Zenobius of Florence
Saint Zenobius | |
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Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence | |
Feast | May 25 |
Attributes | Usually shown in episcopal garb; often shown bringing a dead man or child back to life; flowering tree[1] |
Patronage | Florence |
Saint Zenobius (Italian: San Zanobi, Zenobio) (337–417) is venerated as the first bishop of Florence. His feast day is celebrated on May 25.
Life
Born of a Florentine noble family, Zenobius was educated by his
According to his biographer and successor in the See of Florence, Antonius, he died in his ninetieth year, in 424; but, as Antonius says that Pope Innocent I (d. 417) was at the time pope, the date is uncertain.
There are grounds for believing that he actually died in 417, on 25 May, on which day the ancient tower where he is supposed to have lived, near the Ponte Vecchio, was annually decorated with flowers.
Veneration
His body was first buried in the
In the back of the middle of the three
Miracles
Extraordinary miracles, including several instances of the restoration of the dead to life, are attributed to him. Zenobius is said to have resurrected several dead people. It is also said that after his death, a dead elm burst into life after his body touched it while being borne to the cathedral for burial.
A legend states that a child was once run over by a cart while playing. His mother, a widow, wailed as she brought the dead child to Zenobius' deacon. By means of a prayer, Saint Zenobius revived the child and restored him to his mother.
In art
Zenobius is often depicted with a dead child or man in his arms, or a flowering elm, both in reference to his miracles.
Sandro Botticelli depicted the life and work of Saint Zenobius in four paintings. In the first scene, Zenobius is shown twice: he rejects the bride that his parents intended him to take in marriage and walks thoughtfully away. The other episodes show the baptism of the young Zenobius and his mother, and on the right his ordination as bishop.
On the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio are frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted in 1482. The apotheosis of Saint Zenobius was painted with a perspectival illusion of the background.
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Domenico Veneziano, Saint Zenobius Performs a Miracle, 1445.
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Wall fresco of Saint Zenobius in the Hall of Lilies (Sala dei Gigli), Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
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The Madonna with Saint Dominic (right) and Saint Zenobius (left), by Fra Angelico
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Saint Zenobius seated with his deacons St. Crescentius and St. Eugenius kneeling at either side. Painting on a pillar in the DuomoSanta Maria del Fiore, Florence.
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Saint Zenobius, façade ofSanta Maria del Fiore, Florence
Notes
- ^ Stracke, Richard (2015-10-20). "Saint Zenobius: The Iconography". Christian Iconography.
- ^ Cathedral and Civic Ritual in Late Medieval and Renaissance Florence – Cambridge University Press
References
- Ferguson, George (1961). Signs and Symbols in Christian Art (New York: Oxford University Press), 147.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hunter-Blair, D. O. (1912). "Zenobius, Saint". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 755–756.