Chapter IV: Part 4

The mystic =Incoronata= or =Coronation=, which represents the triumph of the Church, is distinguished by the presence not only of angels and patriarchs, but by fathers and doctors of the Church and martyrs and saints. It is a dramatic and historical event when it comes last in a series of the Life of the Virgin, where her death-bed or tomb is portrayed or the apostles and sorrowing women are introduced.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] See Appendix.

X.—DEVOTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE VIRGIN MARY

In the most ancient examples, the maternity—the motherhood of the Virgin is not the paramount idea. She is represented without symbols, and veiled, occupying an inferior position on one side of her divine Son, with St. John the Baptist or St. Peter on the other.

Later, when the worship of the Virgin spread from the East and she was represented alone, without her Son, the apostles and saints who surrounded her taking secondary positions, she symbolised not only the divine Mother of Christ, but the second Eve, the mother of all the world, the Virgin of Virgins.

When she wears a crown over her veil or holds a sceptre in her hand she is the Queen of Heaven (_Regina Cœli_).

Attended by adoring angels, she is the Queen of Angels (_Regina Angelorum_).

Weeping or holding the crown of thorns she is Our Lady of Sorrow (_Mater Dolorosa_).

When she is merely veiled, with folded hands and a face of glorious beauty and sweetness, she is the Madonna, the Blessed Virgin, the _Santa Maria Vergine_.

It was in the days of chivalry that the title of Our Lady—_Notre Dame, La Madonna, Unsere Liebe Frau_—was first given to the Virgin.

Photo. Alinari

CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.—FILIPPO LIPPI

(Academy, Florence.)]

The =Coronation of the Virgin=. (_Lat._ Coronatio Beatæ Mariæ Virginis. _Ital._ L’Incoronata, Maria Coronata dal divin suo Figlio. _Fr._ La Couronnement de la Sainte Vierge. _Ger._ Die Krönung Maria). In the earliest examples, Christ, with His mother seated on the same throne, and on His right hand, places the crown upon her head. Only the two figures are shown. Sometimes the Father looks down, and the Holy Ghost (as a dove) hovers between them. Later examples place the Virgin between the Father and Son, both in human form; each holds the crown in one hand, and places it on her head, while the Holy Spirit hovers above. Again, the Virgin is portrayed kneeling at the feet of Christ, who places the crown on her head; rejoicing angels are seen and paradise is disclosed beyond. Sometimes the whole army of blessed spirits, patriarchs, and martyrs are witnesses to this solemn and glorious ceremony.

Photo. Alinari

THE MADONNA CROWNED—BOTTICELLI

(Uffizi, Florence.)]

When not more than five or six saints are introduced, they are usually the patron saints of the locality or community.

Those pictures where the Madonna is holding her Child, while angels place a crown upon her head, are not Coronations in the accepted sense, but an acknowledgment of and tribute to the Virgin-mother of Christ, and Queen of Heaven (_Mater Christi_, _Regina Cœli_).

The =Virgin of Mercy=.[6] Our Lady of Succour. _Ital._ La Madonna di Misericordia. _Fr._ Notre Dame de Miséricorde. _Ger._ Mariä Mutter des Erbarmens.

Here she appears as intercessor, and in old pictures of the Day of Judgment she is seated by the side of Christ, or sometimes a little lower, but always on His right hand. She is usually seated, while the Baptist, who is generally placed opposite to her on the left of Christ, always stands or kneels.

As the Madonna of Mercy she rarely appears without the Child in her arms, her motherhood typifying her sympathy with all suffering humanity.

The =Mater Dolorosa=. _Ital._ La Madre di Dolore, L’Addolorata. _Fr._ Notre Dame de Pitié, La Vierge de Douleur. _Ger._ Die Schmerzhafte Mutter.

There are three distinct representations of the Madonna in this character. As =Mater Dolorosa= she is represented alone, either seated or standing, and sometimes only the head or a half-length figure of her is given. She is overcome with sorrow, her features are stricken with grief, and tears gush from her mournful eyes. Often a sword pierces her bosom—sometimes _seven_ swords, in allusion to the _seven sorrows_.

In the =Stabat Mater= the position of the Virgin is invariably on the right of the crucifix—that of St. John on the left, the crucifix here being the mystical emblem of our belief in a crucified Christ. In this subject the Virgin is a wholly ideal figure, personifying the Church as well as the mother of Christ. Her head is bowed in resignation, her figure is shrouded in a violet or dark blue mantle. Sometimes she stands with outstretched arms and upward gaze, her faith struggling with her anguish.

=La Pietà= is the third, and consists only of the Virgin with her dead Son in her arms or at her feet; sometimes sorrowing angels are about, but otherwise the Mother is alone with her dead.

Another version, less poetically touching, represents the dead form half-emerging from the tomb, held in the arms of the sorrowing Mother, with St. John the Evangelist on the other side.

=Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.= _Lat._ Regina sine labe originale concepta. _Ital._ La Madonna Purissima. _Fr._ La Conception de la Vierge Marie. _Ger._ Der Geheimniss der Unbefleckten Empfängniss Mariä.

This picture is not found in the early schools of art, but became one of the most popular subjects in the seventeenth century, after Paul V. had instituted the office for the commemoration of the Immaculate Conception in 1615 and in 1617 forbade any one teaching or preaching the opposite belief.

Photo. Alinari

THE MADONNA ENTHRONED.—FILIPPINO LIPPI

(Uffizi, Florence.)]

