St. Vincent of Saragossa Window

In the bottom register (see detail) the provost Dacian orders his men to arrest St. Vincent and his bishop Valerian. The servant on the left holds the chain with which he will bind the two Christians. In the next scene the servant has put the chain on Valerian and St. Vincent (see detail of the left side), who are defending their faith to the provost (see detail of the right side). The horsemen just above that scene (see detail) are taking a relic of St. Vincent to Paris (see museum notes below). Above that, the story continues with Dacian ordering the execution of the two Christians (see detail). Above that we see, on the left, how St. Vincent's body was thrown into the sea with a millstone attached to the neck (see detail). The man with the trumpet on the right and the angel at the top do not correspond to anything in the Golden Legend.

These panels were originally part of two large windows depicting the martyrdom of the deacon, Saint Vincent of Saragossa (d. 304), and the history of his relics, from the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. The monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés held a special devotion for Vincent—their abbey had been founded to receive a relic of the saint's tunic, which had been transported from Spain by the Merovingian king Childebert I. The king and his brother Chlotar are shown here on horseback. The remaining scenes illustrate Saint Vincent's confrontations with the Roman proconsul Dacian. Bold silhouettes define tall, lithe figures, whose prominent gestures convey a narrative emphasizing Saint Vincent as an exemplar of Christian piety in defiance of pagan authority.