Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Ring of Saint Catherine, given to pilgrims visiting Mount Sinai.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine in a 15th-century fresco on the St. Jacob church in Urtijëi, Italy.

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Catherine of Alexandria, by Carlo Crivelli

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Bernardino Luini – Saint Catherine

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Ambrogio Bergognone. The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

The Beheading of St. Catherine, Barcelona Cathedral

Saint Catherine of Alexandria Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria
Bernardino Luini – Portrait of Catherine of Alexandria (National Art Museum of Azerbaijan)
Martyr and Virgin
Born	c. 287 Alexandria, Roman Egypt[1]
Died	c. 305 (aged 17–18) Alexandria, Egypt
Venerated in	Coptic Orthodox Church Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodoxy Eastern Catholic Churches Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Lutheranism
Major shrine	Saint Catherine’s Monastery
Feast	25 November 24 November (Orthodox churches of Russian background) 29 Hathor (Coptic Orthodox church)[2]
Attributes	the « breaking wheel« ; sword; with a crown at her feet; hailstones; bridal veil and ring; dove; scourge; book; woman arguing with paganphilosophers[3]decapitation
Patronage	Unmarried girls, Aalsum; apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters, spinners); archivists; dying people; educators; girls; jurists; knifesharpeners; lawyers; librarians; libraries; Balliol College; Massey College; maidens; mechanics; millers; milliners; hat-makers; nurses; philosophers; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren; scribes; secretaries; spinsters; stenographers; students; tanners; theologians; University of Oviedo; University of Paris; haberdashers; wheelwrights; Żejtun, Malta; Żurrieq, Malta; Pagbilao, Quezon, Philippines; Carcar City, Cebu, Philippines; Katerini, Greece, Porac, Pampanga, Arayat, Pampanga, Philippines, Dumaguete City, Philippines, Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental, Philippines, Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur, Philippines, Tayum, Abra, Diocese of Dumaguete, University of Santo Tomas

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, or Saint Catharine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine (Coptic: Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲕⲁⲧⲧⲣⲓⲛ, Greek: ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς – translation: Holy Catherine the Great Martyr) is, according to tradition, a Christiansaint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity, and was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years following her martyrdom, Saint Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counselled her.^[4]

The Eastern Orthodox Churchvenerates her as a Great Martyr and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November (depending on the regional tradition). In Catholicism she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed her feast day from the General Roman Calendar;^[5] however, she continued to be commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 25 November.^[6] In 2002, her feast was restored to the General Roman Calendar as an optional memorial.

According to modern scholarship, the legend of Catherine was probably based on the life and murder of the Greek philosopher Hypatia, with reversed roles of Christians and pagans.^[7]

Legend

According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Egyptian Alexandria during the reign of the emperor Maximian (286–305).^[8] From a young age she devoted herself to study. A vision of the Madonna and Child persuaded her to become a Christian. When the persecutions began under Maxentius, she went to the emperor and rebuked him for his cruelty. The emperor summoned 50 of the best paganphilosophers and orators to dispute with her, hoping that they would refute her pro-Christian arguments, but Catherine won the debate. Several of her adversaries, conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians and were at once put to death.^[9]

Torture and martyrdom

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Icon of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with scenes from her martyrdom

Catherine was then scourged and imprisoned. She was scourged so cruelly and for so long, that her whole body was covered with wounds, from which the blood flowed in streams. The spectators wept with pity; but Catherine, strengthened by God, stood with her eyes raised to heaven, without giving a sign of suffering or fear. He ordered her to be imprisoned without food, so she would starve to death. During the confinement, angels tended her wounds with salve. Catherine was fed daily by a dove from Heaven and Christ also visited her, encouraging her to fight bravely, and promised her the crown of everlasting glory.

During her imprisonment, over 200 people came to see her, including Maxentius’ wife, Valeria Maximilla; all converted to Christianity and were subsequently martyred.^[10] Twelve days later, when the dungeon was opened, a bright light and fragrant perfume filled it, and Catherine came forth even more radiant and beautiful.

Upon the failure of Maxentius to make Catherine yield by way of torture, he tried to win the beautiful and wise princess over by proposing marriage. The saint refused, declaring that her spouse was Jesus Christ, to whom she had consecrated her virginity.

The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, it shattered.^[9] Maxentius ordered her to be beheaded. Catherine herself ordered the execution to commence. A milk-like substance rather than blood flowed from her neck.

Burial

Angels transported her body to the highest mountain (now called Mt. Saint Catherine) next to Mount Sinai, where God gave His Law. In 850, her incorrupt body was discovered by monks from the Sinai Monastery. The monks found on the surface of the granite on which her body lay, an impression of the form of her body. Her hair still growing, and a constant stream of the most heavenly fragranced healing oil issuing from her body. This oil produced countless miracles.

In the 6th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian had established what is now Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt (which is in fact dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ). Her relics include her left hand, often warm to the touch and her head. Her incorrupt body is not publicly displayed. Countless people make the pilgrimage to the Monastery to receive miracle healing from Saint Catherine. ^[11]

Historicity

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Artemisia Gentileschi

Pietro Aretino, Vita di santa Caterina vergine e martire, 1636.

