 |
| Jan Saenredam after Hendrick Goltzius, The Samaritan Woman Dutch, 1600-1650 Washington, National Gallery of Art* |
“Jesus came to a town of Samaria
called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob
had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob's well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey,
sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw
water.
Jesus said to her,
"Give me a drink."
His disciples had gone into the
town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
"How can you, a Jew, ask me,
a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"
—For Jews use nothing in common
with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
"If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, 'Give
me a drink, '
you would have asked him
and he would have given you
living water."
The woman said to him,
"Sir, you do not even have a
bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this
living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and
drank from it himself
with his children and his
flocks?"
Jesus answered and said to her,
"Everyone who drinks this
water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I
shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will
become in him
a spring of water welling up to
eternal life."
The woman said to him,
"Sir, give me this water, so
that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to
draw water."
Jesus said to her,
"Go call your husband and
come back."
The woman answered and said to
him,
"I do not have a
husband."
Jesus answered her,
"You are right in saying, 'I
do not have a husband.'
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not
your husband.
What you have said is true."
The woman said to him,
"Sir, I can see that you are
a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this
mountain;
but you people say that the place
to worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus said to her,
"Believe me, woman, the hour
is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do
not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the
Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is
now here,
when true worshipers will worship
the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such
people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who
worship him
must worship in Spirit and
truth."
The woman said to him,
"I know that the Messiah is
coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us
everything."
Jesus said to her,
"I am he, the one speaking
with you."
At that moment his disciples
returned,
and were amazed that he was
talking with a woman,
but still no one said, "What
are you looking for?"
or "Why are you talking with
her?"
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said
to the people,
"Come see a man who told me
everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the
Christ?"
Many of the Samaritans of that
town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman
who testified,
"He told me everything I
have done."
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with
them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him
because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
"We no longer believe
because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly
the savior of the world."
John 4:5-29, 39-42 (Excerpt from the Gospel for the Third Sunday of
Lent, Year A)
This section of the Gospel of John has been recognized as of great
importance since it was written. It is
scheduled for the third Sunday of Lent in Year A and, like the other Year A
readings, is used for the Sunday Mass of the Third Sunday at which the
catechumens of a parish (i.e., those adults preparing to receive Baptism at the
Easter Vigil) participate. It reminds us
of the importance of Baptism, of receiving the “living water” of Jesus, not
just for our own lives, but as a cause of the joy that leads to both our own
conversion and to our mission to convert the world.
 |
| Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well Late Antique Roman, c. 350 Rome, Catacomb in Via Latina |
It has also been a very important subject in the history of Christian
art. Indeed, the earliest image that
illustrates it slightly predates the generally agreed point in time at which
the Canon of accepted New Testament Scripture was completed. A painting from the mid-fourth century
catacomb in Via Latina shows the woman at the well listening to Jesus, who is
represented, as He frequently was at this time, as a youthful, non-bearded
philosopher.1
What is it about this story that has made it so powerful over such a
long time? The setting is simple. There is a well, known to both Jews and
Samaritans as the well of their ancestor, Jacob. There is a man, Jesus, who decides to sit
there and rest, while sending His followers to find food for the midday
meal. There is a woman who comes to draw
water. We are specifically told that it
is “about noon”.
 |
| Anonymous, Christ and the Woman at the Well Russian, Second half of 19th Century St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
This last statement is
important. “About noon” in the region of
Palestine is the hottest time of the day in a generally very hot climate. It is the time when the sun beats down most
directly. It is not the time for running
daily chores, if you can avoid going outside, unless you really want to be by
yourself. It would appear that this
woman wanted to avoid encountering others.
She is either ashamed of something or fearful of the comments and
actions of others. In other words, she
is hiding.
