Saint Christopher

File:Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar, 1497 – (san Cristoforo) - BEIC IE4411197.jpg (1497)]]

Legends about the life and death of Saint Christopher first appeared in Greece in the 6th century and had spread to France by the 9th century. The 11th-century bishop and poet Walter of Speyer gave one version, but the most popular variations originated from the 13th-century Golden Legend.

{{cite journal |last1=Molteni |first1=E. |last2=Vergani |first2=M. |last3=Riva |first3=M. A. |title=The gigantic tooth of St. Christopher |journal=British Dental Journal |date=February 2019 |volume=226 |issue=4 |page=240 |doi=10.1038/s41415-019-0034-z|pmid=30796375 |s2cid=256578248 |doi-access=free |hdl=10281/220741 |hdl-access=free }}

According to the legendary account of his life Christopher was initially called {{lang|la|Reprobus}}.{{cite web|url=http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Christopher.html|title=Weniger, Francis X., "St. Christopher, Martyr, (1876)}} He was a Canaanite, 5 cubits ({{convert|7.5|ft}}) tall{{cite journal |last1=Molteni |first1=E. |last2=Vergani |first2=M. |last3=Riva |first3=M. A. |date=22 February 2019 |volume=226|issue=240 |page=240 |title=The gigantic tooth of St. Christopher |journal=British Dental Journal |doi=10.1038/s41415-019-0034-z |pmid=30796375 |s2cid=71148662 |doi-access=free |hdl=10281/220741 |hdl-access=free }} and with a fearsome face. While serving the king of Canaan, he took it into his head to go and serve "the greatest king there was". He went to the king who was reputed to be the greatest, but one day he saw the king cross himself at the mention of the devil. On thus learning that the king feared the devil, he departed to look for the devil. He came across a band of marauders, one of whom declared himself to be the devil, so Christopher decided to serve him. But when he saw his new master avoid a wayside cross and found out that the devil feared Christ, he left him and enquired from people where to find Christ. He met a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. Christopher asked him how he could serve Christ. When the hermit suggested fasting and prayer, Christopher replied that he was unable to perform that service. The hermit then suggested that because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where they were perishing in the attempt. The hermit promised that this service would be pleasing to Christ.

File:Orazio Gentileschi - Landscape with St Christopher - WGA8576.jpg]]

After Christopher had performed this service for some time, a little child asked him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river became swollen and the child seemed as heavy as lead, so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him and found himself in great difficulty. When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: "You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were." The child replied: "You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work." The child then vanished.{{cite web|author=John J. Crawley|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CHRISTOP.HTM|title=Saint Christopher martyr third century|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010234720/https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CHRISTOP.HTM|archive-date=10 October 2014}}

Christopher later visited Lycia and there comforted the Christians who were being martyred. Brought before the local king, he refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. The king tried to win him by riches and by sending two beautiful women to tempt him. Christopher converted the women to Christianity, as he had already converted thousands in the city. The king ordered him to be killed. Various attempts failed, but finally Christopher was beheaded.

The name Christopher, as used in the Anglophone world, is the English version of the Greek name {{lang|grc-x-koine|Χριστόφορος}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Christóphoros}} or {{lang|grc-Latn|Christóforos}}). It is formed from the word elements {{lang|grc-x-koine|Χριστός}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Christós}}, 'Christ'), and {{lang|grc-x-koine|φέρειν}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|phérein}}, 'to bear'), together signifying, "Christ bearer". Widely dispersed into other languages and cultures from the Greek, many native forms of Christopher are used both to refer to the saint and as a personal name.{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Uckelman|editor1-first=S.L.|last1=Brown|first1=A.|last2=Grim |first2=G.|last3=Le Get |first3=R.|last4=Shiel|first4=N. |last5=Slíz|first5=M.|last6=Uckelman|first6=J. |last7=Uckelman|first7=S.L. |encyclopedia=The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources |date=2021 |publisher=dmnes.org|title=Christopher}}{{cite book|last1=Yonge|first1=Charlotte Mary|title=History of Christian Names |date=1884 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |pages=104–106|chapter=Names from Cristos |id=[Part III, Chapter V, Section 3] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924031230182/page/104/}}

File:Master of St Christopher with the devil - The martyrdom of Saint Christopher.jpg

The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates Christopher of Lycea (or Lycia) with a Feast Day on 9 May. The liturgical reading and hymns refer to his imprisonment by Decius who tempts Christopher with prostitutes before ordering his beheading.{{cite web |url=http://goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=47 |title=Christopher the Martyr of Lycea |work=Saints |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America |date=2013 |access-date=16 April 2013}} The Kontakion in the Fourth Tone (hymn) reads:

Thou who wast terrifying both in strength and in countenance, for thy Creator's sake thou didst surrender thyself willingly to them that sought thee; for thou didst persuade both them and the women that sought to arouse in thee the fire of lust, and they followed thee in the path of martyrdom. And in torments thou didst prove to be courageous. Wherefore, we have gained thee as our great protector, O great Christopher.

