The word “saint” evokes many different images in the mind of men and women from all different sorts of religious backgrounds. Some people think of saints as someone acting in a particularly good or moral way in a specific moment in time, such as when a mother exclaims to another “your child is such a saint!” Others associate saints like Saint Valentine and Saint Nicholas as cartoonish figures that represent their related holiday, while others still have a medieval and archaic image of men and women walking around with Bibles in their arms and halos hovering over their heads. Yet, to Catholic Christians, saints have played a very active and very important role in the piety of a believer. However, this sentiment is not held by all Christians.…
TITLE In the book The Cult of the Saints, Peter Brown explore the rise and function of the cult of the saints, and the religious practices and cultural life of people in the early church. Peter Brown opposes the popular “two-tiered model” and offers an alternative model. The “two-tiered model” is the theory that the cult of the saints was a “popular religion” and started by the “vulgar” bringing in their superstitious practices and the elite just have to succumb to it. However, Brown comes up…
Saint Cecilia is one of the most popular Roman saints. She is known as the patron saint of music, especially church music, and musicians, poets, composers and instrument makers because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married. Her feast day is on November 22. The name also means “blind”, so people sometimes associate her with the blind. Saint Cecilia was born in Rome, Italy sometime in the second century and died sometime in the third century. Her death also took…
A key pillar to the Roman Catholic Church are its Saints. Saints are men and women who are recognized by the Church to have had an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God and or Christ. There are many hundreds of Saints within both the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Coptic Churches. The writing of the history and great acts of saints is called a Hagiography, literally meaning sacred writing. Of the many hundreds of saints, a few stand out in the history, Saints like…
Essay 3 Saint Patrick also known as the patron saint of Ireland, is today one of the world 's most popular saints (Catholic Online). He is celebrated every year on March 17th, the anniversary of his death. However the reasons his life is celebrated have greatly changed since the first Saint Patrick 's Day was established by the Church in 1631 (Ashley Ross). He was originally revered for bringing catholicism to Ireland, but today his missionary work is widely forgotten and he has instead become…
Saint Luke the Evangelist is a very humble person willing to help other, especially if it is ordered by God to do so. Saint Luke has devoted his life to Christianity and Jesus, known for being a man of many crafts, and a close friend of the Apostle Paul. Luke is also known for his good relationship with the women around him, and Jesus himself. Luke was such a good servant of God and Jesus that he was allowed to have an influence on the bible, including having a book named after him. According…
Saint Patrick was my all time favorite saint. He was born in Roman Britain on 385 AD and died on March 17, 461 AD in Saul. He had very little education at all but later in his life he trained to be a clerk. When he was 16 he was kidnapped by pirates and was taken to Ireland where he was a slave. He dreamed of having seen God. Legend says, he was then dictated by God to escape with a getaway. Although Patrick was only 16 years old when taken into slavery, he was able to escape five years later…
The Virgin Holding the Sleeping Child with Saint John and Two Angels was created by Italian artist, Bernardino Luini in the second half of the sixteenth century during the High Renaissance. The piece was created to be displayed privately and depict the main event the teachings of the Catholic church revolve around. The piece foreshadows the murder of Jesus Christ on the cross through different elements in the piece used as symbols. The crucifixion is illustrated by Jesus in a deep sleep…
Research one of the holy men or women from the early Church, and explain their contribution to the Church both in their own time, and as role models to us today. Write your essay starting here: Saint Scholastica was born in in Nursea, a mountainous part of central Italy in 480 Ad. She was born into a wealthy and very religious family, and her and her twin brother Benedict were faithful from a very young age. She was born into Christianity and her family revolved their life very strongly around…
Saint Michael the Archangel is the largest single piece of Byzantine statue made of ivory that still stands. This art piece was made during the 6th century, in Constantinople. This piece of art is classical style, it has a large panel which is interesting because most panels are originally small. The ivory is about 18in., this art piece has many details lots of architecture elements. The angel is very large and takes up all of the star case, it has a hierarchy scale so that his size is able to…