Initial S: The Stoning of Saint Stephen

Around the tendrils of the S that opens the chant sung on his feast day, Saint Stephen kneels in prayer while his tormentors hurl stones at him from behind. Stephen, who lived at the time of Jesus, was the first martyr to sacrifice his or her life in the name of Christianity. This illumination closely follows the biblical story--showing that Stephen's devotion continued through prayers that he recited during his torment.

To heighten the impact of the drama, the illuminator depicted the stones both in the hands of the attackers and actually striking Stephen's body. The saint's face, however, betrays no fear, so sure is he of Jesus' saving power. In the upper segment of the letter S, Saul, who later converted and became Saint Paul, crouches on the discarded robes of the false witnesses who testified against Stephen. Despite the scene's violence, the artist takes delight in the elegant pivot of the first tormentor, the decorative scrolls on the letter and on the saint's gown, and in the tooling--small decorative dots punched in the gold leaf--of Stephen's halo.