#2722 dragons in cathedrals

The first time I saw a dragon in a church was in Aix-en-Provence, France. I was at the extremely interesting Cathedrale Saint Sauveur. I was looking at a triptych of the burning bush and I turned the corner to see this:

 I grabbed MT's arm, pointed at the creature there on the bottom right, and asked MT if he thought it was supposed to be a dragon. Our guide, Catherine, overheard me and told me that yes, it was a dragon, and was part of French mythology in Provence. I don't remember much about what Catherine was saying about the dragon and France and mythology, because, honestly, I was having a hard time getting over seeing a statue of a dragon on an altar piece.

Because I'm curious and willing to go down rabbit holes on the interwebs to learn stuff, I found out a little more about the dragon and the woman standing behind it. She is St. Marguerite of Antioch. The dragon swallowed her, then its stomach opened and rejected her, and she came out whole. I don't know exactly how St. Marguerite relates to France other than Joan of Arc apparently heard her voice. You can read a bit more about St. Marguerite here.  

I was thinking about linking info about the cathedral, but now I have the idea to write a post about the cathedrals and basilicas we visited because they are all interesting and so, so OLD. This post will only be about dragons.

I saw a dragon in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Yes, St. Peter's!

He's kind of a cute dragon. He is on the monument to Pope Gregory XIII (father of the calendar, you know). Apparently the dragon was part of the Pope's family coat of arms. 

Click here for a description about this monument. 

Our next dragon is in the Cathedral of Rome, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. This cathedral has incredibly beautiful statues of the twelve apostles, and this statue of St. Phillip particularly caught my attention.

A little closer, please:

Why is St. Phillip stepping on that dragon's head?

The story about St. Phillip and the dragon is that the dragon had evil breath that killed or sickened many people. St. Phillip told the people that if they stopped worshipping false gods, he would make the dragon go away. Here is a more scholarly explanation. 

I was surprised and bemused by the dragons in cathedrals. Dragons are creatures of myth, right? And yet, here they are on display in important Christian churches. MT and I have talked about this subject. He thinks that maybe it's more about dinosaurs than dragons, and he might be right. I had the same thought myself. Did you know that dragons are mentioned more than 20 times in the Bible?  In Christianity, the dragon is s symbol of evil, of the devil. In Asian cultures, though. the dragon is a symbol of power, strength, and luck. There is so much information about dragons and Christians on the internet, I could be stuck here forever. 

Let's just say that, now, every time I am in a church, I look for for dragons.