[annalex]

In my Gospel posts on Salvation's daily Mass threads there is often something about self-denial, and then every now and then I post, for sacred art part, something aboyut St. Martin, for example:

Division of the Cloak (scene 1)

Simone Martini

1312-17
Fresco, 265 x 230 cm
Cappella di San Martino, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi

or this

St. Martin and the Beggar

El Greco

c. 1604
Oil on canvas, 104 x 60 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

A similar scene involves St. Francis:

Scenes from the Life of Saint Francis: 2. Renunciation of Wordly Goods

Giotto di bondone

1325
Fresco, 280 x 450 cm
Bardi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence

But we digress.

For an atheist, disocvering a need for comfort in the face of death is a step in the right direction. Of course, false religions cannot provide that, but they do acknowledge a larger purpose in life. They just don't know what that purpose is. When, for example, a Soviet komissar would tell a soldier that his sacrifice saved the life of an entire platoon, he is telling him that his life had a higher purpose. That is all I was trying to say. In fact, much of Hollywood militaristic production seems not to go beyond that simple point as they depict scenes of military heroism. Well, it is something. Not much, but something.

[Salvation]

Another story about a saint and a beggar is that of St. Edward the Confessor who gave his ring to a beggar. The ring was later returned to him by St. John or by Christ himself.

St. Edward the Confessor, 1042-1065, (Catholic, Anglican Caucus)