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Saint Christopher (Greek: Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, Hágios Christóphoros, lit. 'Christ-bearer';[3] Latin: Sanctus Christophorus) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (r. 249–251), or alternatively under the emperor Maximinus Daia (r. 308–313).[4] Churches and monasteries were named after him by the 7th century. There is no evidence for the historicity of the saint.[5]
Christopher | |
|---|---|
 St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child, by Hieronymus Bosch (AD 1485) | |
| Martyr | |
| Born | Unknown Canaan (Western accounts) or Marmarica (Eastern account) |
| Died | 251 Anatolia |
| Venerated in | |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Feast |
|
| Attributes | tree, branch, as a giant or ogre, carrying the Christ child, Spear, shield, as a dog-headed man |
| Patronage | athletics, bachelors, transportation (drivers, sailors, etc.), traveling (especially for long journeys), surfing, storms, Brunswick, Saint Christopher's Island (Saint Kitts), Island of Rab, Vilnius, Havana, epilepsy, gardeners, toothache |
The most famous legend connected to the saint recounts that after converting to Christianity, he devoted his life to carrying travelers across a river. One day he carried an unknown young boy across a river after which the boy revealed himself as Christ. Because of his help to travelers, he became the patron saint of travelers. In the iconography of the Western Church, the saint is often depicted as a giant with a staff carrying the infant Jesus across a river on his shoulders. Small images of him are often worn around the neck, on a bracelet, carried in a pocket, or placed in vehicles. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The Eastern Church tradition depicts the saint as a cynocephalus ('dog-headed creature') in a literal interpretation of its legendary tradition.
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Legends about the life and death of Saint Christopher first appeared in Greece in the 6th century and had spread to France by the 9th century. The 11th-century bishop and poet Walter of Speyer gave one version, but the most popular variations originated from the 13th-century Golden Legend.[6] [7] According to the legendary account of his life Christopher was initially called Reprobus.[8] He was a Canaanite, 5 cubits (7.5 feet (2.3 m)) tall[9] and with a fearsome face. While serving the king of Canaan, he took it into his head to go and serve "the greatest king there was". He went to the king who was reputed to be the greatest, but one day he saw the king cross himself at the mention of the devil. On thus learning that the king feared the devil, he departed to look for the devil. He came across a band of marauders, one of whom declared himself to be the devil, so Christopher decided to serve him. But when he saw his new master avoid a wayside cross and found out that the devil feared Christ, he left him and enquired from people where to find Christ. He met a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. Christopher asked him how he could serve Christ. When the hermit suggested fasting and prayer, Christopher replied that he was unable to perform that service. The hermit then suggested that because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where they were perishing in the attempt. The hermit promised that this service would be pleasing to Christ.
After Christopher had performed this service for some time, a little child asked him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river became swollen and the child seemed as heavy as lead, so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him and found himself in great difficulty. When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: "You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were." The child replied: "You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work." The child then vanished.[10]
Christopher later visited Lycia and there comforted the Christians who were being martyred. Brought before the local king, he refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. The king tried to win him by riches and by sending two beautiful women to tempt him. Christopher converted the women to Christianity, as he had already converted thousands in the city. The king ordered him to be killed. Various attempts failed, but finally Christopher was beheaded.[10]
The name Christopher, as used in the Anglophone world, is the English version of the Greek name Χριστόφορος (Christóphoros or Christóforos). It is formed from the word elements Χριστός (Christós, 'Christ'), and φέρειν (phérein, 'to bear'), together signifying, "Christ bearer". Widely dispersed into other languages and cultures from the Greek, many native forms of Christopher are used both to refer to the saint and as a personal name.[11][12]
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Eastern Orthodox liturgy
The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates Christopher of Lycea (or Lycia) with a Feast Day on 9 May. The liturgical reading and hymns refer to his imprisonment by Decius who tempts Christopher with prostitutes before ordering his beheading.[13] The Kontakion in the Fourth Tone (hymn) reads:[13]
Thou who wast terrifying both in strength and in countenance, for thy Creator's sake thou didst surrender thyself willingly to them that sought thee; for thou didst persuade both them and the women that sought to arouse in thee the fire of lust, and they followed thee in the path of martyrdom. And in torments thou didst prove to be courageous. Wherefore, we have gained thee as our great protector, O great Christopher.
