The Golden Scabs of Saint Job — Part three

PART THREE — SAINT JOB, DISEASE IN THE MIDDLE AGES, AND ‘SCAB’ BADGES 

Latten-copper badge, Job on a dunghill with musicians around him, on round badge with inscription S. IOP ORDE, attachment not present, Antwerp, Belgium, 1475-1524, found in Nieuwlande, the Netherlands, 33 x 33 cm. The Van Beuningen Family Collection, inv. 1381 (Kunera 00242). Photograph courtesy of The Van Beuningen Family Collection.

Latten-copper badge, Job sitting nude on a dunghill, offering musicians a coin, in round frame on diamond shaped badge, attachment not present, Wezemaal, Belgium, 1475-1524, found in Arnemuiden, Belgium, 27 x 32 cm. The Van Beuningen Family Collection, inv. 4484 (Kunera 16451). Photograph courtesy of The Van Beuningen Family Collection.

The round latten-copper badges above depict a scene from an extra-biblical story about Saint Job, as explored in The Golden Scabs of Saint Job — Part One. This scene, which was frequently featured on Wezemaal badges, illustrates the moment where Job, having nothing else to offer, reaches out to give the musicians a scab from his body, which miraculously turns to gold. This moment is the turning point in Job’s story: a visible miracle and a sign of hope that fulfills Job’s earlier proclamation in the story when he defends his innocence, saying: “But [the LORD] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold” (Job 23.10). 

What immediately stands out about these two badges is their golden colour. Made of latten-copper, which turns gold after being fired, the material of the badges dually speaks of its own transformation and Job’s. While these two particular badges were both originally round in diamond frames (now broken off), other surviving golden badges are exclusively round. The form of these circular, golden badges recalls the golden scab Job would have offered from his body; in semiotic terms, they are iconic signs, bearing a strong resemblance to the object they represent. These badges invite a closer look at the way the story came to life on the pilgrims’ bodies.  

Bartholomaeus Steber, woodcut, a woman in bed and a man sitting on a stool are covered with lesions with physicians attending to them. Vienna: Johann Winterberg, 1497-1498. Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

Before looking at the pilgrims’ bodies, let’s consider the historical context of the syphilis epidemic occurring in Western Europe (c. 1495) and its relation to Saint Job. We know that the pilgrimages to the site of Saint Job in Wezemaal overlapped with this epidemic. While scholars disagree about whether there was an increase in pilgrimages to Wezemaal during these years, there is no question about the associations between syphilis and Saint Job, exemplified, for instance, by a French name for syphilis, le Mal Monseigneur Saint Job, and hospitals opening up at that time bearing Job’s name, as Old Testament scholar Samuel Balentine points out. 

The skin infections that would have afflicted those suffering from syphilis likewise linked the disease to the afflicted Saint Job. Being a venereal disease, people likewise witnessed that syphilis afflicted only specific individuals and not the entire population as other diseases had, forging the connection to the plague that afflicted Job as opposed to other Old Testament plagues that swept across Israel and its enemies, (Arrizabalaga et al., 52). While other pilgrim badges from Wezemaal depict the story of Saint Job, the golden scab badges specifically point to the greater social context of physical affliction. 

Like other pilgrim badges, these badges were made to be worn and seen. But what would it have meant to a pilgrim to wear this badge — a badge that was not only a token of having been on pilgrimage to the site of a Saint, but one that symbolized the diseased and redeemed body part of that Saint, which they then embodied on their own body? 

Since syphilis was an unknown and new disease, perceptions of it were informed by social perceptions of other skin-related illnesses such as leprosy. French medieval historian Francois-Olivier Touati illustrates that over the course of the twelfth century, leprosy came to be seen not as a divine punishment, but as an invitation by God to convert to a religious life and attain salvation. Following from Touati, medieval historian Elma Brenner argues that lepers were seen, in the centuries preceding the syphilis epidemic, as a religious group “chosen by God to suffer in this life in order to be redeemed in the next” (241). Sickness marked God’s intervention, not his absence. The sick, suffering body was therefore not seen by all as a punishment by God, but was viewed as an invitation into God’s grace, and a time of waiting for when all would be made new. 

A theology of the sick body anticipating newness is reminiscent of the Jobian narrative. The pilgrims who, in good or poor health, attached these badges to their bodies aligned their bodies into a participatory relationship to the innocent suffering and triumph of Saint Job in an embodied way. The presence of the story’s golden scabs on their own bodies can be seen as form of role-play, wherein the pilgrim body joins the body of another: first Job’s, and by typological association, to that of Christ’s. Bearing these golden scabs on their bodies would have transformed the body of its wearer into a sign of redemption. The pilgrim, like Saint Job and Christ, was close to God and may have been suffering from an affliction by no fault of their own, all the while persevering with a confidence that their suffering had already been redeemed and come out as gold. 