Donald Attwater dismisses what he calls the « legend » of Saint Catherine, arguing for a lack of any « positive evidence that she ever existed outside the mind of some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an edifying romance. »^[12] Harold Davis writes that « assiduous research has failed to identify Catherine with any historical personage » and has theorized that Catherine was an invention inspired to provide a counterpart to the story of the slightly later pagan philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 350–370 – March 415 CE).^[13][14]

Modern scholarship supports Davis’ assumption that the legend of Catherine of Alexandria was probably based on the life and murder of Hypatia, with the roles of Christians and pagans reversed.^[15]

Hypatia was a Greekmathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, who was brutally murdered by a Christian mob after being accused of exacerbating a conflict between two prominent figures in Alexandria, the governor, Orestes, and the bishop, Cyril of Alexandria.^[16][17]

Sometimes cited as a possible inspiration of Saint Catherine, the writer Eusebius wrote, around the year 320, that the Emperor had ordered a young Christian woman to come to his palace to become his mistress, and when she refused, he had her punished, by having her banished and her estates confiscated.^[18] Although Eusebius did not name the woman, she had been identified with Dorothea of Alexandria.^{[citation needed]}

The earliest surviving account of Saint Catherine’s life comes around 600 years after the traditional date of her martyrdom, in the menologium a document compiled for Emperor Basil II (976), although the rediscovery of her relics at Saint Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinaiwas about 800,^[19] and presumably implies an existing cult at that date (the common name of the monastery developed after the discovery). The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527–565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered to be built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush; the living bush on the grounds is purportedly the original. It is also referred to as « Saint Helen’s Chapel ». The main church was built between 548 and 565, and the monastery became a major pilgrimage site for devotees of Catherine and the other relics and sacred sites there. Saint Catherine’s Monastery survives, and is a famous repository of early Christian art, architecture and illuminated manuscripts that remains open to tourists and visiting scholars. The site is sacred to Christianity and Islam.^{[citation needed]}

In her book The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe, Christine Walsh discusses « the historical Katherine »:

« As we have seen, the cult of St Katherine of Alexandria probably originated in oral traditions from the 4th-century Diocletianic Persecutions of Christians in Alexandria. There is no evidence that Katherine herself was a historical figure and she may well have been a composite drawn from memories of women persecuted for their faith. Many aspects of her Passio are clearly legendary and conform to well-known hagiographical topoi. »^[20]

Name

Rufinus states that her first name was Dorothea (Greek: Δωροθέα), and that at her christening she acquired the name Aikaterina (Αικατερίνα), a name that signifies her pure, clean and uncontaminated nature (from Greek αιέν καθαρινά ‘ever clean’).

Medieval cult

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Catherine of Alexandria, by Carlo Crivelli

Saint Catherine was one of the most important saints in the religious culture of the late Middle Ages, and arguably considered the most important of the virgin martyrs, a group including Saint Agnes, Margaret of Antioch, Saint Barbara, Saint Lucy, Valerie of Limoges and many others. Her power as an intercessor was renowned and firmly established in most versions of her hagiography, in which she specifically entreats Christ at the moment of her death to answer the prayers of those who remember her martyrdom and invoke her name.

The development of her medieval cult was spurred by the reported rediscovery of her body around the year 800 at Mount Sinai, with hair still growing and a constant stream of healing oil issuing from her body.^[19]There are several pilgrimage narratives that chronicle the journey to Mount Sinai, most notably those of John Mandeville and Friar Felix Fabri.^[21] However, the monastery at Mount Sinai was the best-known site of Catherine pilgrimage, but was also the most difficult to reach. The most prominent Western shrine was the monastery in Rouen that claimed to house Catherine’s fingers. It was not alone in the west, however, accompanied by many, scattered shrines and altars dedicated to Catherine, which existed throughout France and England. Some were better known sites, such as Canterbury and Westminster, which claimed a phial of her oil, brought back from Mount Sinai by Edward the Confessor.^[22][23] Other shrines, such as St. Catherine’s Hill, Hampshire were the focus of generally local pilgrimage, many of which are only identified by brief mentions in various texts, rather than by physical evidence.^[24]

St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge was founded on St Catharine’s Day (25 November) 1473 by Robert Woodlark (the then-provost of King’s College Cambridge) who sought to create a small community of scholars who would study exclusively theology and philosophy. Wodelarke may have chosen the name in homage to Catherine of Valois, mother of Henry VI of England, although it is more likely that it was named as part of the Renaissance cult of Saint Catharine, who was a patron saint of learning. At any rate, the college was ready for habitation and formally founded on Saint Catharine’s Day, 1473.

Saint Catherine also had a large female following, whose devotion was less likely to be expressed through pilgrimage. The importance of the virgin martyrs as the focus of devotion and models for proper feminine behavior increased during the Late Middle Ages.^[25] Among these, St. Catherine in particular was used as an exemplarfor women, a status which at times superseded her intercessory role.^[26] Both Christine de Pizan and Geoffrey de la Tour Landry point to Catherine as a paragon for young women, emphasizing her model of virginity and « wifely chastity. »^[27] From the early 14th century the Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine first appears in hagiographical literature and, soon after, in art. In the Western church, the popularity of her cult began to reduce in the 18th century.^[28]

Veneration

Her principal symbol is the spiked wheel, which has become known as the Catherine wheel, and her feast day is celebrated on 25 November by most Christian churches. However, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on 24 November. The exact origin of this tradition is not known. In 11th-century Kyivan-Rus, the feast day was celebrated on 25 November. Saint Dimitry of Rostov in his Kniga zhyttia sviatykh(Book of the Lives of the Saints), T.1 (1689) places the date of celebration on 24 November. A story that Empress Catherine the Great did not wish to share her patronal feast with the Leavetaking of the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokosand hence changed the date is not supported by historical evidence. One of the first Roman Catholic churches to be built in Russia, the Catholic Church of St. Catherine, was named after Catherine of Alexandria because she was Catherine the Great’s patron.

