32 Icons from the Bible, with footnotes, 5

RUSSIAN ICON
THE SAVIOUR IN A GILT SILVER AND NIELLO OKLAD, CENTRAL RUSSIA, EARLY 1700S, OKLAD CIRCA 1836
 Egg tempera, gold leaf, and gesso on wood panel
37.3 x 31.8 cm (14 5/8 x 12 1/2 in.),

The portrait of Christ appears on a delicately shaded green cloth with intricately gilded acanthus leaves, held up by two angels standing on rolling clouds, the gilt silver oklad with niello details, the edges with chased borders featuring scrolling grave vines, with a gilt silver radiating halo. More

 RUSSIAN ICON
SAINT GEORGE BATTLING THE DRAGON, 16TH CENTURY
 Egg tempera, gold leaf, and gesso on wood panel with kovcheg
68.5 x 59 cm (27 x 23 1/4 in.) 

Saint George on his white steed trampling a winged red dragon coiled underfoot, meanwhile the princess Elisaba of Atalia watches from the entrance of the castle as her parents and townspeople observe from the castle`s roof, emerging from the upper left corner is the guiding Hand of God. More

RUSSIAN ICON
THE NATIVITY OF MARY, 16TH CENTURY
 Egg tempera, gold leaf, and gesso on wood panel with kovcheg
31.6 x 28 cm (12 1/2 x 11 in.)

Seated figure of St. Anna is presented on a bed, contemplating the miraculous birth of the Holy Virgin, she is attended by three handmaidens who bring her the symbols of fertility and life, in the lower right a midwife and a servant prepare the ritual bath for the infant Mary, in the upper right the hitherto barren Saint Anna and Saint Joachim are shown cradling the infant Mother Mary.

RUSSIAN ICON
THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf, and gesso on wood panel
36 x 29 cm (14 1/8 x 11 3/8 in.)

Depicted as a warlord and an angel of the Apocalypse on a winged horse, defeating Satan with a spear. Surrounded by Jesus Emmanuel in the upper right, as well as four saints on the sides. More

RUSSIAN ICON
CHRIST PANTOCRATOR IN A GILT SILVER OKLAD, c. MOSCOW, 1899-1908
Oil and gesso on a wood panel
22.2 x 18 cm (8 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.)

Christ depicted holding an open Gospel and raising a hand in a blessing gesture. The oklad features an openwork halo and ornate vestments on machine-turned ground, with the border decorated with a weave pattern. More

RUSSIAN ICON
THE FEODOROVSKAYA MOTHER OF GOD, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, enamel paints, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
66 x 50 cm (26 x 19 3/4 in.)

The Christ Child delicately embraces the Holy Virgin by her neck and presses his cheeck against the mother`s, elaborate raised beads on Mary`s omophorion accentuate the serenity of the faces. More

RUSSIAN ICON
THE LIFE-GIVING SPRING, 18TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
35.8 x 31 cm (14 x 12 1/4 in.)

The central figure of the Holy Virgin with the Christ Child appears to spring from a water source near the Gates of Constantinople, declaring these waters, symbolic of herself, the source of life and health, in the lower register those stricken with afflictions are depicted drinking the waters and recovering from what ails them. More

RUSSIAN ICON, PSKOV SCHOOL
FOUR PRAYING SAINTS, 16TH-17TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel with a kovcheg
24 x 17.5 cm (9 1/2 x 6 7/8 in.)

The four saints shown gathered together in prayer. The foreground presents a Bishop saint holding a Gospel, on the left, and Venerable Alexander Svirsky on the right, with two saints wearing monk`s vestments behind them, all gazing at the Old Testament Trinity in the hypostasis of the Angels depicted in the upper center. More

RUSSIAN ICON
THE PROTECTING VEIL OF THE VIRGIN, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on a wood panel
36 x 31.7 cm (14 1/8 x 12 1/2 in.)

The upper register features a scene taking place at Hagia Sophia; the Virgin Orans stands opening her veil, the apostles and Church Fathers depicted gathering around her, led by Peter, Paul and the archangels; beneath them, Romanos the Melodist holds the text of his hymn, surrounded by selected saints. More

RUSSIAN FOUR PART ICON, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf, and gesso on a wood panel
31 x 27.5 cm (13 1/8 x 10 7/8 in.)

