What does it take to become a saint? A life of quiet devotion - or a death so brutal it turns your instrument of torture into your eternal symbol? Sometime in the early 14th century, a Venetian illuminator known as the Master of the Murano Gradual painted this small figure into the curve of an initial letter. Saint Lawrence, deacon of Rome, executed on a gridiron in 258 AD. The green dalmatic with golden blossoms marks him as a deacon. The tonsure marks him as clergy. The gold nimbus marks him as holy. Look at his hands: he holds a thin rod - his attribute as martyr - as calmly as the white cloth draped over his arm. No fire, no agony - just a young man standing in a field of gold. In medieval theology, that gold ground was not mere decoration. It was uncreated light, the presence of God made visible. This was not painted for a wall. It was made to be sung from. A choir of monks would have turned to this page, seen Lawrence's quiet face, and lifted their voices. Which saints' stories move you most? Quelle: meisterdrucke.com
