CHRISTOPHER, Saint, Martyr. — Venerated by the Greeks on 9 May; by the Latins on 25 July. The details of his life and martyrdom are uncertain and obscure. According to the *Passio*, C., originally named Reprobus before his baptism, was a native of Canaan; during the reign of a certain King Dagnus he went to Samon in Lycia, where he made many conversions to Christianity. When his faith was discovered, he was arrested and, refusing to venerate idols, was imprisoned. There he converted two women who had been sent to induce him to sin and apostasy, so much so that they were driven to martyrdom, for upon their release from prison they proceeded to smash the statues of the gods. Brought before the king, C. was tormented and made the target of the soldiers’ arrows, yet remained unharmed; indeed, one arrow went so far as to blind the king, to whom C. predicted that he would be healed if he touched the injured eye with C.’s blood after his impending death. The prediction was fulfilled, Dagnus converted, and issued an edict in favor of Christians.
This is evidently a hagiographical fiction, yet the martyr’s existence is beyond doubt; evidence of his cult dates back to the 5th century: an inscription found in Bithynia records the dedication of a church in his honor in 452; in the 6th century a monastery dedicated to his name existed in Taormina. Few saints enjoyed such widespread veneration in the Middle Ages as C.: churches and monasteries were built in his honor, confraternities and congregations were established especially to assist pilgrims crossing the Alps; his relics are preserved in many churches throughout Europe, and the spread of his cult is attested by numerous missals and breviaries from every age and place. Popular imagination ran wild in creating legends about C.’s person, expanding or distorting already known facts or traditions. Among the Easterners, the reference to his ethnic origin was taken literally, and he became a barbarian of terrifying aspect with the head of a dog. In the West, however, the legends arose from the etymology of his name and the iconography of the martyr. C. is a giant in the service of a king; one day he discovers that the devil is stronger than his sovereign: he leaves the latter to serve the former; but soon he realizes that there is one even stronger than the devil: it is Jesus Christ. He then resolves to serve Him; he meets a hermit who instructs him in the Christian faith and baptizes him. To make himself acceptable to his new Lord, he settles by the bank of a river and helps travelers cross II. One night he is awakened by a child who wishes to cross; C. takes him on his shoulders and enters the water; as he advances, the burden grows ever heavier, and he can barely reach the opposite shore. There, astonished, he asks the child why he weighs so much, and the child replies that He is the Creator of the world, Jesus Christ. Later, C. leaves his post and goes to Lycia, where he obtains the martyr’s crown. This legend, clearly constructed from the etymology of C.’s name, is recorded for the first time in the literature known to us by Jacobus de Voragine’s *Legenda aurea*, and arose from the martyr’s iconography as a concrete expression of that interpretation. On the façades of medieval churches it was customary to place an image of C., since it was believed that whoever looked upon it would be preserved that day from sudden death and every other evil; hence the practice of rendering the image highly visible and thus of gigantic proportions. The legend in turn became the source of inspiration for later iconography of C.
ICONOGRAPHY. — He is depicted carrying the Christ Child across a river on his shoulders, sometimes with a staff that, when struck against the ground, sprouts flowers.
The existence of an image of him in a church built by Justinian on Mount Sinai is uncertain, but churches dedicated to him are recorded from as early as the 8th century. The oldest known image of St. C. in Rome is a 9th-century fresco in S. Maria Antiqua. Other medieval representations are found in stained glass and wall paintings in France and Germany, where the cult of St. C. was so widespread as to give rise to the belief that the saint had passed through those lands. The medieval legend of the Christ Child asking the giant C. to help Him cross the river gave rise to a votive cult that seems to have its origin in an analogous pagan cult of Hercules: large-scale images of St. C., painted or carved, were placed at the entrances of churches, houses, and cities. This custom is connected with the wooden effigy in the cathedral of Barga, the stone statue on the façade of the cathedral of Cremona, the fresco by Andrea Delitio in Guardiagrele, and that by Masolino on the outer arch of the chapel of St. Catherine in the church of S. Clemente in Rome.