A group of four selected saints including St. Timothy and St. Matrona, as well as three depictions of the Mother of God: The Unexpected Joy, The Seeker of the Lost, Soothe My Sorrows.More

RUSSIAN ICON
THE MOTHER OF GOD OF THE UNEXPECTED JOY, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on a wood panel with a kovcheg
35.5 x 31 cm (14 x 12 1/4 in.)

The upper register features the scene of a kneeling sinner in front of the icon of the Mother of God who speaks to him in dispraise, surrounded by the selected saints, four on each side. The lower register depicts Saint Apostles Peter and Paul holding a church, with ten saints surrounding them, including evangelists, apostles and theologians. More

RUSSIAN ICON
KAZANSKAYA MOTHER OF GOD, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on a wood panel with a kovcheg
36 x 31.6 cm (14 1/8 x 12 1/2 in.)

Virgin Mary gently holds her Child in a tender embrace. More

RUSSIAN ICON 
MOTHER OF GOD JOY TO THOSE WHO SORROW, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, enamel paint, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
31 x 26.5 cm (12 1/4 x 10 1/2 in.)

Theotokos depicted in the center, surrounded by the afflicted and the crippled, with Christ Pantokrator blessing them from above. More

RUSSIAN ICON
FIVE SELECT SAINTS AND MARTYRS, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
31.2 x 26.2 cm (12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.)

A congregation of three saints and two martyrs including Saint Daniel of Moscow, Saint Peter the Metropolitan of Moscow, Saint Philip the Metropolitan of Moscow, and the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, the holies are surrounded by an image of Mother Mary and the Christ Child being held up by angels. More

RUSSIAN ICON
MOTHER OF GOD HODEGETRIA, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
29.7 x 26 cm (11 5/8 x 10 1/4 in.)

Also known as Our Lady of the Way, the figure of Mother Mary gently directs our attention to the Christ Child as the source of salvation for mankind, Jesus looks directly at the viewer, with a scroll in one hand and with the other formed in a gesture of blessing. More

RUSSIAN ICON
FEODOROVSKAYA MOTHER OF GOD, KOSTROMA SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
63.5 x 49 cm (25 x 19 1/4 in.)

Holy Virgin depicted holding her son in a tender embrace, the striking contrast of the holy faces is enhanced by the vivid color of child`s himation and a restrained dark border, the ribbon along the lower edge describes the miraculous discovery of the icon by Prince Vasily of Kostroma. More

RUSSIAN ICON
RESURRECTION WITH FEASTS, 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
68.5 x 61 cm (27 x 24 in.)

The central part features the scenes of the Resurrection and the Harrowing of Hell with the Last Supper above, surrounded by 26 feasts and five depictions of the saints in the lower register, as well as Christ Pantocrator and Saint John the Baptist. More

RUSSIAN ICON
CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel with kovcheg
31.2 x 27.5 cm (12 1/4 x 10 3/4 in.)

the central enthroned figure of Christ Pantocrator is surrounded by the twelve apostles together with the Mother Mary and John the Baptist. More

A RUSSIAN ICON
FEODOROVSKAYA MOTHER OF GOD, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel with kovcheg
31.5 x 27 cm (12 3/8 x 10 5/8 in.)

Mother of God is shown holding up the Christ Child who reaches up to tenderly touch her face. The background and border with punched Russian Revival ornament. More

RUSSIAN ICON
MOTHER OF GOD JOY TO THOSE WHO SORROW, 19TH CENTURY
Egg tempera, gold leaf and gesso on wood panel
34.7 x 31 cm (13 5/8 x 12 1/4 in.)

