THE WORSHIP AND ICONOGRAPHY OF SAINT JOHN MARK, FROM BRAGA, IN PORTUGAL AND BRAZIL

Abstract

Saint John Mark is, in several titles, remarkable. Discovered and identified in Braga, his body and the respective relics in
the 17th century, he was, according to Portuguese hagiography, one of the characters that appear in the Acts of the
Apostles, disciple of Christ, and his parents, owners of the Upper Room in Jerusalem. The devotion to the saint in Braga
was intense, especially from the beginning of the 18th century, when the transfer to his new tomb was organized. This, like
the church where his body is, reveals iconographic and symbolic characteristics linked to the idea of temple-mausoleum,
and is still one of the most striking temples in Braga, city founded by Augustus, capital of the kingdom of the Suebi and
seat of an important archeepiscopate Portuguese. The cult of Saint João Marcos also spread to Brazil, with sculptures and
impressive traces of this devotion, naturally carried by Portuguese devotees of the saint from the province of Minho.