, 156, 174, 198 Benignus, St., 123 Bennet Biscop, St. , 28 Berengaria, 73 Bergamo, 89 Bernard, St. (of Clairvaux),
29 Bernardino of Siena, St., 30 Bernardo dei Tolomei, St. , 32 Bethlehem, 19, 105 Biagio, San, 32 Blaise, St., 32 Bohemia, 113, 168 Bologna, 164, 168 Bolsena, 46 Bonaventura, St., 33 Boniface, St., 35, 177 Borromeo, St. Charles, 45 Brabant, 25 Brandeum, 91 Brescia, 2 Bridget, St. , 36 Briggittines, Order of, 36 Bruno, St., 37
Camaldoli, 175 Canterbury, 22, 63 Capistrano, St. John, 108 Capitoline Hill, 142
Cappadocia, 62, 84
Capuchins, 75, 115
Carmelites, 5, 185
Carthusians, 37
Caspar, 129
Cassino, Monte, 27, 153
Castile, 59, 73
Catherine of Alexandria, St.,
38
Sweden, St., 41
Cecilia, St., 43 Celsus, St., 148 Chapelle, Sainte, 126 Charity, Brothers of, 114 Charity, St., 181 Charles Borromeo, St., 45 Chartreuse, la Grande, 37 Christina, St., 46 Christopher, St., 47 Chrysostom, St. John, 49 Cistercians, 29 Clairvaux, 29 Clara, St., 50 Clares, Poor, Order of, 51 Clement, St., 52 Cleodolinda, 85 Clotilda, St., 53 Clovis, 53 Ccelian Hill, 88 Cologne, 192 Compostella, 102 Conon, 190 Constantine, Emperor, 93,
181 Constantius, St., 53 Cosmo, St., 54 Crispianus, St., 55 Crispin, St., 55 Cross, Holy, 93 Cunegunda, St., 94 Cuthbert, St., 55 Cyprian, St., 56
INDEX
203
Cyprian of Antioch, St., 56 Cyriaca, 120 Cyriacus, St., 191 Cyril, St., 57 Cyrilla, 26
D
Dagobert, 67 Damasus, Pope, 105 Damian, St., 54 Decius, Emperor, 2 Denis, St., 57 Deposition, 143 Diego, St., 59 Diocletian, 32, 69, 85, 122,
145, 178, 193, 194 Dionysius, St., 57 Dominic, St., 59 Dominican Order, 41, 59,
96, 125, 162, 170, 188, 195 Domitilla, 39
Donatus, St., of Arezzo, 61 Dorothea, St., 62 Drusiana, 109 Dunstan, St., 63 Durham, 56
E
Edessa, 68 Edmund, King, 63 Edward, King, 64 Egidio, San, 87 Eleutherius, St., 58 Elizabeth, St., 65
of Hungary, St., 65
Elmo, St., 68 Eloy, St., 67 Ely, 69
Ephrem, St., 68 Erasmus, St., 68 Ercolano, St., 54, 69 Ethelbert, 22 Etheldreda, St., 69 Ethereus, 191 Etna, Mount, 3 Eudosia, 50 Eulalia, St., 69, 122
of Barcelona, 70
Euphemia, St., 70 Eustace, St., 71 Eutychia, 127 Evangelists, 72 Ezekiel, 72
Faith, St., 181
Fathers, Greek, 19, 25, 49,
57,91
Latin, 8, 20, 89, 104
Faustinus, St., 73 Felicitas, St., 73 Felix, St., 75 *
de Valois, 112
Ferdinand, 73
Filippo, St., 165
Fina, St., 75
Flavia, St., 27
Florence, 107, 172, 199
Florian, St., 74
Foca, St., 166
Francesca Romana, St. , 76
Francis, St., 77
Francis Borgia, St., 80
de Paula, St. , 80
Xavier, St., 81
Franciscan Order, 34, 77,
126, 127, 176 Frediano of Lucca, St., 171
204 THE SAINTS IN ART
Gabriel, St., 82 Galerius, 1, 157 Galla Placida, 109 Geminianus, St., 82 Genevieve, St., 83; Gennaro, St., 104 George, St. , 84 Gereon, St., 146 Germain, St., 83 Gervasius, St., 86 Gesuati, 88 Ghent, 25 Giles, St., 87 Gimignano San, 75, 8^ Giobbe, St., 107 Giovanni, S., 88, 107, 108