The central icon depicting the Holy Virgin standing on a pedestal and blessing the surrounding suppliants an Guardian Angels, the figure of Christ with the golden rays of divine light appears on a cloud at the top of the icon, with a gilded polychrome border in the Russian-revival style. More

Niccolò di ser Sozzo, (1340 - 1363 SIENA)
THE CRUCIFIXION WITH THE VIRGIN MARY AND SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST
tempera and gold on panel, in an applied frame
overall dimensions, including frame: 32 x 22.7 cm.; 12 5/8  x 8 7/8  in.; painted surface: 28.4 x 18.8 cm.; 11 1/8  x 7 3/8  in

John the Evangelist is traditionally regarded as the author of the Gospel of John and other Johannine literature in the New Testament: the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. More

Niccolò di Ser Sozzo (fl. 1334–1363) was an Italian painter and manuscript illuminator. Niccolo was one of the leading panel painters and miniaturists at work in Siena in the mid-14th century. His style is closest to that of Lippo Vanni and his sometime collaborator Luca di Tomme and is ultimately dependent upon the tradition of Simone Martini and, especially, the Lorenzetti brothers, in whose workshop he may have apprenticed. More

Saint  John the Evangelist
Miniature from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, f. 355, (16th century)
The Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany  is a book of hours, commissioned by Anne of Brittany, Queen of France. More

Saint George, Saint Cosmas, Saint Damien and others standing, Christ above
With Cyrillic legends
18th century AD
Wooden icon with tempera paint
61.5 x 72cm (24 1/4 x 28 1/2")

Saint George (AD 275–281 to 23 April 303), according to legend, was a Roman soldier and military officer in the Guard of Emperor Diocletian of the Roman army, who ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he later became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity.

In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and the Dragon killing in Beirut, Lebanon. Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron.

According to some sources his parents were Christians of the noble Roman family of the Anici. Other sources say his parents were Christians of Greek background; his father Gerontius was a Roman army official from Cappadocia, and his mother Polychronia was a Christian and a Greek native from Lydda in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina (Palestine). Accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda. More

Saints Cosmas and Damian (died c. ad 287) were reputed twin brothers, physicians, and early Christian martyrs. They practiced their profession in the seaport of Aegeae, then in the Roman province of Syria. Accepting no payment for their services led to them being named Anarguroi (saints who did not accept payment for good deeds); it has been said that, by this, they attracted many to the Christian faith.

 Saints Cosmas and Damian
Miniature from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, f. 355, (16th century)
The Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany  is a book of hours, commissioned by Anne of Brittany, Queen of France. More

Nothing is known of their lives except that they suffered martyrdom in Syria during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian. According to Christian traditions, the twin brothers were born in Arabia and became skilled doctors. During the persecution Cosmas and Damian were arrested by order of the Prefect of Cilicia who ordered them under torture to recant. However, according to legend they stayed true to their faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by arrows and finally suffered execution by beheading. Anthimus, Leontius and Euprepius, their younger brothers, who were inseparable from them throughout life, shared in their martyrdom.

Their most famous miraculous exploit was the grafting of a leg from a recently deceased Ethiopian to replace a patient's ulcered or cancerous leg, and was the subject of many paintings and illuminations. More

ARTIST OF THE TUSCAN XVI CENTURY 
Imposition of the Stigmata of St. Francis.
TEMPERA ON PAPER APPLIED ON CARDBOARD 
Size cm: 47 x 35

Bartolomeo della Gatta (1448–1502)
Stigmata of St Francis, circa 1487
Tempera on panel
Height: 186 cm (73.2 in). Width: 162 cm (63.8 in).
Pinacoteca Comunale, Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy
More on Saint Francis Below

Bartolomeo della Gatta (1448–1502), born Pietro di Antonio Dei, was an Italian painter, illuminator, and architect. He was a colleague of Fra Bartolommeo. In 1468, Bartolomeo became a monk in the Order of Camaldoli, which his brother Nicolo had already entered. Upon taking holy orders, he changed his name to Bartolomeo. About 1481, he was summoned to Rome where he contributed to the cycle of frescos on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Bartolomeo eventually became Abbot of San Clemente in Arezzo. More

Bartolomeo Montagna, ORZINUOVI CIRCA 1450 - 1523 VICENZA
THE YOUNG CHRIST
oil on panel
36.5 x 28 cm.; 14 3/8  x 11 in.

