St. Christopher Brooch

St. Christopher is well known as a patron saint of travelers (and today of motorists), and many people still wear medals or hang them in their vehicles to call upon his aid. But the full version of his story from the Middle Ages is less familiar. He was reported in the Legenda Aurea to have been a giant, over seven feet tall, from Canaan. Determined to serve the greatest king, he worked his way through earthly monarchs and the devil on his way to Christ. He consulted a hermit about how to proceed and, having rejected the suggestion that he fast and pray, he determined to serve God by helping people across a dangerous and deadly river. One day a little boy asked to be carried over and as he bore the child across his weight increased until Christopher could barely struggle out the other side.

He told the child that that he felt that he had born the weight of the world, and the child replied (according to Caxton’s edition of the Golden Legend, 1483), “Christopher, marvel thee nothing, for thou hast not only borne all the world upon thee, but thou hast borne him that created and made all the world, upon thy shoulders. I am Jesu Christ the king, to whom thou servest in this work.” The name Christopher means “Christ-Bearer.

Christopher was an important saint throughout the Middle Ages, counted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and invoked especially against the plague and sudden death and as one who protected travelers.

This brooch is copied from a  Netherlandish example dated 1425-1475. The original has a loop on the back to sew it down, but we gave our Christopher a pin.