The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 25 July.Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 {{ISBN|978-88-209-7210-3}}) The Tridentine calendar commemorates him on the same day only in private Masses. By 1954 his commemoration had been extended to all Masses, but it was dropped in 1970 as part of the general reorganization of the calendar of the Roman rite as mandated by the motu proprio, Mysterii Paschalis. His commemoration is of Roman tradition, in view of the relatively late date (about 1550) and limited manner in which it was accepted into the Roman calendar,Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 131 but his feast continues to be observed locally.{{cite book |last=Butler |first=Alban |title=Butler's lives of the saints, Volume 7|year=2000|publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-8146-2383-1 |pages=198–199 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umn3JEADSTQC&pg=PA198 |author-link=Alban Butler|editor=Peter Doyle, Paul Burns |access-date=25 October 2010}}

A stone inscription of {{cvt|2|x|1|m}} was found in the ruins of a church in the ruins of the ancient city Chalcedon near present-day Istanbul. The inscription bears witness to the laying of the foundation stone, the construction and the consecration of a church in the name of "Saint Christopher's Martyrdom". The inscription states that this Church of St Christopher dates back to the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, the Council of Chalcedon.{{cite journal|author=Louis Duchesne|title=Inscription chrétienne de Bithynie |journal=Bulletin de correspondence hellénique|volume=2|date=1878|pages=289–299|language=fr|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bch_0007-4217_1878_num_2_1_4459 |via=Digitalisat}} The inscription also mentions the names of the state ministers of the Byzantine Empire and those church ministers who were involved in the laying of the foundation stone, the construction or the consecration of the church.Carl Maria Kaufmann: Handbook of Early Christian Epigraphy Herder, Freiburg i. 1917, page 391([https://archive.org/details/HandbuchaltchristlichenEpigraphik/page/n204 Digitalisat]) The inscription reads:With God was laid the cornerstone of the martyrdom of Saint Christopher in the third indiction in the month of May under the Consulate of the illustrious Protogenes and Asturius under the Emperor Theodosius II and Bishop Eulalios of Chalcedon. But it was built by the venerable chamberlain Euphemidus, and the consecration took place at the end of the fifth indiction in the month of September, on the 22nd., under the consulate of the illustrious Sporacius and Herculanus. The inscription attests to the veneration of Saint Christopher in Chalcedon in the 5th century.

A nunnery in Galatia was consecrated to Saint Christopher around the year 600.Dr. Werner Chrobak: Christophorus, Heiliger Riese, Nothelfer, Verkehrspatron | Sadifa Media Verlags GmbH | Kehl am Rhein 2004, p. 2

The Museum of Sacred Art at Saint Justine's Church (Sveta Justina) in Rab, Croatia claims a gold-plated reliquary holds the skull of St. Christopher. According to church tradition, a bishop showed the relics from the city wall in 1075 in order to end a siege of the city by an Italo-Norman army.{{cite web|url=http://www.rab-visit.com/en/did-you-know/the-legend-of-st-christopher/3125|title=The legend of St. Christopher|website=rab-visit.com}}[http://www.rab.hr/grad-rab/o-gradu-rabu/povijest/P2 Portal Grada Raba: Povijest 14. ZAŠTITNIK RABA SV. KRISTOFOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927233143/http://www.rab.hr/grad-rab/o-gradu-rabu/povijest/P2 |date=27 September 2020 }} Naime, Rab su 14. 4. 1075. svojim lađama opkolili italski Normani. Nemoćni da se obrane od brojnog i naoružanog neprijatelja, rabljani pozvaše u pomoć svog zaštitnika, svetog Kristofora <…> Svečeva lubanja dospjela je u Rab i čuva se u muzeju sv. Justine, kao dragocjena relikvija.

