| Pilgrim
souvenir ("blessing") of St Menas in the shape of a circular flask
with an elongated neck and two handles. One side contains an image of St Menas and camels with small motifs (crosses) in field above. Circular frame consists of a row of dots between lines. The other side contains an equal-armed cross, jewelled with double knobs at tips, single knob at centre, and small leaf-like ornaments between the arms in a circular border of a row of dots between lines. |
Menas was a Egyptian soldier in the Roman army martyred around 295 CE for his belief in Christ. His remains soon became renowned for causing miraculous cures. Menas flasks depicting and naming him would have held miracle-making water collected from a cistern near his shrine at Abu Mena in Egypt. Saint Menas is traditionally depicted with two kneeling camels on his sides.
| Pilgrim
eulogiae (literally
"blessings") were little souvenirs sanctified by contact with the
divine, given or sold to pilgrims to take home as mementoes of their journey. But eulogiae did more than induce a traveler’s memory: by virtue of the
concentrated holiness they contained, eulogiae could miraculously heal the
sick or calm a stormy sea. Eulogiae took the shape of pressed-earth seals or tokens, lamps, flasks
for oil or water (ampullae), or even ribbons and pieces of cloth (brandaria)
that had touched a saint or holy place. Many eulogiae were a sensory
multiplex of material, inscription, and image. In addition to fostering or
even creating memories of the locus sanctus (holy place) from which they came, eulogiae
ensured that the salvific, curative power of the
saints was accessible no matter the distance from their shrines. |
