Part 4 (1/2)

In the years that followed, John pursued his Christian service with the zeal of an ardent nature He remained awhile in Judaea and, in company with Peter, added many converts to the faith He then carried the work into Asia Minor, where he founded seven churches Not only was he a preacher and organizer, but a voluminous writer as well The fourth Gospel is believed to be his work, in which he records elists He was also the writer of the three Epistles which bear his name Finally, he is supposed to be the author of the book of Revelation, in which he described his visions during his exile in the isle of Pate, and died at Ephesus in Asia Minor

The love hich Christians cherish thehis name One such is that in Pario inning his first laurels The most important portions of the interior decorations were executed by our painter

Before considering the frescoes of the cupola, the visitor to the church likes to pause before the lunette over the door of the left transept The subject is St John, seated with his writing materials on his lap There is a pile of books behind hile plu

[Illustration: ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST _Church of S Giovanni Evangelista, Parelists are drawn fro creatures,” whose faces were those of a le Applied respectively to the writers of the four Gospels, each ele is especially appropriate to St John As the bird soars into the upper regions of the sky and looks directly at the sun, so St John's inspiration raised hiaze directly upon the divine glory It is for this that he is called St John, ”the divine” As the Latin inscription over the lunette reads, ”More deeply than the others he disclosed the mysteries of God”[14]

[Footnote 14: ”Altius cteris Dei patefecit arcana”]

In our picture the Evangelist lifts his eyes heavenward as if beholding a vision His lips are parted, and he has the rapt expression of one absorbed in ht hand still holds the pen as he pauses for inspiration

In trying to do honor to the beloved disciple, the painters have always represented him as the most beautiful of the twelve As the most Christ-like in character, he is ure of Christ So in this fresob Correggio, he is a beautiful youth, with the curling hair, the oval face and the regular features we associate with the person of Jesus Though the beardless face is so refined, there is nothing weak or effeure is indeed very manly The head is well set on a full throat and the shoulders are broad Rising to his feet St John would be a tall, athletic younghand at his father's fishi+ng-nets The union of strength and refinement makes the picture one of the most attractive ideals of St John ever painted

The keynote of St John's Gospel is the love of God; his ardent nature never wearied of the theme; the wonder in his lifted face shows him still intent upon the mystery Were we to seek some characteristic utterance which should appropriately interpret his thoughts, it ht well be the words of Jesus to Nicodeotten son, that whosoever believeth in hi life”[15]

[Footnote 15: St John, chapter iii, verse 16]

VII

ST JOHN AND ST AUGUSTINE

The church of S Giovanni Evangelista (St John the Evangelist), in Pario filled with a fresco decoration The subject is drawn froiven to the church: it is the vision of St John on the isle of Pat directly into the open sky, upon the figure of Christ ascending into heaven The apostles sit in a circle on the clouds, and beneath the upwards upon the vision The heavenly spaces are alive with angels, for, as Browning writes:--

”Correggio loves to el faces, orb on orb”

The little creatures are sporting a to see sorow out”

Where the dome rests upon the four arches which support it, are four triangular corner-pieces called pendentives, which also belong to Correggio's decorative plan They are devoted respectively to the figures of the four Evangelists, each one accompanied by one of the four Fathers of the Church The Christian Fathers were the s shaped the doctrines of the faith in the early centuries of our era They interpreted for the people theof the Scriptures and the Gospels

The pendentive of our illustration contains St John with St

Augustine The two sit side by side, engaged in a discussion over the book which they hold together St John is young and beautiful, as the painters always represent him, except in the subject of the vision of Pat and the expression less exalted than in the lunette we have studied There is a boyish eagerness in hisout froustine is a handsome old ure fits his character, weof his life[16]

[Footnote 16: The life of St Augustine, also called St Austin, is related in the _Golden Legend_ See Caxton's translation in the _Teives a condensed account of the life in _Sacred and Legendary Art_, p 303]

He was born in Numidia near the middle of the fourth century, and showed in his boyhood brilliant powers of mind Without the help of any teacher he read and mastered all the books necessary to an education in the liberal arts His ht to lead her son to a Godly life For a long tiustine would ed in youthful dissipations His best quality was his love of study He became a teacher of rhetoric, and pursued his vocation in one city and another, always dissatisfied with his life At length, in his thirtieth year, he came to Milan, where he fell under the influence of Bishop Ale in his soul, and in the end he yielded himself joyfully as a disciple of Christ On the occasion of his baptism was composed the hymn called the ”Te Deum” which is still used in churches

[Illustration: ST JOHN AND ST AUGUSTINE _Church of S Giovanni Evangelista, Parustine was filled with Christian labors

After so he becae) where he resided for thirty-five years, until his death in 430 All his stores of learning were devoted to the explanation of Christian theology He wrote a great nu what he believed to be heresies, and setting forth what he considered the true doctrines of the faith An old writer pronounced him ”sweet in speech, wise in letters, and a noble worker in the labours of the church” In a book of ”Confessions” he laid bare all his faults with great hu the truths of the faith froel behind hi for the difference of ages, there is a certain rese that they have in common a refined and sensitive nature, and an ardent teht and character

St John seeers: itthe doctrine of the Trinity