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.
[Illustration:
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:
[Illustration]
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.
The Gospels do not speak of the life of Judas before he became an
apostle, but the legends of the middle ages fill up the omissions of
Scripture after their own fancy. As recounted by Mrs. Jameson, they
picture Judas as a “wretch foredoomed, and prepared by a long course of
vice and crime for that crowning guilt which filled the measure full.
According to this legend, he was of the tribe of Reuben. Before his
mother brought him forth, she dreamed that the son who lay in her womb
would be accursed, that he would murder his father, commit incest with
his mother, and sell his God. Terrified at her dream, she took counsel
with her husband and they agreed to avert the threatened calamity by
exposing the child. As in the story of Œdipus, from which indeed this
legend seems partly borrowed, the means taken to avoid the threatened
curse caused its fulfilment. Judas, at his birth, is enclosed in a
chest, and flung into the sea; the sea casts him up, and being found
on the shore, he is fostered by a certain king and queen as their own
son; they have another son, whom Judas, malignant from his birth, beats
and oppresses, and at length kills in a quarrel over a game of chess.
He then flies to Judæa, where he enters the service of Pontius Pilate
as page. In due time he commits the other monstrous crimes to which he
was predestined; and when he learns from his mother the secret of his
birth, he is filled with a sudden contrition and terror; he hears of
the prophet who has power on earth to forgive sins; and seeking Christ
throws himself at His feet. Our Saviour, not deceived, but seeing in
him the destined betrayer, and that all things may be accomplished,
accepts him as His apostle; he becomes the seneschal or steward of
Christ, bears the purse and provides for the common wants. In this
position, avarice, the only vice to which he was not yet addicted,
takes possession of his soul and makes the corruption complete. Through
avarice, he grudges every penny given to the poor, and when Mary
Magdalene anoints the feet of our Lord, he is full of wrath at what he
considers the waste of the precious perfume: ‘Why was not this ointment
sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?’ This he said
not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. Through
avarice, he yields to the bribe offered by the Jews. Then follow the
scenes of the betrayal of Christ, and the late repentance and terrible
suicide of the traitor, as recorded in Scripture.”
Separate representations of Judas Iscariot would have been regarded
as “profane, ominous—worse than the evil-eye,” and the early artists,
in the scenes from the Scriptures where Judas appears, give him a
countenance as expressive of all the evil passions as their brushes
were capable of. The legend says, however, that Judas was of comely
appearance, and was recommended to the service of Pontius Pilate by his
beauty of person.
In art Judas always wears a dirty, dingy yellow, a colour that in Spain
is so associated in the mind with pictures of Judas, that it is held in
abhorrence. In Spain and in Italy malefactors and criminals are garbed
in yellow. Formerly the Venetians made all Jews wear yellow hats.
=St. Barnabas.= _Ital._ San Barnaba. _Fr._ Saint Barnabé.
He is usually called the _Apostle_ Barnabas, because he was associated
with the apostles in their calling, and is to be “considered as
_Apostolical_, and next to them in sanctity.” St. Barnabas was
a Levite, born in the island of Cyprus and a cousin of Mark the
Evangelist. His life and character as recorded in the Acts are full of
interest. After the conversion of Paul, he was the first to believe
in his sincerity, and to present him to the other apostles, “who were
afraid of him, and would not believe that he was a disciple.” Barnabas
afterwards went with St. Paul to Antioch. There, however, they fell
into a dispute concerning Mark and separated. Barnabas preached the
Gospel in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, and it is said he was the
first Bishop of Milan. It is related that “everywhere he carried the
Gospel of St. Matthew, written by the hand of the evangelist, and when
any were sick or possessed, he laid the sacred writing upon their bosom
and they were healed.”
As he was preaching in a synagogue of Judæa against the Jews, they
seized him and put him to death. Mark and the other Christians buried
him in much sorrow.
