Dorothea of Caesarea (died ca. 311) is a 4th-century virgin martyr who was executed at Caesarea Mazaca. Evidence for her actual historical existence or acta is very sparse. She is called a martyr of the Diocletianic Persecution, although her death occurred after the resignation of Diocletian himself…
The Madonna and Child or The Virgin and Child is often the name of a work of art which shows the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. The word Madonna means “My Lady” in Italian. Artworks of the Christ Child and his mother Mary are part of the Roman Catholic tradition in many parts of the world including Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, South America and the Philippines. Paintings known as icons are also an important tradition of the Orthodox Church and often show the Mary and the Christ Child. They are found particularly in Eastern Europe, Russia, Egypt, the Middle East and India. More on The Madonna and Child
Leonard of Noblac (or of Limoges or Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard) (died 559 AD), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin (region) of France.
According to unreliable sources, he was a courtier who was converted by St. Remigius, refused the offer of a See from his godfather, King Clovis I, and became a monk at Micy. He lived as a hermit at Limoges and was rewarded by the king with all the land he could ride around on a donkey in a day for his prayers, which were believed to have brought the Queen through a difficult delivery safely. He founded Noblac monastery on the land so granted him, and it grew into the town of Saint-Leonard. He remained there evangelizing the surrounding area until his death. He is invoked by women in labor and by prisoners of war because of the legend that Clovis promised to release every captive Leonard visited. More on Leonard
Saint Ursula (Latin for “little female bear”) is a Romano-British Christian saint. Because of the lack of definite information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied her and on some uncertain date were killed at Cologne, they were removed from the Roman Martyrology and their commemoration was omitted from the General Roman Calendar when it was revised in 1969.
Her legend, is that she was a princess who, at the request of her father King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain, set sail to join her future husband, the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica, along with 11,000 virginal handmaidens. After a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus, and Sulpicius, bishop of Ravenna, to join them. After setting out for Cologne, which was being besieged by Huns, all the virgins were beheaded in a massacre. The Huns’ leader fatally shot Ursula with a bow and arrow in about 383. More Saint Ursula
Venetian school (art). From the later part of the 15th century, Venice had a distinctive, thriving and influential art scene. Beginning with the work of Giorgione (c. 1477–1510), and the workshop of Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516), major artists of the Venetian school included Titian (1489–1576), Tintoretto (1518–1594), Veronese (1528–1588) and the Bassano (1510–1592). Considered to bring a primacy of color over line, this tradition was seen to contrast with the Mannerism then prevalent in the rest of Italy, and the Venetian style is viewed as having had a great influence on the subsequent development of painting. More on Venetian school
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Saints Florus and Laurus, twin brothers, who were second century martyrs, are considered the patrons of horses among the Rus because a local horse plague was healed by their relics. Russian peasants would tether their horses around the church on their feast day and avoid putting the horses to work in order to avoid a recurrence of the plague. According to The Golden Bough, peasants didn’t plough with horses on the brothers’ feast day for fear of causing a cattle plague but would lead their horses round their village church. The horses were often also driven to a local pond and driven into the water after a priest had blessed it; the horses were washed in the pond and then led in procession around the church…
The Holy Martyr Myron was a presbyter in Achaia (Greece), and lived during the third century. He suffered in the year 250 under the emperor Decius (249–251). The presbyter was gentle and kind to people, but he was also courageous in the defense of his spiritual children…
Tradition relates, that during the time of the preaching of the Saviour, Abgar the Black, first king that converted to Christianity rules in Edessa. He was stricken all over his body with leprosy…
Hanging on the Cross in agony, Jesus remembered His Mother, and indicating the Apostle John He said to her: Woman, behold thy son. After that, He said to John: Behold thy mother. And so, providing for His Mother, He breathed His last.
John had a home on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, in which the Theotokos then lived. She dwelt there to the end of her days on earth. By her prayers, kind guidance, meekness and patience, she greatly assisted her Son’s apostles…
St. Antonio Primaldo and his Companion Martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Otranto, were 813 inhabitants of the Salentine city of Otranto in southern Italy who were killed on 14 August 1480 when the city fell to an Ottoman force under Gedik Ahmed Pasha; an Albanian Ottoman statesman and admiral, who served as Grand Vizier and Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Navy. According to a traditional account, the killings took place after the Otrantins refused to convert to Islam…
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Marco d’Aviano, born Carlo Domenico Cristofori (November 17, 1631 — August 13, 1699) was an Italian Capuchin friar.
orn in Aviano, a small community in the Republic of Venice. At 16 he tried to reach the island of Crete, where the Venetians were at war with the Ottoman Turks, in order to preach the Gospel and convert the Muslims to Christianity. On his way, he sought asylum at a Capuchin convent in Capodistria, where he was welcomed by the Superior, who knew his family, and who, after providing him with food and rest, advised him to return home.
