St. Dominic Saving the Church of St. John Lateran in an initial A, 15th century

Initial A with St. Dominic Saving the Church of St. John Lateran

Italian, mid 15th century
Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment
Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Gwynne M. Andrews, 31.134.5

According to the Golden Legend, after he received St. Dominic's request that he approve the foundation of the Order of Preachers, Innocent III had a dream in which Dominic kept the church of St. John Lateran from falling down. St. John Lateran is the cathedral church of the diocese of Rome, so the symbolism suggested that Dominic would save Roman Catholicism.

Read more about images of St. Dominic.

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