Whether such badges were later offered as tokens to others, as they had been offered to the musicians in the story, is unknown, but provocative to imagine. One has to wonder what feelings the pilgrims affixing these badges to their cloaks may have had as they wandered around the village church in Wezemaal and back home, disrupting linear time through their faith and bringing the story to life. 

Written by Hannah Gardiner. Edited by Dr. Ann Marie Rasmussen. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on January 29, 2022.

Works Cited

Arrozabalaga, Jon, John Henderson and Roger Kenneth French. The Great Pox: The French Disease in Renaissance Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. 

Balentine, Samuel E. Have You Considered My Servant Job?: Understanding the Biblical Archetype of Patience. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2015.

Brenner, Elma. “The Leprous Body in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Rouen: Perceptions and Responses.” In The Ends of the Body: Identity and Community in Medieval Culture, edited by Jill Ross, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, pp. 239-59. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013.

Campbell, Gordon. “Syphilis.” Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 

Minnen, Bart. “‘Den heyligen Sant al in Brabant.’ The Church of St Martin in Wezemaal and the devotion to St Job 1000-2000 – Retrospective. The fluctuations of a devotion” [English summary of: Den Heyligen Sant Al in Brabant: De Sint-Martinuskerk van Wezemaal en de cultus van Sint Job 1000-2000 (Averbode, 2011).]

Suykerbuyk, Ruben. The Matter of Piety : Zoutleeuw’s Church of Saint Leonard and Religious Material Culture in the Low Countries (c. 1450-1620), vol. 16. Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2020.

The Golden Scabs of Saint Job — Part two

PART TWO — THE VILLAGE CHURCH AS PILGRIMAGE SITE

The Norbertine Abbey of Averbode, Belgium acquired Sint-Martinuskerk (Church of Saint Martin) in 1232. Unbeknownst to all at the time, this church would transform Saint Job and Saint Job would transform this church. Sint-Martinuskerk was the first church in the Low Countries to create a devotion to Saint Job. Bart Minnen credits Saint Job for making Sint-Martinuskerk one of the richest rural churches in Brabrant. But how did this happen? 

“België - Wezemaal - Sint-Martinuskerk - 01” by Em Dee, WikiCommons. Photograph courtesy of photographer under CC BY-SA 4.0.

A church or cathedral was not enough to attract the hordes of pilgrims Saint Job of Wezemaal did. Unlike religious sites across Europe that became sites of pilgrimage because they housed a special relic, (e.g., bones, fabrics, etc.), Sint-Martinuskerk belonged to a category of pilgrimage sites where the religious object sought after was a miraculous wooden statue. And miraculous it was: Saint Job of Wezemaal was said to have performed various miracles, inspiring a petition to the Pope in 1501 “for the approval of a college of priests, the institution of 10 May as feast day, and the granting of an indulgence” (Suykerbuyk 102). These miraculous aspects associated with Saint Job of Wezemaal were essential to Job’s pilgrim sainthood. 

The wooden statue below was commissioned from an anonymous artist at the end of the fourteenth century, pre-existing the pilgrimage to Wezemaal. The wooden figure of Job sits in golden, priestly robes and holds in his right hand, the priestly blessing hand, a placard with words from the Book of Job: Godt Gaf Godt Namp [God Gave God Took]. In his left hand, Job holds a flame. 

Saint Job statue at Wezemaal. Anonymous, c. 1400–1430, wood. Wezemaal, Sint-Martinuskerk, © KIK-IRPA, Brussels, inv. 4411. Photographer: Jean-Luc Elias. Photograph courtesy of KIK-IRPA, Brussels.

The connection between Job and the priesthood has long been depicted in Jobian iconography. Traditionally, priests have been seen as those closest to God and those who mediate the relationship between mankind and God. Old Testament scholar Samuel E. Balentine has called Job the priest of the priests, urging Job’s witness as being crucial to understanding the priesthood of Aaron, or even that of the High Priest in Christianity, Christ. The Book of Job portrays a priestly Job: a pious man offering prayers of intercession for his friends and burnt offerings on behalf of his family as the head of household. Balentine has likewise speculated on the relationship between priest and those affected by skin disease, like Job was, which was likewise a reality during pilgrimages to Wezemaal through the syphilis epidemic that began in 1495. Balentine argues that the rituals to heal someone suffering from a skin disease (see Leviticus 8) were similar to ordination rituals, inviting a parallel between the priest and the “leper.” 

