St. Christina of Bolsena

St. Christina stands beside Lake Bolsena, in which her father Urbanus had tried to drown her when she refused to worship his gold and silver idols. On the other side of the lake is the tower that Urbanus had built for the idols. After he died and a Roman judge also failed to make her worship the idols, a second judge named Julian ordered her confined in a fiery furnace for three days, to no avail. The little building on the shore in this picture is probably that furnace.

The dart in the saint's hand is one of her attributes. After imposing several other tortures Julian finally threw two darts at he. One of them pierced her heart and killed her.

The triangle in the sunburst of course represents the triune God, who encouraged Christina at several points in her passion. The choice of the triangle symbol in particular, and the three angels beneath it, may reflect the importance of the number three in her story. She was tortured on the orders of three different men, three angels brought her food when her father imprisoned her, and she spent three days in the furnace. It may also be relevant that in the Mozarabic breviary she is said to have "triumphed successfully by placing her trust in the Trinity" (Trinitatem confitendo triumphat feliciter, Acta Sanctorum, July vol. 5, 503).

Read more about St. Christina

Source: Relief etching from "a very old picture" in Acta Sanctorum, July vol. 5 (1727), 517.