Of the miracles performed by John after his death, two are singularly interesting in the history of Art; both have been treated in sculpture.
9. When the Empress Galla Placidia was returning from Constantinople to Ravenna with her two children (A.D. 425), she encountered a terrible storm. In her fear and anguish she vowed a vow to St. John the Evangelist, and, being landed in safety, she dedicated to his honour a magnificent church. When the edifice was finished, she was extremely desirous of procuring some relics of the evangelist, wherewith to consecrate his sanctuary; but as it was not the manner of those days to exhume, and buy and sell, still less to steal, the bodies of holy men and martyrs, the desire of the pious empress remained unsatisfied. However, as it is related, St. John himself took pity upon her; for one night, as she prayed earnestly, he appeared to her in a vision; and when she threw herself at his feet to embrace and kiss them, he disappeared, leaving one of his slippers or sandals in her hand, which sandal was long preserved.
The antique church of Galla Placidia still exists at Ravenna, to keep alive, after the lapse of fourteen centuries, the memory of her dream, and of the condescension of the blessed apostle. Not much of the original building is left; the superb mosaics have all disappeared, except a few fragments, in which may be traced the storm at sea, and Galla Placidia making her vow. Over the principal porch, which is of white marble, in the Lombard style, and richly and elegantly ornamented, the miracle of the slipper is represented in two bas-reliefs, one above the other. The lower compartment, or lunette, represents a tabernacle, and within it an altar: St. John the Evangelist is seen offering incense; on the other side is Barbation, the confessor of the empress; she, prostrate at the feet of the apostle, seems to take off his sandal: on each side are six hovering angels bearing the implements of the mass. In the upper compartment, Galla Placidia is seen kneeling at the feet of Christ, and offering to him the sacred sandal, while the evangelist stands on one side, and Barbation on the other. These bas-reliefs are not older than the twelfth century, and are in excellent preservation: I should suppose, from the style of the grouping, that they were copied, or imitated, from the older mosaics, once in the interior of the church.
10. The other miracle has the rare interest of being English in its origin and in its representation. ‘King Edward the Confessor had, after Christ and the Virgin Mary, a special veneration for St. John the Evangelist. One day, returning from his church at Westminster, where he had been hearing mass in honour of the evangelist, he was accosted by a pilgrim, who asked of him an alms for the love of God and St. John. The king, who was ever merciful to the poor, immediately drew from his finger a ring, and, unknown to any one, delivered it to the beggar. When the king had reigned twenty-four years, it came to pass that two Englishmen, pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land to their own country, were met by one in the habit of a pilgrim, who asked of them concerning their country; and being told they were of England, he said to them, “When ye shall have arrived in your own country, go to King Edward, and salute him in my name: say to him, that I thank him for the alms which he bestowed on me in a certain street in Westminster; for there, on a certain day, as I begged of him an alms, he bestowed on me this ring, which till now I have preserved, and ye shall carry it back to him, saying that in six months from this time he shall quit the world, and come and remain with me for ever.” And the pilgrims, being astounded, said, “Who art thou, and where is thy dwelling-place?” And he answered, saying, “I am John the Evangelist. Edward, your king, is my friend, and for the sanctity of his life I hold him dear. Go now, therefore, deliver to him this message and this ring, and I will pray to God that ye may arrive safely in your own country.” When St. John had spoken thus, he delivered to them the ring, and vanished out of their sight. The pilgrims, praising and thanking the Lord for this glorious vision, went on their journey; and being arrived in England, they repaired to King Edward, and saluted him, and delivered the ring and the message, relating all truly. And the king received the news joyfully, and feasted the messengers royally. Then he set himself to prepare for his departure from this world. On the eve of the Nativity, in the year of our Lord 1066, he fell sick, and on the eve of the Epiphany following he died. The ring he gave to the Abbot of Westminster, to be for ever preserved among the relics there.’[142]
According to one account,[143] the pilgrims met the king near his palace at Waltham, at a place since called Havering. The writer adds,—‘In allusion to this story, King Edward II. offered at his coronation a pound of gold made in the figure of a king holding a ring, and a mark of gold (8 oz.) made like to a pilgrim putting forth his hand to receive the ring.’ These must have been two little statuettes of gold.
The legend of King Edward and St. John the Evangelist is represented, with other legends of the same monarch, along the top of the screen of Edward the Confessor’s chapel. It is in three compartments. The first represents King Edward bestowing the ring on St. John in the disguise of a pilgrim; Westminster Abbey is seen behind. The second shows us the meeting of the pilgrims and St. John in Palestine; he holds what seems a palm. In the third the pilgrims deliver the ring to King Edward, who is seated at table. The sculpture is very rude; the figures disproportioned and ungraceful. They are supposed to be of the time of Henry VI.
The same legend was painted on one of the windows of Romford church, in Essex, but whether it still exists there I know not.[144]
Before I quit the subject of the Evangelists, it is worth while to observe that, in Greek Art, not only the Four Evangelists, but the six writers of the Acts and Epistles, are considered as a sacred series. In an ancient and beautiful MS. of the Epistole Canoniche, presented by the Queen of Cyprus to Pope Innocent VIII., they are thus represented, two and two together:—
St. Luke, with a very thoughtful, earnest countenance, holds a scroll, on which is written in Greek the commencement of the Acts, ‘The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus; &c.; and St. James, with a long, very earnest, and refined face, holds a single roll.