_Ital._ San Tomaso. _Sp._ San Tomé. Dec. 21. Patron Saint of Portugal
and Parma.
St. Thomas, called _Didymus_ (the twin), takes, as apostle, the seventh
place. He was a Galilean and a fisherman, and we find him distinguished
among the apostles on two occasions recorded in the Gospel. When
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, xx. 25.) After the resurrection, he showed himself unwilling to
believe in the reappearance of the crucified Saviour without ocular
demonstration: this incident is styled the Incredulity of Thomas. From
these two incidents we may form some idea of his character: courageous
and affectionate, but not inclined to take things for granted; or, as
a French writer expresses it, ‘brusque et résolu, mais d’un esprit
exigeant.’ After the ascension, St. Thomas travelled into the East,
preaching the Gospel in far distant countries towards the rising sun.
It is a tradition received in the Church, that he penetrated as far
as India; that there meeting with the three Wise Men of the East,
he baptized them; that he founded a church in India, and suffered
martyrdom there. It is related, that the Portuguese found at Meliapore
an ancient inscription, purporting that St. Thomas had been pierced
with a lance at the foot of a cross which he had erected in that city,
and that in 1523 his body was found there and transported to Goa.
In Correggio’s fresco of St. Thomas as protector of Parma he is
surrounded by angels bearing exotic fruits, as expressing his ministry
in India.
There are a number of extravagant and poetical legends relating to
St. Thomas. I shall here limit myself to those which were adopted in
ecclesiastical decoration, and treated by the artists of the middle
ages.
When St. Thomas figures as apostle, alone or with others, in all the
devotional representations which are not prior to the thirteenth
century he carries as his attribute the builder’s rule, of this form—
[Illustration]
Now, as he was a fisherman, and neither a carpenter nor a mason, the
origin of this attribute must be sought in one of the most popular
legends of which he is the subject.
[Illustration: 81 St. Thomas the Apostle]
‘When St. Thomas was at Cesarea, 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 entrusted to him among
the poor and sick; and when the king returned, he was full of wrath,
and he 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 whom 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
these 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 possession through
faith and charity. Thy riches, O king, may prepare the way for thee to
such a palace, but they cannot follow thee thither.”’[219]
The builder’s rule in the hand of St. Thomas characterises him as the
spiritual architect of King Gondoforus, and for the same reason he has
been chosen among the saints as patron of architects and builders.
There is in this legend or allegory, fanciful as it is, an obvious
beauty and significance, which I need not point out. It appears to me
to be one of those many legends which originally were not assumed to
be facts, but were related as parables, religious fictions invented
for the instruction of the people, like our Saviour’s stories of the
‘Good Samaritan,’ the ‘Prodigal Son,’ &c., and were rendered more
striking and impressive by the introduction of a celebrated and exalted
personage—our Saviour, the Virgin, or one of the apostles—as hero of
the tale. This beautiful legend of St. Thomas and King Gondoforus
is painted on one of the windows of the cathedral at Bourges,—an
appropriate offering from the company of builders in that ancient
city. It is also the subject of one of the finest of the ancient
French _mysteries_, which was acted with great applause at Paris in the
fourteenth century.
But, in the historical subjects from the life of St. Thomas, the first
place must be given to the one scriptural incident in which he figures
as a principal person. ‘The Incredulity of St. Thomas’ occurs in all
the early series of the life of Christ, as one of the events of his
mission, and one of the proofs of his resurrection. On the ancient
gates of San Paolo it is treated with great simplicity as a sacred
mystery, St. Thomas being the principal personage in the action, as
the one whose conviction was to bring conviction to the universe.
Christ stands on a pedestal surmounted by a cross; the apostles are
ranged on each side, and St. Thomas, approaching, stretches forth his
hand. The incident, as a separate subject, is of frequent occurrence
in the later schools of Italy, and in the Flemish schools. The general
treatment, when given in this dramatic style, admits of two variations:
either St. Thomas is placing his hand, with an expression of doubt and
fear, on the wounds of the Saviour; or, his doubts being removed, he
is gazing upwards in adoration and wonder. Of the first, one of the
finest examples is a well-known picture by Rubens,[220] one of his
most beautiful works, and extraordinary for the truth of the expression
in the countenance of the apostle, whose hand is on the side of Christ;
St. John and St. Peter are behind. In Vandyck’s picture at Petersburg,
St. Thomas stoops to examine the Saviour’s hand. In a design ascribed
to Raphael, we have the second version: the look of astonished
conviction in St. Thomas.[221] Niccolò Poussin has painted it finely,
introducing twelve figures.[222] Guercino’s picture is celebrated, but
he has committed the fault of representing the two principal figures
both in profile.[223]
* * * * *
The legendary subject styled ‘La Madonna della Cintola’ belongs
properly to the legends of the Virgin, but as St. Thomas is always a
principal personage I shall mention it here. The legend relates that
when the Madonna ascended into heaven, in the sight of the apostles,
Thomas was absent; but after three days he returned, and, _doubting_
the truth of her glorious translation, he desired that her tomb should
be opened; which was done, and lo! it was found empty. Then the
Virgin, taking pity on his weakness and want of faith, threw down to
him her girdle, that this tangible proof remaining in his hands might
remove all doubts for ever from his mind: hence in many pictures of
the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, St. Thomas is seen below
holding the sacred girdle in his hand. For instance, in Raphael’s
beautiful ‘Coronation’ in the Vatican; and in Correggio’s ‘Assumption’
at Parma, where St. Thomas holds the girdle, and another apostle kisses
it.
[Illustration: _The Madonna of the Girdle_]
The belief that the girdle is preserved in the Cathedral at Pistoia has
rendered this legend a popular subject with the Florentine painters;
and we find it treated, not merely as an incident in the scene of
the Assumption, but in a manner purely mystic and devotional. Thus,
in a charming bas-relief by Luca della Robbia,[224] the Virgin,
surrounded by a choir of angels, presents her girdle to the apostle.
In a beautiful picture by Granacci,[225] the Virgin is seated in the
clouds; beneath is her empty sepulchre: on one side kneels St. Thomas,
who receives with reverence the sacred girdle; on the other kneels the
Archangel Michael. In simplicity of arrangement, beauty of expression,
and tender harmony of colour, this picture has seldom been exceeded.
Granacci has again treated this subject, and St. Thomas receives the
girdle in the presence of St. John the Baptist, St. James Major, St.
Laurence, and St. Bartholomew.[226] We have the same subject by Paolino
da Pistoia; by Sogliani; and by Mainardi, a large and very fine fresco
in the church of Santa Croce at Florence.
A poetical and truly mystical version of this subject is that wherein
the Infant Saviour, seated or standing on his mother’s knee, looses
her girdle and presents it to St. Thomas. Of this I have seen several
examples; one in the Duomo at Viterbo.[227]
In the Martyrdom of St. Thomas, several idolaters pierce him through
with lances and javelins. It was so represented on the doors of San
Paolo, with four figures only. Rubens, in his large picture, has
followed the legend very exactly; St. Thomas embraces the cross, at
the foot of which he is about to fall, transfixed by spears. A large
picture in the gallery of Count Harrach at Vienna, called there the
Martyrdom of St. Jude, I believe to represent the Martyrdom of St.
Thomas. Two of the idolatrous priests pierce him with lances. Albert
Dürer, in his beautiful print of St. Thomas, represents him holding the
lance, the instrument of his martyrdom: but this is very unusual.
The eighth in the order of the Apostles is the Evangelist ST. MATTHEW,
of whom I have spoken at length.