In Tolentino, Piceno, the passing away of St. Nicholas, Confessor, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine. – Roman Martyrology for September 10
A sunburst, usually with a child's face in it, is a common attribute of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, often on the breast of the black habit or his order, the Eremitani Augustinians. The façade of the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Tolentino has a huge sunburst, also with a child's face in the center. The sunburst may refer to a vision of a star that led him to Tolentino, where he spent much of his career.1 The child's face may reflect the episode in Peter of Monte Rubiano's Vita S. Nicolai Tolentinatis where the saint recounts having seen the face of the Christ Child in the host at Mass.2
In the first picture at right the saint is pictured as an older man with white hair, but in most other images he is a young man. In all the portraits I have examined he is tonsured and beardless. Giorgi, Saints in Art, says he is sometimes seen with a flowering lily branch or a crucifix.3 The portrait at right does show him with a lily branch and also a dish with a small roast bird and two live birds. ![]() Prepared in 2014 by Richard Stracke, Emeritus Professor of English, Augusta University. Revised 2017-07-12. |
![]() The sunburst: Detail from Giovanni di Paolo's Madonna and Child with Saints. ![]() Nicholas in his black Augustinian habit, with the lily and the plate of birds: Detail from Joos van Cleve, Crucifixion with Saints and Donor. ![]() Chapter 7 of Peter's Vita recounts a number of miracles Nicholas performed for persons who were deaf, blind, or even dead. In this painting, he revives a boy who had died just after birth and before the midwives could fetch water to baptize him. See the description page. MORE IMAGES
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