Saints Generally
Basic Info
In the first 2 to 3 centuries after Jesus’ death and Resurrection, people were being killed, or martyred, for being Christian. Other Christians marveled at the martyrs’ ability to stand up for their faith when threatened with death, which indicated their heroic love for God and that God had given them great faith. After the martyrs had died, those who remained in the community wanted to be close to their energy. Because the martyrs’ bones had been close to the life force, the people sometimes celebrated Mass (the Lord’s Supper) near their bones. This is the origin of the practice of keeping a relic of a saint under or near the altar in a church, a practice still common in Catholic, Orthodox, and some Protestant churches.
But the saint’s closeness to God didn’t end with death. Saints are understood to be close to God in Heaven as well. This belief is the basis of the depictions of the Communion of Saints in Heaven. This closeness is the reason Catholics pray to saints to intercede with God on their behalf. The idea is that if the person praying can get the (dead) saint to pray for him or her, God is more likely to listen. If God does effect a miracle because a saint pleaded her or his case with God, then this is understood to confirm that the saint is close to God and should be honored as a saint. Each saint is thought to have a special affinity for certain places, causes, or professions and is thus considered the patron saint of that place, cause, or profession.
Saints and sinners are natural symbols of virtue and vice (angels and demons are supernatural symbols). Although institutional church bodies have official channels for recognizing saintliness, and many of the saints depicted in artworks have been recognized through those channels, the fundamental idea behind depicting holy people (at least in the West) is as models of virtue and the potential fruits of God’s grace in human lives. In the Eastern Church, the icon tradition suggests that the depiction is a window through which the viewer can connect with the saint.
Depictions of saintliness or holiness vary widely because there are multitudes of ways that virtue and grace emerge in human life. Although some people today are familiar with the details of the lives of the official saints that most often show up in artworks, more people are not. This makes the specific iconography associated with specific saints less important than having some structure for interpreting images of saints, no matter which saint is presented in our local museum. Although a few saints will get their own write-ups here, most are grouped by category as outlined in the Overview. Use the Alphabetical List (below)if you know the saint’s name but not the category. All the saints are not named here, but many of the most commonly depicted saints are.
Historical Notes
A common practice in northern Egypt in the 1st century was to paint a likeness of the dead person and place it on their sarcophagus. Many examples of these have been unearthed at Fayum. These were the precursors to portraits of the dead martyrs. It was a way of making the dead person present to his or her family even after death. This style of portraiture was adapted to depict Jesus and the saints on wooden boards or in mosaic on walls or ceilings. The theological understanding was that a likeness of the saint (that which had the same “form” as the saint although made of a different substance) created a link between the viewer in the temporal realm and the saint in the heavenly realm.
Sometimes the stories of the lives of the saints have been embellished over time. One instance of a number of exaggerations being added at the same time is in the publication around 1260 of The Golden Legend, a hugely popular book into at least the 1500s.
What to Look For
- Halos (rings of light around the head indicating the person’s special energy or holiness)
- Symbols that indicate which saint is being depicted (e.g., Lucy’s eyes, arrows in Sebastian, etc.)
- Evidence of holiness (expressions, attitudes, gestures, postures, gazes, etc.)
- Stigmata (the 5 wounds of Jesus’ Crucifixion understood to occur to some people as a gift from God [e.g., Saint Francis of Assisi])
Questions to Focus a General Interpretation
Does this saint, as depicted in this artwork, inspire imitation?
Does the artwork indicate the kinds of people for whom this saint might be the patron? Is the saint depicted as looking like he or she would pray for others?
Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation
Is the saint depicted in this artwork someone you would trust to pray for you?
Is there anything about the way this saint is depicted that you are moved to want to imitate?
Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation
The popularity of each saint waxes and wanes with time. Why might this saint have been popular in the artist’s time and place?
Sometimes the saints are depicted in clothing that reflects the time when they lived; other times they are placed in clothing and settings that are more reflective of the artist’s time and place. Which has this artist chosen? Why might this artist have put the saint in the clothing of the artist’s own time?
