Christopher, Saint, Martyr

CHRISTOPHER, Saint, Martyr. - Venerated by the Greeks on 9 May; by the Latins on 25 July. The accounts of his life and martyrdom are uncertain and obscure. According to the Passio, C., called Reprobus before baptism, was of Canaanite origin; under the rule of a certain king Dagnus he went to Samon in Lycia, where he made many conversions to Christianity. Once his faith was discovered, he was arrested and, having refused to venerate the idols, was thrown into prison. There he converted two women who had been sent to him to induce him to sin and apostasy, so that he even drove them to martyrdom, since, having left the prison, they set about demolishing the statues of the gods. Brought before the king, C. was tortured and made a target for the soldiers' arrows, but remained unharmed; indeed one arrow blinded the king, to whom C. foretold recovery if he would touch the injured eye with his blood, after his now imminent death. This came to pass, Dagnus was converted and promulgated an edict in favor of the Christians.

This is evidently a hagiographic fable, but the existence of the martyr is beyond all doubt; the testimonies of his cult go back to the 5th century: an inscription found in Bithynia records the consecration of a church in his honor in 452; in the 6th century there existed at Taormina a monastery dedicated to his name. Few saints then enjoyed as much veneration in the Middle Ages as C.: churches and monasteries arose in his honor, confraternities and congregations were instituted especially to help the pilgrims who had to cross the Alps; his relics are preserved in many churches of Europe and the spread of his cult is attested by numerous missals and breviaries of every time and place. Popular fantasy gave free rein to creating legends about the personality of C. by expanding or falsely interpreting already established accounts or traditions. Among the Easterners the allusion to the ethnic origin of C. was taken literally and he became a barbarian of terrible appearance with the head of a dog. In the West, on the other hand, the legends began from the etymology of the name and from the iconography of the martyr. C. is a giant in the service of the king; one day he discovers that the devil is stronger than his sovereign: he leaves the latter to serve the former; but very soon he realizes that there is another stronger than the demon: it is Jesus Christ. He decides then to enter his service; he meets a hermit who instructs him in the Christian religion and baptizes him. To make himself acceptable to the new lord, he fixes his residence on the banks of a river and helps travelers in crossing. One night he is awakened by a child who wants to cross. C. takes him on his shoulders and enters the water; as he advances, the burden becomes ever heavier and he can scarcely reach the bank. There, amazed, he asks the child why he weighs so much, and the child answers that he is the creator of the world, Jesus Christ. Subsequently C. abandons his post and goes to Lycia, where he obtains martyrdom. This legend, evidently constructed on the etymology of the name of C., is recorded for the first time, in the literature known to us, by the Legenda aurea of James of Voragine, and was born from the iconography of the martyr as the concrete expression of that interpretation. On the facades of medieval churches it was customary to place the image of C., since it was believed that whoever had looked upon it would on that day be preserved from sudden death and from every other evil; hence the practice of making the image very visible and therefore of gigantic proportions. The legend then in turn was the source of inspiration for the subsequent iconography of C.

Agostino Amore

ICONOGRAPHY

He is depicted in the act of ferrying the river with the child Jesus on his shoulders and sometimes with the staff that, striking the ground, sprouted flowers.

The existence of an image of him in a temple erected by Justinian on Mount Sinai is not certain, but there are records of churches dedicated to him as early as the 8th century. The oldest image of St. Christopher in Rome is in a 9th-century fresco at S. Maria Antiqua. Other medieval figurations are found in colored stained-glass windows and in wall paintings in France and Germany, where the cult of St. Christopher was so widespread as to give rise to a belief that the Saint had passed through those lands. The medieval legend of Jesus asking the giant Christopher to be helped in guarding the river gave rise to a votive cult that seems to go back to an analogous pagan cult of Hercules: indeed it was customary to place painted or sculpted effigies of St. Christopher in large dimensions at the entrance of churches, houses and cities. Connected to this custom are the wooden giant figure in the cathedral of Barga, the stone statue on the facade of the cathedral of Cremona, the fresco by Andrea Delitio at Guardiagrele, and that of Masolino on the outer arch of the chapel of St. Catherine in the church of S. Clemente in Rome.

