A signal example is the central dome of the baptistery of St. Mark's, executed by Greek artists of the 12th and 13th centuries. In the four spandrils of the vault are the Greek fathers seated, writing (if I well remember), and in the purest Byzantine style of art. They occupy the same places here that we find usually occupied by the Latin Doctors in church decoration each has his name inscribed in Greek characters. We have exactly the same representation in the cathedral of Monreale at Palermo. The Greek fathers have no attributes to distinguish them, and the general custom in Byzantine art of inscribing the names over each figure renders this unnecessary; in general, each holds a book, or, in some instances, a scroll, which represents his writings, while the right hand is raised in benediction, in the Greek manner, the first and second finger extended, and the thumb and third finger forming a cross. According to the formula published by M. Didron, each of the Greek fathers bears on a scroll the first words of some remarkable passage from his works: thus St. John Chrysostom has "God, our God, who hath given us for food the bread of life," &c.: St. Basil, "None of those who are in the bondage of fleshly desires are worthy," &c.: St. Athanasius, "Often, and anew, do we flee to thee, O God," &c.: St. Gregory Nazianzen, "God, the holy among the holies, the thrice holy," &c.: and St. Cyril, "Above all, a Virgin without sin or blemish," &c.

The Greek bishops do not wear mitres; consequently, when in the Italian or German pictures St. Basil or any of his companions wear the mitre, it is a mistake arising from the ignorance of the artist.

Venice.

Vatican.

Capella di

S. Nicold,

The fathers of the Greek Church are represented by Fra Angelico in the chapel of St. Nicholas; but the restorations and repainting have rendered it difficult to ascertain the original treatment. In a very different style are the fathers of the Greek Church by Domenichino at Grotta Ferrata, Domenipainted over the cornice and under the evangelists, their proper

chino.

place they are majestic figures, with fine heads, and correctly draped according to the Greek ecclesiastical costume.1 The etched outline from a beautiful ancient Greek miniature, will give an accurate idea of the characteristic figures and habits of the Greek fathers.

As separate devotional and historical representations of these fathers do sometimes, though rarely, occur, I shall say a few words of them individually.

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.

Lat. Sanctus Johannes Chrysostom.

Ital. San Giovanni Crisostomo San Giovanni Bocca d' oro. Fr. St. Jean Chrysostome. Died Sept. 14. A. D. 407. His festival is celebrated by the Greeks on the 13th of November, and by the Latin Church on the 27th of January.

ST. JOHN, called CHRYSOSTOM or OF THE GOLDEN MOUTH, because of his extraordinary eloquence, was born at Antioch in 344. His parents were illustrious, and the career opened to him was of arts and arms; but from his infancy the bent of his mind was peculiar. He lost his father when young; his mother Arthusia, still in the prime of her life, remained a widow for his sake, and superintended his education with care and intelligence. The remark of Sir James Mackintosh, that "all distinguished men have had able mothers," appears especially true of the great churchmen and poets. The mother of St. John Chrysostom ranks with the Monicas and Sylvias, already described.

John, at the age of twenty, was already a renowned pleader at the bar. At the age of twenty-six, the disposition. to self-abnegation and the passion for solitude, which had

1 I imagine the choice of the Greek instead of the Latin fathers to decorate this chapel, to have arisen from some confusion between the Latin St. Nilus, to whom the church is dedicated, and the Greek St. Nilus, the friend and scholar of Chrysostom.

distinguished him from boyhood, became so strong, that he wished to retire altogether from the world; his legal studies, his legal honours, had become hateful to him: he would turn hermit. For a time, his mother's tears and prayers restrained him. He has himself recorded the pathetic remonstrance, in which she reminded him of all she had done and suffered in her state of widowhood for his sake, and besought him not to leave her. For the present he yielded; but two years later he fled from society, and passed five or six years in the wilderness near Antioch, devoting himself solely to the study of the Scriptures, to penance and prayer; feeding on the wild vegetables, and leading a life of such rigorous abstinence that his health sank under it, and he was obliged to return to Antioch.

All this time he was not even an ordained priest; but shortly after he had emerged from the desert, Flavian, bishop of Antioch, ordained him, and appointed him preacher. At the moment of his consecration, according to the tradition, a white dove descended on his head, which was regarded as the sign of immediate inspiration. He then entered on his true vocation as a Christian orator, the greatest next to Paul. On one occasion, when the people of Antioch had offended the emperor Theodosius, and were threatened with a punishment like that which had fallen on Thessalonica, the eloquence of St. John Chrysostom saved them: he was so adored by the people, that when he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople, it was necessary to kidnap him, and carry him off from Antioch by a force of armed soldiers, before the citizens had time to interfere.

From the moment he entered on his high office at Constantinople he became the model of a Christian bishop; humble, self-denying, sleeping on a bare plank, content with a little bread and pulse, he entertained with hospitality the poor and strangers: indefatigable as a preacher, he used his great gift of eloquence to convert his hearers to what he believed to be the truth: he united the enthusiasm and