Roman Catholic liturgy
The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 25 July.[14] The Tridentine calendar commemorates him on the same day only in private Masses. By 1954 his commemoration had been extended to all Masses, but it was dropped in 1970 as part of the general reorganization of the calendar of the Roman rite as mandated by the motu proprio, Mysterii Paschalis. His commemoration is of Roman tradition, in view of the relatively late date (about 1550) and limited manner in which it was accepted into the Roman calendar,[15] but his feast continues to be observed locally.[16]
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A stone inscription of 2 m × 1 m (6 ft 7 in × 3 ft 3 in) was found in the ruins of a church in the ruins of the ancient city Chalcedon near present day Istanbul. The inscription bears witness to the laying of the foundation stone, the construction and the consecration of a church in the name of "Saint Christopher's Martyrdom". The inscription states that this Church of St Christopher dates back to the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, the Council of Chalcedon.[17] The inscription also mentions the names of the state ministers of the Byzantine Empire and those church ministers who were involved in the laying of the foundation stone, the construction or the consecration of the church.[18] The inscription attests to the veneration of Saint Christopher in Chalcedon in the 5th century.
A nunnery in Galatia was consecrated to Saint Christopher around the year 600.[19]
Relics
The Museum of Sacred Art at Saint Justine's Church (Sveta Justina) in Rab, Croatia claims a gold-plated reliquary holds the skull of St. Christopher. According to church tradition, a bishop showed the relics from the city wall in 1075 in order to end a siege of the city by an Italo-Norman army.[20][21]
The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik holds a relic which is claimed to be the incorrupt leg of the saint. It was brought over in 1484 from Constantinople through Corfu and originally intended to be transferred to Korčula. The feast day of Saint Christopher is celebrated on 27 July in Šibenik.[22]
Greek Orthodox churches in Grevena, Filothei, and Siatista hold other relics of the saint.
Saint Christopher's "gigantic tooth"
In the Late Middle Ages, a claimed large tooth of St. Christopher was delivered to the church in Vercelli. Pilgrims came from all over Europe to look at this relic until the end of 18th century when a naturalist determined it was a tooth of a hippopotamus. The tooth was then removed from the altar and its veneration prohibited.[9]
Medals
Devotional medals with St. Christopher's name and image are commonly worn as pendants, especially by travelers, to show devotion and as a request for his blessing. Miniature statues are frequently displayed in automobiles. In French a widespread phrase for such medals is Regarde St Christophe et va-t-en rassuré ("Look at St Christopher and go on reassured", sometimes translated as "Behold St Christopher and go your way in safety"); Saint Christopher medals and holy cards in Spanish have the phrase Si en San Cristóbal confías, de accidente no morirás ("If you trust St. Christopher, you won't die in an accident").[23]
General patronage
St. Christopher was a widely popular saint, especially revered by athletes, mariners, ferrymen, and travelers.[6] He is revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. He holds patronage of things related to travel and travelers—against lightning and pestilence—and patronage for archers; bachelors; boatmen; soldiers; bookbinders; epilepsy; floods; fruit dealers; fullers; gardeners; a holy death; mariners; market carriers; motorists and drivers; sailors; storms; surfers;[24] toothache; mountaineering; and transportation workers.
Patronage of places
Christopher is the patron saint of many places, including: Baden, Germany;[6] Barga, Italy; Brunswick, Germany;[6] Mecklenburg, Germany;[6] Rab, Croatia; Roermond, the Netherlands; Saint Christopher's Island (Saint Kitts); Toses, Catalonia, Spain; Mondim de Basto, Portugal; Agrinio, Greece; Vilnius, Lithuania; Riga, Latvia; Havana, Cuba; San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic; Paete, Laguna, Philippines; and Tivim, Goa, India.
Toponomy
Numerous places are named for the saint, including Saint Christopher Island, the official name of the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, and St. Christopher Island in Antarctica. Many places are named after the saint in other languages, for example Saint-Christophe is a common French place name; similarly, San Cristóbal is a place name in many Spanish-speaking or Spanish-influenced countries, and the São Cristóvão is in use throughout the Lusophone world.
