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Saint Matthias: The Thirteenth Apostle

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Altarpiece, Stone Reliquary

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Saint Matthias on Mary's Altar (detail)

Veit Stoss, Saint Mary’s Altar (detail with Saint Matthias), Saint Mary’s Basilica, Krakow, Poland

The Kiss of Judas

Judas Iscariot, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus, infamously betrayed Christ with a kiss in exchange for thirty pieces of silver.  Following the Last Supper, Judas led the priests and Temple guards of the Sanhedrin to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he identified Jesus to the gathering crowd with a kiss.  His treachery set in motion the events leading to the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus.

Giotto Scrovegni, Kiss of Judas (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Giotto, The Kiss of Judas (1304-06), Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Upon learning that Jesus had been sentenced to death, Judas repented.  According to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.”[1]  Judas’s plea fell on deaf ears.  “What is that to us?” the chief priests and elders responded.[2]  Judas then “cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”[3]  In a conflicting account, retold in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter states that Judas “purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.”[4]

Whatever the manner of his death, Judas’s betrayal opened a void in the ranks of the Apostles.  At a gathering of Jesus’ followers, which met shortly after the Ascension, Peter proposed that the vacancy in the Apostolate be filled.  Two disciples were nominated:  Joseph, who was known as Barsabas, and Matthias.

Once Barsabas and Matthias had been singled out, the group prayed for guidance.  “Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”[5]  They then drew lots to select Judas’s replacement.  The lot fell on Matthias, “and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”[6]

Not much is known of Matthias’s life following his election to the Apostolate.[7]  Some sources claim he preached first in Judea and then Ethiopia before he was eventually crucified for his faith.[8]  Others state he traveled to Ethiopia, where he preached near the sea of Hyssus, and died at Sebastopolis.[9]  Still others declare he was stoned and then beheaded in Jerusalem.[10]

Reliquary of St. Mattias

Reliquary of Saint Matthias, Trier, Germany

Ultimately, Saint Matthias’s relics were purportedly brought to Rome by Saint Helena – although some speculate that the relics in Rome are those of a different Matthias:  Saint Matthias, Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 120.[11]  Some of Saint Matthias the Apostle’s relics were also translated to Trier, where they are currently kept in the crypt of the abbey church of Saint Matthias.

St. Matthias Church

Abbey Church of Saint Matthias, Trier, Germany, prior to Mass

Depictions In Art

Compared with the other Apostles, including Judas, Saint Matthias is infrequently portrayed in works of art.  His iconography is also less well-defined.  For example, while keys are a sign of Saint Peter and seashells are a common attribute of Saint James, no single symbol has come to distinguish Saint Matthias in the visual shorthand of Christian art.

Veit Stoss and Saint Mary’s Altar

Veit Stoss’s magnificent Saint Mary’s Altar, located at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Krakow, Poland, includes one of the few depictions of Saint Matthias I’ve encountered.  Carved in the late 15th century, Saint Mary’s Altar is the largest gothic altar in the world, measuring approximately 11 m (36 ft) long and 13 m (42.65 ft) high.[12]  The altar, or retable, is constructed as a pentaptych consisting of a large central cabinet and two pairs of wings: an inner pair that is hinged and can be used to close the cabinet, and an outer pair that is fixed.[13]  The altar is further supported by a predella and is surmounted by a finial of carved baldachins spread between thinly carved pillars.[14]

Saint Mary's Altar

Veit Stoss, Saint Mary’s Altar, Saint Mary’s Basilica, Krakow, Poland

According to multiple sources, the doors of the altar are ordinarily kept closed during the liturgical year and are only opened for important feasts.[15]  On several recent visits to Krakow, however, I noted that the doors were generally opened for a few hours each day to allow visitor’s to view the central scene of Stoss’s masterpiece.  The central scene of the open retable depicts two important events in the life of Mary – the Death of the Virgin (or Dormition) and the Assumption – while a variety of Biblical episodes are represented on the wings of the altar.[16]

The Dormition depicts a youthful Mary falling to her knees at the moment of her passing.[17]  Unlike more traditional depictions of Mary’s passing (such as the one pictured below), Stoss’s Dormition purposely omits references to death or dying to emphasize the extraordinary nature of Mary’s passage from earthly life.[18]  There is no deathbed in Stoss’s scene, although Mary continues to be surrounded by Apostles, including Saint Peter and Saint John.[19]

A traditional depiction of the Death of the Virgin (detail), Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