The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia describes her historical importance:

Ranked with St Margaret and St Barbara as one of the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven, she was unceasingly praised by preachers and sung by poets. It is believed that Jacques-Benigne Bossuet dedicated to her one of his most beautiful panegyrics and that Adam of St. Victorwrote a magnificent poem in her honour: Vox Sonora nostri chori.

In many places her feast was celebrated with the utmost solemnity, servile work being suppressed and the devotions attended by great numbers of people. In several dioceses of France it was observed as a Holy Day of Obligation up to the beginning of the 17th century, the splendour of its ceremonial eclipsing that of the feasts of some of the Apostles. Numberless chapels were placed under her patronage and her statue was found in nearly all churches, representing her according to medieval iconography with a wheel, her instrument of torture.

In France, unwed women who have attained the age of 25 wear richly decorated bonnets on the day of her feast. This custom gave rise to the French idiom coiffer Sainte-Catherine (‘don St. Catherine’s bonnet’), to describe an unmarried woman between the ages of 25 and 30.^[29]

In memory of her sacrifice in some homes, Egyptian and other Middle Eastern foods are offered for her feast, such as hummus or tabbouleh salads. Favorites also are melons cut into circles with sherbet « hubs, » or cookies shaped as spiked wheels with icing.

Meanwhile, owing to several circumstances in his life, Saint Nicholas of Myra was considered the patron of young bachelors and students, and Saint Catherine became the patroness of young maidens and female students. Looked upon as the holiest and most illustrious of the virgins of Christ after the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was natural that she, of all others, should be worthy to watch over the virgins of the cloister and the young women of the world. The spiked wheel having become emblematic of the saint, wheelwrights and mechanics placed themselves under her patronage. Finally, as according to tradition, she not only remained a virgin by governing her passions and conquered her executioners by wearying their patience, but triumphed in science by closing the mouths of sophists, her intercession was implored by theologians, apologists, pulpitorators, and philosophers. Before studying, writing, or preaching, they besought her to illumine their minds, guide their pens, and impart eloquence to their words. This devotion to Saint Catherine which assumed such vast proportions in Europe after the Crusades,^[11] received additional éclat in France in the beginning of the 15th century, when it was rumoured that she had spoken to Joan of Arc and, together with Saint Margaret, had been divinely appointed Joan’s adviser.^[9]

Giacobbe Giusti, Catherine of Alexandria

Ring of Saint Catherine, given to pilgrims visiting Mount Sinai.

Devotion to Saint Catherine remains strong amongst Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. With the relative ease of travel in the modern age, pilgrimages to Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai have increased. Pilgrims to her monastery on Mt Sinai are given a ring, which has been placed on the relics of the saint as an evlogia (blessing) in remembrance of their visit.

Legacy

The pyrotechnic Catherine wheel, from which sparks fly off in all directions, took its name from the saint’s wheel of martyrdom.^[18]

In art

Scenes from the Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Germany, ca. 15th century, Walters Art Museum

Countless images of Saint Catherine are depicted in art, especially in the late Middle Ages, which is also the time that the account of Saint Catherine’s Mystical Marriagemakes its first literary appearance. She can usually be easily recognised as she is richly dressed and crowned, as befits her rank as a princess, and often holds or stands next to a segment of her wheel as an attribute. She also often carries either a martyr’s palm or the sword with which she was actually executed. She often has long unbound blonde or reddish hair (unbound as she is unmarried). The vision of Saint Catherine of Alexandria usually shows the Infant Christ, held by the Virgin, placing a ring (one of her attributes) on her finger, following some literary accounts, although in the version in the Golden Legend he appears to be adult, and the marriage takes place among a great crowd of angels and « all the celestial court »,^[30] and these may also be shown.

She is very frequently shown attending on the Virgin and Child, and is usually prominent in scenes of the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines, showing a group of virgin saints surrounding the Virgin and Child. Notable later paintings of Catherine include single figures by Raphael (National Gallery) and Caravaggio (Madrid), (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum).

Contemporary media

• The opening scene of The Sopranos episode 38, « Amour Fou« , features mob wife Carmela Soprano and her daughter Meadow Soprano in an art museum, where (among other topics) they discuss Jusepe de Ribera‘s painting: The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
• A movie about Catherine, called Decline of an Empire, began production in January 2010 and was released in 2014.^[31]

• 

  Ambrogio Bergognone. The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena

   

• 

  Konrad Witz, Saints Mary Magdalen and Catherine, shown as a crowned scholar with her wheel behind

   

• 

  Catherine, reading again, with sword on the ground, c. 1520

   

• 

  Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy, late 15th century Master of the Virgo inter Virgines

   

• 

  The Beheading of St. Catherine, Barcelona Cathedral

   

• 

  Girolamo Citolanzo, The Martyrdom of St. Catherine, Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

   

• 

  The Resurrection of the Body of St. Catherine, Refectory Museum of the Cathedral of St. Mary, Pamplona, Spain

• 

  Lorenzo Lotto, Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Augustine

• 

  Saint Catherine in a 15th-century fresco on the St. Jacob church in Urtijëi, Italy.

