Ivory of
SS. Benedict, Thaddeus, and another saint
11th or 12th century,
Venezia
Musée
National de l'Age Médiévale, Paris
St. Benedict is at the top, identified by the inscription S[ANCTUS]
BENEDICT[US] ABB[AS], "St. Benedict the Abbot." His peaked cowl
is like that seen in the 10th
century fresco beneath San Crisogono in Trastevere, Rome.
The figure at the bottom with the forked beard is S[ANCTUS] THAD[DEU]S,
i.e. the apostle Saint Jude Thaddeus, holding a book to represent his
epistle in the Bible. The strongly forked beard is not a feature
of other images of teh saint that I have seen.
The inscription in the middle roundel begins with an S for "Sanctus"
and continues with what could be NICOJA or NICOLA, with the letters HO
on the other side. He wears a chasuble
with a Y-shaped orphrey, like Pope St. Gregory in a related piece.
Apparently this is intended to signify a bishop.
More of St. Benedict
More of St. Jude Thaddeus
Photographed at the
site by Richard Stracke