Biblical studies scholar Barry Huff suggests that the flame in Job’s left hand originated out of references to burnt offerings in the Books of Job and Leviticus, and thus can be seen as illustrating Job’s piety. Huff points out that the theme of burnt offerings also occurs in the Testament of Job (which the previous post identified as the source for the musicians who figure so prominently in the medieval Job iconography) and is expanded in Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job. Huff writes: “Through the lens of Gregory the Great's interpretation, this [flame] motif speaks with new relevance to the lives of all believers, beckoning them, like Job, to persevere through the fire of suffering that burns away the dross of impurity so that the gold of virtue can radiate” (337). 

While the theology behind the iconography of the wooden statue would likely have been unfamiliar to many of the pilgrims seeking Saint Job’s blessing, the transformative power of Job was nonetheless understood. Despite or perhaps in light of this, the church saw a new stone statue of Job introduced between 1491 and 1610. This one depicts a seated, suffering Job.

Saint Job statue at Wezemaal. Anonymous, c. 1491–1610, stone, 177 x 87 x 43 cm. Wezemaal, Sint-Martinuskerk, © KIK-IRPA, Brussels, inv. 4415. Photograph courtesy of KIK-IRPA, Brussels.

Unlike the confident Job who has passed through the fire and been transformed into gold as shown by the priestly robes, the second statue of a suffering Job only alludes to, but does not depict, his transformation. The statues would have offered to pilgrims two very different moments in the story of Job for reflection, mediation, and perhaps even identification: aligning oneself with the suffering man in hope of healing or with the saved man who is an exemplar of the rewards of faith.

Bart Minnen explains that the earliest medieval badges from the site of Wezemaal also depict Job the priest, but like the statues their iconography transitions to the suffering Job sitting on a dunghill, offering musicians a coin. This scene remains consistent despite changing compositions of the bodies, differing badge shapes and frames surrounding the scene, and additional elements such as inscriptions and the presence of political family crests. These badges, most of which are dated to the second half of the fifteenth century, depict Job at the miraculous point that bridges his suffering and triumph: when his scabs turn to gold. I will elaborate in the next post on the relevance of this hope in suffering throughout the syphilis epidemic that began in 1495 and continued during the same time as pilgrimages to Wezemaal.

Written by Hannah Gardiner. Edited by Dr. Ann Marie Rasmussen. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on August 17, 2021.

Works Cited

Balentine, Samuel E. “Job as Priest to the Priests,” in ‘Look At Me and Be Appalled’: Essays on Job, Theology, and Ethics, Biblical Interpretation Series, vol. 190 (Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2021), pp. 107-132.

Huff, Barry. “Job the Priest: From Scripture to Sculpture,” in Seeking Wisdom’s Depths and Torah’s Heights: Essays in Honor of Samuel E. Balentine, eds. Barry Huff and Patricia Vesely (Macon, GE: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2020), pp. 327-53.

Minnen, Bart. “‘Den heyligen Sant al in Brabant.’ The Church of St Martin in Wezemaal and the devotion to St Job 1000-2000 – Retrospective. The fluctuations of a devotion” [English summary of: Den Heyligen Sant Al in Brabant: De Sint-Martinuskerk van Wezemaal en de cultus van Sint Job 1000-2000 (Averbode, 2011).]

Suykerbuyk, Ruben. The Matter of Piety : Zoutleeuw’s Church of Saint Leonard and Religious Material Culture in the Low Countries (c. 1450-1620), vol. 16 (Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2020).

The Golden Scabs of Saint Job

THE GOLDEN SCABS OF SAINT JOB – EXPLORING THE SAINT JOB MEDIEVAL BADGES FROM WEZEMAAL (BE)

This series of three blog posts explores the pilgrim badges of Saint Job from Wezemaal, Belgium. This series considers these badges as a form of adaptation, informed by biblical, legendary, and literary accounts of Job that were popular in the medieval imagination. The question inspiring these blog posts is: Why was Job the only Old Testament figure to be venerated by pilgrims as a saint? 

PART ONE – THE MEDIEVAL FIGURE OF JOB

The Book of Job is part of Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Old Testament. It is an example of wisdom literature, which explores questions of suffering, justice, and the relationship between God and humankind. 

In scripture, Job is a righteous, godly man who lives a materially and socially affluent life until God permits the Satan (meaning, ‘the adversary’) to take everything away from him. Job’s children, servants, and livestock die, and he is afflicted with a skin disease: “[Satan] struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes” (Job 2.7-8).

In his suffering, Job is subjected to the questioning of friends seeking to discover what offense Job has committed to deserve this punishment from God. Job defends his innocence and remains faithful to God, though he regrets his own life. After much affliction, Job asks God to explain his suffering to him, and God replies by questioning Job over the course of four chapters, beginning with the lines: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” (Job 38.4).  At the end of the story, God restores Job’s life and fortunes two-fold.  