The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik holds a relic which is claimed to be the incorrupt leg of the saint. It was brought over in 1484 from Constantinople through Corfu and originally intended to be transferred to Korčula. The feast day of Saint Christopher is celebrated on 27 July in Šibenik.{{cite web |title=Danas slavimo drugog zaštitnika grada Šibenika i Šibenske biskupije sv. Kristofora. U katedrali je otvoren relikvijar sa svečevom neraspadnutom nogom. |url=https://www.sibenska-biskupija.hr/danas-slavimo-drugog-zastitnika-grada-sibenika-i-sibenske-biskupije-sv-kristofora-u-katedrali-je-otvoren-relikvijar-sa-svecevom-neras/ |website=Šibenska biskupija |access-date=25 July 2024 |language=Croatian |date=27 July 2022}}

Greek Orthodox churches in Grevena, Filothei, and Siatista hold other relics of the saint.

File:Saint Christopher Medal.png

In the Late Middle Ages, a claimed large tooth of St. Christopher was delivered to the church in Vercelli. Pilgrims came from all over Europe to look at this relic until the end of 18th century when a naturalist determined it was a tooth of a hippopotamus. The tooth was then removed from the altar and its veneration prohibited.

Devotional medals with St. Christopher's name and image are commonly worn as pendants, especially by travelers, to show devotion and as a request for his blessing. Miniature statues are frequently displayed in automobiles. In French a widespread phrase for such medals is {{lang|fr|Regarde St Christophe et va-t-en rassuré}} ("Look at St Christopher and go on reassured", sometimes translated as "Behold St Christopher and go your way in safety"); Saint Christopher medals and holy cards in Spanish have the phrase {{lang|es|Si en San Cristóbal confías, de accidente no morirás}} ("If you trust St. Christopher, you won't die in an accident").{{Cite book|title=A Year in the Life of Medieval England |first=Toni |last=Mount |publisher=Amberley Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4456-5240-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WcZ5DAAAQBAJ&q=Christopher&pg=PT169 |page=169}}

St. Christopher was a widely popular saint, especially revered by athletes, mariners, ferrymen, and travelers.Mershman, Francis (1908). "St. Christopher". In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. He is revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. He holds patronage of things related to travel and travelers—against lightning and pestilence—and patronage for archers; bachelors; boatmen; soldiers; bookbinders; epilepsy; floods; fruit dealers; fullers; gardeners; a holy death; mariners; market carriers; motorists and drivers; sailors; storms; surfers;[http://www.rcbo.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=100000001 Diocese of Orange hosts First Annual Blessing of the Waves in Surf City] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916161951/http://www.rcbo.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=100000001 |date=16 September 2008 }}, Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, 15 September 2008 toothache; mountaineering; and transportation workers.

File:Saint christopher cynocephalus.gif.]]

Christopher is the patron saint of many places, including: Baden, Germany; Barga, Italy; Brunswick, Germany; Mecklenburg, Germany; Rab, Croatia; Roermond, the Netherlands; Saint Christopher's Island (Saint Kitts); Toses, Catalonia, Spain; Mondim de Basto, Portugal; Agrinio, Greece; Vilnius, Lithuania; Riga, Latvia; Havana, Cuba; San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic; Paete, Laguna, Philippines; and Tivim, Goa, India.

Numerous places are named for the saint, including Saint Christopher Island, the official name of the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, and St. Christopher Island in Antarctica. Many places are named after the saint in other languages, for example {{lang|fr|Saint-Christophe}} is a common French place name; similarly, {{lang|es|San Cristóbal}} is a place name in many Spanish-speaking or Spanish-influenced countries, and the {{lang|pt|São Cristóvão}} is in use throughout the Lusophone world.

Because St. Christopher offered protection to travelers and against sudden death, many churches placed images or statues of him, usually opposite the south door, so he could be easily seen. He is usually depicted as a giant, with a child on his shoulder and a staff in one hand.{{cite book|last=Magill|first=Frank Northen|title=Dictionary of World Biography: The ancient world|year=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-89356-313-4|pages=239–244|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyKaVFZqbdUC&pg=PA242|author2=J. Moose |author3=Alison Aves |access-date=25 October 2010}} In England, there are more wall paintings of St. Christopher than of any other saint; in 1904, Mrs. Collier, writing for the British Archaeological Association, reported 183 paintings, statues, and other representations of the saint, outnumbering all others except for the Virgin Mary.{{cite journal |author=Mrs. Collier |title=Saint Christopher and Some Representations of Him in English Churches|journal=Journal of the British Archaeological Association|year=1904|volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=130–145|doi=10.1080/00681288.1904.11893754 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDgNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA130|access-date=25 October 2010}}

