Best Saint
Updated Daily
Donatello's Mary Magdalene is a wooden sculpture from mid-15th-century Florence, depicting the saint as an emaciated, penitent figure with flowing hair and hollow features. Created around 1453-1455, it demonstrates Donatello's innovative realism and departure from idealized religious figures. The sc...
Saint George is a marble statue by Donatello, created around 1415 for a niche on the exterior of the church of Orsanmichele in Florence. It was commissioned by the Armourers' Guild, whose patron saint was George. The figure is noted for the alert, naturalistic stance and the carved relief on the bas...
The relics of Saint Nicholas are primarily enshrined in the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. In 1087, a group of Italian sailors transported these remains from the saint's original burial site in Myra, located in modern-day Turkey, to protect them from potential desecration. This...
The Heart of Saint Teresa of Ávila is a preserved human heart believed to be that of the Spanish Carmelite reformer. It’s notable as a tangible connection to one of Catholicism's most influential mystics and spiritual writers. The relic is held within the Basilica de San Antonio in Alba de Tormes, S...
The blood of Saint Januarius is an ancient relic housed in the Naples Cathedral in Italy. It is known for its documented liquefaction, a phenomenon that occurs several times each year and has been recorded since the 14th century. Devotees gather to witness the event, which is interpreted by locals a...
Titian's Saint Jerome in the Wilderness is a Venetian woodcut showing the penitent scholar-saint in a rugged landscape with his traditional lion.
Stephen I was the first king of Hungary, ruling from about 1000 or 1001 until 1038 after consolidating authority among the Magyars. He organized a Christian kingdom with dioceses, monasteries, counties, and a Latin ecclesiastical culture, establishing institutions that shaped the medieval Hungarian...
The body of Saint Anthony of Padua is enshrined in the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in Italy, where the 13th-century Franciscan preacher's tomb remains a major pilgrimage site. Anthony died in 1231, and his remains are preserved in a reliquary within the chapel built specifically to honor him....
Dürer's Mass of Saint Gregory is a German woodcut dated 1511, depicting Christ appearing above the altar to affirm his bodily presence in the Eucharist.
Dürer's Saint Christopher Facing Right is a German woodcut dated 1525, showing the giant saint carrying the Christ Child through turbulent water.
Guercino's Saint Petronilla Altarpiece is a monumental Baroque canvas depicting the burial and heavenly reception of Saint Petronilla. Commissioned for Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome around 1621, it divides the narrative between mourners lowering the saint's body below and Christ welcoming her into...
Dürer's Saint Christopher Facing Left is a German woodcut dated 1525, one of two late compositions showing the saint bearing Christ across a river.
St. George and the Dragon is a Christian legend in which Saint George confronts a dragon that threatens a community and rescues a princess or chosen victim. In widely circulated medieval versions, the dragon's defeat leads the local population toward conversion to Christianity. The story became a co...
The preserved heart of Saint André Bessette is a Catholic relic kept at Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, the shrine closely associated with his ministry and devotion to Saint Joseph. André Bessette was a Holy Cross brother known for receiving sick and troubled visitors and for prom...
Albrecht Dürer's woodcut "The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist" depicts the executioner presenting the severed head on a platter, a dramatic rendering of the biblical martyrdom.
Albrecht Dürer's 'Saint George Killing the Dragon' is a woodcut created by the German Renaissance master during the early 16th century. The work depicts the legendary Christian martyr Saint George in the act of slaying a dragon, a popular subject in medieval and Renaissance art symbolizing the trium...
The relics of Saint Roch housed in Venice consist of the saint's body, which was transported from Voghera in 1485. They are venerated in the Church of San Rocco, a structure built specifically to house them and completed in the 16th century. The site and the relics are maintained by the Scuola Grand...
Albrecht Dürer's woodcut of Saint Jerome depicts the early Christian scholar and one of the four Latin Church Fathers translating the Bible. Rendered by the German Renaissance master, the print showcases Dürer's advanced skill in manipulating the woodcut medium to create precise lines and intricate...
"Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata" is a woodcut created by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer around 1495 to 1500 in Nuremberg. The artwork depicts Saint Francis of Assisi kneeling in a rocky landscape as he receives the wounds of Christ from a winged seraph, with his companion Brother...
The relic of Saint Francis Xavier's right forearm is preserved at the Church of the Gesù in Rome, the mother church of the Society of Jesus. Francis Xavier (1506–1552) was a Navarrese Catholic priest and Jesuit co-founder who conducted extensive missionary work in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan. H...
The body of Carlo Acutis, an Italian Catholic youth and computer programmer who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, is enshrined in the Sanctuary of the Spoliation in Assisi, Italy. Acutis was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020, drawing significant attention from younger demographics. His rema...
The relics of Saint Damien of Molokai, a Roman Catholic priest, are divided between Europe and the United States, honoring his missionary work with leprosy patients in Hawaii. Following his death from the disease in 1889, his body was exhumed in 1936 and returned to his homeland, where it is interre...
"Herod with the Head of the Baptist" is a Renaissance woodcut created by the German artist Albrecht Dürer. The composition illustrates the biblical banquet of Herod, where the severed head of John the Baptist is presented on a platter, a common motif in Christian art. Dürer utilizes the stark black-...
"Saint Christopher" is a woodcut created by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer, completed circa 1495. The artwork illustrates the popular medieval legend of the giant Reprobus carrying the Christ child across a swollen river. Dürer's rendition captures the moment Saint Christopher uses his...
The relics of St. Kateri Tekakwitha are preserved at the Saint Francis Xavier Mission in Kahnawake, Quebec. Kateri was a 17th-century Mohawk Catholic convert who died at Kahnawake in 1680 and was canonized by the Catholic Church in 2012, becoming its first Native North American saint. The shrine is...
The relics of St. Geneviève at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris honor the city's patron saint, who lived from approximately 422 to 512 CE and is traditionally credited with inspiring resistance against Attila the Hun. The church houses a reliquary containing some of her remains after her main shrine w...
The skull of Thomas Aquinas, a highly influential 13th-century scholastic philosopher and theologian, is preserved as a holy relic in the Cathedral of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, France.
The Bell of St. Patrick (Clog Phádraig) is an early medieval iron handbell associated with St. Patrick, the 5th-century patron saint of Ireland. Originally enshrined in a bronze case at the request of the King of Ulster around 1100, the bell remained in the custody of the O'Mellan hereditary keepers...
Claimed to be the skull of John the Baptist, this relic is displayed in Amiens Cathedral in France, having been brought back from the Fourth Crusade in 1206.
Venerated in the Elisabeth Church in Marburg, Germany, these relics belong to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a 13th-century royal famed for her charity.
