Saints and their Attributes in Art: Saint John Bosco
Basilica di Sacro Cuore di Gesù
Christ is among us!
Thursday, the 3rd of April, The Year of Our Lord 2024, A.U.C. 2777
This is the second of three fieldwork assignments for this semester’s Art and Architecture class. The task this time was to find a post-Trent depiction of a Saint (ideally a devotional one) and review it, paying special attention to the Saint’s attribute in art and what it references in their life. Popular examples include instuments of martyrdom (Catherine’s Wheel, Paul’s Sword, etc.) and items from important stories of their life (Benedict’s Regula, e.g.) For this assignment I chose to go to Sacro Cuore di Gesù, right by Termini station, and visit their shrine to St. John Bosco. Sacro Cuore is one of the churches that Don Bosco built, and it is under the care of the Salesians, whom he founded.
At a side alter of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus near Termini Station in Rome there is a massive, larger than life portrait of Saint John Bosco. I visited there after Art and Architecture class on the 11th [of March], right around 12:15 PM. I do not think the light quality within the Church played a great role in experiencing the piece, though the natural light that reached the inside was very pleasant. I am afraid to say that while the portrait is beautiful, it lacks bella composto. It is not unfitting for its surroundings, but the architecture does nothing to aid the effect or to impress the importance of the saint upon the viewer. The portrait is recent, within the last century if I had to guess, though I could find no information about the exact age of the piece or who painted it.
Saint John Bosco is depicted much as he looked in life, with a wry expression on his face, a kindly look in his eyes, and the dress of a 19th century Italian priest. Next to him stands young Saint Domenic Savio, a student of Don Bosco who died at 14 while studying for the priesthood. Savio holds a note in his hand which reads “voglio farmi santo” tranlated: “I want to become a saint”. It is signed “Savio Domenico”, an inversion of the usual order of his name to highlight the young saint’s virtue, as savio means “wise”. Savio’s eyes are turned upwards towards heaven, while Don Bosco’s are towards the viewer. Symbolically, this can be interpreted as Don Bosco’s focus in life being on the sanctification of those in the world, while Saint Savio’s life was spent almost entirely on contemplation of the Divine.
Saint John Bosco is one of several recent saints who is known as much by photographs as by paintings, and thus does not have a particularly distinct attribute. He can be found in some depictions surrounded by children, but usually he is simply known by his clerical dress, his tousled hair, and the structure of his face. Even the iconographic tradition has no distinguishing mark for him. A similar issue may be found when looking at Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who can at least be identified by her habit, and at Blessed Carlo Acutis, who is known almost exclusively by his photograph. This trend in modern saints is somewhat concerning, as the unique attribute is frequently what identifies the saint to us. Mary Magdalene is known by her jar and long hair, Paul by his sword, Moses by his horns. Recently however we have saints of the church known only by their face. As these saints become less and less recent, memories of their appearances will degrade with time, perhaps becoming unrecognizable between one generation and the next. Certainly for the founders of orders this concern is small – the Salesians will keep Don Bosco’s image with great reverence I have no doubt – but for less popular saints the concern is great, and in any case principle demands that saints have attributes. One ought to be found for Don Bosco.
P.S.
Having done furthur research this the initial writing of this essay, I have found one possible attribute for St. John Bosco. In some images he is depicted with a large grey dog, a creature who at several points in the saint’s life appeared mysteriously to render aid. This is far from a common depiction however, and so I would also posit a crowd of children as a suitable attribute, at least for non-iconographic depictions. In Icons, the Saint’s name is almost always written in order to avoid confusion, and so the neccesity of an attribute for each particular saint is reduced.
Ciao ciao for now,
Excellent assessment and a keen observation on many of the more recent canonized saints.
I would posit that the lack of attribute stems from two things: 1) lack of an actual, popular cultus and 2) their lives are too recent.
Historically, a popular cultus would form around a saint and, after centuries, a through investigation could be made. The attribute is part of the popular cultus when extended over time and place - it is an emergent aspect of the cultus, not something positively determined.
Many (most?) of the modern saints are "rush jobs" through the bureaucratic steps established by the Council of Trent and reformed in recent years to accelerate, rather than retard, the process.
The lack of an attribute may have another driver: many of the most memorable attributes are related to martyrdom and most of the modern saints are Confessors with "saintly reputations" who benefit from organized support pushing their Cause through the Roman Curia.
It's certainly a challenge for those of us in the East to ascertain how best to represent these figures in icons. And some of our icons have this challenge: think of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, the Three Holy Hierarchs, or any of the icons commemorating an Ecumenical Council - names are often needed to distinguish who's who among the saintly, bearded bishops.