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, certain icons identify Saint Christopher with the head of a dog. According to Jonathan Pageau, because western stories suggest Christopher was born in Canaan and referred to as a Canaanite, it could have been confused with caninus, the latin word for "of the dog." Such images may echo medieval depictions of cynocephaly and refer to mythical beings with dog heads. Because of the association of the representation of dog-headed saint with stories of werewolves or monstrous races, the Russian Orthodox Church forbid the depiction of the saint with a dog head in the 18th century.Pageau, Jonathan. (8 July 2013).[https://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-icon-of-st-christopher/ "Understanding The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher"], Orthodox Arts Journal

The roots of that iconography lie in a hagiographic narrative set during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, which tells of a man named Reprebus, (also, Rebrebus or Reprobus; 'the reprobate' or 'scoundrel'). He was captured by Roman forces fighting against tribes dwelling to the west of Egypt in Cyrenaica and forced to join the Roman {{lang|la|numerus Marmaritarum}}{{efn|Such a "Unit of the Marmaritae" suggests an otherwise-unidentified "Marmaritae", perhaps the same as the Marmaricae Berber tribe of Cyrenaica.}} ('Unit of the Marmaritae'). He was reported to be of enormous size, with the head of a dog instead of a man. This was in line with the cultural beliefs of the time, which held that typical Marmaritae were tall, strong, and rascally; being a cynocephalus was also consistent with this image. Roman writer Pliny the Elder reported that the "{{lang|grc|Cynamolgi}} {{lang|grc|cynocephali}}, of Ethiopia were men with the heads of dogs." Pliny's work, The Natural History was, during the first century A.D., a well-respected compendium of Roman science. It reports accepted "knowledge" about people from Cyrenaica. Pliny notes that these "dog-headed men" resided in "Ethiopia"—a name used to encapsulate areas of Africa West and South of Alexandrian Egypt by contemporary Romans.{{cite web |last=Gebhart |first=Tim |date=19 May 2021 |title=Fantastical Humans Roamed Pliny's "Natural History" |url=https://medium.com/exploring-history/fantastical-humans-roamed-plinys-natural-history-6e03c637d97d |access-date=12 April 2022 |website=Exploring History }}See Pliny:

• {{Cite book|translator=Harris Rackham |author=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) |publisher=Harvard University Press |orig-date=This translation first published 1938 |date=1963 |isbn=978-0-674-99388-4|volume=II , la |id=Books 3–7}}
• {{cite book |author=Pliny the Elder |translator1=John Bostock |translator2=Henry T. Riley |title=The Natural History of Pliny |date=18 July 2020 |orig-date=This translation first published 1855 by Henry G. Bohn, London |publisher=Digitised and republished online by The Project Gutenberg eBooks |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/60230/pg60230-images.html |chapter=BOOK VII–Man, his Birth, his Organization, and the Invention of the Arts: Chapter 2. The Wonderful Forms of Different Nations |volume=II (of VI)}} Reprebus and the unit were later transferred to Syrian Antioch, where bishop Peter of Attalia baptised him and where he was martyred in 308.David Woods, 'St. Christopher, Bishop Peter of Attalia, and the Cohors Marmaritarum: A Fresh Examination', Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 48, No. 2 (June 1994), pp. 170-186

Scholars have suggested that the Byzantine depiction of St. Christopher as dog-headed may have resulted from his identification as a member of the tribe of the Marmaritae who were a land of cannibals and dog-headed peoples. The Greek tradition interpreted this literally, which led to Byzantine icons often depicting St. Christopher with a dog's head. The Latin tradition moved in the opposite direction away from a literal translation of the original Greek term "dog-headed" (kunokephalos). The Latin tradition may have translated the term as "dog-like" (canineus). This later evolved into a misreading as the Latin term {{lang|la|Cananeus}}, 'Canaanite', thus turning Christopher into a Canaanite.[https://web.archive.org/web/20000124104631/https://www.ucc.ie/milmart/chrsorig.html David Woods, The Origin of the Cult of St. Christopher], University College Cork, October 1999