Joos van Cleve, The Death of the Virgin (detail) (1520), Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

In my opinion, in addition to Mary herself, three figures in particular stand out in Stoss’s portrayal of the Dormition.  The first is Saint James.[20]  Because of his central position and his dark, generous beard, the eye is naturally drawn to James, who stands above Mary, supporting her as she sinks to her knees.  He is also one of the few figures that stares out towards to the viewer, seemingly making contact with the world outside the altar.  The second is Saint John (pictured below), who stands to the right of Saint James, behind Mary.[21]  John is holding a blue cloak or cape, which he is raising in an enigmatic gesture.  Some suggest he is lifting it to his face to dry a tear while others argue he is extending it to Mary.[22]  The third figure that stands out is purportedly Saint Matthias, whose unusual pose is noteworthy.[23]

Saint John (detail)

Saint John (detail), from Saint Mary’s Altar

Like the representation of Saint James, the figure of Saint Matthias is also centrally located in the scene, although he is arranged even closer to the center of the composition.  His position serves as a visual link between Mary and the saints of the Dormition, and the Assumption, which takes place in the sky above his head.[24]  Matthias holds his hands outspread, his fingers interlaced, just above Mary’s head in a gesture some have described as one of protection.[25]  To me, however, Matthias’s interlaced fingers are reminiscent of a crown, and his gesture is suggestive of a coronation.  Matthias almost appears ready to place a crown on the kneeling Mary’s head.  Could the arrangement have been intended to evoke Mary’s imminent coronation as Queen of Heaven?

It is interesting to speculate why Veit Stoss might have chosen to place Saint Matthias in so prominent a position on Saint Mary’s Altar.  Alternatively, Saint Matthias may be the Apostle whose face, carved in profile, is just visible at the left of the composition.  All twelve Apostles are present for Stoss’s Dormition, so Saint Matthias must be among them.  In the absence of a clear pictorial tradition, however, identifying Matthias from among Stoss’s crowd of carved Apostles must remain a matter of conjecture.  Nevertheless, as Rainer Kahsnitz notes in Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol, “Presenting twelve apostles in a single scene—one or two of them young, the rest old and with flowing beards, was a notoriously difficult task for a Late Gothic artist.  Only a very few carvers and painters proved themselves up to it.”[26]  Of those, Veit Stoss may have been the best.

Interior of Saint Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland, with Veit Stoss's Saint Mary's Altar in background

Interior of Saint Mary’s Basilica, Krakow, Poland, with Veit Stoss’s Saint Mary’s Altar in background

[1] Matthew 27:3 (King James Bible).

[2] Matthew 27:4.

[3] Matthew 27:5.

[4] Acts 1:18 (King James Bible).

[5] Acts 1:24-25.

[6] Acts 1:26.

[7] See “St. Matthias,” New Catholic Encyclopedia, available at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10066a.htm (providing a general overview of sources describing the ministry of Saint Matthias).

[8] Id. (citing Nicephorus, 2 Church History 40, in 1 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Philip Schaff ed., Arthur Cushman McGiffert trans, 1890)).

[9] Id. (citing the The Synopsis of Dorotheus).

[10] Id. (citing Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, 1 Mémoire pour servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers siècle 406-7).

[11] Id. (citing Jean Bolland, Acta Sanctorum, Maii, III (1680)).

[12] Krzysztof Czyzewski, Veit Stoss: Mary’s Altar 10 (Aleksander Ptak et. al, trans. 2007).

[13] See id. at 10-11.

[14] Id. at 11.

[15] See, e.g., Czyzewski, supra note 12, at 11; Teresa Czerniewicz-Umer, Eyewitness Travel:  Cracow 96 (2010).

[16] The following scenes are depicted on the internal wings of the altar and are visible when the doors are open:  the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost.  The following scenes are visible when the doors of the altar are closed:  the Meeting of Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, the Birth of the Virgin, the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Christ Among the Doctors, the Capture of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Lamentation, the Entombment, Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene (Noli me tangere), the Three Marys at the Sepulcher, and the Descent into Hell.

[17] Czyzewski, supra note 12, at 12.  In her travel guide to Krakow, Teresa Czerniewicz-Umer opines that the “figure of the youthful Mary is one of the greatest sculptures ever made in Poland.” Czerniewicz-Umer, supra note 15, at 97.

