St. Adrian Pendant

An incredible number of nearly identical pilgrim signs of St. Adrian (mostly dated 1450-1500) have been recovered in the Netherlands; this is a copy of one of them. Adrian was a Roman army officer in Nicomedia who converted suddenly while overseeing  the torture of 33 Christian prisoners in 306 AD. According to the Golden Legend he was tortured repeatedly and was finally killed by being beaten with hammers on an anvil and having his limbs cut off. As in the pilgrim signs, he is shown armored and carrying the hammer and anvil that signify his martyrdom.

Adrian (or Hadrian) was the second most important military saint in the Low Countries, Germany and northern France – after St. George – for most of the Middle Ages. His relics were venerated in the Benedictine abbey in Geraardsbergen (Belgium) and the original pilgrim signs probably originated there. He is the patron of soldiers, smiths, guards, and butchers, and was invoked against plague and epilepsy. His feast day in the Catholic Church is Sept 8.