94 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



More fortunate than Saint Cecilia, Saint 

 Dorothea is beloved in almost all Christian 

 countries, for coming from Cappadocia there 

 could be neither vauntings nor heart-burnings 

 on her account in the Christian cities of Europe. 

 She too wears the roses of her legend. 



* Send me then some roses from the Paradise 

 of your Christ,' scoffed the noble youth, Theo- 

 philus, as she passed to execution. At the 

 moment of death an angel appeared with three 

 roses and three apples. ' Take them to Theo- 

 philus,' said the saint, and Theophilus, believing, 

 died a martyr." 



Saint Dorothea is usually painted with both 

 apples and roses, symbols of the good works 

 of a Christian life and of the holy joy even in 

 the hour of death, which, reported to Theophilus, 

 astonished and finally converted him. She is 

 very popular both in the Low Countries and in 

 Germany. There is a charming triptych at 

 Palermo, the best picture Sicily possesses, at- 

 tributed usually to Mabuse. On one wing 

 Saint Dorothea is depicted seated on the ground 

 with her lap full of red and white roses, a quaint, 



' Legenda Aurea. 



