Lazarus, The Beggar (LAZZARO, IL MENDICO) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, p. 611

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

LAZZARO, the BEGGAR. – He is mentioned by Jesus in the parable of Lc. 16:19–31. Tertullian, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Irenaeus, St. Bonaventure, C. a Lapide, and others consider L. and the account historical. St. Cyril of Alexandria believes that L.’s person is historical, but not the account; so too Theophylact, Euthymius, Maldonado, and L. Fonck. The majority of modern scholars, together with L.-C. Fillion, J. Knabenbauer, M. Sales, M.-J. Lagrange, D. Buzy, and J.-M. Vosté, consider both the name and the account fictional.

Not everyone agrees on the doctrine taught in the parable. Buzy, followed by Marchal (in La Ste Bible,

Article illustration — (from Wilpert, Sarcofagi, plate 159, 1) LAZZARO DI BETHANIA – Resurrection of L. Detail of a 4th-century sarcophagus – Rome, Museo delle Terme.

ed. L. Pirot, Paris 1948) holds that the parable concerns only the possible divergent fates of the rich and the poor, without any reference to the moral use of wealth; most commentators, however, together with Vosté, see here the sanction for the misuse of wealth and the reward for poverty patiently endured.

BIBL.: J.-M. Vosté, Parabolus selectae D. N. I. C., II, 2nd ed., Roma 1933, pp. 738–62. Pietro De Ambroggi

ICONOGRAPHY. — In the pictorial cycle of S. Angelo in Formis, the banquet of the rich glutton is represented, while on the right a dog licks the sores of the beggar L., lying on the ground; in the following scene, from the furnace of hell the rich man stretches out his arms toward Abraham, who, seated on the right above, holds a small child on his lap (the soul of the poor L.).

The parable was also depicted in a Greek manuscript in the National Library of Paris and in the Hortus Deliciarum; in the 12th century it appears at Moissac, Avila, Aosta, etc. In England, at Northampton Castle, a fresco dated 1252 shows L. being driven away by the rich man. At Winchfield, in Hampshire, at the end of the 15th century, the story of L. and the rich man was painted. The latter, seated at table with three ladies, has L. driven away as he begs for alms at the door, while a dog licks his sores. Beside this was represented L. dead, whose soul, depicted as a child, an angel gathers up; it is received into heaven by a majestic haloed figure, while below flames surround the rich man.

BIBL.: J. Wilpert, Moosiben, pp. 837–38. Enrico Josi