04 Works, Today, April 8th, is Julian of Saint Augustine's day, With Footnotes - #95

Blessed Julian of Saint Augustine

The father of Blessed Julian was a French nobleman who, in order to escape from the violent pressure exerted on him by the Calvinists to make him apostatize from the Catholic Faith, fled to Spain leaving all his wealth behind. 

Artist unknown

John Garrett, publisher

'The Candle is lighted, we can not blow out'

(Leading Theologians of the Protestant Reformation)

Line engraving

10 1/8 in. x 14 5/8 in. (257 mm x 372 mm) paper size

National Portrait Gallery

This 17th century engraving includes Reformed theologians Theodore Beza, Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, John Calvin, John Knox, William Perkins, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Girolamo Zanchi, Johannes Oecolampadius and Ulrich Zwingli gathered around Martin Luther with a candle representing the Gospel. The pope, a cardinal, a monk, and a demon try to blow the candle out.

There Julian was born and reared amid unpretentious circumstances, but in a very Christian manner. The boy was devoted to piety, his greatest pleasure being to serve the priests at the altar.

The Franciscans

As a young man Blessed Julian of Saint Augustine accompanied for some time a missionary of the Franciscan Order on his apostolic journeys. The missionary arranged for his admission with the Friars Minor as a lay brother in the convent of Maria of Salzeda. Julian began his convent life with ardent zeal, yes, he practiced such extraordinary acts of mortification that he was considered eccentric; and God almighty permitted, as a means of trial, that he was dismissed from the novitiate. This trial Julian bore with admirable fortitude.

Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify, or put to death, their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification. In Christianity, common forms of mortification that are practiced to this day include fasting, abstinence, as well as pious kneeling. Also common among Christian religious orders in the past were the wearing of sackcloth, as well as flagellation in imitation of Jesus of Nazareth's suffering and death by crucifixion. Christian theology holds that the Holy Spirit helps believers in the "mortification of the sins of the flesh." More on Mortification

Blessed Julian of Saint Augustine withdrew to a neighboring mountain, where he built a hut in order to live as a hermit.

Pinturicchio, (1454–1513)

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, between 1475 and 1480

Oil, and oil gilding on canvas

Height: 149.8 cm (58.9 in); Width: 106 cm (41.7 in)

Walters Art Museum

 St. Jerome (ca. 347-420) spent four years in the Syrian desert as a hermit, mortifying his flesh and elevating his spirit through study. The open book contains a passage from a letter attributed to St. Augustine in which Jerome is compared to St. John the Baptist, another saint who lived in the wilderness. More on this painting

Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio, whose formal name was Bernardino di Betto, also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, c.1454–1513, Umbrian painter whose real name was Bernardino di Betto. A prolific and facile painter, he was influenced by Perugino, with whom he collaborated on the frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. Pinturicchio worked chiefly in Perugia, Rome, and Siena. He decorated the Borgia apartments in the Vatican and several churches in Rome. His most elaborate project was the decoration of the cathedral library in Siena. In the Metropolitan Museum are many panels of mythological scenes from the ceiling of the reception room in the Palazzo del Magnifico in Siena. More on Pinturicchio

Once a day he came to the gate of the convent from which he had been dismissed, to receive food with the other poor. While waiting for the food to be dispensed, he would instruct the others in the catechism, and when a poor person one day came poorly clad, he took off his own garment and gave it to that person.

He was eventually asked to join in the friars’ preaching missions and he proved himself to be an eloquent and effective preacher and was regarded by many as being a prophet.

Blessed Julian of St. Augustine died on April 8, 1606, and was beatified in 1825. More on Julian of Saint Augustine

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.