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Figure on the left:

High relief of the XV century representing Saint Venice, shown in the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Vœu, near Cherbourg-Octeville, Lower Normandy, France.
Saint Venice or Venisse, perhaps a deformation of Saint Veronique’s name, is represented naked while she is taking a bath, a rather unusual iconography for a Christian Saint. The bathing scene seems to remind the figure of the Fairy Melusine, the serpent-woman who disappeared just because her husband had seen her while she was bathing and had discovered her serpent tail. The relationship with water could be referred to fertility. The Saint was, as a matter of fact, worshipped in popular tradition for her healing virtues toward female ailments and menstrual disorders, and she could be interpreted as a Christian transposition of a form of the Latin goddess Venus, whose cult had been imported in Gaul. According to popular hagiography, Saint Veronique, after Christ’s death, had married Zacchaeus, the tax-collector who had climbed up a tree to see Jesus while he was passing by. Then, she had come to the Gauls to evangelize the people and here she had taken on the name of Saint Venice or Venisse. Some martyrologies indicate the celebration of Saint Veronique on February 4, in full Carnival period. According to Gaignebet and Lajoux (1985, p. 107), she could be interpreted as a Christian personification of the Fairy Melusine, associated with the deep waters and protectress of women from menstrual dysfunctions.

[Image: http://www.wikimanche.fr/Sainte_Venice]

Figure on the right:

Statue of Saint Venice, in polychrome stone, dating to the XV century, in the Church of Notre-Dame, at La Bloutière, Lower Normandy, France.
The Saint was retained to protect women and is still invoked particularly to solve female problems and ailments. The worshippers bring with them a colored ribbon, which is then cut in two parts: one is wrapped around the neck of the statue, while the other is kept on the body of the petitioner. The white and red colors depend on the kind of disorder she is called to remove.

[Image: http://www.wikimanche.fr/%C3%89glise_Notre-Dame_%28La_Blouti%C3%A8re%29]




Female Symbols

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Figure on the left: High relief of the XV century representing Saint Venice, shown in the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Vœu, near Cherbourg-Octeville, Lower Normandy, France. Saint Venice or Venisse, perhaps a deformation of Saint Veronique’s name, is represented naked while she is taking a bath, a rather unusual iconography for a Christian Saint. The bathing scene seems to remind the figure of the Fairy Melusine, the serpent-woman who disappeared just because her husband had seen her while she was bathing and had discovered her serpent tail. The relationship with water could be referred to fertility. The Saint was, as a matter of fact, worshipped in popular tradition for her healing virtues toward female ailments and menstrual disorders, and she could be interpreted as a Christian transposition of a form of the Latin goddess Venus, whose cult had been imported in Gaul. According to popular hagiography, Saint Veronique, after Christ’s death, had married Zacchaeus, the tax-collector who had climbed up a tree to see Jesus while he was passing by. Then, she had come to the Gauls to evangelize the people and here she had taken on the name of Saint Venice or Venisse. Some martyrologies indicate the celebration of Saint Veronique on February 4, in full Carnival period. According to Gaignebet and Lajoux (1985, p. 107), she could be interpreted as a Christian personification of the Fairy Melusine, associated with the deep waters and protectress of women from menstrual dysfunctions. [Image: http://www.wikimanche.fr/Sainte_Venice] Figure on the right: Statue of Saint Venice, in polychrome stone, dating to the XV century, in the Church of Notre-Dame, at La Bloutière, Lower Normandy, France. The Saint was retained to protect women and is still invoked particularly to solve female problems and ailments. The worshippers bring with them a colored ribbon, which is then cut in two parts: one is wrapped around the neck of the statue, while the other is kept on the body of the petitioner. The white and red colors depend on the kind of disorder she is called to remove. [Image: http://www.wikimanche.fr/%C3%89glise_Notre-Dame_%28La_Blouti%C3%A8re%29]