Colombini, S., 88
Gipesienne, La, Ste, 136 Giralda, St., 118 Golden Gate, 140 Grata, St., 89 Gregory, St., 89
Nazianen, St., 25, 91
Grenoble, 37 Grotta Ferrata, 153 Gualberto, St. John, no Gudula, St., 92
H
Haarlem, 25 Hadrian, 71, 176 Helena, St. , 92 Henry, St. , of Bavaria, 94 Hermengild, St., 122 Hermits, 11, 125 Hermogenes, 10 1 Herod, 101 Hilarion, St., 95, 62
Hilary, St., 95 Hilda, St., 95 Hippo, 20 Hippolytus, St., 96 Hohenburg, 156 Honofrio, S. 155 Honorius, 7 Hope, St., 181 Hospitallers, 114 Hubert, St., 96 Hugo de Grenoble, 37 Humilitas, St., 98 Hungary, 65 Hyacinth, St., 97
Iago, St., ioi Ignatius Loyola, St., 98
Theophorus, St. , 99
I.H.S., 99
Ildefonso, St., 99
Immaculate Conception, 144
Inez, St., 4
Invention of the Cross, 93
Isidore, St., 122
of Madrid, St., 100
J
Jacques, St., ioi Jago, San, 101 James, St., 101
The Less, St., 103
Januarius, St., 104 Jerome, St., 104 Jerusalem, 19, 140 Jesuits, 80, 81, 98 Joachim, St., 139 Job, St., 107
INDEX
205
John, St., the Baptist, 107
Capistrano, 108
de Matha, 112, 163
the Evangelist, 108, 72
Gualberto, no
— — Nepomuck, 113
Joseph, St., 141
Jovita, St., 73
Juan de Dios, St., 114
Jude, St., 180
Julia, St., 2
Julian of Cilicia, St., 115
Emperor, 25, 61, 199
Hospitator, St., 116
Jussienne, La, St., 136 Justa, St., 117 Justina, St., of Antioch, 118 of Padua, 118
Lambert, St., 97, 119 Lateran, 182 Lawrence, St., 119 Lazarite Congregation, 196 Lazarus, St., 121, 137 Leander, St., 122 Leocadia, St., 122 Leonard, St., 123 Licinius, Emperor, 185 Lindisfarne, 55 Longinus, St., 124 Lorenzo, San, 119
Giustiniani, St., 125
Louis Beltran, St., 125
of France, St., 125
of Toulouse, St., 126
Lucca, 171 Lucy, St., 127 Luke, St., 72, 129 Lupo, St., 89
M
Madonna, 139 Madrid, 100 Maestricht, 119 Magdalene, St. Mary, 137 Magi, 129
Mamertine Prison, 160 Mantua, 124 Marcella, St., 130, 137 Marcellinus, St., 162 Marco, San, 132 Marcus, 178 Marcus Aurelius, 53, 74 Margaret, St., 131 Mark, St., 72, 132 Marseilles, 137 Martha, St., 134, 137 Martin, St., 134 Martinian, St., 160 Mary, St., of Egypt, 136
Magdalene, 137
the Virgin, 139
Matha, St. John de, 112 Matthew, St., 72, 145 Matthias, St., 145 Maurice, St., 146 Maurus, St., 27 Maximian, Emperor, 146 Maximin, St., 137, 147 Maximin, Emperor, 39 Medici, 54 Melchior, 129 Mercy, Order of, 163, 17 1 Michael, St., 144, 147 Milan, 8, 86, 148 Miniato, St., 148 Minimes, Order of, 80 Modena, 82 Monica, St., 20 Monte-di-Pieta, 31 Montmartre, 58
2o6 THE SAINTS IN ART
Montpelier, 172 Myra, 149
Naples, 104 Natalia, St., 1 Nathanael, St., 24 Nazarius, St., 148 Nepomuck, St. John, 113 Nero, 196
