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).