middle of the sixth century, the title of Saint, though in use, had not been given to the Archangels.

When, in the ancient churches, the figure of Christ or of the Lamb appears in a circle or glory in the centre of the roof; and around, or at the four corners, four angels who sustain the circle with outspread arms, or stand as watchers, with sceptres or lances in their hands, these I presume to be the four Archangels "who sustain the throne of God." Examples may be seen in San Vitale at Ravenna; in the chapel of San Zeno, in Santa Prassede at Rome; and on the roof of the choir of San Francesco d'Assisi.

So the four Archangels, stately colossal figures, winged and armed and sceptred, stand over the arch of the choir in the Cathedral of Monreale, at Palermo 1

So the four angels stand at the four corners of the earth and hold the winds, heads with puffed cheeks and dishevelled hair.2 (Rev. vii. 1.)

But I have never seen Uriel represented by name, or alone, in any sacred edifice. In the picture of Uriel painted by Allston, he is the "Regent of the Sun," as described by Milton; not a sacred or scriptural personage. On a shrine of carved ivory I have seen the four Archangels as keeping guard, two at each end; the three first are named as usual, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael; the fourth is styled St. Cherubin ; and I have seen the same name inscribed over the head of the angel who expels Adam and Eve from Paradise. There is no authority for such an appellation applied individually; but I find, in a famous legend of the middle ages, "La Penitence d'Adam," that the angel who guards the gates of Paradise is thus designated:-"Lorsque l'Ange Cherubin vit arriver Seth aux portes de Paradis," &c. The four Archangels, however, seldom occur together, except in architectural decoration. On the other hand, devotional pictures of the three Archangels named in the canonical scriptures are of frequent occurThey are often grouped together as patron saints or protecting spirits; or they stand round the throne of Christ, or below the glorified

rence.

1 Greek mosaic, A.D. 1174.

2 MS. of the Book of Revelation, fourteenth century. Trinity College, Dublin.
3 Coll. of the Duke of Sutherland.
Hôtel de Cluny, 399.

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33 The Three Archangels (from an ancient Greek picture).

Virgin and Child, in an attitude of adoration. According to the Greek formula, the three in combination represent the triple power, military, civil, and religious, of the celestial hierarchy: St. Michael being habited as a warrior, Gabriel as a prince, and Raphael as a priest. In a Greek picture, of which I give an outline, the three Archangels sustain in a kind of throne the figure of the youthful Christ, here winged, as being Himself the supreme Angel (ayyeλos), and with both

hands blessing the universe. The Archangel Raphael has here the place of dignity as representing the Priesthood; but in western art Michael takes precedence of the two others, and is usually placed in the centre as Prince or Chief: with him, then, as considered individually, we begin.

ST. MICHAEL.

(Lat. Sanctus Michael Angelus. Ital. San Michele, Sammichele. Fr. Monseigneur Saint Michel. Sept. 29.)

66

'Michael, the Great Prince that standeth for the children of thy people."-Dan. xii. 1.

It is difficult to clothe in adequate language the divine attributes with which painting and poetry have invested this illustrious archangel. Jews and Christians are agreed in giving him the pre-eminence over all created spirits. All the might, the majesty, the radiance, of Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, are centred in him. In him God put forth His strength when he exalted him chief over the celestial host, when angels warred with angels in heaven; and in him God showed forth His glory when he made him conqueror over the power of sin, and "over the great dragon that deceived the world."

To the origin of the worship paid to this great archangel I dare not do more than allude, lest I stray wide from my subject, and lose myself, and my readers too, in labyrinths of Orientalism. But, in considering the artistic representations, it is interesting to call to mind that the glorification of St. Michael may be traced back to that primitive Eastern dogma, the perpetual antagonism between the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil, mixed up with the Chaldaic belief in angels and their influence over the destinies of man. It was subsequent to the Captivity that the active Spirit of Good, under the name of Michael, came to be regarded as the especial protector of the Hebrew nation: the veneration paid to him by the Jews was adopted, or rather retained, by the oriental Christians, and, though suppressed for a time, was

revived and spread over the West, where we find it popular and almost universal from the eighth century.