So, imagine her dismay at finding this solitary Jewish man sitting at
the well. Jews and Samaritans did not
mix, nor did unrelated men and women speak to each other in public. One can imagine similar situations in our own
day in areas of fundamentalist Islam where women are tightly
circumscribed. Nevertheless, she needs
to get the water before the sun diminishes and the town becomes active
again. So, she decides to ignore the man and steps up to the well to draw her water. No doubt to her
intense astonishment the man speaks to her and asks for a cup of water. This is not a surprising demand in itself,
since water is so very important in a dry, hot land. What is astonishing is that He is a man and a
Jew and she is a woman and a Samaritan.
And she tells Him so (John 4:9).
 |
| Pieter de Grebber, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 1635 Private Collection |
Then He tells her something that is more astonishing even than His
speaking to her. He tells her that He
is someone special, a “gift of God” and that He has a source of “living
water” (John 4:10). Living water implies water that
is flowing, as at a spring where the water never ceases to flow out of the
earth or at a stream, not standing as in a pool or water cistern. Taking Him at His literal word, she wonders
aloud how He can do this since He has no vessel for collecting any water, let
alone living water. (John 4:11-12) Again He answers
somewhat cryptically that He is the source of a living water that will prevent
thirst forever. (John 4:13-14) We know He means the
water of life that is given to those who believe in Him, enabling them to
flourish spiritually forever. She
interprets Him literally. Still thinking
on an everyday level, she asks for this water, so she won’t have to come back
to the well again (John 4:15) – and risk painful encounters with those she wants to avoid.
 |
| Bartholomeus Breenburgh, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, c. 1640-1657 Private Collection |
At this point Jesus changes the conversation and asks her to go get her
husband and come back. (John 4:16) Then the bitter
truth behind her avoidance of her community comes out. She has no husband. And Jesus astonishes her further by telling
her the story of her life. She has no
current husband, but has had five and is currently living with a man not her
husband. (John 4:17-18) And now she begins to realize
that this is not just some ordinary Jewish traveler who happened to sit down at
the well. He is a prophet, who can see
into the human soul. (John 4:19)
But, this woman is spirited. Since
He is a prophet she has something she wants to get off her chest. It is probably a complaint that many
Samaritans had “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say
that the place to worship is in Jerusalem." (John 4:20). And He tells her the most astonishing thing
so far:
"Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not
understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father
in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to
worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth." (John
4:21-24)
 |
Abraham Bloemaert, Christ and the Woman at the Well
Dutch, c. 1620
Private Collection
|
With that a suspicion grows in her.
“The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one
called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything." (John 4:25) Could this be Him? Then, comes confirmation. “Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one
speaking with you." (John 4:26) This is the first time Jesus has made this
claim for Himself – and He is making it to a Samaritan who is also a woman and
a sinner! What clearer indication could
He give for what His church was going to be for everyone: Jews, non-Jews, sinners, even women who have been married five times and are now living in an irregular relationship!
At this point the disciples come up and are so shocked at seeing Him
talking to a solitary woman that they seem to be rendered speechless. (John 4:27)
Meanwhile, a great transformation has been worked in this formerly
fearful woman. She leaves her water jug, rushes into the
village and tells everyone she meets to “"Come
see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the
Christ?" (John 4:28-29) Only half an hour before she was so fearful of
being seen in public that she chose to go to the well in the middle of the hottest
time of the day, sure that everyone else would be indoors behind thick
walls. Now one can imagine her rushing
from house to house, knocking on doors or grabbing people by the arm. “Come, see!”
Her whole being has been transformed.
Her joy has driven out her fear.
She has become a missionary.
Her enthusiasm is so great that her neighbors do go and see. They are so interested that they even invite
Him to stay. And, when He finally
departs they have not only her testimony, but their own experience to guide
them. "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for
ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."
(John 4:42)
The story is dramatic, but the drama consists in the conversation of
two people, not in great actions. There
is drama here, but it is the drama of a soul being touched by grace and of a
life being changed without large, vehement gestures. Hence, the art that illustrates it may often
seem static. It is, therefore, more in
the nature of a sign than of a great narrative.
Consequently, although there are certain distinct iconographies in which
artists have represented the scene, there is little development within these
iconographies.