An iconography restricted to the simplest hagiographic area is found instead in very many paintings of the Renaissance. In Padua the destroyed frescoes of the Ovetari chapel in the church of the Eremitani, painted by Andrea Mantegna, by Pizzolo and by Girolamo di Giovanni da Camerino between 1448 and 1460, represented scenes from the life and the martyrdom of St. Christopher.

Among the many depictions in easel paintings, mention is made of those in the polyptych by Giovanni Bellini at SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice (ca. 1464), of Pinturicchio in the Borghese gallery, of Titian in the Doge's Palace in Venice, of Lotto, and finally of Pietro Novelli known as il Monrealese (1603-47) in the municipal Museum of Catania.

Giovanni Carandente

FOLKLORE

The popular cult of St. Christopher was very widespread in Christian Europe and in the East from the Middle Ages onward, nor has it ever weakened, finding in the evolution of social conditions new reasons for vitality. This is because he is invoked on various occasions and in manifold circumstances. He is venerated as the protector of travelers and in particular on the difficult stretches of the journey, whether in the mountains or in crossing watercourses, with evident reference to the most famous episode of the legend and to the related iconography: adapting to the times, this protection has extended to motorists, also because the Saint protects against fatal accidents as well. In recent years this devotion has spread extraordinarily and new cars already bear the image of the patron saint on the dashboard. There has even been a sporting pilgrimage to the shrine of St-Christophe-le-Jajolet near Argentan (France). Furthermore, St. Christopher is a protector against sudden death, which can surprise the faithful before they have been able to repent. This aspect of the cult gave rise to superstitious distortions that were combated by the Church (Synod of Cambrai, 1565).

In relation to his gigantic figure and his exceptional strength, he is also venerated as the patron of athletes, and of all who cultivate sporting games, as well as of porters, stevedores and all those who practice a trade requiring great strength. At one time, and especially in the 14th century, the Saint was invoked against the plague and epidemics in general: his relics were carried in procession, and those who escaped the scourge had his image painted on the walls of churches.

The Saint is also the protector of fruit trees and therefore venerated by fruit sellers, again with clear reference to one of the typical features of his iconography (the tree he leans on) and of his legend.

Finally, St. Christopher is invoked as a universal patron, against any illness or misfortune, as well as against hurricanes and storms. Hence the verses, which are often read beneath his image, widespread also through popular prints from the 15th century onward, «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 regions of France, on his feast day a rooster is offered to him: this survival, together with numerous analogies between the legend and iconography of the Saint and the myths, rites and depictions of Anubis, Hermes and Heracles, led Saintyves to imagine an influence of elements of Egyptian and Greek religion in the formation of the legends about St. Christopher. In any case, the legend has inspired very numerous compositions. A short poem in old Lombard was published by Wiese, and in its final verses it perhaps alludes to the image of the Saint depicted in the atrium of the basilica of S. Ambrogio in Milan, a city where the Saint had a particular cult; another, in Roman dialect, from the 14th century, was edited by Vattasso (Aneddoti in dialetto romanesco del sec. XIV [Studi e testi, 4], Rome 1901, pp. 73-86); a third in some thirty octaves, composed in the 17th century, is still reprinted in popular booklets. A Sicilian "story" in 115 octaves (18th century) by Leonardo Calvino of Trapani still circulates orally among the Sicilian people. The Saint is also invoked in brief traditional prayers against a bad death.

The legends have also been brought to the stage. In France, a mystery play by Antonio Chevalet was performed in 1527. A Rappresentazione di santo Christophoro Martire ridotta ad uso di commedia 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, Cal. 1932). An opera by Vincent D'Indy was performed in Paris in the spring of 1920. The theme was also developed literarily by Giosuè Borsi (Novelle, Florence 1921). - See plate LIN.