The legends which have grown out of a few mystical texts of Scripture, amplified by the fanciful disquisitions of the theological writers, place St. Michael before us in three great characters: 1. As captain. of the heavenly host, and conqueror of the powers of hell. 2. As lord of souls, conductor and guardian of the spirits of the dead. 3. As patron saint and prince of the Church Militant.

When Lucifer, possessed by the spirit of pride and ingratitude, refused to fall down and worship the Son of man, Michael was deputed to punish his insolence, and to cast him out from heaven. Then Michael chained the revolted angels in middle air, where they are to remain till the day of judgment, being in the mean time perpetually tortured by hate, envy, and despair: for they behold man, whom they had disdained, exalted as their superior; above them they see the heaven they have forfeited; and beneath them the redeemed souls continually rising from earth, and ascending to the presence of God, whence they are shut out for ever.

"Now," says the old Legend', "if it be asked wherefore the books. of Moses, in revealing the disobedience and the fall of man, are silent as to the revolt and the fall of the angels, the reason is plain; and, in this God acted according to His wisdom. For, let us suppose that a certain powerful lord hath two vassals, both guilty of the crime of treason, and one of these is a nobleman of pure and lofty lineage, and the other a base-born churl:- what doth this lord? He hangs up the churl in the market-place as a warning and example to others; but, for the nobleman, fearing the scandal that may arise among the people, and perhaps also some insult to the officers of the law, the judge causes him to be tried secretly, and shuts him up in a dungeon; and when judgment is pronounced against him, he sends to his prison, and puts him privily to death; and when one asketh after him, the answer is only 'He is dead :' -and nothing more. Thus did God in respect to the rebel angels of old; and their fate was not revealed until the redemption of man was accomplished."

This passage from the old Italian legend is so curiously characteristic of the feudal spirit of Christianity in the middle ages, that I have ventured to insert it verbatim. If religion did, in some degree, modify the institutions of chivalry, in a much greater degree did the ruling prejudices of a barbarian age modify the popular ideas of religion. Here, notwithstanding the primary doctrine of Christ-the equality of all men before God, we have the distinction between noble and churl carried into the very councils of heaven.

But, to return to St. Michael: on whom, as the leader of his triumphant hosts, God bestowed many and great privileges. To him it was given

"to bid sound th' archangel trumpet."

and exalt the banner of the Cross in the day of judgment; and to him likewise was assigned the reception of the immortal spirits when released by death. It was his task to weigh them in a balance (Dan. v. 27.; Ps. lxii. 9.): those whose good works exceeded their demerits, he presented before the throne of God; but those who were found wanting he gave up to be tortured in purgatory, until their souls, from being "as crimson, should become as white as snow." Therefore, in the hour of death, he is to be invoked by the faithful, saying, " O Michael, militæ cœlestis signifer, in adjutorium nostrum veni, princeps et propugnator!”

Lastly, when it pleased the Almighty to select from among the nations of the earth one people to become peculiarly his own, He appointed St. Michael to be president and leader over that chosen people.' "At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people" (Dan. x. 13., xii. 1.): and when the power of the Synagogue was supposed to cease, and to be replaced by the power of the Church, so that the Christians became the people of God, then Michael, who had been the great prince of the Hebrew

The Gnostics taught that the universe was created by the Seven Great Angels, who ranked next to the Eons, or direct emanations from God: "and when a distribution was afterwards made of things, the chief of the creating angels had the People of the Jews particularly to his share; a doctrine which in the main was received by many ancients."— See Lardner's History of the Early Heresies. I have alluded to the angel pictured as the agent in creation (p. 39.), but the Seven creating Angels I have not met with in art. This was one of the Gnostic fancies condemned by the early Church.