Why a lion?

Editorial Staff

I had a chance to visit Venice with my family. Among the many beautiful things, I was very impressed by St. Mark’s Basilica. Dad told me that that church was built right above the tomb of the evangelist Mark and explained that the lion is his symbol. But what does it mean? Is the symbol the same as the nicknames we give each other among friends or is it like that of football and basketball teams? And do other saints also have their own symbol?
Daniel

Saints are often associated to a symbol that distinguishes them. For example, Saint Anthony of the Desert is always accompanied by a little pig, and Saint Anthony of Padua never lacks a lily, like Saint Joseph. Saint James always wears a shell on his cloak that recalls the fact that he arrived at the end of the world of the ancients and reached the ocean in Galicia... the list would be very long. As for Saint Mark, who is one of the evangelists, the lion is linked to him as the other three are linked to the eagle (John), the ox (Luke) and a winged man (Matthew). This is a vision that we find in both the prophet Ezekiel and the Apocalypse, and these four symbols have become those of the four evangelists. Naturally, the great naval power of Venice made the “lion of St. Mark” very famous: it stands in fact on its flag as well as on many monuments scattered in all the places where the Serenissima extended its power. Saint Mark’s lion reminds us of the strength and beauty of the “roar” of the first written Gospel, that of Mark, which still today shakes the forest of the world to call it to conversion and goodness.