St. Valeria and St. Martial
Stained glass
Apse, Cathedral of St. Stephen
Limoges, France
According to a late form of her legend, Valeria was converted by St. Martial and then broke her engagement to a pagan official named Stephen, who had her beheaded but later repented and became a Christian. On the left, she holds her decapitated head chest-high. This pose echoes those used for other beheaded martyrs in France, such as
St. Denis
and
St. Hilarian of Espalion. As with those images, hers puts a halo where the head ought to be.
On the right, St. Martial wears a mitre and holds the staff that St. Peter gave him to effect the revival of his companion St. Austridinian. The artists has given the saint a "pallium," the Y-shaped white cloth strip marked with ✚ symbols, in consideration of a local tradition of claiming the status of "apostle" for St. Martial. Normally, the pallium is worn only by the Pope and certain important archbishops.
Read more about images of these saints.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