This doctrine had been gaining ground from the eleventh century and had been agitated for several centuries before that, but there was always strong opposition to making it an article of belief. Even St. Bernard, in spite of his devotion to the Virgin, disapproved of incorporating it as a church office. It was a question of theological dispute for hundreds of years. In Spain it was the “darling dogma of the Spanish Church,” and forms the subject of some of the most beautiful pictures of the Spanish artists.

It was not until 1854 that the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God was made an article of faith in the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX.

In pictures of the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin is usually represented as the woman in the Apocalypse, “clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet,” and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She is a maiden of twelve or thirteen years, with eyes reverent and sweet; her hair is golden, and her features beautiful. The sun is a glory of light around her, the moon with the horns pointing downward lies under her feet, and the twelve stars form a crown over her head. Her robe is of spotless white and her mantle blue. Around her are cherubim bearing roses, lilies, and palms, and below at her feet is the head of the bruised and defeated dragon.

Murillo, who achieved his greatest fame as painter of the Conception, sometimes makes the crescent moon a full moon, or, when a crescent, the horns point upward. He usually omits the starry crown, but is careful to follow the rules laid down as to the colours of the drapery.

=The Virgin and Child Enthroned.= _Lat._ Sancta Dei Genitrix, Virgo Deipara. _Ital._ La Santissima Vergine, Madre di Dio. _Fr._ La Sainte Vierge, Mère de Dieu. _Ger._ Die Heilige Mutter Gottes.

The many and beautiful pictures of this subject are purely devotional in character and in them Mary is exalted as the Mother of God. When she is represented with a book in her hand she is the _Virgo Sapientissima_, the Most Wise Virgin, or the _Mater Sapientiæ_, the Mother of Wisdom, and the book is the Book of Wisdom.

Photo. Alinari

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD.—FILIPPO LIPPI

(Pitti Palace, Florence.)]

The artists hardly ever varied from the established rule as to the colours in which the Virgin-mother should be arrayed, and she nearly always has the red tunic with the blue mantle—as said before, red the colour of love and religious fervour, blue the colour of constancy and truth. In pictures of the Venetian and German schools she is often represented magnificently attired, her robe thickly broidered with gold and pearls, and her crown studded with jewels.

In the early pictures the divine Child is always clothed, and not until the beginning of the fifteenth century is he represented partially, then wholly, undraped.

The _Madonna Enthroned_ is often attended by various saints, and the grouping of these saints has always some especial religious significance, as: _St. Peter_ and _St. Paul_ appear with the Virgin as chiefs of the apostles and founders of the Church; when _St. John the Baptist_ and _St. John the Evangelist_ attend the Virgin Enthroned the first expresses regeneration by the rite of baptism, the second regeneration by faith.

_The Fathers of the Church_ appear as interpreters and defenders of the mystery of the Incarnation; _St. Jerome_ and _St. Catherine_ as patron saints of theological learning; _St. Catherine_ and _St. Barbara_ signify active and contemplative life; _St. Nicholas_ and _St. George_ with _St. Catherine_ are prominent in the Venetian pictures, and all three were venerated as especial protectors of Venice.

_St. George_ and _St. Christopher_ stand by the throne of the Virgin of Succour as protectors and deliverers in danger.

Photo. Alinari

THE MADONNA DEL GRAN-DUCA.—RAPHAEL

(Pitti Palace, Florence.)]

Many of these Madonna pictures were votive offerings for public or private mercies, and frequently bear the name of those who offered them: as Raphael’s _Madonna di Foligno_ presented by Sigismund Conti of Foligno.

Wherever the Virgin and Child appear attended by _St. Sebastian_ and _St. Roch_ the picture has been a votive offering against the plague.

=Mater Amabilis.= _Ital._ La Madonna col Bambino, La Madonna col celeste suo Figlio. _Fr._ La Vierge et l’Enfant Jésus. _Ger._ Maria mit dem Kind.

This treatment of the Virgin and Child makes the strongest appeal to the sympathies, for in it she is represented as the _Mother_ only. As Mrs. Jameson expresses it: “Here Raphael shone supreme: the simplicity; the tenderness, the halo of purity and virginal dignity which he threw around the _Mater Amabilis_, have never been surpassed—in his best pictures never equalled. The _Madonna del Gran-Duca_ [Pitti, Florence] and the _Madonna Tempi_ [Munich] are perhaps the most remarkable for simplicity.”

A charming version of the _Mater Amabilis_ is the _Madre Pia_ where the Mother adores her Child. He lies extended upon her knee and she looks down upon Him with hands folded in prayer. Sometimes the Child looks up in His Mother’s face with His finger on His lip, expressing the _Verbum sum_—“I am the word.” One must distinguish this from a Nativity where the Mother adores her Child, but the presence of Joseph, the ruined shed or manger, the ox and ass, express the _event_. In the _Madre Pia_ the locality and accessories are purely fanciful and ideal.

The constant introduction of St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth, and other relations of the Virgin (always omitted in a Madonna _in trono_) would be called a Holy Family, except for the presence of other sainted personages whose existence and history belong to an entirely different period, such as St. Catherine, St. George, St. Francis, or St. Dominick. When this occurs it removes the picture from the historical, and puts it at once with the imaginary and devotional subjects. Such a group is not a _Sacra Famiglia_, but a _Sacra Conversazione_.

Photo. Alinari

THE ADORATION OF THE CHILD.—PERUGINO

(Pitti Palace, Florence.)]

FOOTNOTES:

[6] See Appendix.

