po jo karstu ant paties
altoriaus ..........
Translated from Lithuanian by Gloria O’Brien
On the altar of St.
Casimir’s chapel in Vilnius Cathedral, directly beneath his coffin, there
stands an odd three-handed picture of the saint. Casimir, wearing his princely
miter and bright red robes, holds a lily in each of two right hands, and a
rosary in the left. The picture is extremely old, as we know from an
inscription beneath its silver armature, indi
Legend says:
Once, in
When the picture
was almost finished, the artist noticed that the right hand seemed to be thrust
out at an awkward angle and the arm looked too long. He painted over it with another
background color, and then painted in another right hand, the arm bent at the
elbow. But soon, the original hand reappeared from under the covering
paint. The artist tried several times to paint over that one, but each time,
the same happened – the hand reappeared. Then he decided to give up and paint
over the second hand . But when he did, that one also
reappeared. Seeing this as a miraculous occurrence, the artist dropped the idea
of painting over either hand, and donated the completed three-handed picture to
the
The picture
originally adorned Casimir’s tomb in the underground royal chapel, but when the
earthly remains of
(In 1636, a silver
covering was placed over the painting, and now, only the face and hands are
exposed.)
Source:
“Vilniaus Legendos”, compiled by Stasys Lipskis,
published by “Žuvėdra” -
© English translation - Gloria O’Brien 2006
This
article was published in Lithuanian Heritage Feb/Mar 2006