Our investigation of Saint Job begins at Sint-Martinuskerk (Church of Saint Martin) in the village of Wezemaal, which is located in the northern half of Belgium. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims flocked to its miracle-working wooden statue of Saint Job that bears the Flemish inscription Godt gaf Godt namp [God giveth, God taketh away]. Several Saint Job pilgrim badges from this site also survive and along with them an interesting question: what sets Job apart such that he became the only Old Testament figure to be venerated by pilgrims as a saint with a large trace in medieval badge history?

Historian Bart Minnen has shown that the earliest known badges from Wezemaal depict the wonder-working statue of Job in the Church of Saint Martin. Most surviving Saint Job pilgrim badges, however, feature a different image. Most show Job sitting on a dunghill surrounded by a musician or musicians. 

Pewter badge, Job covered in boils and sitting on the dunghill offering musicians around him a coin with inscription S. JOB TOT WE[SEMALE] GOD GAF GOD NAM, eyes, Wezemaal, Belgium, 1450-1499, found in Nieuwlande, the Netherlands, 72 x 43 mm. The Van Beuningen Family Collection, inv. 0951 (Kunera 00235). Photograph courtesy of The Van Beuningen Family Collection.

Modern viewers curious about this scene will find no references to musicians in the Old Testament Book of Job. (The apocryphal text, the Testament of Job, an elaboration on the Book of Job, is likely the original source for the idea of musicians. In it, Job’s daughters were the musicians who at the end of his life understand the heavenly music of the angels descending for Job’s soul.) However, Job and musicians were a familiar scene in the late Middle Ages in a wide variety of contexts, from medieval paintings and Books of Hours to plays.  The late fifteenth-century altarpiece shown below serves as an example. Three musicians playing wind instruments appear twice: in the lower right-hand corner they serenade the naked saint; centred in the middle background, they appear with a woman clothed in blue. In the lower-right hand corner, Job can be seen using his left hand to touch his skin, while his right hand offers something to the musician. 

The Master of the Legend of Saint Catherine, Triptych of the Life of Job, around 1485/1490. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Germany, inv. WRM 0412. Photograph by Wolfgang F. Meier. Photograph courtesy of Rheinisches Bildarchiv Cologne, d029744, permalink.

Literature of the Middles Ages also included musicians in its adaptations of Job’s the story. The late-fifteenth century English poem, “The Life of Holy Job,” weaves together biblical and literary accounts:

This sore syk man syttng on this foule Dongehill
There came mynstrelles before him, playing meryly
Money had he non to reward aftyr his will
But gave them the brode [spread out] Scabbes of his sore body 
Whiche turned vunto pure golde, as sayth the story. 

This passage clarifies what is happening is the painting: Job has only one gift to offer the musicians in return for their serenade: the scabs from the sores on his body. These, however, miraculously turn to gold. In the middle of the altarpiece, the musicians hold out their hands to Job’s wife, the woman in blue, to show what they’ve been given. The background illustrates the restoration of Job’s life: the livestock flocking back into the gates and the chest of gold seated in the middle of the room full of people. No longer is Job afflicted by the grotesque demons that tortured him as he remained pious, as seen in the front left-hand corner of the altarpiece.

This altarpiece, while extraordinary, is certainly not the only one in the Middle Ages illustrating this scene from the well-known medieval legend of Job. Most of the Job badges from Wezemaal also picture this scene; some badges even resemble the golden scabs of Job’s body. What clues might this scene offer into understanding Job’s sainthood? We will continue answering this question in the coming blog posts with knowledge of the medieval literary imagination of the figure of Job in mind.

Written by Hannah Gardiner. Edited by Dr. Ann Marie Rasmussen. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on June 21, 2021.

Works Cited

Balentine, Samuel E. Have You Considered My Servant Job?: Understanding the Biblical Archetype of Patience (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2015).

Harkins, Franklin and Aaron Canty. “Introduction,” in A Companion to Job in the Middle Ages, eds. Franklin Harkins and Aaron Canty (Brill Academic Publishers, 2016), pp. 1–10. 

Hendrikse, Henk. “Een pelgrimsinsigne van Sint-Job uit Scherpenisse,” n.d., https://www.zeeuwseankers.nl/verhaal/een-pelgrimsinsigne-van-sint-job-uit-scherpenisse

Meyer, Kathi. “St. Job as Patron Saint of Music,” The Art Bulletin, no. 36:1 (1954): pp. 21–31. 

Minnen, Bart. “‘Den heyligen Sant al in Brabant.’ The Church of St Martin in Wezemaal and the devotion to St Job 1000-2000 – Retrospective. The fluctuations of a devotion” [English summary of: Den Heyligen Sant Al in Brabant: De Sint-Martinuskerk van Wezemaal en de cultus van Sint Job 1000-2000 (Averbode, 2011).]