Nicholas, St. , of Myraor Bari, 149
of Tolentino, 152
Nilus, St., 153 Nolasco, St. Peter, 163 Norbert, St., 154 Nuremberg, 177
Olivetani, 32, yy Oliveto, Monte, 32 Omobuono, St., 155 Onesiphorus, 184 Onophrius, St., 155 Oratorians, 166 Origin, 22 Osservanti, 31 Oswald, St., 56 Ottilia, St., 156
Padua, 15 Palermo, 176 Pantaleon, St., 156 Paolo, San, 157
Parma, 95 Patmos, no Paul, St., 157, 184
the Hermit, n, 158
Pedro, San, 159 Peter, St., 159
of Alcantara, 161
Exorcista, 162
Martyr, 162
Nolasco, 163
Petronilla, St., 160 Petronius, St., 164 Philetus, 101 Philip, St., 165
Benozzi, 165
Neri, 165
Phocas, St., 166 Pieta, 143 Pietro, San, 159 Pisa, 169, 189 Placidus, St., 27 Plautilla, 158 Praxedes, St., 167 Premonstratensians, 154 Pre Montre, 154 Prisca, St., 167 Processeus, St., 160, 168 Procopius, St., 168 Proculus, St., 168 Prodocimo, St., 118 Pudens, 167 Pudentiana, St., 167
R
Ranieri, St., 169 Raphael, St., 169 Ravenna, 17, 197 Raymond de Penaforte, St.,
170 Nonnatus, St., 171
INDEX
207
Regnier, 169 Regulus, 171 Remi, St., 53 Remini, 115 Reparata, St., 172 RiposO, 142 Rocco, St., 172 Roch. St., 172 Romain, St., 174 Rome, 36, 157, 160, 181 Romualdus, St., 174 Romulus, St., 175 Rosa, St., 176 Rosalia, St., 176 Rufina, St., 176 Rusticus, St., 58
Sabina, St., 176 Sabinella, 38 Santiago, 73 Savoy, 146 Scholastica, St., 28 Sebald, St., 177 Sebastian, St., 177 Secundus, St., 179 Serviti, Order of, 165 Seville, 117 Sibyls, 179 Siena, 30, 41 Simon Magus, 159
Stylites, St., 180
Zelotes, St., 180
Sixtus II., Pope, 119 Sophia, St., 181 Stephen, St., 181 Subiaco, 27 Sudarium, 193 Sweden, 36 Sylvester, St., 181
Tetramorph, 72 Thaddeus, St., 180 Theban Legion, 146, 179 Thecla, St., 183 Theodobert, King, 123 Theodore, St., 185 Theodosius, Emperor, 9 Theophilus, 62 Theresa, St., 185 Thomas, St., 130, 186
Aquinas, 187
of Villanueva, 189
Tiburtine Sibyl, 141, 179 Tiburtius, 44 Timotheus, St., 183 Tobias, 169 Tobit, 169 Toledo, 99, 122 Tolentino, 152 Torpe, St., 189 Trajan, Emperor, 52, 71 Tre Fontane, 158 Trinitarians, 112 True Cross, the, 93 Tryphonius, St., 190
U
Umilta, St., 98 Urban, St., 43 Urban, Pope, 37 Uriel, 19 Ursula, St., 190
Valencia, 125 Valerian, St., 43 Vallombrosa, Order of, 1 1 1
208
THE SAINTS IN ART
Valois, Felix of, 112 Venice, 107, 133, 185 Vercelli, 5 Verona, 162, 199 Veronica, St., 192 Verulamium, 5 Victor, St., 193 Vincent, St., 194
Ferraris, 195
de Paule, 195
Virgin Mary, 139 . Visitation, 143 Vitalis, St., 196 Vitus, St., 197
Wenceslaus, 113 Westminster, 64 Winfred, 35 Wise Men, 129
Xavier, St. Francis, 81 Xeres, 73
W
Walburga, St., 198 Walpurgis, St., 198
Zacharias, St., 198 Zeno, St., 199 Zenobio, St., 199 Zosimus, 136
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH.
^EBAL UBBABY-U.C. BERKELEY