• 

  Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherin’ (triptich by Hans Memling

• 

  Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England, painted as Catherine of Alexandria – by Jacob Huysmans

• Breaking wheel and the Catherine wheel firework named after it and St. Catherine
• Catharina—Lunar crater named after Saint Catherine
• Catherinettes, A French term for girls unmarried at 25
• Kaarina—A city in Finland named after Saint Catherine
• Santa Catalina Island—California Channel Island named after Saint Catherine
• Santa Catalina Mountains—A prominent mountain range north of Tucson, Arizona, United States was named after Saint Catherine in 1697.
• Santa Catarina—One of the three states in southern Brazil.
• Se Cathedral—dedicated to Saint Catherine
• St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University
• St Catherine’s College, Oxford University
• St. Catherine University, women’s college in Saint Paul, MN
• St. Catherine’s Day
• St. Catherine’s School, K-12 in Richmond, VA
• St Helen and St Katharine, girls school in Oxfordshire, England, which celebrates « St. Katharine’s Day » in November
• The Catherine Wheel (album)—David Byrne’s musical score commissioned by Twyla Tharp for her dance project.
• St. Catharine’s School for Girls (Kwun Tong),girls school in Hong Kong

Notes

1. Jump up^ Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Accessed 11 December 2014.
2. Jump up^ http://www.copts-united.com/Article.php?I=1010&A=48162
3. Jump up^ « Liturgical Year : This Item Currently Unavailable ».
4. Jump up^ Williard Trask, Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words (Turtle Point Press, 1996), 99
5. Jump up^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 147
6. Jump up^ Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
7. Jump up^ See Christine Walsh: The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe, Aldershot 2007, p. 3–26; Michael A. B. Deakin: Hypatia of Alexandria, Mathematician and Martyr, Amherst (New York) 2007, p. 135, 202; Maria Dzielska: Hypatia of Alexandria, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1995, p. 21; Christian Lacombrade: Hypatia. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, Bd. 16, Stuttgart 1994, Sp. 956–967, here: 966; Gustave Bardy: Catherine d’Alexandrie. In: Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, Bd. 11, Paris 1949, Sp. 1503–1505, here: 1504.
8. Jump up^ « Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria ».
9. ^ Jump up to:^a b c « Clugnet, Léon. « St. Catherine of Alexandria. » The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 1 May 2013″. Newadvent.org. 1908-11-01. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
10. Jump up^ « Saint Catherine of Alexandria ». Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b « Foley O.F.M., Leonard.  »Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast,(revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media ». Americancatholic.org. ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
12. Jump up^ Mateus Soares de Azevedo (25 April 2005). Ye shall know the truth: Christianity and the perennial philosophy. World Wisdom, Inc. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-941532-69-3. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
13. Jump up^ Harold Thayer Davis, Alexandria: The Golden City (Principia Press of Illinois, 1957), p 441
14. Jump up^ Allen, pp. 214–217
15. Jump up^ See Christine Walsh: The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe, Aldershot 2007, p. 3–26; Michael A. B. Deakin: Hypatia of Alexandria, Mathematician and Martyr, Amherst (New York) 2007, p. 135, 202; Maria Dzielska: Hypatia of Alexandria, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1995, p. 21; Christian Lacombrade: Hypatia. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, Bd. 16, Stuttgart 1994, Sp. 956–967, here: 966; Gustave Bardy: Catherine d’Alexandrie. In: Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, Bd. 11, Paris 1949, Sp. 1503–1505, here: 1504.
16. Jump up^ Edward Jay Watts, (2006), City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. « Hypatia and pagan philosophical culture in the later fourth century », pages 197–198. University of California Press
17. Jump up^ A. B. Deakin, Michael (1994). Hypatia and Her Mathematics. Mathematical Association of America. pp. 234–243.
18. ^ Jump up to:^a b « Catherine of Alexandria, Lives of Saints« . John J. Crawley & Co., Inc. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
19. ^ Jump up to:^a b S. R. T. O d’Ardeene and E. J. Dobson, Seinte Katerine: Re-Edited from MS Bodley 34 and other Manuscripts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), xiv.
20. Jump up^ Walsh, Christine. The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval EuropeAshgate Publishing Company, Burlington, 2007, p 143
21. Jump up^ John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1964); Felix Fabri, The Wanderings of Felix Fabri (New York: AMS Press, 1971), 217.
22. Jump up^ Walsh, Christine. « The Role of the Normans in the Development of the Cult of St. Katherine », St. Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe (eds. Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis) (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003), p.31
23. Jump up^ Lewis, Katherine J., Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine of Alexandria in Late Medieval England, St. Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe (eds. Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis) (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003),p.44
24. Jump up^ Lewis, Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine, 49–51.
25. Jump up^ John Bugge, Virginitas: An Essay in the History of the Medieval Ideal (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1975), 132; Katherine J. Lewis, The Cult of St. Katherine of Alexiandria in Late Medieval England (Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2000), 229; Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c. 1400-c. 1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 174.
26. Jump up^ Katherine J. Lewis, « Model Girls? Virgin-Martyrs and the Training of Young Women in Late Medieval England » in Young Medieval Women eds. Katherine J. Lewis, Noel James Menuge and Kim M. Phillips (New York: St. Martin’s PRess, 1999).
27. Jump up^ Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies trans. by Sarah Lawson (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 146; Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladiestrans. by Rosalind Brown-Grant (New York: Penguin Books, 1999), 203; Rebecca Barnhouse, The Book of the Knight of the Tower (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 126, 193.
28. Jump up^ Allen, 217
29. Jump up^ « Coiffer sainte Catherine ». La France pittoresque (in French). November 24, 2016.
30. Jump up^ Life of Saint « Katherine » in William Caxton‘s English version of the Golden Legend.
31. Jump up^ mohill05 (12 August 2014). « Katherine of Alexandria (2014) – IMDb ». IMDb.

