Saint Odilia as protector against eye-pain and rat infestation. Coloured etching, ca. 1800.

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

We’ll be closed on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 July, reopening as usual on Wednesday 8 July.

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

<p>Saint Odilia (Ottilie, Ottilia, Odile etc.) of Alsace, portrayed as a Benedictine abbess, kneeling before an altar. Her usual attribute, a pair of eyes, is shown on a panel against a crozier on the right. On the altar are shown a crown and the Bible open at the words "Et verbum caro factum est" ("And the word was made flesh", John I.14). On the altar and the floor are a quantity of rats. Both the eyes and the rats are mentioned in the lettering, though her patronage of people suffering from rat infestation has not been found elsewhere than in this print. The more common patron saint of protection from rat infestation was Saint Gertrude of Nivelles</p>

Saint Odilia as protector against eye-pain and rat infestation. Coloured etching, ca. 1800.

Licence and re-use