[18] Czyzewski, supra note 12, at 12.  In Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol, Rainer Kahsnitz states, “In accordance with legendary tradition going back more than five hundred years—the Gospels say nothing about the death of the Virgin—the standard Dormition shows the apostles, miraculously transported from their far-flung missions, convened around Mary’s deathbed . . . .” Rainer Kahsnitz, Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol 137 (2006).

[19] Rainer notes that portrayals of Mary kneeling in prayer before her death was a form that “spread from Bohemia to southeast Germany, Austria, and adjacent territories in the late fourteenth century.” Rainer, supra note 19, at 137.

[20] Rainer identifies this figure as possibly being Saint Paul rather than Saint James.  Id. at 139.

[21] Rainer identifies this figure as possibly being Saint Philip rather than Saint John.  Id. at 140.

[22] See, e.g., Czyzewski, supra note 12, at 29 (featuring a caption reading “St. John raises the rim of his coat to dry a tear,” which accompanies a detail of The Dormition); Czerniewicz-Umer, supra note 15, at 97 (featuring a caption beneath a detail of Saint John stating “the saint is about to put a cape on the fainting Mary”).

[23] Rainer identifies this figure as possibly being Saint John rather than Saint Matthias.  Rainer, supra note 19, at 139.

[24] In the Assumption, Christ and Mary are being raised to heaven by angels.

[25] Czyzewski, supra note 12, at 12 (noting that one of the Apostles “protects” Mary with his “hands above Her”).

[26] Rainer, supra note 19, at 140.

Saint Theodore: Warrior Saint and Dragon-Slayer

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Sculpture

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Statue of Saint TheodoreSaint Theodore Arrives in Venice

He arrived in Venice from the East in pieces: a torso and cuirass, a disembodied head, a crocodile.  The Sack of Constantinople in 1204 had devastated the city, but the Venetians, who had transported the army of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople, managed to salvage an enormous horde of objects from the captured city. The Venetians systematically shipped these objects – statues, jeweled reliquaries, architectural columns, and marble pediments – back to Venice. Among the crates were several fragments of statuary that, when recombined, would become a statue of Saint Theodore, the great warrior-saint, dragon-slayer, and a patron saint of Venice.

Saint Theodore of Amasea

Saint Theodore of Amasea was a Roman recruit martyred in the early 4th century for professing his faith in Christianity.  As a new recruit, he is also known as Saint Theodore Tiro, tiro meaning “recruit” in Latin.[1]  Saint Theodore of Amasea is often confused with another Theodore – Saint Theodore of Stratelates, a Roman general – although most scholars believe the two Theodores were probably the same person.[2]  Butler’s Lives of the Saints notes that the stories relating to Saint Theodore of Amasea “cannot be relied on,” although they probably refer to “a real martyr who may or may not have been a soldier.”[3]  Butler’s Lives of the Saints continues, “So complicated and contradictory did his story become that, in order to make it less inconsistent, a second soldier St Theodore had to be posited and so we have the St Theodore Stratelates of February 7.”[4]  Saint Theodore of Amasea’s feast day is November 9.

Saint TheodoreThe first known mention of Saint Theodore of Amasea derives from a panegyric delivered by Saint Gregory of Nyssa near Saint Theodore’s tomb in Euchaita, modern-day Turkey.[5]  According to various legends, when Saint Theodore refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods along with his legion he was brought before the governor of the province to explain himself.  He declared himself to be a Christian, and when asked why he would profess faith in an outlawed religion, the worship of which was a capital offense, he responded, “I know not your gods.  Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, is my God.”[6]  He was dismissed and, according to some sources, went into the city of Amasea near the Iris River and burned down the temple of Cybele.[7]  Not surprisingly, he was captured and was again brought before the Roman authorities who questioned and cajoled him, and then tortured him.[8]  When he was returned to his prison cell, he was comforted by visions of angels.[9]  Eventually, he was condemned to death and was burned alive in a furnace.[10]

Here Be Dragons

Notably absent from these stories is any mention of dragons or dragon slaying.  Why, then, is Saint Theodore frequently depicted slaying a dragon?  Saint Theodore’s identification as an heroic dragon-slayer may be related to the belief that by his intercession “devils were expelled and distempers cured.”[11]  In The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art, Sara Kuehn suggests that the belief in Saint Theodore’s power to vanquish evil probably inspired the dragon-slaying motif.[12]  Kuehn writes, “Dragon-slaying riders were progressively identified as warrior saints and can conclusively be interpreted as exercising an apotropaic or protective function.”[13]

