3-098-978 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Miraculous return of Saint John of Matha, 1634. John of Matha (1160-1213) was a French Catholic priest and co-founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity of Redemption of Captives, initially dedicated to ransoming Christians who had been captured by marauders from North Africa. According to Trinitarian tradition, John celebrated his first Mass on 28 January 1193. During that Mass, he had a vision of Christ holding by the hand two chained captives, one a Moor, the other a Christian (the Crusades were in full force at the time). After the Mass, John decided to devote himself to the task of ransoming Christian captives from the Moors. Christian slaves were first rescued by the Order in 1201. In 1202 and 1210, John travelled to Tunisia himself and brought back Christian slaves. One of the series of twelve canvases depicting the lives of Saint Felix of Valois and Saint John of Matha, founders of the Order, painted for the church of the convent of the Trinidad Descalza in Madrid.