The
Primitive
The images I would call Primitive are so because they constitute the earliest iconographic type as well as the
simplest composition, but the art by which they tell the story is not simplistic. It begins to appear almost as soon as Christians began to decorate surfaces with art. We have already seen the example from the catacombs. There is Jesus, the woman and
the well, sometimes represented as a small scene among many other small
scenes. There is virtually no
development within this group.
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well Early Byzantine, c. 500 Ravenna, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo |
 |
| Ivory Book Cover with Christ and the Woman at the Well (center of bottom row of images) Byzantine (Origin Unknown), 550-600 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9384 |
 |
| Panel from the Cathedra (Episcopal Throne) of Bishop Maximian Byzantine (Italy), c. 550 Ravenna, Archepiscopal Museum |
 |
| Ivory Pyxis with Christ and the Woman at the Well Byzantine (Eastern Mediterranean), 2nd half of 6th Century Paris, Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Biblical Scenes From Orations by St. Gregory Nazianzus Byzantine (Constantinople), 879-882 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Grec 510, fol. 215v |
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well (detail) From Orations by St. Gregory Nazianzus Byzantine (Constantinople), 879-882 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Grec 510, fol. 215v |
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well from a Gospel Book Byzantine (Constantinople), 12th Century Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Supplement grec 27, fol.20 |
 |
| Lazaros, Christ and the Woman at the Well from a Bible Turkey (Amasya), 1659 France, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Smith-Lesouef (oriental) 253, fol. 243v |
With
The Disciples Near Jesus
Next to develop is the scene in which the disciples arrive, coming near enough to Christ and the woman to overhear the conversation. This sets the scene near the end of the discourse between them. It was a popular way of presenting the scene for many centuries.
 |
| Ivory Plaque with New Testament Scenes Italian, 11th-12th Century Salerno, Museo Diocesano San Matteo
Christ and the Woman at the Well is at the top.
|
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well Bernward's Column German, c. 1020 Hildesheim, Church of Saint Mary |
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well Single Leaf from a Psalter English (Canterbury), 1155-1160 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 521, fol. 1v |
 |
| Mosaic of Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, c. 1180 Monreale, Cathedral |
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well from a Book of Hours German (Franconia), 1204-1219 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 739, fol. 22r |
 |
| Duccio, Christ and the Woman at the Well from the Maestà Altarpiece Italian, 1308-1311 Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza |
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well from Vies de la Vierge et du Christ Italian (Naples), c. 1350 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 9561, fol. 161 |
 |
| Jesus and the Woman at the Well (painted on glass) German (Southwest), c. 1420 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
 |
| Master of Otto of Moerdrecht, Christ and the Woman at the Well from a History Bible Dutch (Utrecht), c. 1430 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliothek MS KB 78 D 38-Dl2, fol. 165r |
 |
| Workshop of the Master of the Rouen Echevinage, Christ and the Woman at the Well from a Book of Hours French (Rouen), 1465-1475 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 32, fol. 13v |
 |
| Workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, 1500-1530 Cleveland, Museum of Art |
 |
| Annibale Carracci, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, c. 1595 Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
 |
| Hendrick de Clerck, Christ and the Woman at the Well Flemish, c. 1620 Private Collection |
 |
| Jacob Jordaens, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, c. 1640 Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum |
 |
| Jacob van Oost the Younger, Christ and the Woman at the Well Flemish, 1688 Private Collection |
 |
| Alessandro Magnasco, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, 1705-1710 Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum |
 |
| Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Christ and the Woman at the Well Austrian, 1752-1753 Vienna, Cloister of the Piarist Order, Church of Maria Treu |
 |
| Johann Jakob Zeiller, Christ and the Woman at the Well Austrian, 1764 Ottobeuren, Monastery Church of Saints Theodore and Alexander |
The Disciples Approaching in the Distance
Another version of the story includes the disciples, but places them in
the distance. They are coming but not
yet nearby. So, the moment is seen as
being somewhat earlier in the story.
