The symbols for these female saints tell stories of how they led exemplary lives or, for those who suffered martyrdom, tell the instrument of their death.

Which female saints are symbolized by the following?

1. An organ

Saint Cecilia

Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians and church music, was arrested for setting up her home as a church. Roman officials attempted to kill her by locking her in an overheated room; when the attempt failed she was to be beheaded. The executioner attempted unsuccessfully to decapitate her three times, after which he fled. Amazingly Cecilia survived for three days before dying. Her association with music rests on a legend that she praised God and sang to Him as she lay dying.

2. A cloth bearing the image of Christ’s face

Saint Veronica

Legend has it that Veronica gave Jesus a cloth as he struggled on his tortuous path to Calvary; when he wiped his brow with the cloth, it was miraculously imprinted with his face.

3. A tower and a peacock

Saint Barbara

St. Barbara was a beautiful young girl who was imprisoned by her father in a tower for her disobedience and to protect her from suitors. He later beheaded her for her conversion to Christianity, but he was immediately struck dead by lightning. She is typically pictured holding a peacock feather, a symbol of immortality, in front of the tower where she was held.

4. An apron full of roses

Saint Elisabeth of Hungary

At the age of 14, young Elisabeth married Ludwig IV, ruler of Thuringia in central Germany; the marriage appears to have been happy. She was very much influenced by the ideals of Saint Francis of Assisi and her husband seemed happy to have her share their wealth with the poor. During the Inquisition, Konrad von Marburg – a harsh man and a true product of his age – gained considerable power over Elisabeth and became her religious advisor. He caused her much suffering including separation from her three children. After her husband, Ludwig, died she joined the Order of St. Francis and built a hospital for the poor and the sick. Elisabeth is perhaps best known for the legend which says that while she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she was asked what she was carrying. Elisabeth opened her apron and the loaves had turned into roses.

5. A spiked wheel

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

A spiked wheel is the symbol for St. Catherine because it recalls the wheel on which the Roman authorities of Alexandria tortured her. She is also represented by a book which represents her learning as a philosopher, a crown which represents her aristocratic background, and a lily that represents her chastity.

6. A dish with two female breasts

Saint Agatha

The legend of the method of St. Agatha’s torture includes mutilation of her breasts. Today St. Agatha is a symbol for women who suffer mutilation through cancer (mastectomy).

7. A dish with two eyes

Saint Lucy

Because Lucy refused to be married, she was tortured by having her eyes torn out. She was martyred by being stabbed with a dagger. It is said that her vision was restored before she died.

8. A pyx containing the Host

Saint Clare

In art, St. Clare is shown carrying a monstrance or pyx in commemoration of the time that she warded away attackers at the gates of her convent by raising the sacred Host over the wall.

9. An arrow

Saint Ursula

Ursula's symbols are a crown (as a British princess) and the arrow with which she was killed by the prince of the Huns as she returned from a pilgrimage to Rome.

10. A sword piercing her throat

Saint Justina of Padua

Justina was said to have been a young woman who took private vows of chastity and was killed during Roman Emperor Diocletian’s persecutions of the Christians. She is typically depicted with a sword through her throat.

Source:

Bailey, Colin J. The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings. Station Press: Scotland, 1995.