Saint Expeditus. Oil painting by a painter of Palermo, 19th century.

Unknown artist

The canvas is divided by black line-borders into ten scenes. The central compartment (89 x 41.5 cm) shows Saint Expeditus, full-length, dressed as a Roman legionary. Under his right foot he tramples a crow in whose beak is a banderolle inscribed "CRAS" ("tomorrow"). In his right hand he holds a cross inscribed "HODIE" (today). In his left hand he holds a martyr's palm. In the background, two churches. Below, lettering "S. E [erased] SPEDITO MARTIRE" Of the two scenes along the top of the canvas, the left one (40.5 x 65.8 cm) appears to show the exhumation or reinterment of Saint Expeditus, or of a figure of the saint, being blessed by a bishop attended by officials and other people in 19th-century dress. The right scene (40.7 x 65.5 cm.) shows a statue of the saint being borne into a church and, in the foreground, people kneeling before the same officials (policemen?) asking for mercy Of the four scenes on the sides, the upper left one (44.7 x 42.5 cm.) shows a sick-room, with a patient in bed, very ill, three bystanders making gestures of despair, and a statue of Saint Expeditus in a wall-shrine. The upper right one (46 x 43 cm.) shows a sick-room with a patient in bed, a physician taking the patient's pulse, four bystanders in prayer, and a wall-shrine bearing a figure of Saint Expeditus The lower left scene (44.8 x 42.7 cm) shows a steamship in a storm at sea, with passengers praying to the saint shown as a figure in the sky. The lower right scene (45.4 x 38.5 cm.) shows the steamship in harbour and, on the dockside, a statue of Saint Expeditus being carried in procession, escorted by a band and a cheering crowd Of the three scenes along the bottom, the left one (47 x 50.4 cm.) appears to show the printing of votive prints of Saint Expeditus on two presses by young inmates of a religious institution under the eyes of two priests. The middle scene (45.7 x 42.5 cm.) shows a man in a brown and purple striped uniform (of prison?) praying in a chapel of Saint Expeditus. The right scene (46 x 38.2 cm.) shows a street outside a prison-window, where a woman and two other people hold up a coloured picture of Saint Expeditus to show it to a man imprisoned behind bars.