Exclude or Convert? The Image of the Muslim Slave in the Iconography of the Vision of St John of Matha in Rome

On 28 January 1193, St John of Matha had a vision as he celebrated his first Mass. In it, Christ was holding the hands of two men in chains, one black and deformed and the other white and malnourished. After this event, John of Matha and Felix of Valois founded the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, which received the approval of Pope Innocent III in 1198. The order’s mission was the redemption of Christian slaves from the hands of the Saracens to prevent them from renouncing their faith and embracing that of the infidels. From the 13^th century onward, depictions of the saint’s vision became the iconographic topos of the order itself. This article aims to analyse images of the Muslim slave in the vision of St John of Matha, particularly in the numerous examples still found in the Church of the Santissima Trinita degli Spagnoli in Rome, in which the Muslim slave is given certain singular features.

Izopćiti ili preobratiti? Prikaz muslimanskog roba u ikonografiji Vizije Sv Ivana de Mathe u Rimu

Dana 28. siječnja 1193. Sveti Ivan de Matha imao je viziju dok je slavio svoju prvu misu. U njoj je Krist držao za ruke dva čovjeka u lancima, jednog crnog i deformiranog, a drugog bijelog i neuhranjenog. Nakon ovog događaja, Ivan de Matha i Felix iz Valoisa osnovali su Red Presvetog Trojstva, koji je dobio odobrenje pape Inocenta III. 1198. Misija reda bila je otkupljenje kršćanskih robova od Saracena kako bi se spriječilo njihovo odricanje od svoje vjere i prihvaćanje vjere nevjernika. Od 13. stoljeća, prikazi svečeve vizije postali su ikonografski topos Reda. Ovaj rad ima za cilj analizirati prikaze muslimanskog roba u Viziji Svetog Ivana od Mathe, posebice u brojnim primjerima koji se nalaze u crkvi Santissima Trinita degli Spagnoli u Rimu, u kojima se muslimanskom robu daju određene jedinstvene značajke.