This is the primary signed and dated version of three panels representing the young Christ which Montagna executed in or around 1507 when the artist was in Verona. More

Bartolomeo Montagna (1450–1523) was an Italian painter and architect who worked in Vicenza and Venice. He putatively was born near Brescia. His initial training was presumably under Domenico Morone in Verona, where he seems to have acquired a late Quattrocento refinement, similar to that of Carpaccio and Mantegna. The figures have a strict organization in space, and the peaceful expressions of classic detachment. He is also considered to be heavily influenced by Giovanni Bellini, in whose workshop he might have worked around 1490. Benedetto Montagna, a productive engraver, was his son and pupil and active till past 1540. Marcello Fogolino was one of his pupils. More

Bartolomeo Montagna (1450–1523)
Virgin and Child Enthroned with St. Homoborus and a beggar, with St. Francis and the Blessed Bernardo da Feltre, and with Saint Catherine, circa 1515
Oil on canvas
Bode-Museum Berlin
photographer by Andreas Praefcke, 2007

Saint Homobonus, (12th century, 1197 died) is the patron saint of business people, tailors, shoemakers, and clothworkers, as well as of Cremona, Italy. He was canonized in 1199 at the urgent request of the citizens of Cremona. He died on November 13, 1197.

He was a merchant from Cremona, northern Italy. Born Omobono Tucenghi, he was a married layman who believed that God had allowed him to work in order that he would be able to support people living in a state of poverty. His name is derived from the Latin homo bonus ("good man").

Saint Homobonus (12th century, 1197 died)

Homobonus was able to pursue this calling in life easily as a result of the inheritance he received from his father, a prosperous tailor and merchant. He practiced his business at Cremona with scrupulous honesty. He also donated a large proportion of his profits to the relief of the poor.

Homobonus was a frequent church attendee that would partake in the Eucharist every day. While attending mass, prostrated in the form of a cross, on November 13, 1197, Homobonus died. Fourteen months later Homobonus was canonized by Pope Innocent III who called him "father of the poor", "consoler of the afflicted", "assiduous in constant prayer", "man of peace and peacemaker", "a man good in name and deed", "this saint, is still like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in our time." More

Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/1182 – 3 October 1226), was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. In 1224, he received the stigmata, during the apparition of Seraphic angels in a religious ecstasy making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. 

Pope Gregory IX canonised Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy.  More

Saint Catherine of Siena


Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D. (March 25, 1347 in Siena – April 29, 1380 in Rome), was a tertiary of the Dominican Order and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. Since 18 June 1939, she is one of the two patron saints of Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi. On 3 October 1970, she was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI, and on 1 October 1999, Pope John Paul II named her as one of the six patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia, Saints Cyril and Methodius, Bridget of Sweden and Edith Stein. More


The Blessed Bernardine of Feltre was a Friar Minor and missionary, b. at Feltre, Italy, in 1439 and d. at Pavia, 28 September 1494. He is remembered in connexion with the monti di pietà ( mount of piety) of which he was the reorganizer and, in a certain sense, the founder, together with the Blessed Michele Carcano. More

This fifteenth-century institution originated in Italy and was developed in cities as a reform against money lending, an early form of organized charity.

Bartolomeo Montagna, see above,  was commissioned by the Bishop Pietro Barozzi with some of the wall decorations of the throne room of the Bishop's Palace (Palazzo Vescovile) of Padua, depicting portraits of early bishops of the Veneto. 

Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, called Giampietrino, ACTIVE MILAN CIRCA 1495-1549
THE MADONNA SUCKLING THE INFANT CHRIST
oil on poplar panel
64.8 x 47.7 cm.; 25 1/2  x 18 3/4  in.

The Madonna suckling the Christ Child has the distinction of having been in the same collection as Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks (National Gallery, London). It is one of Giampietrino’s best pictures left in private hands. 

This painting also adopts one of the oldest iconographic images of the Virgin, the Virgo lactans, or nursing Madonna.   More

Giampietrino, probably Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli (active 1495–1549), was a north Italian painter of the Lombard school and Leonardo's circle. Giampietrino was a very productive painter of large altarpieces, Madonnas, holy women in half figure, and mythological women. 

Giampietrino has been regarded as a talented painter who contributed substantially to the distribution of the late style of Leonardo da Vinci. He copied numerous masterpieces by Leonardo, as well as leaving behind numerous capable original compositions of his own. Many of his works are preserved in multiple versions of the same subject. More

ARTIST VENETO - CRETAN OF XVII CENTURY 
Mother & Child
TEMPERA SU TAVOLA 
Size cm: 29 x 25


Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others


20 Sculptures, scenes from the Bible, by Johann Georg Pinsel, 6

Johann Georg Pinsel 
Abraham’s Sacrifice. c. 1760 
(from a church in the village of Hodovytsya). 
Museum of Sacral Sculpture, Lviv.