XI.—ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

=St. John the Baptist.= _Ital._ San Giovanni Battista. _Fr._ St. Jean Baptiste. _Ger._ Johann der Täufer. (June 24.) St. John shares with Christ and His mother the distinction of having his natural birthday kept by the Church.

The history of this saint is given in St. Luke, and with the artists his life has frequently been the subject of a series including the _Angel Appearing to Zacharias_, _St. John Preaching_, _His Baptism of Christ_, _Reproval of Herod_, _Daughter of Herodias Asks for St. John’s Head_, _Beheading of St. John_, _Daughter of Herodias Carries St. John’s Head to her Mother_, etc.

According to the legends, the Blessed Virgin remained with Elizabeth until the birth of John, and in the historical pictures Mary is seen with a glory around her head presenting the child to Zacharias. The Greek legends say that St. John’s death took place two years before that of Christ, and that he descended into Hades and brought unto the departed spirits the tidings of their approaching redemption, and remained there until released by the Saviour’s death.

Photo. Alinari

JOHN THE BAPTIST IN THE DESERT.—TITIAN

(Academy, Venice.)]

St. John forms a link between the Old Testament and the Gospel. In art he is usually represented as the Herald, the Forerunner of Christ, and as leaving his home while still very young to begin his life in the desert. In early art he is gaunt and wasted, with unshaven beard and hair, but often in later pictures he is smooth-faced, young, and beautiful, and wears a rich mantle over the garment of camel’s hair.

As Messenger, he wears “his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins,” and bears a reed cross and scroll with the inscription _Ecce Agnus Dei_, or _Vox clementis in deserto!_ The lamb is sometimes given, sometimes omitted.

He is introduced into pictures of the Holy Family as a witness to the divine nature of Christ and as such is represented at all ages from infancy to manhood. He is patron saint of all who are baptised and is usually represented in sculpture in baptisteries.

XII.—THE FOUR EVANGELISTS

The earliest symbol used to typify the Four Evangelists was four scrolls placed in the four angles of a Greek cross, or four books, representing the Gospels. Next came the four rivers whose source was in paradise.

Their conventional symbols, the angel or man for St. Matthew, the lion, winged, for St. Mark, the ox for St. Luke and the eagle for St. John are derived from the Apocalypse (Rev. iv., 7). The Four Beasts are also found in the prophecy of Ezekiel (chap. i., 10). How early these “four mysterious creatures” were adopted as symbols of the Four Evangelists is not known. They are found in the fifth century, and in the seventh century were universally recognised as fixed attributes.

It was thought that the _cherub_ or _man_ was given to St. Matthew because he dwelt more upon the human side of Christ; the _lion_ to St. Mark because he was called the “Historian of the Resurrection,” and the revival of the lion’s cub symbolised the resurrection, also because he begins his Gospel with the mission of the Baptist—“the voice of one crying in the wilderness”—the lion typifying the wilderness; the _ox_ to St. Luke because it was the emblem of sacrifice, and Luke in his Gospel dwelt more especially upon the priesthood of Christ; to St. John the _eagle_ because it was the emblem of the highest inspiration.

“Rupertus considers the Four Beasts as typical of the Incarnation, the Passion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension; an idea previously dwelt upon by Durandus, who adds that the man and the lion are placed on the right because the incarnation and the resurrection are the joy of the whole earth; whilst the ox is on the left, because Christ’s sacrifice was a trouble to the apostles; and the eagle is above the ox as suggestive of our Lord’s upward flight into heaven. According to others, the proper order in the ascending scale is thus: at the lowest point on the left, the ox; to the right, the lion; above the ox, the eagle; and above all, the angel. So in Raphael’s Vision of Ezekiel [Pitti, Florence] the angel gazes into the face of the Holy One, the others form His throne” (Mrs. Jameson).

Many ideas are conveyed in these apparently fanciful symbols. Sometimes in church decoration the Four Evangelists are grouped with the Four Greater Prophets, thus expressing the old and the new law. Sometimes, particularly in stained glass, they are represented with the Four Doctors, the evangelists appearing as witnesses and the doctors as interpreters of the faith. A curious painting of the Four Doctors is seen in the Louvre, in which the doctors are given not only their own symbols, but also the symbols of the Four Evangelists.

=St. Matthew.= _Lat._ S. Mattheus. _Ital._ San Matteo. _Fr._ St. Mathieu. _Ger._ St. Matthäus.

Photo. Alinari

CHRIST AND THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.—FRA BARTOLOMMEO

(Pitti Palace, Florence.)]

St. Matthew ranks seventh or eighth among the apostles, but is first as evangelist, because his Gospel was supposed to be the first that was written. Scarcely anything is known of his history, except that he was a Hebrew who served the Romans as a publican or tax-gatherer and that his original name was Levi.

After the ascension he is said to have gone to Egypt and Ethiopia, preaching the Gospel, and to have remained there twenty-three years. While there he overcame two terrible magicians, raised the son of the King of Egypt from the dead, and healed his daughter of leprosy. He is believed to have perished in the reign of Domitian, A. D. 90, but the manner of his death is in doubt. By some it is believed that he suffered martyrdom by the sword or spear, but, according to the Greek legends, his end came peacefully.

St. Matthew is not a favourite in art and is seldom represented alone or in devotional pictures. As evangelist he holds a book or a pen, and the angel, his proper symbol, stands by dictating or pointing up to heaven. As apostle he frequently holds a purse, or money bag, signifying his former occupation.

=St. Mark.= _Lat._ S. Marcus. _Fr._ St. Marc. _Ital._ San Marco Evangelista. _Ger._ Der Heilige Marcus.

