Table of contents:
- A man with a horse leg
- Woman with goose
- Crow Trampling Man
- Dog over male head
- Woman and fox
- Bear dragging sticks to a man
- Woman with deer
- A man with a spider
- A man with a lion
Video: Animals in the images of saints: Why St. The eligibility of a horse's leg, why is St. Brigitte is always with the fox and other oddities
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
With what just do not portray Catholic saints! From your own head in your hands to beautiful flowers. In most cases, their images are understandable: these are either images of their torment, or the sphere of their achievements. But some icons, stained-glass windows and just pictures with saints make you want to know the history, because on them the saints communicate with animals. And animals are always interesting!
A man with a horse leg
Saint Eligius, who lived in France in the 6th-7th centuries, made a dizzying career from a boy from a poor family who managed to get a job as an apprentice to a jeweler, to a jewelry maker personally for King Chlothar II and the master of his mint. However, he eventually abandoned his craft for a spiritual career and died bishop of the cities of Noyon and Tournai. There were still many pagans among the Franks at that time, and Eligius devoted much energy to preaching among them.
Naturally, he is mainly depicted with objects of jewelry craftsmanship, but there are also more interesting images - with a horse's leg in his hands near a three-legged horse, for example. According to legend, when Eligius tried to shoe a horse, the devil possessed her and she raged and was not given. Then the saint calmly cut off her leg, shod the hoof separately from the horse and put it back on. The leg miraculously rooted into place.
Woman with goose
Saint Farailda took a vow of celibacy as a girl, but her parents did not take it seriously. They married her off. Farailda remained faithful to her vow, and this greatly angered her husband, who insisted on what he considered to be his marital rights. As a result, he repeatedly beat his wife. Farailda's church could only be visited secretly, late at night.
A few years later (rather quickly) her husband died, and Farailda devoted herself entirely to prayer and charity. Usually she is depicted with a goose in her hands or at her feet. According to legend, one of her miracles was the resurrection of an already fried and almost completely eaten goose - only skin and bones remained.
Crow Trampling Man
According to legend, Saint Expedit was a born Armenian who made a career for himself in the Roman army. One day he believed in Christ and decided to be baptized. But a raven began to fly around him, repeating the word "tomorrow" (crash in Latin). So the devil tried to postpone baptism, so that later he could find a way to prevent it completely. However Expedit did not listen to the crow, but caught him, threw him to the ground and firmly said: "today!" That is why the saint is depicted not only with a cross in one hand and a palm branch in the other (symbols of Christianity and peacefulness), but also with a raven under one foot.
Dog over male head
In 870, Danish pagan Vikings, led by Ivar the Boneless and Ubboy Ragnarsson, landed on the coast of East Anglia, where the Christian king Edmund ruled. The king hastened to repulse the Danes before they delve into his lands, but was defeated. They seized him, tied him to a tree and shot him with a bow, causing many torments. Finally, the Danes stripped the king's head and threw it into the thicket of thorns.
When the Vikings sailed away and the British came for the body of their king, they heard a dog howling nearby. Following the sound, Edmund's subjects saw a wolfhound guarding the king's head. There was no doubt that at night the dog drove the wolves away from her. No one identified the wolfhound where he came from, it was unclear, so what happened was declared unambiguously a miracle, and Edmund was portrayed with a head lying separately and a wolfhound above it.
Woman and fox
Not all traditions of depicting saints are related to iconography. Some animals are constant companions, appearing only in the paintings and drawings of the laity. For example, Saint Brigitte with a fox can often be seen in modern images, while on icons and stained-glass windows she will be with different attributes.
Saint (Reverend) Brigitte is revered by both Catholics and Orthodox, since she lived before the split in Christianity. She was the daughter of an Irish pagan king named Leinster and his Christian slave, a Pictish native. Brigitte's mother was converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick himself. Brigitte herself was baptized at the age of about fifteen. She was famous for her kindness and was always ready to feed the hungry. Despite the fact that her mother was a slave, Brigitte herself was raised as a princess.
Her father had a favorite tame fox who could perform various tricks. Once she, confused with a wild fox, was killed by a courtier. The courtier was going to be executed, but Brigitte persuaded not to kill him if she managed to bring a fox out of the forest no worse. A wild fox came out of the forest to her. Brigitte, under a cloak, carried her to the royal court, where the animal gave a real performance, executing commands no worse than its deceased brother. The courtier was released - and immediately after that, the fox ran wild and fled from the palace.
Bear dragging sticks to a man
Another example of a non-iconographic tradition of depiction is the form in which Saint Gall appears on the coats of arms of cities in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. A bear is drawn next to it, carrying either a branch or a log. According to legend, when Gallus began to build his chapel, a bear came to him at night. The saint ordered him to get wood for fire and construction, and for his labor he fed the bear with bread. According to another legend, the bear agreed to work for Gallus after the saint took a thorn out of his paw. After the miraculous rescue of the paw, the bear also followed the saint everywhere, like a servant after a master.
Woman with deer
Used animal labor and saint Ida of Herzfeld. Her attributes officially include a deer standing next to her. Ida herself was a relative of the Emperor Charlemagne, grew up at his court under his personal supervision. He also found her a husband, the Duke of Egbert, presenting extensive estates to Ida as a wedding gift. The marriage of Ida and Egbert was happy, but her husband died first, and Ida settled over his grave.
Ida is revered as the first builder of a stone church in her area. According to legend, at the construction site she was helped by a deer, whom she had covered with her cloak before from the hunters. He carried hewn stones on his back.
A man with a spider
Saint Conrad is traditionally depicted with a bowl in his hand, on which a spider sits. Konrad was a priest and once during the sacrament of the Eucharist a spider fell into his cup of wine. It was impossible to pour out the wine, which had already become the blood of Christ, and Konrad drank it with a spider. But the spider remained unharmed and safely got out of the saint's mouth, after which he was released in peace. And they didn't even force to build anything.
A man with a lion
There is a meme on the Internet: in the picture of a clearly medieval author, a man holds a lion's paw with bulging eyes in his hands. The man is given a replica: "This is your salary", and the lion - "But this is a stick." The plot itself is popular with the non-iconographic depiction of St. Jerome. According to legend, he once sat at the gates of his monastery, a lame lion approached the monastery. The other monks hid in horror, and Jerome chose to examine the lion and found a splinter in his paw. And, of course, he pulled it out. Leo liked Jerome so much that he decided not to leave him. The monks, looking at such a thing, demanded that he work off the food that is shared with him. Jerome assigned the lion to guard the monastery's donkey of burden.
Once the lion did not fend off the donkey, and robbers stole it. The monks demanded that the lion now carry firewood instead of the donkey. Jerome arranged that too. After a while, the lion saw the stolen donkey in the caravan, fought off the whole caravan and triumphantly brought him to the monastery.
Not all stories about the saints of the past are so cute. Medieval holy asceticism: For whom did the women of the past drive themselves into the grave.
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