According to the Bible, God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. After Isaac is bound to an altar, the angel of God stops Abraham at the last minute, saying "now I know you fear God." At this point, Abraham sees a ram caught in some nearby bushes and sacrifices the ram instead of Isaac.
The event occurred at "the mount of the LORD". The Books of Chronicles identify the location of this event as the hill on which Solomon was said to later build the Temple, now believed to be the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. More

Johann Georg Pinsel (1707-1762) was a Baroque-Rococo sculptor of German or Czech origin active in Red Ruthenia (then in Poland, now Ukraine).
Johann Georg Pinsel 
Samson opening the lion's mouth, c. 1758
Wood, polychrome and gilding
Museum of Sacral Sculpture, Lviv.
As a young man, Samson, the last of the Old Testament Judges of Israel, demonstrated his strength by slaying a lion with his bare hands. The subject’s relationship to the mythological story of Hercules and the Nemean lion and its mingling of classical and biblical iconographical traditions.
Johann Georg Pinsel 
Samson opening the lion's mouth, c. 1758
Wood, polychrome and gilding
Museum of Sacral Sculpture, Lviv.
Detail
Biographical details about him are scarce. He was discovered by J. Bołoz Antoniewicz and appeared in scholarly literature in 1923 in the monograph of Władysław Żyła "Dominican church and monastery in Lviv". His first and second name, some information about his family and approximate date of death were only established in 1993, with the discovery of registers of the Buchach Roman Catholic parish. The place and exact date of his birth remain unknown.
Johann Georg Pinsel 
Saint John the Evangelist, c. 1758 
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv
John the Evangelist is traditionally regarded as the author of the Gospel of John and other Johannine literature in the New Testament: the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. More
Pinsel came to the region of Lviv most probably around 1750 and became court artist to Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki. He settled in Buchach and in 1751 married Marianna Majewska, with whom he had two sons. He closely collaborated with the renowned architect Bernard Meretyn His student was Maciej Polejowski.

Johann Georg Pinsel
Grieving Madonna, c. 1758
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv

Our Lady of Sorrows, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life. As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. In common religious Catholic imagery, the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed in a sorrowful and lacrimating affect, with seven daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. Devotional prayers that consist of meditation began to elaborate on her Seven Sorrows based on the prophecy of Simeon. Common examples of piety under this title are Servite rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and the Seven Joys of Mary and more recently, "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary". More

Johann Georg Pinsel
Grieving Madonna, c. 1758
Detail
Pinsel's works include sculptures and decorations of the Buchach townhall (1750s), the Trinitarian church (1756-1757) and the St. George's Cathedral (headquarters of Greek Catholics) in Lviv, (1759-1761), interiors of the Roman Catholic churches in: Monastyryska (1761), Horodenka (1752-1755) and Hodovytsia (1757-1758), sculptures in the Roman Catholic parish church in Budaniv.
Johann Georg Pinsel
New Testament Avatar, c. 1758
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv
Appearances of the "angel of the Lord" are often presented as a visible manifestation to humankind of God or a god. in Genesis the angel of God says, "I am the God of Beth-el"; in Exodus the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the flame of fire, and then the Lord says to him: "I am the God of thy father". At times the angel of the Lord speaks in such a way as to assume authority over previous promises. More
His only work that survived intact, in its original spatial arrangement, is the facade of the St. George's Cathedral. His sculptural complexes in the churches in Horodenka and Monastyryska were almost completely destroyed between 1939 and 1989. The figures of the high altar in Hodovytsia have been saved thanks to efforts of the staff of the Lviv Art Gallery
Johann Georg Pinsel
Saint Anna, c. 1761
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv

Saint Anne (also known as Ann or Anna) of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ, according to apocryphal Christian and Islamic tradition. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels, nor in the Qur'an. Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, of which the Protoevangelium of James (written perhaps around 150) seems to be the earliest that mentions them. More

Johann Georg Pinsel
Adoration of an Angel,  c. 1758
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
Museum of Sacral Sculpture, Lviv