According to the traditions accepted in the Roman Church, St. Mark was not one of the twelve apostles, but was a convert of St. Peter’s and became his favourite disciple. While in Rome he wrote his Gospel for the use of the Roman converts—some say from the dictation of St. Peter. He founded the Church of Alexandria, the most renowned of all the early Christian churches, but the wrath of the heathen became so great, because of his miracles, that they seized him while he was worshipping one day and, binding him, dragged him up and down the streets and highways, and over the most stony and rocky places, until the breath left his suffering body. The legends relate that, as his soul departed, a terrific tempest of hail and lightning descended suddenly from the skies, by which his murderers were instantly scattered and destroyed.

The Christians of Alexandria buried his mangled remains, and his tomb there was held in reverence for several centuries. But about 815 A. D. some Venetian merchants carried off the relics and brought them to Venice, and the magnificent Church of St. Mark was built over them. Since that time St. Mark has been honoured as the patron saint of Venice, and his legendary history has supplied the Venetian painters with many beautiful and picturesque subjects.

When represented as one of the Four Evangelists, alone or grouped with others, his symbol is almost invariably the lion—winged or unwinged, but usually _winged_—distinguishing him from St. Jerome, who also has the lion as a symbol, but always unwinged. In devotional pictures St. Mark often wears the habit of bishop, as the first Bishop of Alexandria, holding his Gospel in his hand.

=St. Luke.= _Lat._ Sanctus Luca. _Fr._ Saint Luc. _Ital._ San Luca.

Little is known of the real history of St. Luke. He was not an apostle, and like St. Mark, is supposed to have been converted after the ascension. He was a beloved disciple of St. Paul, and accompanied him to Rome and remained with him until the last. After the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul he preached the Gospel in Greece and Egypt, but whether he suffered martyrdom or died a natural death is merely conjecture. There is some occasion for the belief that Luke was a physician, and there is a legend that makes him a painter and represents him as painting the portrait of the Virgin Mary, but this is not confirmed by any of the earlier traditions. Because of this legend, however, he was made the patron saint of painters.

St. Luke is usually represented with his Gospel, and his attendant ox, winged or unwinged; but in Greek art and the art which came under the Byzantine influence, he is represented as evangelist, young and without beard, holding the portrait of the Virgin as his symbol in one hand, and his Gospel in the other.

=St. John.= _Lat._ Sanctus Johannes. _Ital._ San Giovanni Evangelista. _Fr._ Saint Jean, Messire Saint Jehan. _Ger._ Der Heilige Johann.

St. John was the son of the fisherman Zebedee, and with his brother James was among the first followers of Christ.

In the legends of St. John, after the death of the Blessed Virgin he went into Judæa preaching the Gospel, and then into Asia Minor, where he founded the Seven Churches. During the persecution under Domitian, he was sent in fetters to Rome and was cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but he came out of it unharmed. He had other miraculous escapes, and being accused of magic was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote his Revelation. He was released after Domitian’s death and returned to his church at Ephesus. He died there a few years later, being nearly a century old.

Photo. Alinari

MADONNA OF THE HARPIES WITH ST. FRANCIS AND ST. JOHN, EVANGELIST.—ANDREA DEL SARTO

(Uffizi, Florence.)]

A legend that is often represented in art is, that when he returned to Ephesus he met a funeral procession and was told that it was that of Drusiana, at whose house he had formerly dwelt. Bidding them set down the bier, he prayed that she might be restored to life, and she arose and walked to her house, the apostle going with her.

He is popular as a patron saint, and pictures of him are more numerous than of any of the other evangelists. These represent him—as evangelist, apostle, or prophet.

In early art St. John is an aged man with white hair and long white beard, but with the later painters St. John as evangelist, although nearly a century old, is represented as beardless, with light curling hair, and has all the attributes of the youthful apostle. He is sometimes seated, with his pen and his book,—sometimes standing; the attendant eagle is always near him and frequently holds the pen or ink-horn in its beak.

In his second character, or as one of the series of apostles, St. John is represented in Western art as young and beardless, with pale brown or golden flowing hair, and a face full of sweetness, candour, and gentleness. His mantle is red in colour and the tunic blue or sometimes green. He holds in his hand the sacramental cup from which a serpent is seen to appear. St. Isidore relates that at Rome an attempt was made to poison St. John in the cup of the sacrament; he drank of the same and administered it to the communicants without injury, the poison having by a miracle vanished from the chalice in the form of a serpent, but the hired assassin fell down at his feet dead. According to another account, the poisoned cup was given to him by order of the Emperor Domitian. Another legend relates that Aristodemus, the high-priest of Diana at Ephesus, dared him as a test of the truth of his mission to drink of the poisoned chalice. St. John drank unharmed, but the priest dropped dead. Yet another interpretation is that the cup in the hand of St. John alludes to Christ’s reply when the mother of James and John demanded for her sons that they be given a place of honour in heaven,—“Ye shall indeed drink of my cup.”

In his third character of prophet and writer of the Revelation St. John is generally represented in art as very old with a white, flowing beard, seated in a rocky desert; the sea in the distance or around him, representing the island of Patmos; he has the eagle at his side.

XIII.—THE TWELVE APOSTLES

The earliest representations of the Twelve Apostles seem to have been, like those of the Four Evangelists, purely symbolical. They were represented as twelve sheep, and Christ, bearing a lamb in His arms, stood in their midst as the Good Shepherd; or Christ the Lamb of God was placed on an eminence and crowned with a cruciform nimbus, and the apostles were arranged on each side as sheep.

