Before his clerical career, St. Eligius was a farrier, then a goldsmith, then an adviser to the Merovingian kings Clotar II and Dagobert. Portraits represent him either at work in his shop, as in the image at left, or standing dressed as a bishop with the tools of his former trade as his attributes (example).
Narrative images often feature a miracle that involved shoeing the foreleg of a horse (example). According to Duchet-Suchaux he is also sometimes shown pinching the devil's nose, resuscitating a hanged man, or advising Clotar or Dagobert.
Feast day: December 1
At left, portrait by Petrus Christus - Metropolitan Museum, New York
Other images
Rood screen portrait,
Norfolk, England
A Botticelli
predella
19th or 20th century statueHagiography:
William Caxton's Life of St. Eligius: html or pdf
Dado of Rouen's Life of St. Eligius, tr. J. McNamara (cached)
Dado of Rouen's Life of St. Eligius, tr. J. McNamara (cached)
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