St. Francis De Sales Church REREDOS

St. Francis de Sales Church REREDOS SAINT PETER: The (an ornamental screen covering the wall at the SAINT MATTHEW: keys crossed like the back of an altar) A Jew who was letter X is the most called by Christ, usual symbol of St. One of the most striking features in the St. Francis and followed Him, Peter. They recall Matthew was a our Lord’s words, de Sales Church is the beautifully ornamented former tax “And I will give to Reredos or Alter Piece with its twelve panels collector. These thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” representing the Twelve Apostles [Fishers Of Men]. money bags The inverted cross symbolizes the type of symbolize that past profession. Matthew is cross upon which Peter was crucified, during the author of the First Gospel and in his the reign of Nero. The papal crown genealogy of Jesus Christ, he emphasizes the symbolizes Peter as the first Pope and head Lord’s human nature and origins. He was said of the Church, the Church built on the rock of to have been crucified in Ethiopia on a Tau Peter’s faith in his Savior. cross. SAINT ANDREW: SAINT THOMAS: Though not one of the Called “The Twin” inner circle, Andrew because he offered to proclaimed on the day die with Jesus on he met Jesus, “We their way to Bethany, have found the Thomas did have his Messiah.” The X doubts about Christ’s represents the shape of the crucifix he was resurrection. But he later confessed his faith said to be martyred on. This X‐shaped cross in Him: “My Lord And My God.” He was the has become known as St. Andrew’s Cross. first to proclaim so explicitly the Lord’s The two fishes recall his profession as a divinity. Thomas is said to have constructed a fisherman and as a Fisher of Men. The great church with his own hands in East India, boat hook is also a symbol for Andrew. hence the carpenter’s square here. He was stoned and shot with arrows, martyred by SAINT JAMES: (The pagans. Greater) James was the older brother of SAINT JAMES (The St. John and, along Lesser): Not much is with his brother and actually known about Peter, was among the James, but that he closest to Jesus. labored in and around James is symbolized by three escallop shells. Jerusalem. Martyred They, along with the pilgrim’s staff, are by Jews, he was symbols of pilgrimage. The sword symbolizes tortured mercilessly, reflected here by the the death of James, beheaded at the order of weapons used upon him – the Jerusalem Herod. He was the first of The Twelve to crosses, the stones, the bat and the saw. suffer martyrdom. SAINT JOHN: The one “whom Jesus loved”, John was SAINT SIMON: Unfortunately for our Simon the the Apostle Jesus entrusted His mother to at the foot Apostle, the name of Simon was so common in the of His cross. Symbolizing John here is a chalice, out of New Testament that there is some ambiguity about which rises a serpent, representing a poisoned drink his path. We do know that he preached and was from which the Lord spared him. The sword is the martyred in Persia, probably beheaded. Hence the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God that he representation of the battle axe. He was a great Fisher preached. The scroll represents the gospel of St. John, of Men , symbolized by the fish impaled on the boat who is said to be the only one of the Twelve who lived long and died a natural hook. death. SAINT PHILIP: The Apostle from Bethsaida, Phillip is SAINT JUDE (Thaddeus): Jude was a “brethren of the symbolized by a tall, slender cross and the loaf of bread Lord” – the Lord’s relative. The Apocryphal “Passion of and fish recalling his words when our Lord fed the Simon and Jude” depicted the two Apostles in Persia, multitude, “Two hundred denarii would not buy where they preached and were martyred. They enough bread for each of them to get a little.” The travelled far and wide together, symbolized here by spear recalls his martyrdom in Asia. When scourging the sailboat with the Cross‐shaped mast. failed to silence him, he was stoned, crucified, and finally run through with a spear. SAINT BARTHOLOMEW: Seized by the governor of Saint Matthias: Matthias was elected by the Apostles Albanapolis in Armenia, the faithful Bartholomew met a to replace Judas Iscariot, the original Apostle who had violent end. His death is symbolized here by a scimitar betrayed Christ and later committed suicide. Matthias and flaying knife, representing his crucifixion, is said to have been stoned and beheaded, his beheading and actual flaying. The open bible recalls his martyrdom symbolized here by the stone and the belief in God’s word, and the fig branches recall the fact primitive double‐edged battle axe. that our Lord saw him first under a fig tree. .

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