The Lives of the Saints through 100 Masterpieces

Alexis

The Lives of the Saints 22 Alexis July 17 Nothing could be simpler than the life of Saint Alexis, yet nothing more jarring to modern sensibilities. Scion of a rich Christian family of Rome, Alexis waited until the night of his wedding to announce to his spouse that he actually was called to be a hermit. Thus disposing of familial ties, he headed off on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, finally settling in Edessa at the far end of Mesopotamia, which at that time was a Syriac Christian town. (Later it would become the center of an important principality of the crusaders.) Alexis stayed in Edessa for 17 years, living off alms. In due course this inactivity gained him a reputation for great sanctity. Fleeing from such notoriety, he returned to Rome and his family home, but without revealing his identity to either his wife or his parents, Euphemianus and Aglais. Continuing as a beggar, he lived another 17 years, sheltering his visions under the steps of his family home’s porch, watered by rain and by the wash waters that the servants rudely threw out the windows. When he died, all the bells of Rome tolled of their own accord. The pope, who quickly came to the scene, was the only person able to open the clenched hand of the departed. Therein he found a note on which the saint had revealed his name. Through his long sojourn at his parents’ doorstep, Alexis earned the title of patron saint of concierges and doormen. Annibale Carracci (1560–1609) Apparition of the Virgin and Child to Saint Alexis Grand Palace, Pavlosk ...