References

• Allen, Prudence, The concept of woman: the Aristotelian revolution, 750 BC-AD 1250, 1997 (2nd edn.), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN978-0-8028-4270-1
• Walsh, Christine. The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe, (Ashgate 2007)

Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

• Passio sanctae Katharinae—11th century (between 1033–1048); at Latin Wikisource
• Details of Saint Catherine’s life—Saint Catherine Orthodox Church; includes a gallery of icons of the saint
• St Catherine’s church in Muhu island (Estonia)
• Representations of Saint Catherine
• Saint Catherine of Alexandria at the Christian Iconography web site
• « The Life of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr » from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend
• « Catharine« . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• « Catherine, Saint« . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• Colonnade Statue St Peter’s Square

Katherine of Alexandria (film).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Alexandria

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Salus Populi Romani

Giacobbe Giusti, Salus Populi Romani

Icon of Salus Populi Romani in the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome.

Salus Populi Romani Protectress and Health of the Roman People Giacobbe Giusti, Salus Populi Romani
Location	Basilica of Saint Mary Major
Date	590 AD (first arrival in Rome)
Witness	Pope Gregory the Great
Holy See approval	Pope Gregory XVI Pope Pius XII
Shrine	Basilica of Saint Mary Major

Salus Populi Romani (Protectress, or more literally health or salvation, of the Roman People) is a Roman Catholic title associated with the venerated image of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome. This Byzantineicon of the Madonna and Christ Child holding a Gospel book and is enshrined within the Borghese(Pauline) Chapel of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.^[1][2]

The image arrived in Rome in the year 590 AD during the reign of Pope Gregory I. Pope Gregory XVIgranted the image a Canonical Coronation on 15 August 1838 through the Papal bull Cælestis Regina. The venerated image regained its longstanding devotion and status by being crowned again for the second time by Pope Pius XIIon the Feast of the Queenship of Mary on 11 October 1954 accompanied by his Papal bull Ad Reginam Caeli.^[3]

The phrase Salus Populi Romanigoes back to the legal system and pagan rituals of the ancient Roman Republic.^[4] After the legalisation of Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great through the Edict of Milanin 313 AD, the phrase was sanctioned as a Marian title for the Blessed Virgin Mary.^[5]

History

The image is held to have arrived from Crete in the year 590 AD during the Pontificate of Pope Gregory the Great, who welcomed the image in person on its arrival borne with a floral boat from the Tiber river. For centuries it was placed above the door to the basilica’s baptistery chapel, wherein the year 1240 it began to be called Regina Caeli (« Queen of Heaven ») in an official document. Later it was moved to the nave, and from the 13th century it was preserved in a marble tabernacle. Since 1613, it has been located in the altar tabernacle of the Cappella Paolina that was built specifically for it, later known to English-speaking pilgrims as the Lady Chapel. The church, Saint Maria Maggiore, is considered the third of the Roman patriarchal basilicas. The church and its Marian shrine are under the special patronage of the popes.^[6]

From at least the 15th century, it was honored as a miraculous image, and it was later used by the Jesuit Order in particular to foster devotion to the Mother of God through the Sodality of Our Lady movement.^[6]

The Roman Breviary states, « After the Council of Ephesus (431) in which the Mother of Jesus was acclaimed as Mother of God, Pope Sixtus III erected at Rome on the Esquiline Hill, a basilica dedicated to the honor of the Holy Mother of God. It was afterward called Saint Mary Major and it is the oldest church in the West dedicated to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. »

The Roman Pontifical gives the following account:

« The Liberian basilica, today called Saint Mary Major, was founded by Pope Liberius (352-366) and was restored and enlarged by Sixtus III. … Pope Liberius selected a venerated picture that hung in the pontifical oratory. It had allegedly been brought to Rome by Saint Helena… »

Legend of Saint Luke

The second Canonical Coronationgranted by Pope Pius XII on 11 October 1954. Feast of the Queenship of Mary, accompanied by his Papal bullAd Reginam Caeli.

Salus Populi Romani is one of the so-called « Luke images » of which there are many throughout the world. These were believed to have been painted from life by Saint Lukehimself. According to the legend: « after the Crucifixion, when Our Lady moved to the home of St. John, she took with her a few personal belongings–among which was a table built by the Redeemer in the workshop of St. Joseph. When pious virgins of Jerusalem prevailed upon St. Luke to paint a portrait of the Mother of God, it was the top of this table that was used to memorialize her image. While applying his brush and paints, St. Luke listened carefully as the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son, facts which the Evangelistlater recorded in his Gospel. Legend also tells us that the painting remained in and around Jerusalem until it was discovered by St. Helena in the 4th century. Together with other sacred relics, the painting was transported to Constantinople where her son, Emperor Constantine the Great, erected a church for its enthronement. » ^[7]

Description

The image is five feet high by three and a quarter feet wide (117 x 79 cm) – very large for an icon, especially one with an early date. It is painted on a thick cedar panel. Mary wears a gold-trimmed dark blue mantle over a purple/red tunic. The letters in Greek at the top identify Mary as « Mother of God » (Μήτηρ Θεοῦ in lower case and ΜHΤHΡ ΘΕΟΥ in upper case), as is usual in Byzantine art (Christ may originally have had an inscription under later re-painting). Christ is holding a book in his left hand, presumably a Gospel Book. His right hand is raised in a blessing,^[6] and it is Mary not he who looks directly out at the viewer.