This also was popular for many centuries.
 |
| Fernando Gallego Spanish, 1480-1488 Tucson AZ, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Kress Gift |
 |
| Jan Joest von Kalkar, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 1508 Kalkar, Catholic Parish Church of Saint Nicholas |
 |
| Joachim Wteweal, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, c. 1600 Private Collection |
 |
| Venetian School, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, First half 17th Century County Durham UK, Barnard Castle, Bowes Museum |
 |
| Abraham Bloemaert, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 1624-1626 St. Petersburg, FL, Museum of Fine Arts |
 |
| Lambert Jacobszoon, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, c. 1625-1635 Private Collection |
 |
| Bartholomeus Breenburgh, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 1634 Private Collection |
 |
| Francisque Millet, Christ and the Woman at the Well Flemish, 1650-1700 Cherbourg-Octeville, Musée Thomas Henry |
 | ||
| Rembrandt, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 1659 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum
|
 |
| Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, 1752 Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
 |
| Norbert Grund, Christ and the Woman at the Well Czech, c. 1760 Vienna, Belvedere Museum |
Just Jesus and the Woman
The version of the story that has resonated the most over the centuries
is, however, the scene in which only Jesus and the woman appear in
conversation. It is a natural
development from the primitive image of the two figures and the well, fleshed
out with all the artistic language of the succeeding centuries. It may be set close up or in the middle of an
open landscape, but the focus is on the interaction of the two. It does not tie the imagination down to any
one moment of the encounter, but is a versatile enough focus to permit artists
to set any part of the encounter that appeals to them.
- Some chose the first moment of the encounter, as Jesus makes His request to the startled woman.
 |
| Juan de Flandres, Christ and the Woman at the Well Flemish, c. 1496-1504 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Perugino, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, 1500-1505 Chicago, Art Institute |
- Others chose a moment in which the woman responds.
 |
| Bedford Master and His Workshop, Christ and the Woman at the Well from a Book of Hours French (Paris), 1430-1435 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 359, fol. 55r |
 |
| Michelangelo, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, c. 1540 Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery |
 |
| Anonymous Stained Glass Artist, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 17th Century London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
 |
| Bernardo Strozzi, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, 1630-1640 Heino, Fondation Honnema |
Still others chose a moment in which she listens attentively to the words of Jesus.
 |
| Attributed to Jasper van der Lanen, Christ and the Woman at the Well Flemish, c. 1600-1630 Private Collection |
 |
| Anonymous (Italian School), Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, c. 1600 Detroit, Institute of Arts |
 |
| Ceramic Figurine, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, First half of 17th Century St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, mid-1630s Private Collection |
 |
| Matthias Stomer, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, c. 1630 Zürich, Kunsthaus Zürich |
 |
| Guercino, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, 1640-1641 Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bronemisza |
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well From a Lay Mass Prayer Book Prayers at the Last Gospel French, 1700-1750 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 84, fol. 51 |
 |
| Adriaen van der Werff, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, 1702-1722 Private Collection |
 |
| Jean Francois de Troy, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, 1704 Greenville, SC, Museum and Gallery, Bob Jones University |
 |
| Benedetto Luti, Christ and the Woman at the Well Italian, 1715-1720 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
 |
| Georg Raphael Donner, Christ and the Woman at the Well Austrian, c. 1737-1738 Vienna, Belvedere Museum |
 |
| Thomas Schaidhauf, Christ and the Woman at the Well German, 1750-1800 Fuerstenfeldbruck, Catholic Parish Church of Saint Mary Magdalene (formerly the Monastery Church of the Assumption) |
 |
| Angelika Kauffmann, Christ and the Woman at the Well Swiss, 1796 Munich, Neue Pinakotek |
 |
| Jean Ferdinand Chaigneau, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, 1857 Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
 |
| James Tissot, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, 1886-1892 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
 |
| Leon Augustin Lhermitte, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, 1897 New York, Dahesh Museum of Art |
All of them present the figures are essentially on a level ground. Jesus is not larger or very much more active than is the woman. And she has a dignity that is implied by her bold responses to some of His statements. One senses a give and take in their encounter that is a trifle different from the encounters shown for most of Jesus’ ministry, most of which involve people pleading for a healing or other action.
