St. John the Evangelist

Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, Rome

The eagle on the right is John's symbol as writer of the Gospel of John. The book and quill pen refer to his authorship of that gospel, his letters, and the Book of Revelation. The cup offered by the little angel on the left refers to the poison he drank in one of the episodes of his legend, and the angel himself may refer to the angel that brought Jesus his cup in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This is one of a set of portraits of the evangelists. See also SS. Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

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