Johann Georg Pinsel
Adoration of an Angel,  c. 1758
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
Museum of Sacral Sculpture, Lviv
Detail

Johann Georg Pinsel
Prophet Aaron, c. 1760-1761
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv

In the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, Aaron was the older brother of Moses and a prophet of God. Unlike Moses, who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron and his elder sister Miriam remained with their kinsmen in the eastern border-land of Egypt. When Moses first confronted the Egyptian king about the Israelites, Aaron served as his brother's spokesman to Pharaoh. Part of the Law that Moses received from God at Sinai granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants, and he became the first High Priest of the Israelites. Various dates for his life have been proposed, ranging from approximately 1600 to 1200 BC. Aaron died before the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and he was buried on Mount Hor. More

Johann Georg Pinsel
Jesus among the Twelve scribes, approx. 1758 
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.  When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom.  After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.  Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.  When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. More

Johann Georg Pinsel
Jesus among the Twelve scribes", approx. 1758 
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv
Detail

Johann Georg Pinsel
Jesus among the Twelve scribes", approx. 1758 
Wood, polychrome and gilding, 
National Gallery of Art, Lviv
Detail

Johann Georg Pinze
Saint Vincent

Saint Vincent of Saragossa was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon and Valencia. He was born at Huesca and martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304. The earliest account of Vincent's martyrdom is in a carmen (lyric poem) written by the poet Prudentius, who wrote a series of lyric poems, Peristephanon ("Crowns of Martyrdom"), on Hispanic and Roman martyrs.

He was born at Huesca, near Saragossa, Spain sometime during the latter part of the 3rd century. Vincent spent most of his life in the city of Saragossa, where he was educated and ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Valerius of Saragossa, who commissioned Vincent to preach throughout the diocese. Because Valerius suffered from a speech impediment, Vincent acted as his spokesman.

When the Roman Emperor Diocletian began persecuting Christians in Spain, both were brought before the Roman governor, Dacian in Valencia. Vincent and his bishop Valerius were confined to the prison of Valencia. Though he was finally offered release if he would consign Scripture to the fire, Vincent refused. Speaking on behalf of his bishop, he informed the judge that they were ready to suffer everything for their faith, and that they could pay no heed either to threats or promises.

His outspoken manner so angered the governor that Vincent was inflicted every sort of torture on him. He was stretched on the rack and his flesh torn with iron hooks. Then his wounds were rubbed with salt and he was burned alive upon a red-hot gridiron. Finally he was cast into prison and laid on a floor scattered with broken pottery, where he died. During his martyrdom he preserved such peace and tranquillity that it astonished his jailer, who repented from his sins and was converted. Vincent's dead body was thrown into the sea in a sack, but was later recovered by the Christians and his veneration immediately spread throughout the Church. The aged bishop Valerius was exiled. More

Johann Georg Pinze
Saint Elizabeth, c.  (1755)

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F. ( 7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231), also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of ThuringiaGermany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her husband's death she sent her children away and regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death at the age of 24 and was quickly canonized. More

Johann Georg Pinze
Saint Francis Borgia, 1753

Saint Francis Borgia, S.J., 4th Duke of Gandía, (28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Grandee of Spain, a Spanish Jesuit, and third Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X. He was born in Duchy of Gandía, Valencia. His father was Juan Borgia, 3rd Duke of Gandía, the son of Giovanni Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). 

Although as a child he was very pious and wished to become a monk, his family sent him instead to the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (who was also King Charles I of Spain), where he was welcomed as a kinsman. He distinguished himself there, accompanying the Emperor on several campaigns.

In September 1529, he married a Portuguese noblewoman in Madrid, Leonor de Castro Mello y Meneses. They had eight children. In 1539, he convoyed the corpse of Isabella of Portugal, Philip II of Spain's mother, to her burial place in Granada. In that same year (1539), he became Viceroy of Catalonia, replacing Fadrique de Portugal y Noroña, though he was only 29.

