The face of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, stoned to death after denouncing his judges. Close detail of late-1100s Romanesque pillar statue in north portal of the Basilique Saint-Just, consecrated in the year 1200 at Valcabrère in Occitanie, southwest France. A sculpted capital above Stephen’s head depicts his martyrdom.
Valcabrère, Occitanie, France: the face of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, on his pillar statue in the north portal of the Romanesque Basilique Saint-Just-de-Valcabrère (Basilica of St Just). The austere late-1100s pillar statue, bearing remains of ancient colouring, stands below a sculpted Romanesque capital depicting his death by stoning. According to the New Testament Acts of the Apostles, Stephen was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem whose teaching angered members of various synagogues. He was accused of blasphemy and was condemned to be stoned to death after denouncing his Jewish judges. Saul of Tarsus, later known as St Paul the Apostle, was present at Stephen's martyrdom. The north portal also includes pillar statues and sculpted capitals of St Helena of Constantinople and of St Pastor and St Just or Justus, two schoolboy brothers, martyred by the Romans in Spain, who became the basilica’s joint patron saints. According to legend, St Pastor, 13, and St Just or Justus, seven, were arrested and beheaded after confessing to the Roman governor that they were Christians who would not sacrifice to idols. The basilica, a superb example of Romanesque architecture, stands apart from the village of Valcabrère in the Garonne Valley, below and about 1 km east of the village of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges with its Romanesque and Gothic former cathedral. It was built on the burial ground or necropolis of the ancient Roman settlement of Lugdunum Convenarum, re-using many Gallo-Roman architectural fragments.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Valcabrère, Occitanie, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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