Saint Rosalía of Palermo: Two paintings

18th century
Oil on canvas
Museum of the Church of San Paio (St. Pelagius), Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Both these paintings are in the museum. In both, St. Rosalía wears a crucifix at the neck and the angels are crowning her with a garland of roses. The pilgrim's staff refers to her travels first from her wealthy home to the cave in Quisquina and thence to the cave in Monte Pellegrino. Like St. James's staff it can refer additionally to the pilgrimages that the faithful make to her shrine, which was built over the cave. The package Rosalía carries in the picture on the left is not in other images of the journey, nor in the vitae.

St. Rosalía was not a martyr, but the angel on the left in the first painting carries a palm branch nevertheless. His companion carries a branch of lilies, a symbol of virginity and a reminder of the flowers that the Virgin and Child would bring to Rosalía in her cell.

Read more about St. Rosalía.

• Home Page
• Iconography of St. Rosalía
• This Picture

Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.