Since literacy levels were low in the middle ages, artists used a variety of iconographic means to communicate to their audiences, not least to help the viewer identify the subject of their works. Saints, in particular, were recognizable by how they dressed and by items associated with a defining event in their lives or their deaths. St Peter almost inevitably holds a pair of keys, in reference to the occasion when Jesus’ promised him the ‘keys of heaven’,[1] and St Paul bears the sword with which he was supposedly beheaded. More striking examples include St Agatha of Sicily, who presents her severed breasts on a platter. The Sicilians subsequently honoured her with an erotic pastry, the Minne Di Sant’ Agata, with a cherry on top.
Santiago/St James the Great is unusual in that he is normally depicted in one of two guises — peregrino (‘the pilgrim’) or Matamoros (‘the Moorslayer’) — both of which aren’t connected with his earthly life or death. Here I’m going to touch on his peregrino incarnation.
Perhaps uniquely among Christian saints (and certainly among the major saints of the early church), Santiago is often depicted in the guise of one of his followers, the pilgrims who travel the Camino de Santiago. To my knowledge, no other saint is normally sculpted or painted to look like those on pilgrimage to his/her tomb. In his classic form, Santiago peregrino is identifiable by his broad-brimmed hat, staff, scrip (leather satchel) and scallop shell. It is a confection of artefacts that only developed gradually, and early depictions of him as a pilgrim often lack one or more of these (e.g. in the fourteenth-century statue of Santiago in the church of Santiago in A Coruña he is bareheaded).[2] Only from about the fourteenth century does Santiago regularly bear all the accoutrements of a medieval pilgrim. As an added twist, the popular French saint San Roque, is usually shown dressed as a peregrino bound for Santiago de Compostela, with a dog at his side and hitching up his tunic to display his ulcerous leg.
Of course, images are not simply stylised but also fossilised. And if one were to apply the principle that Santiago should be depicted like those who travel to his tomb, then he should probably be wearing lycra, bearing a rucksack, covered by a poncho and using carbon fibre poles… you know, he should look just like you!
[1] Matt 16:19.
[2] Bernadette Cunningham, Medieval Irish Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2018), 89–91.
Denis Casey 