Giacobbe Giusti, Salus Populi Romani

The image with added metal crowns and jewellery, which has now been removed.

The folded together position of Mary’s hands distinguishes this image as a version of the earlier type from before the development of the iconography of the Hodegetriaimage in the 10th century, where she points to Christ with her right hand.^[8] « Rather than offering the Child, she keeps his body closer to hers and seeks physical and tactile contact with him. »^[8] However the few other examples of this type do not have the Virgin’s hands folded together – the right hand holds Christ’s knee.

Although neither wear crowns, the holding by Mary in her right hand of a mappa (or mappula, a sort of embroidered ceremonial handkerchief), originally a consularsymbol, later an imperial one, means this image is probably one of the type showing Mary as Regina coeli or « Queen of Heaven ».^[9]

Dating by art historians

The image « has been confidently dated to almost every possible period between the fifth century and the thirteenth ».^[10] The recent full-length study by Gerhard Wolf says, cautiously, that it is « probably Late Antique » in its original form.^[5]

The icon in its current state of overpainting seems to be a work of the 13th century (as witnessed by the features of the faces), but other layers visible under the top one suggest it is a repainting of a much earlier piece; especially revealing is the modeling of Child’s right hand in the first layer, which can be compared to other early Christian icons that display ‘Pompeian’ illusionistic qualities ^[11] The areas of linear stylization, such as Christ’s garment which is rendered in golden hatching producing a flat effect, seem to go back to the 8th century, and can be compared with a very early icon of Elijah from Mount Sinai. A second restoration process started around 1100 and came to an end in the 13th century. The Virgin’s blue mantle which is wrapped over her purple dress was severely altered in the outline; the red halos are also not part of the original image.

Giacobbe Giusti, Salus Populi Romani

An Eastern Orthodoxexample of the later Hodegetriaicon type, the Theotokos of Tikhvin of c. 1300

The image type itself suggests it is not a medieval invention, but rather an Early Christian concept dating from antiquity: a majestic, half-length portrait showing a frank outward gaze of the rulerlike Virgin, with her upright, stately pose, and folded hands gently clasping the Child, unique among all icons. Lively turning of the maturely developed and attired Child also attests to the painting’s antiquity. The vivid contrapposto of the two bodies, which suggests direct observation, can be compared with a 5th-century Mount Sinai icon of the Virgin and Child in Kiev, and contrasted with the Pantheon Marian icon from 609, which already shows the Mother slightly subordinated to the Child by the imploring gesture and the turn of the head, and where the interaction of the bodies exists only in a flat plane.^[12] These comparisons suggest a date of the 7th century for the icon.

The early fame of the icon can be gauged from the production of replicas (a fresco in Santa Maria Antiqua seems to have reproduced it already in the 8th century), and the role it played in the ritual on the feast of the Virgin’s Assumption, where the achiropiite (the panel painting of Christ from the Lateran Basilica) was moved in a procession to Santa Maria Maggiore to ‘meet’ with it. Monneret de Villard has shown that engravings of this icon brought by Jesuits to Ethiopiainfluenced the art of that country from the 17th century onwards, repeating « every detail of her own and the Child’s posture, the position of the hands being especially characteristic. »^[13] More far flung apparent copies include a Moghul miniature, presumably based on a copy given to Akbar by the Jesuits, and copies in China, of which a 16th-century example is in the Field Museum in Chicago.

Papal patronage

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The Salus Populi Romani has been a favorite of several Popes and acted as a Roman Catholic Mariological symbol, especially in Rome itself.

The icon has been considered as miraculous and has been carried in processions around Rome many times. In 593 Pope Saint Gregoryhad the icon carried through Rome and prayed for an end to the Black Plague^[14] as did Pope Pius V in 1571 to pray for victory at the Battle of Lepanto and as did Pope Gregory XVI in 1837 to pray for the end of the cholera epidemic.^[2] The same Pontiff would crown the image a year later, on the Feast of the Assumption.

Roman-born Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) celebrated his first Holy Mass in front of it on 1 April 1899.^[14]In 1953, the icon was carried through Rome to initiate the first Marian year in Church history. In 1954, the icon was crowned by Pope Pius XII as he introduced a new Marian feast Queenship of Mary.^[15]

Recent papal devotion includes Pope John Paul II who highlighted its iconography during the World Youth Day for the Jubilee Year of 2000. Pope Benedict XVI also venerated the image on various occasions with that specific Marian title.^{[16][17][18][19]} Pope Francis also made this icon one of his first places of pilgrimage the day after his election to the Papacy.^[2][20]

Mother Thrice Admirable

Main article: Mater ter admirabilis

Salus Populi Romani is also said to be the source of the title Mater ter Admirabilis (Mother Thrice Admirable) used for the Blessed Virgin Mary within the Schoenstatt Marian Movement.