Iconography
Because St. Christopher offered protection to travelers and against sudden death, many churches placed images or statues of him, usually opposite the south door, so he could be easily seen.[16] He is usually depicted as a giant, with a child on his shoulder and a staff in one hand.[25] In England, there are more wall paintings of St. Christopher than of any other saint;[16] in 1904, Mrs. Collier, writing for the British Archaeological Association, reported 183 paintings, statues, and other representations of the saint, outnumbering all others except for the Virgin Mary.[26]
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, certain icons identify Saint Christopher with the head of a dog. Such images may carry echoes of the Egyptian dog-headed god, Anubis. Because of the association of the representation of dog-headed saint with stories of werewolves or of monstrous races, the Russian Orthodox Church proscribed the depiction of the saint with a dog head in the 18th century.[27]
The roots of that iconography lie in a hagiographic narrative set during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, which tells of a man named Reprebus, (also, Rebrebus or Reprobus; 'the reprobate' or 'scoundrel'). He was captured by Roman forces fighting against tribes dwelling to the west of Egypt in Cyrenaica and forced to join the Roman numerus Marmaritarum[a] ('Unit of the Marmaritae'). He was reported to be of enormous size, with the head of a dog instead of a man. This was in line with the cultural beliefs of the time, which held that typical Marmaritae were tall, strong, and rascally; being a cynocephalus was also consistent with this image. Roman writer Pliny the Elder reported that the "Cynamolgi cynocephali, of Ethiopia were men with the heads of dogs." Pliny's work, The Natural History was, during the first century A.D., a well-respected compendium of Roman science. It reports accepted "knowledge" about people from Cyrenaica. Pliny notes that these "dog-headed men" resided in "Ethiopia"—a name used to encapsulate areas of Africa West and South of Alexandrian Egypt by contemporary Romans.[28][29] Reprebus and the unit were later transferred to Syrian Antioch, where bishop Peter of Attalia baptised him and where he was martyred in 308.[30]
Scholars have suggested that the Byzantine depiction of St. Christopher as dog-headed may have resulted from his identification as a member of the tribe of the Marmaritae who were a land of cannibals and dog-headed peoples. The Greek tradition interpreted this literally, which led to Byzantine icons often depicting St. Christopher with a dog's head. The Latin tradition moved in the opposite direction away from a literal translation of the original Greek term "dog-headed" (kunokephalos). The Latin tradition may have translated the term as "dog-like" (canineus). This later evolved into a misreading as the Latin term Cananeus, 'Canaanite', thus turning Christopher into a Canaanite.[31]
According to the medieval Irish Passion of St. Christopher, "This Christopher was one of the Dog-heads, a race that had the heads of dogs and ate human flesh."[32] It was commonly accepted at the time that there were several types of races, the Cynocephalus, or dog-headed people, being one of many believed to populate the world. The German bishop and poet Walter of Speyer portrayed St. Christopher as a giant of a cynocephalic species in the land of the Chananeans who ate human flesh and barked. Eventually, Christopher met the Christ child, regretted his former behavior, and received baptism. He, too, was rewarded with a human appearance, whereupon he devoted his life to Christian service and became an athlete of God, one of the soldier saints.[33]
Depictions in art
St. Christopher, from the Westminster Psalter, c. 1250
14th century image of St Christopher, one of the Slapton Wall Paintings in Northamptonshire, England
Saint Christopher, c. 1460–70, after a lost painting by Jan van Eyck
Saint Christopher by Hans Memling, c. 1480
Saint Christopher with the Christ Child and St Peter by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, c. 1505
St. Christopher, St. Sebastian, St. Roch by Bernardo Strozzi, early 17th century; Parish of Almenno San Salvatore, Bergamo
St Christopher Carrying the Christ Child by Jacob Jordaens, c. 1625–1630
Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child by Jan van de Venne, 163-1651
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- Acts of Andrew and Bartholomew
- List of saints
- Statue of Saint Christopher, Charles Bridge
- Cedalion for a somewhat similar classical myth.[relevant?]
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