A little later the apostles were represented as twelve men, all alike, each with a sheep, and Christ stood in the middle, also with a sheep, which was often larger than theirs.

=The Apostles’ Creed.= “It is affirmed by Ambrose, ‘that the twelve Apostles, as skilful artificers, assembled together, and made a key by their common advice, that is, the Creed; by which the darkness of the devil is disclosed, that the light of Christ may appear.’ Others fable that every Apostle inserted an article, by which the Creed is divided into twelve articles; and a sermon, fathered upon St. Austin, and quoted by the Lord Chancellor King, fabricates that each particular article was thus inserted by each particular Apostle.

Peter (1). I believe in God the Father Almighty;

John (2). Maker of heaven and earth;

James (3). And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;

Andrew (4). Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;

Philip (5). Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;

Thomas (6). He descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead;

Bartholomew (7). He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

Matthew (8). From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead;

James, the son of Alpheus (9). I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church;

Simon Zelotes (10). The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins;

Jude, the brother of James (11). The resurrection of the body;

Matthias (12). Life everlasting. Amen.” (_Apocryphal New Testament._)

From the sixth century every one of the apostles had his especial attribute, which was taken from some circumstance of his life or death. According to the canon of the mass, they follow in order, thus:

St. Peter, the keys or a fish.

St. Paul, the sword; sometimes two swords.

St. Andrew, the transverse cross.

St. James Major, the pilgrim’s staff.

St. John, the sacramental cup with the serpent; sometimes the eagle (the latter belongs to him only in his character of evangelist).

St. Thomas, a builder’s rule, sometimes a spear.

St. James Minor, a club.

St. Philip, the staff or crozier, surmounted by a cross, or a small cross in his hand.

St. Bartholomew, a large knife.

St. Matthew, a purse.

St. Simon, a saw.

St. Thaddeus (or Jude), a halberd or lance.

St. Matthias, a lance.

Although in sacred art the apostles are always twelve in number, they are not always the same. St. Paul is often substituted for St. Jude and frequently the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke appear instead of St. Simon and St. Matthias.

=St. Peter and St. Paul.= _Lat._ SS. Petrus et Paulus. _Ital._ San Pietro or Piero, San Paolo. _Fr._ S. Pierre, S. Paul. _Spa._ San Pedro, San Pablo.

Even during their lifetime, the power and the influence of St. Peter and St. Paul as apostles and preachers of the Gospel were recognised; and they were acknowledged then as now to be the heads and founders of the Christian Church.

The precedence given to St. Peter, prince of the apostles and founder of the Church of Rome, has never been questioned, but still they are held to be “equal in faith, in merit, and in sanctity.”

In works of art they are seldom separated. They are found on _each_ side of the Saviour or of the Virgin enthroned; or on each side of the altar; or on each side of the arch over the choir. Wherever they are together, not only as apostles but founders, their rank is next after the evangelists and the prophets.

Photo. Alinari

ST. PETER BAPTISING.—MASACCIO

(Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.)]

Many legends are related of St. Peter. Among them that of Simon Magus is the most important, and it has been frequently illustrated in art (Acts viii., 9, 24).

Simon Magus was a famous magician among the Jews, who performed marvellous feats of sorcery and claimed to be a god. Privately he tried to buy from the apostles the secret of their power to work miracles, but was rejected by them with scorn.

The apostles vanquished him at every turn, and drove him out of Jerusalem; and he fled to Rome, where he became a favourite of the Emperor Claudius and afterwards of Nero. Simon claimed that he had the power to raise the dead, and when Peter and Paul came to Rome they challenged him to restore the life of a youth in the presence of the emperor. The magician failed utterly to make good his boast, but when Peter and Paul spoke to the boy he at once rose from the dead. Then the magician announced that he would fly to heaven, and jumping from a high tower he floated in the air for a time, sustained there by demons. At this, Peter fell on his knees and begged that the demons might loose their hold, which they did, and the magician, falling to the ground, was dashed to pieces.

When the first persecution under Nero broke out, the Christians finally succeeded in persuading St. Peter to flee from Rome and thereby save a life that was so precious to the Church.

As Peter was fleeing along the Appian Way, he suddenly encountered our Lord Himself going towards Rome, and bearing His cross. In wonder at such a vision, Peter exclaimed, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” (_Domine, quo vadis?_) and Jesus, bending His eyes sadly upon him, answered, “I go to Rome to be crucified again.” And thus saying, He vanished from sight. Peter felt this to be a sign that he was forsaking his duty and turned back at once to the city, where he continued to preach and baptise until he was taken with St. Paul and thrown into the Mamertine prison.

Here they converted the two centurions, Processus and Martinian, who guarded them, also many other prisoners. There was no water with which to baptise them, but at the prayer of St. Peter that water might be forthcoming, a spring broke through the stone floor and remains a fountain there to this day.

Tradition declares that St. Peter was crucified with his head downward at his own request, feeling himself unworthy to suffer the same death as his Lord.

When in devotional pictures St. Peter is accompanied by another apostle with no distinctive attributes, it may be supposed that it is St. Mark, who was his companion, amanuensis, and interpreter at Rome.

“St. Peter was generally represented blessing, St. Paul preaching,—the former with white hair and beard, the hair sometimes plaited in three distinct partitions; the latter with a lofty and partially bald brow, and long high nose,—as characteristic of the man of genius and the thorough gentleman, as the former is of the warm-hearted, frank, impetuous fisherman. The likenesses may be correct,—they were current, at least, in the days of Eusebius” (Lord Lindsay’s _Sketches of Christian Art_).