A more restrained iconography, limited to the narrowest hagiographical scope, is found in numerous Renaissance paintings. In Padua, the destroyed frescoes of the Ovetari Chapel in the church of the Eremitani, painted by Andrea Mantegna, Pizzolo, and Girolamo da Giovanni da Camerino between 1448 and 1460, depicted scenes from the life and martyrdom of St. C.
Among the many representations in panel paintings are those in Giovanni Bellini’s polyptych at SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice (c. 1464), Pinturicchio’s in the Borghese Gallery, Titian’s in the Ducal Palace in Venice, Lorenzo Lotto’s, and finally Pietro Novelli’s (1603-47) in the Civic Museum of Catania.
FOLKLORE. — The popular cult of St. C. was extremely widespread in Christian Europe and the East from the Middle Ages onward, and it has never waned, finding new vitality in changing social conditions. This is because he is invoked in various circumstances and for manifold needs. He is venerated as the protector of travelers, especially in difficult mountain passes and river crossings, with clear reference to the most famous episode of the legend and its related iconography; adapting to the times, this protection has been extended to motorists, since the saint also protects against fatal accidents. In recent years this devotion has spread remarkably, and new cars often carry an image of the protecting saint on the dashboard. Even a sporting pilgrimage has been made to the shrine of St.-Christophe-le-Jajolot near Argentan (France). Moreover, St. C. is the protector against sudden death, which might overtake the faithful before they have had time to repent. This aspect of the cult gave rise to superstitious distortions that were condemned by the Church (Council of Cambrai, 1565).
In relation to his gigantic stature and exceptional strength, he is also venerated as the patron of athletes and of all who cultivate sports, as well as of porters, stevedores, and all who perform occupations requiring great strength. In former times, and especially in the fourteenth century, the Saint was invoked against the plague and epidemics in general: his relics were carried in procession, and those spared by the scourge had his image painted on the walls of churches.
The Saint is also the protector of fruit trees and is therefore venerated by fruiterers, always with clear reference to one of the typical traits of his iconography (the tree to which he leans) and of his legend.
Finally, St. Christopher is invoked as the universal patron against any ailment or misfortune, as well as against hurricanes and storms. Hence the verses, often found beneath his image, which have been widely disseminated even through popular prints since the fifteenth century: “Christophorum videas, postea tutus eas”; and also: “Christophore Sancte virtutes tuae sunt tantae / qui te mane videt, nocturno tempore ridet”; these and similar verses are found paraphrased in various languages.
In some parts of France, a rooster is offered to him on his feast day. This survival, together with numerous analogies between the legend and iconography of the Saint and the myths, rites, and representations of Anubis, Hermes, and Heracles, has led Saintyves to imagine an influence of elements of Egyptian and Greek religion in the formation of the legends about St. Christopher. However, the legend has inspired numerous similar compositions. A short poem in Old Lombard was published by Wiese, and in its final verses it may allude to the image of the Saint depicted in the atrium of the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan, a city where the Saint enjoyed particular veneration; another, in Romanesque dialect of the fourteenth century, was edited by Vattasso (Anecdotes in Romanesque Dialect of the Fourteenth Century [Studi e testi, 4], Rome 1901, pp. 73–86); a third, in about thirty ottava rima stanzas, composed in the seventeenth century, continues to be reprinted in popular booklets. A Sicilian story in 115 ottava rima stanzas (eighteenth century) by the Trapanese Leonardo Calvino is still orally transmitted among the Sicilian people. The Saint is also invoked in brief traditional prayers against sudden death.
The legends have also been brought to the stage. In France, a mystery play by Antoine Chevalet was performed in 1527. A Representation of St. Christopher the Martyr Adapted for Use as a Comedy was composed by the Bolognese Cesare Sacchetti and published in Florence in 1575. A Spanish mystery play, San Cristofol, has come to light in a diplomatic edition through the efforts of H. Corbato (Berkeley, Calif., 1932). A musical work by Vincent d’Indy was performed in Paris in the spring of