swelled more and more. The child became heavy as lead, the water increased and grew stormy, and Christopher in agony feared to be drowned, but escaped with great pain; and setting the child on the ground, he said: "Child, thou hast put me in great peril: if I had had the whole world upon me, it might be no greater burden;" and the Child answered: "Christopher, marvel nothing, for thou hast not only borne all the world upon thee, but thou hast

Wall Painting in the Church of Wilsford and Lake, Wilts.

borne Him that made and created the world on thy shoulders I am Christ, the King whom thou servest in this world." The Legend goes on to say that Christopher planted his staff in the earth, and prayed that to convert the people it might bear flowers and fruit, which indeed took place the staff became a palm tree, with fruit and leaves, and was the means of converting 8,000 men in the province of Lycia! The king of that country, however, commanded that the Saint should be seized, and shot by poisoned arrows. One of these rebounded,

and wounded his persecutor, Dagmar the Prefect, entering his eye; whereupon Christopher, who was miraculously uninjured, predicted that after his death by decapitation, his blood would heal this enemy's wound.

He then submitted to martyrdom, and the

The

Prefect was healed in the manner he had desired. king was converted, and commanded that if anyone ever blamed God or St. Christopher, he should be slain with the sword. His miracles were recognised by the Church, and the Saint's relics are found in several places, especially in Spain. The above is condensed from the version given

1904

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in the Golden Legend; and the drawing I have taken from the illustration, a woodcut in the old copy preserved in the Cathedral Library of Salisbury, and which is printed in black letter, but is imperfect, without date or name of printer.1

The theory has been suggested that the ancient pictures were primarily symbolical, and represented the Cross personified; or, as some authorities have with more reason maintained, they were intended to show the disciple of Christ, who will bear Him over the billows of resistance, relying on the staff of his direction, and so passing over the waters of Jordan. Or, it has again been explained that the Christian is thus represented as one who will submit his shoulders to Christ; and shall, by the concurrence of his increase into the strength of a giant, and being supported by the staff of His holy spirit, shall not be overwhelmed by the waves of the world, but wade through all resistance (Pierius, Browne, Jeremy Collier, and others).

It may be observed that the hypothesis which suggests that the Legend of St. Christopher was probably due to his name being, in process of time, connected or confounded with the earlier symbolism of a personified Cross, receives some colour owing to the word "Cristofri" having been commonly used to denote the cross worn on the breast by the knight, squire, or even yeoman, before the decorations of the Order of Knighthood received that form of recognition as a sign of caste or chivalry.

Chaucer, speaking of the Yeoman in attendance on the

1 In the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D., at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, the following short version of the subject is given under the heading "Christopher":"The Giant carried a child over a brook, and said: 'Chylde, thou hast put me in great perill. I might bear no greater burden;' to which the Child answered: Marvel nothing, for thou hast borne all the worlde upon thee, and its sins likewise'." This is an allegory: i.e., Jesus Christ, the child, is the offspring of Adam; the river is death; the Saint is called a giant because the Redeemer was equal to so great a burden. Christopher means "Cross-bearer." In this connection, it should be mentioned that some later writers have come to the conclusion that this legend, so widely spread in Christendom, was originally founded on an allegory, and that St. Christopher, the Lycian martyr, was only identified with it in the lapse of time, on account of his name.

Squire in the Canterbury Tales, says: "A Cristofre on his brest of silver shene" (or " shone," in modern language). The name given is suggestive, being an allusion to the peculiar office of the sacred Cross as the Christ-bearer. It would be interesting to discover where and at what period the earliest legends and pictures or statues were recognised as representing the Saint and Martyr, rather than as typical emblems of the Cross or Christian in the earlier symbolic sense.1

It does not appear, however, that the Saint was known to fame, or of any consideration in the Church, until the original emblematic subjects, expressive of the Cross and the Christian pilgrim, had become through the lapse of time and the accretion of legend with history, connected with the name of Christopher, and, as a consequence, with his supposed miraculous experiences.

However the change came about, it is very certain that in this country the legend and miraculous power of the Saint were not recognised by the Church until about the thirteenth century. As soon, however, as mural paintings became a feature in the internal decoration of churches, the story of St. Christopher takes its place very prominently everywhere, and remains are to be found of a very early period of this subject, though it was not until the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries that he reached the height of his popularity, surpassing St. George, the Patron Saint of the land; so that it is conjectured that every church in England possessed a figure, either in painting or sculpture, of this Saint. It has struck me as curious, nevertheless, that there do not appear to be any

1 On the Continent, some very ancient statues are known to have been recognised as the Saint. They were usually of colossal stature, and stood at the entrance of churches. One of them was formerly on the right hand of the principal gate of Nôtre Dame at Paris, as stated by Browne, and the author of the French Historical Dictionary. Wright, also, author of Observations made in Travelling through France, Italy, etc., a work published in 1730, notes "a monstrous stone figure of St. Christopher at the Church of Nôtre Dame de Paris rather amazes than pleases: 'tis about ten yards in height." Pennant notes a still larger statue at Auxerre, nearly 70 ft. high. In all probability these figures were of much earlier date than any of the representations remaining in our English churches.

churches actually dedicated to St. Christopher.1 This shows, perhaps, that as a personality he had not in early Christian times the renown or consideration rendered to him which his name, and the miraculous powers later accredited to him, induced the Church and the faithful to yield to him. Very obscure or merely local Saints, with names strange and little known to later times, are commemorated in various parts of the country in the dedication of churches. It seems evident, therefore, that the cult of St. Christopher was not much known in the land until after churches were built and dedicated to their patron saints, amongst whom he was as yet unrecognised; nor does it appear that St. Christopher was included in the Calendar of Saints in England. The earliest

notice of the Saint we have been able to find is an order for a painting of St. Christopher, to be executed in the Chapel of St. Peter within the Tower (of London), which is entered in the Court Rolls of the reign of Henry III. Walpole quotes the following record concerning a painting of St. Christopher of the year 1248 : "The King to the Sheriff of Southampton, Greeting. We charge you concerning the business of your Company that you cause to be painted in the Queen's Chapel at Winchester, over the Eastern Arch, the Image of the blessed St. Christopher as he is in Churches depicted bearing Christ in his arms; and the likeness of the blessed King Edward giving his ring to the pilgrims, as his likeness is similarly depicted.

"Witnessed under the King's Seal at Windsor, 7th May."

If, at this early date, St. Christopher was but entering into his heritage of fame in England, it certainly was not long before he became at least one of the most appreciated and most universally popular of the saints and benefactors of the country. Let us examine into the causes of his popularity, and the probable origin of the powers attributed to him. Very early in the Latin Church, the Cross itself had been looked upon as a protection from the powers of evil. The Devil

1 I have since heard of two churches, now destroyed, one in the City of London.