Salus Populi Romani was the centerpiece of the Colloquium Marianum in Ingolstadt, in 1604. According to the Schoenstatt, on 6 April 1604, Father Jakob Rem, SJ, desired to know which of the invocations from the litany of Loretowould please the Virgin Mary the most. He reported that after meditation and looking at the image of Salus Populi Romani, the title Mother Thrice Admirable was revealed to him.^[21]

The title Mother Thrice Admirablehas since become part of the Schoenstatt Movement and is also associated with another well known Madonna, namely the 1898 Refugium Peccatorum Madonna by the Italian artist Luigi Crosio which was purchased by the Schoenstatt Sisters in Switzerland in 1964 and has since been called the Mother Thrice Admirable Madonna.

• Our Lady of Siluva

Notes

1. Jump up^ Gerhard Wolf, « Icons and sites » in Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium, Maria Vasilakē, ed.: « the dates proposed by various authors (often in an apodictic way) stretch from the fifth to the thirteenth century » ; Wolf gives a bibliography; his date, based on a close examination in 1987 of the icon, a « palimpsest » of restorations of a « Late Antique » icon, is « relatively early »: « I have no hesitation in seeing it as part of the group of icons extant by the late sixth or early seventh centuries » pp31-33.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Relics by Joan Carroll Cruz 1984 ISBN 0-87973-701-8page 96
3. Jump up^ Time Magazine, Nov 8th, 1954
4. Jump up^ Livy, Book 7: « Nobis deum benignitate, felicitate tua populique Romani, et res et gloria est integra… »
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b Gerhard Wolf, « Salus Populi Tomani » in Die Geschicte römische Kultbilder (Weinheim, 1991) pp161-70; J. Linderski, The Augural Law in Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase, eds. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren p 2256 (this paper in English)
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Frisk, M. Jean. « Salus Populi Romani », Marian Library, University of Dayton
7. Jump up^ Cruz OCDS, Joan Carroll. Miraculous Images of Our Lady, 1993, p. 137f.
8. ^ Jump up to:^a b Vasilakē, Maria. Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium,p.196, Ashgate publishing Co, Burlington, Vermont, ISBN 0-7546-3603-8
9. Jump up^ Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages By Mayke de Jong, F. (Frans) Theuws, Carine van Rhijn, p64
10. Jump up^ de Jong op cit, p64, n.33
11. Jump up^ Herbert Kessler, Rome 1300: on the path of the pilgrim, Yale University Press, 2000.
12. Jump up^ Hans Belting, Likeness and Presence: a history of the image before the era of art, The University of Chicago Pres, 1996.
13. Jump up^ David Buxton, The Abyssinians(New York: Praeger, 1970), p. 148
14. ^ Jump up to:^a b « Salus Populi Romani », The Tablet, December 9, 1939, p.8
15. Jump up^ The Church at Prayer by Irénée Henri Dalmais, Aimé Georges Martimort, Pierre Jounel 1985 ISBN 0-8146-1366-7 page 135
16. Jump up^ Vatican web Homage To The Immaculate At The Spanish Steps
17. Jump up^ Vatican web Visit at the Capitoline Hill
18. Jump up^ Zenit Benedict XVI on the Rosary Archived 2008-10-23 at the Wayback Machine.
19. Jump up^ Univ of Dayton Benedict XVI’s Message to Rome Conference on Laity
20. Jump up^ Wooden, Cindy. « Pope: Mary is a mother who helps Christians grow », Catholic News Service, May 6, 2013
21. Jump up^ Peters, M. Danielle. « 400 Years ‘Mother Thrice Admirable' », Marian Library, University of Dayton

• K Noreen, R People, « The icon of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome: an image and its afterlife inRenaissance Studies, 2005.
• Wolf, Garhard. « Salus populi Romani », Die Geschichte römischer Kultbilder im Mittelalter 1990, – VCH, Acta Humaniora
• Wolf, Gerhard. “Icons and Sites: Cult Images of the Virgin in mediaeval Rome.” In Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium, ed. Maria Vassilaki, 23-49. Aldershot, England and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005.

 

 Giacobbe Giusti, Salus Populi Romani

Icône Salus Populi Romani

La Salus Populi Romani(en français : « Sauvegarde du peuple romain ») est une icône représentant la Vierge Marie et l’Enfant Jésus qui a fait l’objet d’une dévotion particulière au moins depuis le xiii^e siècle. Elle se trouve dans la Chapelle Pauline (ou Borghese) de la basilique Sainte-Marie-Majeure à Rome.

Description

De larges dimensions pour une icône (117 x 79 cm), elle est peinte sur un support de cèdre. De style byzantin ou romain orientalisant, l’icône représente la Vierge tenant l’Enfant Jésus, qui tient lui-même un livre et, les yeux tournés vers sa mère, effectue de sa main droite le geste de bénédiction. C’est Marie et non l’Enfant Jésus qui regarde le spectateur.

L’image est enchâssée dans un cadre de bronze doré listé d’améthystes.

Localisation

Ce n’est pas un hasard si la basilique Saint Marie-Majeure abrite cette icône de la Vierge. La basilique est fondée en 356 à la suite de l’apparition de la Vierge en songe au pape Libère et à un riche Romain et au miracle de la neige tombée sur l’Esquilien. Moins d’un siècle plus tard, le Concile d’Ephèse et la proclamation du dogme de la maternité divine de Marie contre l’hérésie nestorienne (Marie Théotokos, accoucheuse de Dieu), est l’occasion pour le pape Sixte III de reconstruire l’édifice et de renforcer la dévotion à Marie.