St. Michael and Dragon, Minster of the Holy Cross, Rottweil, Germany

In early Christian art, Saint Theodore is often depicted with fellow dragon-slayer Saint George, although portrayals of Saint Theodore slaying a dragon predate those of his more famous companion.  Kuehn states, “Among the military saints Theodore and George were predominantly associated with the miracle of dragon-slaying and often appear together.  In the hagiographical tradition, Saint Theodore clearly preceded Saint George in the role of dragon-slayer.”[14]  Early references to Saint Theodore slaying a dragon can be traced to the late 9th century[15] while the earliest known depiction of Saint George smiting a dragon is from the early 11th century.[16]  Before then, Saint George was sometimes shown killing a man rather than a dragon.[17]  Other saints frequently depicted with dragons include Saint Margaret, Saint Martha, Saint Sylvester, the Apostle Philip, and the Archangel Michael (pictured in the carved sculpture, above, located at the Minster of the Holy Cross, Rottweil, Germany).[18]

Saint George and the Dragon

Incidentally, the celebrated story of how Saint George vanquished a dragon and rescued a princess was likely a later embellishment to the legend of Saint George the martyr – and one that clearly captured the imagination of subsequent generations.  Most famously told in the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend), Saint George was a Christian knight born in Cappadocia who, while out riding in the province of Lybia, arrived at the city of Sylene.  The city’s inhabitants were being terrorized by a terrible dragon, which they attempted to appease by providing two sheep every day.  When the inhabitants ran out of sheep, they substituted a human victim, who was selected by lot.  On the day of Saint George’s arrival, the king’s daughter had been selected to serve as the sacrifice.  Saint George ultimately rescued the princess, but before he would slay the dragon, the saint elicited the people’s promise to convert to Christianity.  This they promised, and once the dragon was killed, four oxcarts were needed to dispose of its carcass.[19]

Heroic Landscape with St George, Joseph Anton Koch (1807). Alte Pinakothek, Munich, German.

Joseph Anton Koch, Heroic Landscape with St. George (detail) (1807). Alte Pinakothek, Munich, German.

Butler’s Lives of the Saints observes that “the story of the dragon, though given so much prominence, was a later accretion of which we have no sure traces before the twelfth century.”[20]  The authors further comment, “There is every reason to believe that St George was a real martyr who suffered at Diospolis (i.e. Lydda) in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine.  Beyond this there seems to be nothing which can be affirmed with any confidence.”[21]  Although Saint George is not mentioned in the Syriac Breviarium, he is mentioned in the Heironymianum, and various pilgrims of the 6th to 8th century identified Lydda or Diospolis as the site of his relics.[22]

Arm Reliquaries

Arm Reliquaries, Basilica of Saint Mark

Coincidentally, the arm of Saint George was apparently one of four important relics taken from Constantinople to Venice following the sack of the city in 1204.[23]  Located today in the Treasury of Saint Mark’s Basilica, the Reliquary of the Arm of Saint George (pictured above, in the right foreground) features an unusual cone-shaped exterior, oval in cross-section, of silver gilt and enamel and a glass lid topped with a figure of Saint George on horseback spearing a dragon.[24]

Arm Reliquary of S George

Reliquary of the Arm of St. George (detail of lid)

A plaque on the lowest part of the reliquary case, above the stems and leaves that form the base, reads in reserve against niello, “ISTVT · EST · BRAC/HIVM · GLORIOXIS/IMI · MARTIRIS S/ANCTI · GEORGEII” (“This is the arm of the most glorious martyr, Saint George”).[25]  This exterior, of Venetian design, dates to before 1325.[26]  The outer reliquary holds an earlier Byzantine reliquary made of silver that dates to before 1204.[27]  While the dragon is likely original, the equestrian figure of Saint George is probably more modern, dating to the 16th century.[28]  According to some sources, Saint George became Venice’s third patron saint – after Saints Mark and Theodore – sometime following the translation of his arm to the city.[29]

Plaque of S George Reliquary

Reliquary of the Arm of St. George (plaque in reserve against niello)

He Came in Pieces

As noted above, the statue of Saint Theodore arrived in Venice in various pieces, although the pieces were not, in fact, part of a single, unified work.  Edward Hollis, who writes about the evolution and transformation of buildings over time in The Secret Life of Buildings, explains how the Venetians recombined disparate sculptural fragments pilfered from Constantinople to create a single, monumental statute of their patron saint.[30]