The Martyrs Anicetas and Photios (his nephew) were natives of Nicomedia.
Anicetas, a military official, denounced the emperor Diocletian (284–305) for having set up in the city square an implement of execution for frightening Christians…
Martyr Susanna the Virgin, according to Christian legend, was the daughter of Presbyter Gavinius and a niece of the Holy Bishop Caius of Rome (283–296).
She was raised in strict Christian piety and in her youthful years dedicated herself to God. The family of the saint was related to the emperor Diocletian (284–305), who heard reports of her virtue and beauty…
Blessed Laurence, Fool-for-Christ and Kaluga Wonderworker, lived at the beginning of the sixteenth century at the distance of 533 meters from old Kaluga, the name comes from Old Russian kaluga — “bog, quagmire”, near a forest church in honor of the Nativity of Christ, set upon a high hill. During the period of Tartar raids Kaluga was the western end of the Oka bank defense line…
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period, and in addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher with a long list of students. More on Jean-Léon Gérôme
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In Norse mythology the Valkyries are ‘choosers of the slain,’ and they are the daughters of
Wotan or Odin.
Brunhilde who is Wotan’s favourite, defies Odin and was punished by imprisonment within a ring of fire until a brave hero falls in love and rescues her. More on Brunilda and Wotan
Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild, is a powerful female figure from Germanic heroic legends. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda of Austrasia.
In the Norse tradition, Brunhild is a shieldmaiden or valkyrie, who appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. In the continental Germanic tradition, where she is a central character in the Nibelungenlied, she is a powerful Amazon-like queen. In both traditions, she is instrumental in bringing about the death of the hero Sigurd or Siegfried after he deceives her into marrying the Burgundian king Gunther or Gunnar. In both traditions, the immediate cause for her desire to have Sigurd murdered is a quarrel with the hero’s wife. More on Brunilda
Wōtan is the Old High German name of the Germanic god Odin; a widely revered god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, from which stems most surviving information about the god, Odin is associated with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and is the husband of the goddess Frigg.
Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, and in Old High German as Wuotan. More on Odin
Cecilio Plá y Gallardo (22 November 1860 – 4 August 1934) was a Spanish painter and illustrator, born in Valencia. As a child, he studied music at the Escuela de Artesanos de Valencia, in accordance with the wishes of his father. Later, he followed his own desires to be an artist and continued his studies at the Instituto San Pablo and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos. After winning a Silver Medal at the Exposición de Valencia in 1879, he moved to Madrid with a friend, where he entered the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, becoming a student of Emilio Sala.
The following year, after travelling through Portugal, France and Italy, he settled in Rome. From there, he sent home numerous works which showed the influence of Marià Fortuny. Some were shown at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, winning medals in 1884 and 1887 for paintings on Italian subjects. He received many more medals.
In 1910, he began his career as a teacher at the Academy of San Fernando, a position he held until his retirement in 1931. He was named an Academician in 1924. His dedication to teaching drastically reduced his artistic output.
He died in Madrid, aged 73. More on Cecilio Plá y Gallardo
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Matthias was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chosen by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter’s betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who had already ascended into heaven…
John Felton (died 8 August 1570) was an English Catholic martyr, executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Felton was a wealthy man of Norfolk ancestry, who lived at Bermondsey Abbey, a mansion built out of the materials of a great Cluniac monastery. He “was a man of stature”. His wife had been a playmate of Elizabeth I, a maid-of-honour to Queen Mary. John Felton was a well-known Catholic.
Secundus of Asti (died 119) is venerated as a martyr and saint. He was a historical figure who was beheaded at Asti under Hadrian. He is said to have been a patrician of Asti and a subaltern officer in the imperial army. It is known that a church was dedicated to him in the area as early as the 9th century…
Agapitus and Felicissimus were two of the six deacons of Pope Sixtus II who were martyred with him on or about 6 August 258. These were times when a pope occupying the Roman throne, was known to choose death for the faith…
Saint Afra (died 304) was martyred during the Diocletian persecution. Along with Saint Ulrich, she is a patron saint of Augsburg. Her feast day is August 5. Afra was dedicated to the service of the goddess, Venus, by her mother, Hilaria…
Bl. William Horne was a Carthusian lay brother and martyr. A member of the London Charterhouse of the Carthusians, he was arrested for opposing the religious policies of King Henry VIII (r. 1509–1547), which included the imprisonment of Catholics and the destruction of monasteries. William was executed at Tyburn with two companions…
Holy Myrrh-bearer Salome was the mother of the Apostles James and John, the wife of Zebedee, and the daughter of Joseph the Betrothed, who was a widower when he became betrothed to the Mother of God. She was a disciple of the Lord and one of the Myrrh-bearing women who first brought tidings of the Resurrection to the world. Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings…
Zaidan Gallery 