The dress of St. Peter in the mosaics and Greek pictures is a blue tunic with a white mantle, but in later pictures he wears a blue or green tunic with yellow drapery. In the earliest representations, he bears a scroll or book, later a cross in one hand and book in the other. It is not until about the eighth century that the keys become his peculiar symbol. Sometimes he has one great key, but usually he carries two keys, one of gold and one of silver—to absolve and to bind—or according to another interpretation one is of gold for the gates of heaven, the other of iron for the gates of hell. The legend that makes St. Peter the keeper of the gate of Paradise, having power to grant or refuse admission, found its origin in the delivery of the keys to St. Peter.

Although =St. Paul= was called to be an apostle after the ascension of Christ, yet he takes rank next to St. Peter as one of the “chief witnesses of the Christian faith.” The history of the “great apostle of the Gentiles” is given fully in the Acts, and the Epistles and the legends have not added much to it. It is related that he suffered martyrdom outside the Ostian Gate of Rome by being beheaded on the same day that St. Peter was crucified within the city. It is also said that a certain Roman matron, named Plautilla, a convert of St. Peter’s, wishing to see St. Paul for the last time, placed herself on the road where he passed to his martyrdom. As she beheld him, she wept and implored his blessing. The apostle gave it and then asked for her veil, that he might bind his eyes before being beheaded. He promised to return it to her after his death. Plautilla gave it readily, thus showing her faith, although her attendants refrained not from mocking at so ridiculous a promise. After his martyrdom, however, her veil, stained with his blood, was restored to her in person by St. Paul. The spot where he was beheaded is still venerated as the _Tre Fontane_, tradition saying that the severed head made three bounds on the ground, and at each place that it touched a fountain gushed forth.

In art the dress of St. Paul is, like St. Peter’s, a blue tunic and white mantle. He has a book or scroll in one hand, occasionally _twelve rolls_, representing his Epistles. His peculiar symbol is the sword—his attribute in a double sense—first signifying the manner of his martyrdom, and second typifying the “good fight fought by the faithful Christian.” When St. Paul is leaning on his sword it then expresses his martyrdom. When he holds it aloft it proclaims his warfare in the cause of Christ; when _two swords_ are given to him, one is the attribute, the other the symbol.

=St. Andrew= (_Lat._ S. Andreas. _Ital._ Sant’Andrea. _Fr._ St. André) was the brother of Simon Peter, and he was the first who was called to be an apostle. Nothing further is told of him in the New Testament. Tradition relates that after the ascension of Christ, St. Andrew travelled into Scythia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, converting multitudes to the faith. He returned to Jerusalem, and thence travelled into Greece and came at last to a city of Achaia, called Patras. Here, among many others, he converted Maximilia, wife of the proconsul Ægeus. He induced her to make a public profession of Christianity, and this so enraged the proconsul that he ordered St. Andrew to be seized and scourged and then crucified. There are many opinions as to the form of the cross upon which he suffered, but it is generally believed to have been a transverse cross, since called St. Andrew’s Cross, and it is said he was fastened with cords rather than with nails—a circumstance always adhered to in the representations of his death. Before suffering crucifixion, the legend relates that he saluted and adored the cross on his knees as something that had been consecrated by the sufferings of his Redeemer.[7] Some of his relics were brought from Patras to Scotland in the fourth century, and since then St. Andrew has been the patron saint of Scotland and of its chief order of Knighthood. He is also patron saint of the famous Burgundian Order, the Golden Fleece, and of Russia and its chief order, the Cross of St. Andrew.

Photo. Alinari

ST. JAMES MAJOR.—TITIAN

(Church of S. Lio, Venice.)]

St. Andrew is recognised in art by the transverse cross, and the devotional pictures represent him as a very old man with a certain brotherly resemblance to St. Peter. He has long, white, flowing hair and beard, the beard usually being divided. He is generally represented leaning upon the cross, holding the Gospel in his right hand.

=St. James the Great.= _Lat._ Sanctus Jacobus Major. _Ital._ San Giacomo, or Jacopo, Maggiore. _Fr._ St. Jacques Majeur. _Spa._ San Jago, or Santiago.

St. James Major (the Great or the Elder) was a kinsman of Christ’s, and, with his brother John the Evangelist and Peter, went everywhere with the Lord and was present at most of the events related in the Gospels. He was one of the three who were permitted to witness the transfiguration of Christ, and one of those who slept during the agony in the garden. No mention is made of him after the ascension, except the fact that Herod slew him with the sword.

The legends of the middle ages, however, have amply made up for this deficiency, and as military patron of Spain, he became one of the most famous saints in Christendom and a most popular subject in art.

In the Spanish legend, although James (their Santiago) is still the son of Zebedee and a native of Galilee, this Zebedee, instead of being a poor fisherman, becomes through the florid imagination of the Spanish chroniclers a very rich nobleman, whose son, always pure and heavenly-minded, is converted by Jesus, and follows Him and shares His labours until the end.

It is related that after the ascension James went first into Judæa, preaching, and then came at last to Spain.

One day as he stood on the banks of the Ebro, he saw in a vision the Blessed Virgin, who appeared to him surrounded by angels and seated on a pillar of jasper. She commanded him to build on that spot a church in her honour and told him that belief in her and in her glorious Son would in time drive paganism out of the land. St. James rose up from the ground where he had prostrated himself before her, and with faith strengthened by these words of the Holy Virgin, began forthwith to erect the famous church in her honour, which has been known ever since as the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar (_Nuestra Señora del Pilar_).

