Vida, y Muerte de San Eloy, Obispo de Noyons, Abogado, y Patrón de los Plateros. [The Life and Death of Saint Eloy, Bishop of Noyon, Advocate and Patron of the Silversmiths.]

OUEN, Saint.

Vida, y Muerte de San Eloy, Obispo de Noyons, Abogado, y Patrón de los Plateros. [The Life and Death of Saint Eloy, Bishop of Noyon, Advocate and Patron of the Silversmiths.]

Madrid: Antonio Perez de Soto, 1773.

$1,750.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-152620

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Scarce 1773 Spanish Edition of Vida y Muerte de San Eloy, the Life of the Patron Saint of Silversmiths

A scarce eighteenth-century Spanish edition of the life of Saint Eloy, the seventh-century master goldsmith who rose to become Bishop of Noyon and the patron saint of silversmiths and all who work in metal. Small octavo, written in Spanish, bound in contemporary full vellum, with an engraved allegorical frontispiece by Matias de Irala depicting the saint enthroned in glory above a silversmith's workshop. In good condition with scattered toning to the leaves and light soiling to the vellum. Translated into Castilian by Francisco de Balderrabano. Ownership signatures of Justo Martin and of Antonio Nogues, First Lieutenant of the Regiment of Cazadores de la Reina, to the verso of the title page.

Saint Eloy, known in English as Saint Eligius (588 to 660), was a master goldsmith and royal moneyer who became the trusted counselor of the Frankish kings and, later, Bishop of Noyon and Tournai. Celebrated both for the beauty of his metalwork and for his tireless charity toward the poor and toward captives, he was venerated for centuries as the patron saint of goldsmiths, silversmiths, farriers, and metalworkers of every kind. His life was first set down by his friend Saint Ouen, Bishop of Rouen, whose Latin biography remains the principal source for every later account of the saint. This Castilian version carries the story to the devout silversmiths of Spain, who long honored Eloy as the patron of their craft.