_Lat._ S. Marcus. _Ital._ San Marco Evangelista. _Fr._ St. Marc. _Ger._ Der Heilige Marcus. (April 25. A.D. 68.) St. Mark the Evangelist was not one of the twelve Apostles: his conversion apparently took place after the ascension. He was the companion and assistant of Paul and Barnabas, with whom he preached the Gospel among the Gentiles. According to the traditions received in the Roman Church, he was converted by St. Peter, and became his favourite disciple; attended him first to Aquileia, where they converted and baptized the people on the shores of the Adriatic, and thence to Rome. While there he wrote his gospel for the use of the Roman converts,—some say from the dictation of the apostle. He afterwards, by command of St. Peter, went to preach the Gospel in Egypt; and after preaching in Lybia and Thebais for twelve years, he founded the church of Alexandria, subsequently one of the most celebrated of all the early Christian churches. The ire of the heathen being stirred up against him because of his miracles, they reviled him as a magician, and, during the feast of their god Serapis, seized him while in the act of worship, bound him, and dragged him along the streets and highways, and over stony and rocky places, till he perished miserably; at the same time a dreadful tempest of hail and lightning fell upon his murderers, by which they were dispersed and destroyed. The Christians of Alexandria buried his mangled remains, and his sepulchre was regarded with great reverence for several centuries. About 815 A.D., some Venetian merchants trading to Alexandria carried off the relics (literally stole them,—‘_convey_ the wise it call!’), and they were deposited in the city of Venice, where the stately church of St. Mark was built over them. Since that time, St. Mark has been honoured as the patron saint of Venice, and his legendary history has supplied the Venetian painters with many beautiful and picturesque subjects. When St. Mark is represented as one of the four Evangelists, either singly or grouped with the others, he is almost invariably accompanied by the lion, winged or unwinged, but generally winged,—which distinguishes him from St. Jerome, who is also accompanied by the lion, but unwinged, as we shall see hereafter. In devotional representations, St. Mark often wears the habit of bishop, as first bishop of Alexandria. He is thus represented in the colossal mosaic over the principal door of St. Mark’s at Venice[108] in the pontificals of a Greek bishop, no mitre, short grey hair and beard; one hand raised in benediction, the other holding the gospel. Of the innumerable pictures in which St. Mark figures as patron of Venice, I can afford to give a few examples only.