In Christian iconography, is there a personification of Faith like there is for Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia)?
I wonder if that’s just a confusion because in Spanish the same word (Santa) is used for Holy and Saint. Santa Fe might mean nothing more than “Holy Faith” without necessarily conjuring up an image of a person (although it might be that too). Likewise, “Santa Cruz” means “Holy Cross” and not necessarily the name of an actual saint (although it might be that too). Likewise, “Santa Biblia” (photo) means “Holy Bible”, not a real or metaphorical saintly person as an icon for the Bible.
ETA: That said, Faith is also a cromulent name for a Christian family to give their daughter, and such a lady could well become a saint, real or legendary, portrayed by paintings and statues.
No, my question was triggered by a stained glass window in an Anglican Church, no Spanish connexion. The window depicted a woman as Faith.
Yes. (I linked to the French article because it seemed a bit more convincing than the English, but click “English” on the bottom left or search for “Saint Faith” and there is an article. There’s also an interesting bit on a poem to her from the 11th century, the oldest surviving literature in Occitan (English article this time). (Edit: I wouldn’t say she is a personification for faith, but I suspect that is her origin rather than a real woman who happened to be named faith.)
St Faith was known in medieval England, so there are cases of Anglican churches or chapels dedicated to her. The most high-profile example is the chapel in the southern transept of Westminster Abbey.
The complication however is that ‘Faith’ can be depicted in Christian art as one of the three theological virtues. But her attributes would probably be different - the saint should have a gridiron, whereas the virtue might have a cross, a chalice, an open book or a candle.
Slight hijack: Please explain the meaning of “gridiron” in this context. I can’t get anything useful from Google, and Wikipedia has nothing that seems appropriate.
It’s the cooking grill sense, as it’s the way in which she is said to have been martyred. There’s a depiction of her martyrdom on the various Wikipedia links Dr. Drake provided above and she is shown with her gridiron on the Westminster Abbey webpage I cited. The more famous saint conventionally shown with one is St Lawrence.
Oh, never mind: it’s the “cooking grill” meaning.
ETA: Thanks, APB !
“You can turn me over. I’m done on this side.”
Can’t say Larry didn’t have some equanimity under fire (literally!)…
As far as St. Faith, the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity) are sometimes depicted in Catholic art as personifications (not unlike the ancient Greek depictions of the Graces). This is usually intended metaphorically, though, not as if those three concepts were actual supernatural people.
Good points. Also, consider the city of San Salvador (“Holy Savior”) in Mesoamerica. San is just the masculine form of the same holy/saint word. This is obviously a metaphorical reference to Jesus, not a separate saint with the first name “Savior”.
Some “San” and “Santa” places that actually do refer to saints:
Santa Ana - Saint Anne
Santa Monica - Saint Monica
Santa Maria - Saint Mary
Santa Elena - Saint Helen/Ellen
Santa Rosa - Saint Rose
Santa Clara - Saint Clara/Claire
Santa Barbara - Saint Barbara
Santa Ynez - Saint Agnes
San Francisco - Saint Francis
San Juan - Saint John
San Jose - Saint Joseph
San Diego - Saint James (who would probably discourage jacking it)
San Antonio - Saint Anthony
San Marcos - Saint Mark
San Luis - Saint Louis (also see San Luis Obispo, Bishop St. Louis)
San German (e.g. the city in Puerto Rico) - Saint Germaine
San Felipe - Saint Phillip
San Pablo - Saint Paul
San Andreas - Saint Andrew
San Bartolome - Saint Bartholomew (that Bart right there!)
San Pedro - Saint Peter
San Bernardino - Saint Bernard
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…“Santa Biblia” (photo)…
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Clicking that link caused an alert from AVG re malware
And this is the case with many other concepts; the late 18th and the 19th centuries put allegorical statues on any building large enough for them. I’m reasonably sure those statues of Agriculture and Seamanship I often walk by aren’t supposed to be actual people.
As with Faith and while the city and country of San Salvador and El Salvador are named after Jesus, eventually there came to be at least one saint who was actually named Salvador, a Spanish Franciscan (page in Spanish). San Jesús Méndez was Mexican (again, page in Spanish).
I think this is what I’m looking for. I’ll double-check next Sunday but I don’t recall any grid-iron. I think she has a book and an upraised hand.
Just thought I would report back: the window of Faith that I saw has her holding both a cross and a book, presumably Gospel or Bible, and the name on the window is just “Faith”, not St Faith, so it’s clearly the personification of Faith, not the reputed martyr.
Thanks to all for the replies.