The
Missionary
A small number of paintings represent, not the encounter itself, but
its aftermath in which the woman reacts to the new understanding she has
received. She is shown engaging with her
neighbors, telling them about the things Jesus has told her, or rushing off to
town to do it. Her gestures convey the
excitement she feels and the urgency with which she is trying to convey it to
her neighbors.
 |
| Christ and the Woman at the Well from a Bible Egyptian (Damietta), 1178-1180 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Copte 13, fol. 231 |
 |
| Hungarian Master and workshop, Christ and the Woman at the Well Single Leaves from Hungarian Anjou Legendary Italian (Bologna), 1325-1335 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 360, fol. 1 |
 |
| Sebastien Bourdon, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, 1664-1669 Boston, Museum of Fine Arts |
Some comments should be made about the well itself. Most of the time it is simply a well, usually round and made of blocks. It may be of the simplest type, in which the user throws in a bucket, scoops up some water and pours that into their jug or other kind of vessel.
 |
| Student of Rembrandt, Christ and the Woman at the Well Dutch, c. 1655 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
 |
| Carl Kretschmar, Christ and the Woman at the Well German, 1821 Berlin, Nationalgalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin |
It might have a winch, a device to help raise
the bucket of water by using the energy of the coil, or it may have an even
older device, called a water sweep or shadoof, that uses a counterweight to
assist the lift. All of these images are
simple references to a well. Some later
images use the image of a fountain instead of an actual well for the
encounter.
 |
| Attributed to Jean Faur Courrege, Christ and the Woman at the Well French, c. 1800 Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
 |
| Jean Colombe, Christ and the Woman at the Well from Vita Jesu Christi by Ludolphe of Saxony French (Bourges), 1475-1500 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 177, fol. 255v |
However, a few of the images present a shaped well. This may take the form of a square or of a hexgon or octogon. It may even be round. What makes it obviously different is that the sides are frequently decorated and that there is almost always a rim.
This “well” is actually a reference to the Baptismal font, the place in which souls are given the living water promised by Jesus in His dialogue with the Samaritan woman and, therefore, in close relation with the text of the story. 2
The
Saint
Longstanding tradition, especially in the Eastern Churches, both the
Orthodox and the Catholic, has given a name to this Samaritan woman, whose
encounter with Jesus was so eye-opening.
She is called Photina in the Latin West, Photini in the Greek and Coptic
Orthodox and Svetlana in Slavic Orthodoxy.
All these names are taken from the Greek words “the illuminated
one”. And, she is a saint, called in the
Orthodox tradition “equal to the Apostles”.
 |
| Modern Icon of St. Photini |
According to this tradition, as already hinted in the Gospel of John,
she became a missionary, first within Samaria and later, following her baptism,
in Egypt, where she continued to spread the news of her encounter with the
source of the living water. From Egypt she
and her family moved to Rome. There they
were martyred during the first persecution, under Nero. According to the tradition, her skull is
located in the Roman church of San Paolo fuori le Mura (where St. Paul’s body
is also interred). Her feast day in most
of the Orthodox churches is February 26 but in some it is March 20, which it
also is in the Eastern Catholic Churches.
