![]() An angel, tumbling into the scene from heaven, bears palm fronds in his right hand, symbols of martyrdom. They were eventually beheaded, along with several other brothers, who also appear in the painting, crowned with halos. According to tradition, the saints were unharmed by attempts to kill them with arrows, by stoning, and by crucifixion. In the background, archers loose arrows at him while other figures appear to hurl rocks. In the upper righthand corner of the painting, his brother is securely bound to another cross, which has already been raised off the ground. One of his persecutors binds his legs to the cross while another monitors his progress. One of the saints is shown in the lower lefthand corner of the painting, his left hand outstretched but tied to a cross that is resting on the ground. We had missed it in the darkness! (A black and white image is available here.) A large painting, the Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian, attributed to the workshop of Tintoretto, hung above it. Next to it, we found the altar of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Earlier, I had paused before an imposing wooden crucifix, riveted by its wrenching depiction of Christ on the cross. ![]() Their bones are kept there.” I was elated, and I asked him excitedly where we might find the altar. “But, there is an altar of Cosmas and Damian. “I don’t know about their skulls,” he said. The second priest looked uncertain, and he shook his head as he began to answer. Is this true? Do you know whether the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian are here in the church?” “This may sound strange, but we’ve heard that the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian may be located here, at Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore. He led us to the rectory, where we repeated our question to one of his colleagues. He thought for a moment and then invited us to follow him. It was a priest, and we asked whether he knew about the relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian. No sign of the saints.Įventually, we stumbled upon a man striding confidently through the church. We peered at statutes, examined chiseled writing, and contemplated the high altar. ![]() Were the skulls housed in an elaborate metal reliquary? Were they displayed in sturdy glass cases? Were they even in the church proper rather than in a separate treasury or crypt? We hurried past fading altars, their angels and saints winking at us in the dim light of votive candles. We looked for traces of the saints in the gathering darkness. Soon enough, they left, and in the sepulchral stillness of the empty church, we began our search for the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian in earnest. All sense of depth, line, and color seemed to dissolve in the gloaming, and the tourists quickly lost interest. Inside, a few tourists shuffled through the aisles, straining to catch a glimpse of the church’s treasures – paintings by Tintoretto, Sebastiano Ricci, and Jacopo Bassano – in the fading light, but it was no use. ![]() Nevertheless, we gave the door a hopeful nudge, and it yielded freely. The church was dark and looked deserted, so we were afraid it might be closed. We arrived at San Giorgio Maggiore by vaporetto at dusk. The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice is one, and on a recent trip to Venice, I decided to find out whether the church really did posses relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian. The reliquary purportedly contains the skulls of Saints Cosmas and Damian, although as I noted in the post, other churches are also said to possess the saints’ skulls. In an earlier post, I discussed a 15 th century Rhenish School-style reliquary located at the Church of Saint Michael (St. ![]()
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