According to the medieval Irish Passion of St. Christopher, "This Christopher was one of the Dog-heads, a race that had the heads of dogs and ate human flesh."{{cite web |url=http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/chrsirish.html |title=Irish Passion of St. Christopher |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729215126/http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/chrsirish.html |archive-date=29 July 2013}} It was commonly accepted at the time that there were several types of races, the Cynocephalus, or dog-headed people, being one of many believed to populate the world. The German bishop and poet Walter of Speyer portrayed St. Christopher as a giant of a cynocephalic species in the land of the Chananeans who ate human flesh and barked. Eventually, Christopher met the Christ child, regretted his former behavior, and received baptism. He, too, was rewarded with a human appearance, whereupon he devoted his life to Christian service and became an athlete of God, one of the soldier saints.Walter of Speyer, Vita et passio sancti Christopher martyris, 75.

{{see also|Saint Christopher in popular culture}}

File:Westminster Psalter St Christopher.jpg|St. Christopher, from the Westminster Psalter, c. 1250

File:St Botolph, Slapton - Wall painting - geograph.org.uk - 4471788 (cropped).jpg|14th century image of St Christopher, one of the Slapton Wall Paintings in Northamptonshire, England

File:Saint Christopher 001.jpg|The earliest dated woodcut in Europe, 1423, Buxheim, with hand-colouring of Saint Christopher

File:Saint Christopher after Jan van Eyck.jpg|Saint Christopher, c. 1460–70, after a lost painting by Jan van Eyck

Hans Memling 033.jpg|Saint Christopher by Hans Memling, c. 1480

File:Cima da conegliano, san cristoforo col bambino e san pietro.jpg|Saint Christopher with the Christ Child and St Peter by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, c. 1505

File:Bellini, Sts Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse.jpg|Saints Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse by Giovanni Bellini, 1513

File:BStrozziCristof1.jpg|St. Christopher, St. Sebastian, St. Roch by Bernardo Strozzi, early 17th century; Parish of Almenno San Salvatore, Bergamo

File:Jacob Jordaens - St Christopher Carrying the Christ Child.jpg|St Christopher Carrying the Christ Child by Jacob Jordaens, c. 1625–1630

File:Jan van der Venne - Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child.jpg|Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child by Jan van de Venne, 163–1651

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• Acts of Andrew and Bartholomew
• List of saints
• Statue of Saint Christopher, Charles Bridge
• Cedalion for a somewhat similar classical myth.{{relevance inline|date=October 2024}}

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{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Bouquet|first=John A.|title=A People's Book of Saints|year=1930|publisher=Longman's|location=London}}
• {{cite book|last=Butler|first=Alban|editor1-last= Thurston |editor1-first=Herbert J.|editor2-first=Donald|editor2-last= Attwater|title=Butler's lives of the saints|year=1956|publisher=Kenedy|location=New York}}
• {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Christopher, Saint|volume=6|page=295|short=1}}
• {{cite book|last=Cunningham|first=Lawrence S.|title=The meaning of saints|year=1980|publisher=Harper & Row|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0-06-061649-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/meaningofsaints00473}}
• {{cite book|last=Voragine|first=Jacobus de|title=The golden legend: Readings on the saints|year=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey (USA)|isbn=978-0-691-00865-3|translator=William Ryan}}
• [https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume4.asp#Christopher "The Life of Saint Christopher"], The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints, Temple Classics, 1931 (Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, translated by William Caxton) at the Fordham University Medieval Sourcebook
• * St. Christopher in the Golden Legend: [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/voragine/chris.shtml Latin original], [http://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/christopher.htm English translation (Caxton)]
• {{cite book|last=Weinstein|first=Donald|title=Saints and society: the 2 worlds of western Christendom, 1000–1700|year=1982|publisher=Univ. of Chicago Pr.|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-89055-5|author2=Bell, Rudolph M.}}
• {{cite book|last=White|first=Helen|title=Tudor Books of Saints and Martyrs|url=https://archive.org/details/tudorbooksofsain0000whit|url-access=registration|year=1963|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Wilson|editor-first=Stephen|title=Saints and their cults: Studies in religious sociology, folklore, and history|year=1983|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-24978-2}}

{{Commons}}

• [http://www.christianiconography.info/christopher.html Saint Christopher] at the [http://www.christianiconography.info Christian Iconography] web site

{{Fourteen Holy Helpers}}

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