She is also remembered on the fifth Sunday after Easter (Pascha) in both
the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. 3
She has or had a feast day in the Roman Catholic church as well. It is March 20, the same as her feast day in
the Byzantine Catholic churches. This
makes this year of 2017 an interesting juxtaposition, since this Gospel is read
the day before what should be her feast day (overshadowed this year by the
transfer of the feast of St. Joseph from the 19th (its proper date). However, I have been unable to verify that
Photina still has a memorial in the Roman calendar. It is possible that she, along with many
other semi-legendary saints, was removed from the calendar following Vatican
Council II. It is likely that it was. 4
 |
| Modern Icon of the Meeting Between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman |
The feast days of many early saints were removed from the calendar of
the universal Church in the pruning of multiple saints’ days that followed the
Second Vatican Council. Contrary to what is sometimes asserted, removal from
the calendar does not mean that the Church has decided that the saint never
existed. It does means that a deliberate
choice has been made about which saints’ days should be celebrated universally,
rather than in individual countries or dioceses. 5 There are thousands of Catholic saints and
not all of them can be celebrated all over the world. For example, Saint Patrick is someone whom we
know actually existed and, for centuries before the formal process of
canonization was established, has been revered as a saint and as the “apostle
to the Irish”. However, his name was
removed from the main calendar after Vatican II. It is celebrated in those countries and locations
with a special connection to him. So,
therefore, it is not celebrated in Vietnam, for example, but it is celebrated
in Ireland and in those other locations around the world where the Irish
settled in large numbers. Hence, every
March 17th in New York, the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade processes past Saint
Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.6
 |
| Abel Grimmer, Christ at the Well of Jacob Flemish, c. 1590-1619 Enshede, Rijksmuseum Twente
Here we can see her running off, her jug abandoned at the side of the well, as Jesus talks to His disciples. |
So we can see that saints, especially those from the time of the early
centuries of
the Church, may have few documentary sources to prove that they
existed and, clearly, some of the stories of their lives may have been
embroidered over time, but if does not follow that they did not live. It was
not until much later in history that an elaborate procedure for canonizing
individuals as saints was developed. The
“woman at the well” is someone whose existence, if not her name, is attested to
by the Gospel of John, but documentation about her later life is probably
sparse, if there is any at all. Yet, it
is highly likely that her encounter with Jesus on that noontime visit to the
well, did indeed change her life. Her
immediate action of going into town and telling everyone to come and hear this
man who had astonished her suggest that she already had a missionary
spirit. For, in the course of her
conversation with Him she had gone from a person seeking to avoid notice,
someone in hiding, to someone ready to openly proclaim her experience with Him
to the world. She is thus a model for the
very disciples who witnessed her transformation. They themselves would go from hiding in the
aftermath of the Crucifixion and emerge into public proclamation after
receiving the spirit at Pentecost. And,
she is a model for us as well.
©
M. Duffy, 2017
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use
in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition ©
2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc.,
Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this
text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the
copyright owner.
- See my comments on this tradition at: http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2008/04/further-on-early-christian-sarcophagi.html and http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-shepherd-sunday-fourth-sunday-of.html
- See my Mary D. Edwards, ‘On Duccio's "Christ and the Woman From Samaria", Painted For The "Maestà"’, Notes in the History of Art, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Summer 2010), pp. 10-15. See also: Richard E. Spear, “Artemisia Gentileschi's 'Christ and the woman of Samaria'”, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 153, No. 1305 (December 2011), pp. 804-805.
- For Saint Photina, Greek Orthodox https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=538, Coptic http://suscopts.org/resources/literature/563/the-samaritan-woman-st-photini/, Antiochene http://www.antiochian.org/st-photini-samaritan-woman, Autochephalus Russian Orthodox in America https://oca.org/saints/lives/2020/03/20/100846-martyr-photina-svetlana-the-samaritan-woman-and-her-sons
- See also, the Byzantine Catholic liturgical calendar for 2017. The Fifth Sunday is May 14 this year. http://www.byzcath.org/index.php/resources-mainmenu-63/2017-liturgical-calendar
- “The saints have been traditionally honored in the Church and their authentic relics and images held in veneration. For the feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in His servants, and display to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation. Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or family of religious; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance.” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Solemnly Promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963, Chapter IV, article 111. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html. And see: the Motu Proprio, Mysterii Paschalis (The Paschal Mystery) of Pope Paul VI, dated February 14, 1969, which implemented the changes, specifically Part II, paragraph 3. http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19690214_mysterii-paschalis.html
- Press Release from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the New Roman Missal, Intervention of Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020327_card-medina-estevez_it.html
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