Saint Theodore: Warrior Saint and Dragon-Slayer

23 Saturday Mar 2013

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basilica, dragon, Italy, relic, reliquary, Saint George, Saint Mark, Saint Theodore, Venice

Saint 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 4^th 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.

The 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 9^th century[15] while the earliest known depiction of Saint George smiting a dragon is from the early 11^th 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 6^th to 8^th century identified Lydda or Diospolis as the site of his relics.[22]

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]

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 16^th 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]

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 Square After 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, 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 7^th 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.”

Bones of Contention: Searching for Cosmas and Damian in Venice

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Reliquarian in Tomb / Sarcophagus

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bones, crucifix, Germany, Italy, Munich, relic, Saint Constantius, Saint Eustace, Saints Cosmas and Damian, San Giorgio Maggiore, skull, Tintoretto, Venice

In an earlier post, I discussed a 15^th century Rhenish School-style reliquary located at the Church of Saint Michael (St. Michaelskirche) in Munich. The reliquary purportedly contains the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian, although as I noted in the post, other churches are also said to possess the saints’ skulls. The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice is one, and on a recent trip to Venice, I decided to find out whether the church really did posses relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian.

We arrived at San Giorgio Maggiore[1] by vaporetto at dusk. The church was dark and looked deserted, so we were afraid it might be closed. Nevertheless, we gave the door a hopeful nudge, and it yielded freely. The church was open. Inside, a few tourists shuffled through the aisles, straining to catch a glimpse of the church’s treasures – paintings by Tintoretto,[2] Sebastiano Ricci, and Jacopo Bassano[3] – in the fading light, but it was no use. All sense of depth, line, and color seemed to dissolve in the gloaming, and the tourists quickly lost interest. Soon enough, they left, and in the sepulchral stillness of the empty church, we began our search for the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian in earnest.

We looked for traces of the saints in the gathering darkness. Were the skulls housed in an elaborate metal reliquary? Were they displayed in sturdy glass cases? Were they even in the church proper rather than in a separate treasury or crypt? We hurried past fading altars, their angels and saints winking at us in the dim light of votive candles. We peered at statutes, examined chiseled writing, and contemplated the high altar. No sign of the saints.

Eventually, we stumbled upon a man striding confidently through the church. It was a priest, and we asked whether he knew about the relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian. He thought for a moment and then invited us to follow him. He led us to the rectory, where we repeated our question to one of his colleagues. “This may sound strange, but we’ve heard that the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian may be located here, at Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore. Is this true? Do you know whether the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian are here in the church?”

The second priest looked uncertain, and he shook his head as he began to answer. “I don’t know about their skulls,” he said. “But, there is an altar of Cosmas and Damian. Their bones are kept there.” I was elated, and I asked him excitedly where we might find the altar. “It is on the right side,” he explained. “Next to the large crucifix.”

I knew exactly where he meant. Earlier, I had paused before an imposing wooden crucifix, riveted by its wrenching depiction of Christ on the cross.[4] Next to it, we found the altar of Saints Cosmas and Damian. A large painting, the Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian, attributed to the workshop of Tintoretto, hung above it. We had missed it in the darkness! (A black and white image is available here.)

One of the saints is shown in the lower lefthand corner of the painting, his left hand outstretched but tied to a cross that is resting on the ground. One of his persecutors binds his legs to the cross while another monitors his progress. In the upper righthand corner of the painting, his brother is securely bound to another cross, which has already been raised off the ground. In the background, archers loose arrows at him while other figures appear to hurl rocks. According to tradition, the saints were unharmed by attempts to kill them with arrows, by stoning, and by crucifixion. They were eventually beheaded, along with several other brothers, who also appear in the painting, crowned with halos. An angel, tumbling into the scene from heaven, bears palm fronds in his right hand, symbols of martyrdom.

With the aid of a small flashlight – it was truly dark by now – we found a plaque secured above the altar. It read: “OSSA SS · MAR · COSME ET DAMINI IACENT HIC” (Here Lie the Bones of Saints, Martyrs, Cosmas and Damian). We had found their bones.

[1] The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore is located on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, east of the Giudecca, and across the Canale di San Marco from Saint Mark’s Square.

