PLATE XVII (Between Pages 142 and 143)
1. THE ALMIGHTY WITH
SS. SEBASTIAN AND ROCH
PLATE XVII (Between Pages 142 and 143)
2. THE ALMIGHTY, MADONNA AND SUPPLIANTS.
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, S. ANNA AND SUPPLIANTS
St. Anthony is a favourite figure of these Pestblätter. He is more closely associated with plague and pestilence in Germany than is the case in Italy. He is also patron saint against erysipelas, known as St. Anthony’s Fire, which often raged in epidemics in pre-Listerian times. He is commonly represented with the cross, on which he was crucified, with a crutch symbolic of his great age and feebleness, and with an exorcising bell. The passing bell was tolled originally not only to ask for prayers for the soul of the departed, but also to scare away evil spirits from it. The pig, that accompanies St. Anthony, is the emblem of the Devil, whose temptings he successfully repelled. Even in the absence of St. Anthony himself, his cross in the form of the Greek T is often introduced, sometimes with Christ nailed upon it. From this association of St. Anthony with the cross, it became customary to appeal to him, as to the crucifix, in times of pestilence.