Saint Theodore in Saint Mark's SquareAfter the Venetians left Constantinople, some of the treasures they had appropriated were lost at sea and some were sold along the journey, but most of the objects arrived safely in Venice, where they were unloaded and unpacked at the Arsenale.[31]  After they were evaluated by various officials, they were eventually repurposed to enhance the beauty, status, and prestige of La Serenissima.  For example, building material and other decorative ornaments stripped from the churches of Constantinople were used to clothe the basilica of Saint Mark “in the borrowed raiment of vanished sanctuaries” so that “what had been an austere brick structure soon shone, and sparkled, and flashed in the sun.”[32]

Hollis explains that a centurion’s cuirass, a crocodile, and a disembodied head “became the body of Saint Theodore.”[33]  Similarly, a pair of brazen angel’s wings and a lion were “welded together to make the emblem of Saint Mark.”[34]  Both of these new creations were hoisted atop a pair of Numidian granite columns, also taken from Constantinople, and set in Saint Mark’s Square.[35]  The two statutes, symbolizing two patron saints of Venice, remain in the square to this day.[36]

Antonio Canaletto, Piazzetta in Venice, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, German

Antonio Canaletto, Piazzetta in Venice.  Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.

[1] 4 Butler’s Lives of the Saints 302, 301-303 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956).  Alternatively, Butler’s Lives of the Saints suggests that the surname Tiro more probably derives from his membership in the Cohors tironum.  Id.

[2] See, e.g., id.; Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 345 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002) (“Beginning in the tenth century, Theodore split into two figures in popular devotion, a general and a soldier that were really the same person.”).

[3] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302.

[4] Id.

[5] See, e.g., id. at 301.

[6] Id. at 302.

[7] See, e.g., Giorgi, supra note 1, at 345; Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302.

[8] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302.

[9] See, e.g., Giorgi, supra note 1, at 345; Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302.

[10] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302

[11] Id. (citing the panegyric attributed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa).

[12] See Sara Kuehn, The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art 109 (2011).

[13] Id.

[14] Id. at 108.

[15] Id. at 108 n.215 (“His exploit of vanquishing a dragon with a spear only appeared in the second state of his Passio Prima (dated 890) . . . .”).  Kuehn also notes that the 7th century Passion of Marina of Antioch contains “antecedents” of Saint Theodore’s dragon-slaying.  Id.

[16] Id. at 108 n.216.  Kuehn identifies the church of Saint Barbara at Soganli as possessing the earliest identifiable portrayal of Saint George vanquishing a dragon.  Id.

[17] Id. at 108.

[18] See, e.g., George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art 16 (1954).

[19] See 2 Butler’s Lives of the Saints 148-50 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956).

[20] Id. at 149.

[21] Id.

[22] Id. at 150.

[23] See, e.g. Treasures of Heaven:  Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe 92 (Martina Bagnoli et al., eds., 2010).  The other three important relics were a relic of the Holy Blood, a piece of the True Cross, and the head of Saint John the Baptist.  Id.

[24] Id.  The lid was originally made of rock crystal.  Id.

[25] William D. Wixsom, Western Metalwork, in The Treasury of San Marco Venice 282 (David Buxton ed., 1984).

[26] Treasures of Heaven, supra note 23, at 92.

[27] Id.

[28] Wixsom, supra note 25, at 282.  Wixsom writes, “The horse and rider are probably directly based on Leonardo’s designs for the Sforza and Trivulzio monuments, dating respectively 1485-93 and 1506-13, even though the theme of a rearing horse goes back to the early Florentine Renaissance sculptor, Bertoldo (1420-91), to Paduan bronzes dating around 1510, and to ancient bronzes.” Id. (citations omitted).

[29] See, e.g., id.; Treasures of Heaven, supra note 23, at 92.

[30] See Edward Hollis, The Secret Lives of Buildings (2009).

[31] Id. at 55.

[32] Id.

[33] Id.

[34] Id.

[35] Id.

[36] The statute of Saint Theodore in Saint Mark’s Square, however, is a replica.  The original is now located in the Doge’s Palace.  A sign next to statue states that the marble statue “is a fourteenth-century sculpture with an ancient armoured bust and a young man’s head of different origins. . . . According to tradition, the saint’s face is a portrait of Mithradates of Pontus.”