In art he is represented as of lofty presence, holding in his hand the
Gospel of St. Matthew, and he frequently appears in subjects taken from
the Acts and the life of St. Paul.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] “Salut, Croix, qui as été consacrée par le corps de Jésus Christ,
et que ses membres ont ornée de tant de perles. Avant que le Seigneur
eût été lié sur toi, tu étais un objet de terreur; maintenant, ceux qui
sont enflammés de l’amour celeste t’appellent de tous leurs vœux. Je
viens donc à toi, plein de sécurité et de joie, afin que tu reçoives
le disciple de celui qui est mort sur toi; je t’ai toujours chérie,
et j’ai constamment desire t’embrasser. O bonne croix! longtemps
désirée, et que les membres du Seigneur out revêtue de tout de beauté
et d’éclat, toi que j’ai recherchée sans cesse reçois-moi du milieu des
hommes, et rends-moi a mon maître, afin que celui qui m’a racheté par
toi me voie arriver à lui par toi.”—_Legende Dorée._
XIV.—MARY MAGDALENE
=St. Mary Magdalene.= _Lat._ Sancta Maria Magdalena. _Ital._ Santa
Maria Maddalena. _Fr._ La Madeleine.
It has always been a question in dispute among the theologians and
expounders of the Gospels whether Mary Magdalene, “out of whom Jesus
cast seven devils,” Mary of Bethany, and the “woman who was a sinner”
are three distinct persons, or one and the same under different
appellations. In Western art they are represented as identical.
The legends relate that Mary Magdalene was rich and of noble race, and
lived with her sister and brother, Martha and Lazarus, in their castle
Magdalon on the Sea of Galilee. Lazarus became a soldier, Martha was a
model of virtue and propriety, but Mary abandoned herself to pleasure
and became so dissolute that she was known as “The Sinner.” Her
sister, grieving, frequently rebuked her, and finally persuaded her to
listen to Jesus, and hearing him her heart was touched, and she became
converted.
The legends follow closely the Gospel stories of the supper at the
house of Simon the Pharisee, Christ’s entertainment at the house of
Martha, Mary’s devotion to the Saviour, and those final scenes at His
death and resurrection in which she takes so prominent a part. In all
these she appears again and again in art.
According to an old Provençal legend, after the ascension of Christ,
Lazarus and his sisters, with their handmaid Marcella, Maximin, who had
baptised them, and the blind man Cedron, to whom Jesus had given sight,
were put in a boat by the heathen—a boat that was without rudder or
sails or oars,—and set adrift. The winds and waves carried them safely
to Marseilles, where the people at first refused to give them food
or shelter. But Mary began to tell them of Christ, and both sisters
performed such marvellous miracles, that many became converted and
were baptised. Lazarus, after the death of Maximin, was made the first
Bishop of Marseilles.
Of the many miracles attributed to Mary Magdalene in the old legends,
is that relating to a certain Provençal prince, who became partially
converted by the preaching of Mary Magdalene, and wishing a proof, told
her of his desire and his wife’s, to have a son, and asked if she could
obtain this grace for them by prayers to her God. And Mary answered,
“If thy prayer be granted, wilt thou believe?” The prince promised, but
shortly after, still but half-convinced, he decided to visit St. Peter
in Jerusalem and see if his preaching accorded with the words of Mary.
[Illustration:
Photo. Alinari
LA DISPUTA DELLA TRINITÀ. ST. AUGUSTINE, ST. LAURENCE, ST.
PETER MARTYR, ST. FRANCIS; ST. SEBASTIAN, AND MARY MAGDALENE,
KNEELING.—ANDREA DEL SARTO
(Pitti Palace, Florence.) ]
So he and his wife departed in a vessel bound for Jerusalem. A fearful
storm arose on the way, and his wife, who was with child, gave birth
to a son, and then died. The sailors, in their superstition, wished to
throw the dead body into the sea, believing the tempest would not cease
as long as they had it on board, but the prince restrained them until
they came to a barren, rocky island, where he laid his wife with the
living child on her bosom, praying to Mary Magdalene to have pity on
his grief and if her prayers availed, to save at least the life of his
child.
When the prince and his attendants reached Jerusalem, he found St.
Peter, who instructed him and showed him where Christ performed His
miracles, so that he became an ardent believer in the faith of the
Christians. After two years, he set sail again for his own country, and
passing the island where he had left his wife he landed there to pray.
What was his joy to find that not only the prayers of the Magdalene had
kept his son alive, but as he approached the body of his dead wife, she
awoke as from a deep sleep and was miraculously restored to him. Then
they returned joyfully to Marseilles, and falling at the feet of Mary
Magdalene blessed her, and became baptised.