medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Yesterday I came upon a statue of Saint Augustine holding a heart in
> his hand. I found this in the Golden Legend: "Secondly, for the
> fervent love, for like as the month of August is hot by heat, so is he
> enchauffed of the fire of the divine love, wherefore he saith himself
> in the book of Confessions: Thou hast throughpierced my heart with thy
> charity." Is it a safe bet that this is the source of the image or
> does someone have a better explanation? Thanks, MG
Dear Marjorie,
According to the Lexikon der christliche Ikonographie, there are several places in Augustine's
writings where he uses the image of a heart, or a flaming heart (which also appears in
images), and thus, as an attribute of Augustine, the heart signifies the most profound aspects
of the "Augustinian personality", certainly including his love. It mentions several places in
Augustine's writing where this imagery occurs: Confess. IX 2, 3; Confess. III 6, 10; Sol. I 7;
De Trinit. 8, 8; Epistola 192, 1f. There's more there, but it's in German, and I'm tired.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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