Saint Mark, Patron Saint of Venice

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Tomb / Sarcophagus

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Basilica di San Marco - Interior

Basilica di San Marco – Interior Mosaics

Saint Mark and Venice

In his lush, elegant history of Venice, Venice: Pure City, Peter Ackroyd writes, “There was one great transformation in the early history of Venice.  In 828 an object was brought to this place that entirely changed its character and its status.”[1]  That object was the body of Saint Mark the Evangelist.

The association of Saint Mark with the city of Venice persists to this day.  The symbol of Saint Mark – a winged lion – is also the emblem of Venice.  Known as the Lion of Lion of Saint MarkSaint Mark, the symbol is everywhere in the city.  Chiseled onto buildings, stamped onto tiles, and stitched into flags, it serves as a constant reminder of the enduring relationship between city and saint.  The glorification of Saint Mark in Venetian culture, however, came at the expense of another saint, Saint Theodore of Amasea.  Once Venice’s sole patron, Saint Theodore’s influence declined after Saint Mark’s arrival, although he is still afforded a place of honor atop a pillar in Saint Mark’s Square.

The Translation of the Relics of Saint Mark

The story of how Saint Mark’s relics eventually came to Venice is a remarkable one, and it has been the subject of various works of art throughout the centuries.  Tintoretto’s Deposition Mosaic CloseupTranslation of the Body of Saint Mark, a stark, dramatic painting that has the eerie feel of a photo negative, may be one of the most recognizable.  Painted between 1562 and 1566 for the Scuola Grande di San Marco,[2] the work is part of the permanent collection of the Accademia Galleries in Venice.  (A companion painting, Discovery of the Body of Saint Mark, is located at the Brera Gallery in Milan.)  The glittering mosaics that adorn the exterior of Saint Mark’s Basilica also tell the story, in tessellated form, of the translation of Saint Mark’s relics.  For example, the mosaic located above the left doorway (the Door of Saint Alypius) of the west facade depicts Saint Mark’s body being carried into the basilica.  The mosaic, known as the Deposition mosaic, is the oldest exterior mosaic on the basilica and dates to 1260-1270.

According to legend, Saint Mark’s body was stolen from Alexandria, Egypt, in 828.  Two Venetian merchants traveling in Alexandria obtained the relics of Saint Mark from priests at the church of Saint Mark, where the saint’s body was interred.  The priests feared Saint Mark’s relics might be damaged or destroyed by the Saracens during the persecution of the Catholic community in Alexandria.  Promising to safeguard the saint’s relics, the merchants convinced the priests to allow them to return to Venice with the body of Saint Mark.

Stealing of the BodyAkroyd explains, “The body of Saint Mark was taken out of the sarcophagus and unwrapped from its silk shroud, the relic being substituted by another and less eminent saint.  It was then placed in a chest and taken on board the Venetian ship, the merchants first ensuring that the saint’s remains were covered by a layer of pork and cabbage.  When the Muslim officials asked to inspect the chest, they cried out ‘Kanzir, kanzir’ (Oh horror) at the sight and smell of the pork. . . .  Thus the evangelist was safely conveyed to Venice, but not before a number of miracles eased his passage across the Mediterranean.”[3]

Basilica di San Marco

Basilica of Saint MarkSaint Mark’s body was initially kept in a chapel at the Doge’s palace, a chapel originally dedicated to Saint Theodore, until a more suitable church could be built.  Begun in 829, the year after the translation of Saint Mark’s relics, the first church of Saint Mark was completed in 832.  This church was destroyed in 976 during a rebellion against Doge Pietro Candiano IV.  A second church was built in 1063 but was not consecrated until 1094, after Saint Mark’s relics, which had been lost in the years following the destruction of the first church, were rediscovered.

Loss and Rediscovery of Saint Mark’s Relics

The Pala Feriale, an altarpiece of tempera and gold leaf on panel created by Paolo Veneziano and his sons in 1345 for Doge Andrea Dandolo, depicts the miraculous rediscovery of the relics.  Divided into two registers, the lower register of the Pala Feriale features seven panels portraying the story of Saint Mark, including the apparitio —  the self-revelation of Saint Mark’s relics in 1094.  According to tradition, the saint’s remains, which had been lost, revealed themselves to have been hidden inside a reliquary pier within the church.  Earlier depictions of the apparitio, however, seemed to suggest that despite the miracle of the apparitio, the reliquary pier itself was empty; Saint Mark’s body had turned to dust.  As one scholar has noted, “The miracle disclosed the location of the body but did not reveal the body itself.”[4]