In 1543 upon the death of his father, Francis became the 4th Duke of Gandía. Francis’ diplomatic abilities came into question when his attempt to arrange a marriage between Prince Philip and the Princess of Portugal failed, thus ending an attempt to bring these two countries together and resulting in his retirement. By then 33 years old he had retired to his native place and devoted himself to religious activities. More

Johann Georg Pinze
St. Joachim, c. 1755

Joachim was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James. Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in the Bible. More

Johann Georg Pinze
Saint Felix with Child (1755)

Felix of Cantalice, (1515-1587) Born to peasant parents in Cantalice, Italy, in the central Italian region of Lazio. Canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712, he was the first Capuchin friar to be named a saint. Felix entered the newly founded Capuchin friars as a lay brother at the Citta Ducale friary in the municipality of Anticoli Corrado. It is said that he was well noted for his piety. In 1547 he was sent to Rome as quaestor of the Capuchin Friary of St. Bonaventure, where he spent his remaining 40 years begging alms to help in the friars' work of aiding the sick and the poor.

In Rome, Brother Felix became a familiar sight, wandering barefoot through the streets, with a sack slung over his shoulders, knocking on doors to seek donations. He received permission from his superiors to help the needy, especially widows with many children. It is said that his begging sack was as bottomless as his heart. Brother Felix blessed all benefactors and all those he met with a humble “Deo Gratias!” (thanks be to God!). Felix was so successful in his work that during the famine of 1580, the political leader of Rome asked the Capuchins if they would 'lend' Felix to them so he could collect food and provisions for the entire city. The Capuchins agreed and Felix embraced his new task.

The plain-spoken Brother Felix was a good friend of St. Philip Neri and an acquaintance of Charles Borromeo. Felix developed a reputation as a healer. As he got older, his superior ordered him to wear sandals to protect his health. Cardinal Santori had offered to use his influence to have the elderly Felix relieved of the difficult task of questing, but Felix refused. More

Johann Georg Pinze
Saint Tobias, (1755)

Saint Tobias, was one of a group of ten Christian soldiers in the imperial Roman army of Emperor Licinius who were martyred together for refusing to sacrifice to Roman gods. He was burned at the stake c.315 at Sebaste, Armenia

Johann Georg Pinzel
Saint Onuphrius, c. 1761

Saint Onuphrius was one of the Desert Fathers who made a great impression on Eastern spirituality in the third and fourth centuries, around the time that Christianity was emerging as the dominant faith of the Roman Empire. At this time many Christians were inspired to go out into the desert and live in prayer in the harsh environment of extreme heat and cold, with little to eat and drink, surrounded by all sorts of dangerous animals and robbers.[5]

It is uncertain in which century Onuphrius lived; the account of Paphnutius the Ascetic, who encountered him in the Egyptian desert, forms the sole source for our knowledge of the life of Saint Onuphrius. A tradition states that Onuphrius had studied jurisprudence and philosophy before becoming a monk near Thebes and then a hermit.

According to Paphnutius’s account, Paphnutius undertook a pilgrimage to study the hermits’ way of life and to determine whether it was for him. Wandering in the desert for 16 days, on the 17th day, Paphnutius came across a wild figure covered in hair, wearing a loincloth of leaves. Frightened, Paphnutius ran away, up a mountain, but the figure called him back, shouting, “Come down to me, man of God, for I am a man also, dwelling in the desert for the love of God.”

Turning back, Paphnutius talked to the wild figure, who introduced himself as Onuphrius and explained that he had once been a monk at a large monastery in the Thebaid but who had now lived as a hermit for 70 years, enduring extreme thirst, hunger, and discomforts. He said that it was his guardian angel who had brought him to this desolate place. Onuphrius took Paphnutius to his cell, and they spoke until sunset, when bread and water miraculously appeared outside of the hermit's cell.

They spent the night in the prayer, and in the morning Paphnutius discovered that Onuphrius was near death. Paphnutius, distressed, asked the hermit if he should occupy Onuphrius’ cell after the hermit’s death, but Onuphrius told him, "That may not be, thy work is in Egypt with thy brethren." Onuphrius asked Paphnutius for there to be a memorial with incense in Egypt in remembrance of the hermit. He then blessed the traveler and died.

Due to the hard and rocky ground, Paphnutius could not dig a hole for a grave, and therefore covered Onuphrius’ body in a cloak, leaving the hermit’s body in a cleft of the rocks. After the burial, Onuphrius’ cell crumbled, which Paphnutius took to be a sign that he should not stay. More




Acknowledgement: WikipediaIrina Olih
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