St. Job Badge

Here’s a saint you’ve heard of – although you may not have realized he was a Christian saint – Job from the book of Job in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. In the original text, Job – who is righteous and fortunate – is tested by God with the loss and destruction of his numerous children and extensive property. Job accepts these misfortunes and says “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb and naked shall I return thither: the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken it: blessed be the Name of the Lord.” He is then smitten with boils and seated on a dung heap, he scrapes his skin with broken potsherds. He is visited by friends who try to comfort him.

At this point the Middle Ages strays from the original text and we shall also. Among Job’s comforters are musicians and having heard them play he wishes to reward them. Of course all his property has been destroyed so he takes one of the scrapings of skin he has removed from his body and as he hands it over it is transformed into a gold coin. It is this miraculous moment which is shown in the badge.

There is a 14th-century statue of St. Job in the Church of St. Martin in Wezemaal in the duchy of Brabant. This statue became the center of a cult that was especially active from the mid-fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century. There are numerous extant badges of St. Job from this pilgrimage place. Job was a patron saint for musicians and also invoked for protection against and recovery from infectious diseases (with an emphasis on syphilis for about 30 years around the turn of the sixteenth century). I can’t help but think of him though as a saint to look to when everything just goes to heck in a hand basket you know?

This pendant is offered in four versions. You can have it with a pewter, copper, or brass sheet for the backing – or you can buy it with no backing and put in a paper, parchment, or cloth backing of your own choice. If you choose the DIY option we include a paper pattern to copy.