Avant d’intégrer la Chapelle Pauline en 1613 (la chapelle est terminée deux ans plus tôt), l’icône était probablement placée au-dessus de la porte du baptistère de la basilique, puis dans la nef.

Histoire

Origine

Selon la légende, l’icône Salus populi romani aurait été rapportée de Jérusalem à Constantinople par Sainte Hélène, la mère de Constantin, au iv^e siècle. Elle aurait été peinte par Saint Luc sur une table construite par Jésus dans l’atelier de son père Joseph.

Dévotion

Depuis ses premières attestations à Rome, l’icône est associée au culte marial et estimée par de nombreux fidèles, pèlerins, papes et saints. Considérée comme miraculeuse, elle est portée à la vénération des fidèles à travers la ville par le pape Grégoire Ier en 593 au moment des épidémies causées par la Peste de Justinien. En 1571, le pape Pie V demande son intercession lors de la bataille de Lépante. En 1837 le pape Grégoire XVI la prie pour que cesse l’épidémie de choléra. Né à Rome, Eugenio Pacelli, futur Pie XII, célébra sa première messe devant l’icône. En 1953, elle fut transportée à travers la ville pour célébrer le début la première année mariale de l’histoire de l’Église. L’année suivante, Pie XII couronne l’icône en introduisant une nouvelle fête mariale. Depuis, Paul VI, Jean-Paul II, Benoît XVI et François ont honoré l’icône par des visites et des célébrations. À travers les siècles, des saints tels que saint Charles Borromée l’ont également tenue en grande dévotion. Après avoir été restaurée par les Musées du Vatican, l’icône a été installée de nouveau dans la basilique avec une messe présidée par le pape François, le 28 janvier 2018.

Datation

Les déclarations des historiens d’art sur la datation de l’œuvre sont multiples. Il faut distinguer la datation de l’icône elle-même et celle d’un éventuel original dont elle ne serait qu’une copie ou un re-travail en surcouche. La plupart des spécialistes datent l’icône d’une période allant du xiii^e au xv^e siècle.

L’hypothèse la plus probante date le travail de surface du xiii^e siècle, mais l’analyse révèle une couche inférieure datant probablement du vii^e siècle.

Salus Populi Romani

Материал из Википедии — свободной энциклопедии

Salus Populi Romani
Дата появления:	VI век
Иконографический тип:	Одигитрия
Местонахождение:	Санта-Мария-Маджоре, Рим

«Salus Populi Romani» («Спасение римского народа») — энкаустическая икона Богородицы, хранящаяся в римской базилике Санта-Мария-Маджоре. Икона особо почитается горожанами и является главным богородичным образом Рима. В 1954 году икона была коронована папой Пием XII.

Предание приписывает авторство иконы апостолу Луке. Искусствоведы традиционно датируют икону VI веком. Восточное происхождение иконы косвенно подтверждает кипарисовая доска, на которой она написана. Г. С. Колпакова отмечает, что образ представляет собой конгломерат разновременных частей, который сформировался не ранее VIII века. При этом она указывает, что, возможно, это впечатление создают прориси иконы 1100 года и XIII века.

Наименование «Спасение народа римского» (Santa Maria «Salus populi romani») присвоено этой иконе потому, что именно её святой Григорий Двоеслов носил в 590 году крестным ходом по Риму во время свирепствовавшей моровой язвы, которая тогда же прекратилась^[1].

Главным богослужением, в котором вплоть до второй половины XVI века участвовала икона, было шествие по Риму в ночь с 14 на 15 августа, в честь Успения Девы Марии^[2].

Размеры иконы — 117 на 79 см. Богородица изображена в ярко-красном мафории и с красным нимбом. На её правой руке изображено консульское кольцо, символизирующее её обручение с римским народом. В левую руку помещёна маппула, небольшой льняной плат, использовавшийся древнеримской знатью^[2]. Руки Девы Марии скрещены в кольцо — она заключает в них младенца Иисуса, сидящего на её коленях. Лик Богомладенца обращён к Богородице, правая рука сложена в благословляющем жесте.

Фигуры Богородицы и Богомладенца на иконе монументально массивны. Складки одежд отличаются гранёностью и выглядят как рельеф, что усиливается использованием светотени. Все это является характерными признаками искусства XI века, когда икону подновляли. К этому же периоду относится и условная обводка мафория Богородицы золотой каймой и ассист на одеждах Иисуса.

Примечания

1. ↑ Архимандрит Дионисий. Спутник православного богомольца в Риме. Санта Мария Маджоре, 1908
2. ↑ Перейти к:^1 2 Христианство в искусстве. Богоматерь Римская. Salus populi romani — Спасение народа римского

Литература

• Колпакова Г.С. Искусство Византии. Ранний и средний периоды. — М.: Азбука, 2010. — С. 253—254. — 528 с. — (Новая история искусства). — ISBN 978-5-9985-0447-1.
• Кондаков Н.П. Иконография Богоматери. — СПб., 1915. — Т. 2. — С. 170—172.
• Noreen K. The icon of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome: an image and its afterlife. — 2005.
• Wolf G. Salus populi Romani, Die Geschichte römischer Kultbilder im Mittelalter. — VCH, Acta Humaniora, 1990.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salus_Populi_Romani

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