Saints Candidus and Corbinian

1999
Collegiate Church of Saint Candidus, San Candido / Innichen, Italy

On the right is St. Corbinian, with the mitre and crozier of a bishop. The bear with the saddle is his attribute. The clergy praying to the saints are identified in the inscription below.

Seated on the left is the co-patron of the church, St. Candidus. The Acta Sanctorum registers three martyrs by that name. One is listed without further elaboration in a group of men who were martyred at Rome during the persecutions of Diocletian (February vol. 1, 295-96). A number of early martyrologies list a second Candidus who was martyred in Rome, probably in the 4th century, but they give no other information about him (October vol. 2, 7-8). The third Candidus is listed as an officer in the Theban Legion martyred with St. Maurice, also under Diocletian (September vol. 6, 308-403). The sword in the present image could possibly allude to Diocletian's order that the Thebans be beheaded, but the absence of a palm branch or laurel crown, and the presence of a bishop's mitre, suggest that this is a fourth St. Candidus. In the crypt of the church, a 13th-century statue of the saint (right) wears a mitre and liturgical garb and has no sword.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.