Many other curious legends are related of him—his encounter with the sorcerer Hermogenes, who sent his scholar Philetus to compete with him. James converted him, which so enraged Hermogenes that he bound Philetus by evil spells, so that he could not move hand or foot. Philetus sent his servant to St. James, praying for aid. The apostle sent his cloak by the servant, and no sooner had Philetus touched it, than he became free and hastened to his deliverer. Hermogenes sent his demons to take both the saint and his disciple; angels, however, intervened, and the sorcerer, now utterly vanquished by the power of the apostle, cast his magical books into the sea and declared himself also converted. Hermogenes having prayed for aid against the power of his own demons, St. James gave him his own staff to protect him, and thus armed, Hermogenes set forth to preach the Gospel, and became a faithful and worthy disciple from that time.

Soon after this the Jews, being roused to anger by the miracles and good works of St. James, beheaded the saint, and his disciples, fearing to bury his body, placed it in a ship—some say of marble—and angels guided it to the coast of Spain. Here the disciples took out the body and laid it on a great stone, and the stone yielded to his form like wax and softly closed around it. Then they knew that they had found its chosen resting-place.

But that country was governed at the time by a wicked queen named Lupa, who hated Christians, and who harnessed wild bulls to the stone, thinking they would dash it in pieces; but instead the bulls became as gentle as lambs (_aussitot doux comme des moutons_) and drew it slowly into the court of Lupa’s palace and there rested. At this marvel, she became converted and built a magnificent church to receive the body of James.

In after years the body was lost until the year A. D. 800, when its place of concealment was revealed to a friar. His relics were then removed to Compostella, and so many miracles were wrought at his shrine that thousands upon thousands of pilgrims visited it from all parts of Europe, and the military Order of Saint Jago, enrolled by Don Alphonso for their protection, became one of the greatest and richest orders in Spain.

The wonderful deeds enacted by Santiago in behalf of his chosen people would fill a volume. The Spanish historians chronicle thirty-eight instances in which Saint Jago descended from heaven and in person led their armies against the Moors. The first and most famous was in 939, when he visited the King of Castile in a dream the night before, assuring him of victory. As the army engaged in battle the next morning, the soldiers were thrilled by the sight of St. James at their head, mounted on a snow-white steed, and waving a white standard on high. Thus he led them on to victory, and from that day to this, “Santiago” has been the Spanish war-cry.

St. James’s place among the apostles is fourth in the series, but third after St. Peter and St. Paul. Often in art he is represented bearing a family resemblance to Christ, his kinsman. He has the same thin beard and the hair parted, flowing down on each side.

From the thirteenth century, he has been represented in the dress of a pilgrim of Compostella; he carries the peculiar long staff, from which is suspended a wallet or gourd of water; wears a cloak with a long cape; and has the scallop-shell on his shoulder or on his flapped hat. When the cape, hat, and scallop-shell are omitted, the staff remains his constant attribute, designating him as the first apostle who departed to spread the Gospel into other lands. He can always be recognised by the staff in Madonna pictures and when grouped with other saints.

St. John, who is fifth in the series of the apostles, is found under the head of the Four Evangelists.

=St. Philip.= _Ital._ San Filippo Apostolo. _Fr._ Saint Philippe.

Little is related of St. Philip in the Gospels. After the ascension, he preached in Scythia for twenty years, and then travelled to Hieropolis in Phrygia, where he found the people worshipping a great serpent or dragon, whom they believed to personify the god Mars.

St. Philip, filled with compassion for their ignorance, went into the temple, and holding up his cross commanded the serpent to disappear. Immediately it glided from beneath the altar, and as it moved it sent forth so dreadful an odour that many died, among them the son of the king; but Philip restored him and the others to life, and again, by the power of the cross which he always bore, he commanded the dragon to depart and from that time it was seen no more. This so infuriated the priests of the serpent that they crucified Philip, and when he was fastened to the cross they stoned him to death.

The Scriptures state that Philip had four daughters, who were prophetesses (Acts i., 9). In the Greek calendar his sister, St. Mariamne, and St. Hermione, his daughter, are commemorated as martyrs.

St. Philip, when he is represented alone or in the series of apostles, is a man of middle-age and kindly face, with scarcely any beard. His attribute, a cross, varies in form; sometimes it is small, and he carries it in his hand; again it is a high cross in the form of a “T” or a tall staff with a small Latin cross at the top of it. The cross of St. Philip has a threefold meaning: it may allude to his martyrdom; or to his conquest over the idols through the power of the cross; or when placed on top of the pilgrim’s staff it may refer to his sojourn among the barbarians, preaching the cross of salvation.

=St. Bartholomew.= _Lat._ S. Bartholomeus. _Ital._ San Bartolomeo. _Fr._ St. Barthélemi.

The origin of this saint is in doubt. According to some accounts, he was the son of a husbandman,—others say he was the son of a prince, Ptolomeus. He went into India after the ascension, carrying with him the Gospel of St. Matthew, and preached also in Armenia and Cilicia. He suffered a horrible death in Albanopolis, being first flayed alive and then crucified.

In devotional pictures and single figures, St. Bartholomew sometimes bears in one hand a book, the Gospel of St. Matthew, but his peculiar attribute is a large knife, the instrument of his martyrdom, and he is sometimes represented with his own skin hanging over his arm, as in Michael Angelo’s _Last Judgment_ (Sistine Chapel, Rome).

