Turin. Gesuiti. v. Baillet, Vies des Saints. toria in the Louvre. He is In the account-book of 163 St. Maurice. Hemskirk. The martyrdom of the Theban legion is not a common subject, but there are some remarkable examples. In the Pitti Palace, there is a picture by Pontormo, with numerous small figures, exquisitely painted; but the conception is displeasing; a great number of the martyrs are crucified, and the figures are undraped. Another picture of the same subject, by the same painter, in the Florence Gallery, is equally unpleasing and inappropriate in treatment; the Christian soldiers are seen contending with their adversaries, which is contrary to the spirit and the tenor of the legend, as handed down to us. In the Munich Gallery, upon two wings of an altarpiece, by Peter de Marés, we have, on one side, St. Maurice and his companions refusing to sacrifice to idols; and on the other, St. Maurice beheaded, while the Emperor Maximin looks on, mounted on a white horse: both pieces are very curious and expressive, and, though grotesque in the accessaries, infinitely more true in feeling than the classical and elaborate pictures by Pontormo.' ST. GEREON also wears the armour, and carries the standard and the palm; sometimes he has the Emperor Maximin under his foot, to express the spiritual triumph of faith over tyranny. The celebrity of St. Gereon appears to be confined to that part of Germany which was the scene of his martyrdom: at Cologne there is a famous church dedicated to him; and he is frequently met with in the sculpture and stained glass of the old German churches. Cologne. 1. In the famous old altar-piece by Master Stephen of AD. 1410. Cologne, he is standing on one side in a suit of gilt armour and a blue mantle, attended by his companion martyrs (his pendant on the other side is St. Ursula with her companions). 2. In a fine old Crucifixion by Bartholomew de Bruyn, St. Gereon is standing in armour, with his banner and shield, and a votary kneeling before him (here his pendant is St. Stephen). 3. "St. Gereon and his Companions;" in the Moritzkapelle at Nuremberg (here his pendant is St. Maurice with 66 some are There is a celebrated woodcut by Albert Dürer, which represents a multitude of martyrs suffering every variety of death; some are crucified. flung from rocks. At first view, this might be mistaken for the martyrdom of the Theban legion; but it is a different story, and represents the massacre of the Christians by Sapor, king of Persia, popularly known as the Legend of the Ten Thousand Martyrs." There is another wild legend of ten thousand martyrs, all crucified together by order of the Emperor Adrian "on a certain great mountain called Mount Ararat." (See the Legenda Aurea.) It is this legend which I suppose to be represented by Carpaccio in a picture now in the Academy at Venice, and which is known to collectors by the large wood engraving in eight sheets: it is very fine as a study; the martyrs are tied to the stems of vast trees in grand attitudes, and there are nearly three hundred figures in all (see Vasari, Vita di Scarpaccia); and the same subject I believe to be represented in the two pictures by Pontormo, called the Theban Martyrs. Between 1500 and 1520 this extravagant legend appears to have been popular. A. D. 1536. Matt. xxvi. 54. his companions). I remember no Italian picture in which St. Gereon is represented. ST. LONGINUS. Ital. San Longino. Fr. Saint Longin. Patron saint of Mantua. March 15. A.D. 45. ST. LONGINUS is the name given in the legends to the centurion who pierced the side of our Saviour, and who, on seeing the wonders and omens which accompanied his death, exclaimed, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" Thus he became involuntarily the first of the Gentiles who acknowledged the divine mission of Christ. It is related that, shortly after he had uttered these words, he placed his hands, stained with the blood of our Lord, before his eyes; and immediately i.e. spiritual a great imperfection and weakness in his sight, which had Mark, xv. 39. John, xix. 34. blindness. afflicted him for many years, was healed; and he turned away repentant, and sought the apostles, by whom he was baptized, and received into the Church of Christ. Afterwards he retired to Cæsarea, and dwelt there for twentyeight years, converting numbers to the Christian faith; but at the end of that time he was seized by order of the governor, and ordered to sacrifice to the false gods. St. Longinus not only refused, but being impatient to receive the crown of martyrdom, he assured the governor, who was blind, that he would recover his sight only after putting him to death. Accordingly, the governor commanded that he should be beheaded, and immediately his sight was restored; and he also became a Christian; but St. Longinus was received into eternal glory, being "the first fruits of the Gentiles." This wild legend, which is of great antiquity, was early repudiated by the Church; it remained, however, popular among the people; and it is necessary to keep it in mind, in order to understand the significance given to the figure of the centurion in most of the ancient pictures of the Crucifixion. Sometimes he is gazing up at the Saviour with an 164 Our Saviour between St. Longinus and St. Andrew. Andrea Mantegna. expression of adoration; sometimes his hands are clasped in devotion; sometimes he is seen wringing his hands, as one in an agony of grief and repentance; and I have seen an old carving in which he covers his eyes with his hands, in allusion to the legend. Some relics, said to be those of St. Longinus, were brought to Mantua in the eleventh century, and he has since been reverenced as one of the patron saints of that city. When introduced into pictures or sculpture, either as a single figure or grouped with other saints, St. Longinus wears the habit of a Roman soldier, and carries a lance or spear in his hand. He is thus represented in the colossal marble statue which stands under the dome of St. Peter's. The reason of his being placed there, is the tradition, that the spear wherewith he pierced the side of our Saviour is preserved to this day among the treasures of the church. For the chapel dedicated to him in the church of St. Andrea, at Mantua, Giulio Romano painted a famous Nativity, in which the saint is standing on one side, holding a pix or reliquary, containing a portion of the blood of our Saviour, which, according to the tradition, had been preserved by St. Longinus, and brought to Mantua from the Holy Land. This picture, once in possession of our Charles I., is now in Louvre. the Louvre. For the altar-piece of the same chapel, Andrea Mantegna painted the Saviour as risen from the tomb, with St. Andrew on one side and St. Longinus on the other. In the Madonna della Vittoria, painted by Mantegna for Federigo Gonzago, St. Longinus stands behind, on the left of the Virgin, in a Roman helmet, and distinguished by his tall lance. July 21. ST. VICTOR. Ital. San Vittore. THERE are two St. Victors who figure in works of art. ST. VICTOR OF MARSEILLES was a Roman soldier serving in the armies of Diocletian; being denounced as a Christian in the tenth great persecution, neither tortures nor bribes could |