In contrast, the Pala Feriale portrayed Saint Mark’s body as intact and physically present.  As Ana Munk explains in “The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice,” “Paolo Veneziano’s shutters . . . may be the only scene among sixty-one representations of Saint Mark where the audience’s devotion to the saint in his problematic tomb within San Marco was recorded; every instance and effect of Saint Mark’s life, death, and his translation from Alexandria was documented in previous mosaics except the actual location of the body itself.”  The effect of these earlier depictions was to assure worshippers that Saint Mark was, indeed, present at the basilica – the Deposition mosaic clearly shows Saint Mark’s body entering the basilica – while leaving the exact whereabouts of his relics vague and uncertain.  As Munk observes, “the body of Saint Mark was simultaneously omnipresent and elusive.”[5]

Final Resting Place

In 1835, Giacomo Monico, Patriarch of Venice, exhumed the body of Saint Mark from the crypt beneath the basilica and placed it in the high altar.[6]  Before then, the saint’s body had apparently last been seen in the 12th century, dressed in ecclesiastical robes, when it was placed on display for five months for public veneration.[7]

Sarcophagus of Saint MarkDuring my visit to the basilica, Saint Mark’s simple, marble sarcophagus could only be viewed from behind the high altar.  The exterior of the sarcophagus was well lit and a short inscription applied to the stone in metallic letters read: “SALUTAT VOS . . . MARCUS FILIUS MEUS.”  This inscription was followed by a citation in much smaller letters below the word “MEUS.”  The citation read “1 Petri 5.13,” the source of the abbreviated quote on the tomb.  The front of the sarcophagus apparently proclaims “CORPUS DIVI MARCI EVANGELISTAE” (Body of the Divine Mark, Evangelist).[8]  When I visited, it was Christmas Eve, and in addition to the poinsettias and other decorations installed around the basilica in preparation for Midnight Mass, someone had placed two, single red roses on top of the sarcophagus.

[1] Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City 37 (2009).

[2] Giovanni Nepi Scire, The Accademia Galleries in Venice: General Catalogue 88 (2012).

[3] Akroyd at 37-38.  In his book The Secret Lives of Buildings, Edward Hollis identifies the two Venetian merchants as Buono da Malamocco and Rustico da Torcello, and he names Saint Claudia as the saint whose relics replaced those of Saint Mark in Alexandria.  Hollis writes, “At the time Alexandria was in the sway of the Fatimid caliphate; but two merchants of Venice, by the names of Buono da Malamocco and Rustico da Torcello, went to the city and found an old church dedicate to Saint Mark the Evangelist.  Saint Mark had been martyred in Alexandria, and his remains had been kept in this church ever since.  The two merchants spoke with the guardians of the saint.  They were in danger, these priests said, for the governor of Alexandria intended to demolish their church and send its marbles and columns to the caliph’s new palace in Babylon. . . . One night, under the cover of darkness, the priests let them into the church.  Torcello and Malamocco took the body of Saint Mark and substituted it with the body of another, less exalted martyr, Saint Claudia . . . .”  Edward Hollis, The Secret Lives of Buildings 50 (2009).

[4] Ana Munk, “The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice: Corpi Sancti as a Pictorial Motif and Artistic Motivation,” 30 Radovi Instituta za Povijest Umjetnosti 81, 88 (2006) (citations omitted).  In Hollis’s telling, Saint Mark’s body appears, lifeless but fully formed, from the reliquary pier.  After chanting and praying intensely for the recovery of their missing saint, the Venetians at the new basilica noticed “a sweet smell began to pervade the church.  Suddenly, one of the piers to the right of the altar began to shake, and the masonry began to buckle.  With a crash and a roar, an arm appeared, then a shoulder, a torso, and a head; and then the whole body of Saint Mark fell lifeless onto the pavement of the sanctuary.  The doge Falier placed this body in a marble sarcophagus in the crypt, and the Heroon of the Venetians received its patron saint.”  Hollis, supra note 3, at 52.

[5] Id. at 87.

[6] Id. at 91 n.50.

[7] Id. at 87 (citing Bruno Bertoli, Le storie di San Marco nei mosaici e le ragioni dell’agiografia, in La Basilica di San Marco: Arte e Simbologia 114-115 (Bruno Bertoli ed.,1993)).

[8] John Nickell, Relics of the Christ 37 (2007).