=St. Thomas.= _Ital._ San Tommaso. _Spa._ San Tomé.

St. Thomas, called _Didymus_ (the twin), is seventh among the apostles. He was a fisherman of Galilee, and he is recorded in the Gospel on two occasions. As Jesus was going up to Bethany, being then in danger from the Jews, Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John xi., 16). And after the resurrection, it was Thomas who doubted the reappearance of the crucified Saviour (John xx., 24-29).

After the ascension, St. Thomas travelled into the East, preaching the Gospel. A tradition has been accepted in the Church that he went as far as India; where he met the Three Wise Men of the East, and baptised them. He founded a church in India, and it was there that he suffered martyrdom.

After the thirteenth century, St. Thomas bears as his attribute the builder’s rule, shaped thus:

As he was neither a carpenter nor a mason, the reason of this attribute is found in one of the legends.

“When St. Thomas was at Cæsarea, our Lord appeared to him and said, ‘The King of the Indies, Gondoforus, hath sent his provost Abanes to seek for workmen well versed in the science of architecture, who shall build for him a palace finer than that of the Emperor of Rome. Behold, now I will send thee to him.’ And Thomas went, and Gondoforus commanded him to build for him a magnificent palace, and gave him much gold and silver for the purpose. The King went into a distant country and was absent for two years, and St. Thomas meanwhile, instead of building a palace, distributed all the treasures intrusted to him among the poor and sick; and when the King returned he was full of wrath and commanded that St. Thomas should be seized and cast into prison, and he meditated for him a horrible death. Meantime the brother of the King died; and the King resolved to erect for him a most magnificent tomb; but the dead man, after that he had been dead four days, suddenly arose and sat upright and said to the King, ‘The man that thou wouldst torture is a servant of God; behold I have been in Paradise, and the angels showed to me a wondrous palace of gold and silver and precious stones, and they said, “This is the palace that Thomas, the architect, hath built for thy brother King Gondoforus.”’ And when the King heard those words he ran to the prison and delivered the apostle; and Thomas said to him, ‘Knowest thou not that those who would possess heavenly things have little care for the things of this earth? There are in heaven rich palaces without number, which were prepared from the beginning of the world for those who purchase the possessions through faith and charity. Thy riches, O King, may prepare the way for thee to such a palace, but they cannot follow thee thither’” (_Vos richesses pourront bien aller devant vous à ce palais, mais elles ne pourront vous y suivre_).

The builder’s rule in the hand of St. Thomas represents him as the spiritual architect of King Gondoforus, and thus he has been chosen as patron saint of architects and builders.

“The Incredulity of St. Thomas” appears in all the early series in the life of Christ, and it is of frequent occurrence in the later schools of Italy and in the Flemish schools. Either St. Thomas is seen placing his hand, with an expression of doubt and fear, on the wounds of the crucified Christ, or his doubts having vanished, his eyes are cast heavenward in joy and thankfulness.

The legendary subject styled _La Madonna della Cintola_, where St. Thomas doubts the apotheosis of the Virgin, has been described in the Assumption of the Virgin.

St. Matthew the Evangelist comes eighth in the order of the apostles.

=St. James Minor.= _Lat._ S. Jacobus Frater Domini. _Ital._ San Jacopo or Giacomo Minore. _Gr._ Adelphotheos. _Fr._ St. Jacques Mineur.

St. James Minor, or the Less, also called the Just, is ninth in the series. He was nearly related to Christ, being the son of Mary, the wife of Cleophas, who was the sister of the Virgin Mary; and although only a cousin he was often spoken of as the “Lord’s brother.” He became first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, and was reverenced for his piety, and wisdom, and charity. The Scribes and Pharisees, however, became so enraged by his teachings that they flung him down from a parapet of the Temple to the infuriated mob below, where his brains were beaten out with a _fuller’s club_.

St. James is generally represented leaning on this club, the instrument of his martyrdom. According to an early tradition, he so nearly resembled our Lord “in person, in features, and deportment,” that it was difficult to distinguish them, and this rendered necessary the kiss of Judas.

=St. Simon Zelotes= (or _The Zealot_). =St. Jude= (_Thaddeus_, or _Lebbeus_). _Ital._ San Simone; San Taddeo. _Fr._ St. Simon; le Zelé; St. Thaddée. _Ger._ Judas Thaddäus.

Very little is known of these saints. According to one tradition they were the same mentioned by Matthew as our Lord’s brethren or kinsmen. According to another tradition they were two brothers among the shepherds, who visited Christ at His birth. The painters who adhered to the first tradition represent Simon and Jude as young. Those who follow the latter represent them as very old. It seems generally agreed that they preached the Gospel together in Syria and Mesopotamia, and together suffered martyrdom in Persia. Tradition says that St. Simon was sawn asunder, and St. Thaddeus killed with a halberd.

In a series of apostles, St. Simon bears the saw and St. Thaddeus the halberd. Greek art represents Jude and Thaddeus as two distinct persons, Jude being young and Thaddeus old; and St. Simon is extremely old, with a bald head, and long white beard.

=St. Matthias.= _Ital._ San Mattia. _Fr._ St. Mathias.

St. Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the place of the traitor Judas, is the last of the apostles (Acts i.). He preached the Gospel in Judæa, and was martyred there by the Jews, either by the lance or by the axe. In the Italian series of the apostles his attribute is the lance; in the German sets he usually has an axe.

=Judas Iscariot.= _Ital._ Giuda Scariota. _Fr._ Judas Iscariote.