Philippine school of the 19th century. "Saint... Lot 34

Philippine school of the 19th century. "Saint Michael the Archangel defeating the devil". Carved wood. With traces of polychromy. It presents notable faults. Measurements: 55 x 28 x 17 cm. Patiently, calmly and with a calm look, St. Michael advances as if he was walking over the Devil who is writhing and moaning with suffering. A profound idea in which good prevails over evil as if it were natural, as if it followed a logical and established order. According to tradition, St. Michael is the head of the heavenly militia and defender of the Church. Precisely for this reason he fights against the rebellious angels and the dragon of the Apocalypse. He is also a psychopomp, i.e. he leads the dead and weighs the souls on Judgement Day. Scholars have linked his cult to that of several ancient gods: Anubis in Egyptian mythology, Hermes and Mercury in classical mythology, and Wotan in Norse mythology. In the West, the cult of St Michael began to develop from the 5th and 6th centuries onwards, first in Italy and France, then spreading to Germany and the rest of Christendom. The kings of France gave him particular veneration from the 14th century onwards, and the Counter-Reformation made him the head of the church against Protestant heresy, giving a new impetus to his cult. Saint Michael the Archangel is therefore a military saint, and therefore patron saint of knights and of all trades connected with arms, as well as with the scales, due to his role as an apocalyptic judge.