SACRED ARTSAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Mark The Evangelist – Saint Of The Day – 25 April

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Saint Mark the Evangelist. The author of the Gospel of Mark. Apostle and martyr. One of the most depicted saints in arts. Patron saint of Venice and Egypt.

Mark the Evangelist, John Mark, Saint Mark – it’s all one person, and this person is the author of the Gospel of Mark in the Bible. The real-time follower of Jesus and and the one brought Christianity to Egypt. It’s Mark’s house where the Last Supper happened. 

St Mark is the patron saint of (among other cities) Venice and Egypt.

The information about his origin and his life are fragmentary, and the scholars are still researching and questioning its historicity. However, he wrote one of the Gospels and is very well represented in the visual arts.

St Mark’s attributes are the lion, a bishop’s throne decorated with lions and a book. He is often depicted writing in a book. 

 

Two main symbols of St Mark the Evangelist in visual arts are the winged lion, or the Lion of Saint Mark, and a book with an inscription – PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEVS (“Peace be upon you, Mark, my evangelist”).

Saint Mark by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)
Saint Mark by Jacopo Palma (Il Giovane) (1544–1628)
St Mark the Evangelist by Godfried Maes (1649–1700)