[2] Tintoretto’s celebrated The Last Supper hangs to the right of the high altar, in the presbytery. Painted in the Mannerist style, Tintoretto’s The Last Supper differs from other depictions of the Last Supper in striking ways. For example, the table at which Jesus and the Apostles share their meal is shown at an angle rather than head-on, as in many depictions of the Last Supper (for example, Leonardo da Vinci’s famous rendition at the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan.) Additionally, Jesus and the Apostles are not the only figures present in the scene. Although the eye naturally settles on Jesus, who is surrounded by a brilliant aureole of light, and the Apostles, who are distinguished by halos (except for Judas), some of the largest figures in the painting are ordinary men and women who have prepared and are serving the meal.

[3] Jacopo Bassano’s Adoration of the Shepherds hangs above the first altar on the right side of the nave.

[4] The crucifix is most likely one that was donated to the church in 1468. The crucifix’s deteriorating, polychrome paint was restored in 1984 by the Venice in Peril Fund. Venice in Peril, “Church of San Giorgio Maggiore,” available at http://www.veniceinperil.org/projects/church-of-san-giorgio-maggiore. A sign below the crucifix read “HIC IACET CORPUS S · EUSTACHII PAT · CONST·” (Here Lies the Body of Saint Eustace, Father of [Saint] Constantius) indicating it hangs above the tomb of Saint Eustace. (I briefly discussed Saint Constantius in an earlier post about the Waldauf Chapel in Austria.) For a modest €0.50, were able to illuminate the crucifix for two minutes enabling us to capture a photograph of it.

Saint Zacharias, Father of John the Baptist

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Reliquarian in Tomb / Sarcophagus

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Bellini, church, Italy, John the Baptist, relic, Saint Athanasius, Saint Elizabeth, Saint Zacharias, Tintoretto, tomb, Venice

Altar and Tomb of Saint Zacharias

The Story of Saint Zacharias

All that is known of Saint Zacharias and his wife, Saint Elizabeth, is contained in chapter 1 of the Gospel of Saint Luke. According to Saint Luke, Zacharias was a priest, and Elizabeth was a daughter of the house of Aaron. As noted in Butler’s Lives of the Saints, “They were without children, and perhaps beyond the normal age of generation, when Zachary, while officiating in the Temple, had a vision of an angel, who told him that in response to their prayers they should have a son . . . .”[1] The Gospel of Saint Luke states, “[T]he angel said unto him, Fear not Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.”[2]

Zacharias was skeptical and questioned the angel. “Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.”[3] The angel, Gabriel, responded by striking Zacharias dumb for doubting his word. “And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.”[4]

Elizabeth conceived and hid for five months. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel appeared to Elisabeth’s cousin, Mary, with even more miraculous news. “Fear not, Mary,” he told her, “for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.”[5]

Gabriel also told Mary that Elizabeth had conceived. “And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.”[6]

Elizabeth gave birth to a son, and when it came time to name him, her friends and family assumed he would be named Zacharias after his father. Elizabeth objected. “Not so,” she said, “but he shall be called John.”[7] “There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name,” they responded, “And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.”[8] Zacharias signaled for something to write with, and when writing material was brought to him he wrote simply, “His name is John.”[9] At this, “his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.”[10]

Chiesa di San Zaccaria

The Chiesa di San Zaccaria (Church of Saint Zacharias) in Venice is located a few meters southeast of the Basilica di San Marco (Saint Mark’s Basilica) on the Campo San Zaccaria. The present church was designed by Antonio Gambello and Mauro Codussi and was completed between 1444 and 1515.

The interior walls of the church are decorated with paintings by some of the greatest artists of the day, including Antonio Balestra, Giuseppe Salviati, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Jacopo Tintoretto, Angelo Trevisani, and Anthony Van Dyck. The Church of Saint Zacharias also houses one of Giovanni Bellini’s most famous works, the San Zaccaria Altarpiece, which is also known as La Sacra Conversazione. (A clearer picture of the San Zaccaria Altarpiece is available here.)

Tomb of Saint Zacharias

Opposite the San Zaccaria Altarpiece, in the right nave of the church, lie the remains of Saint Zacharias and Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. (Saint Athanasius will be the subject of a future post.) The altar and tomb of Saint Zacharias was designed by Alessandro Vittoria in 1599. Two marble angels hold Saint Zacharias’s tomb aloft, above the tomb of Saint Athanasius. Below, an inscription reads, “CORPUS S. ZACCARIÆ, PATRIS S. JO: BAPTISTÆ” (Body of Saint Zacharia, Father of Saint John the Baptist). The painting on the lunette directly above the altar is S. Zaccaria in Gloria by Jacopo Negretti, painted in 1599.