Poor Lazarus

To understand

A sick man begging in front of a door, dogs licking his legs; this is Poor Lazarus.

He should not be mistaken for Lazarus of Bethany, Martha and Mary’s brother, who is mentioned in the Resurrection of Lazarus.

Lazarus is covered with ulcers but the tradition has made him a leper; he has a “clapper” (or rattle) to warn the passers-by of his arrival; he also has a bowl to receive his food.

What happens inside the house is either hardly visible by poor Lazarus who is kept outside or put to the front so that Lazarus is rejected to one side or into the background. One can see that there a man who is feasting with his friends and who completely ignores Lazarus; he is the bad rich man, traditionally called "Dives", after the Latin word for "rich man".

The dogs licking his wounds are often perceived as an element of pity. For the Jews in the Middle East, they were, on the contrary, a sign of increased impurity.

Other scenes compose the cycle of Lazarus. Lazarus is represented dying; his soul, a small child, is flying away to “Abraham’s bosom”; this expression designates the place of rest of all the just since Abraham. There can be seen the bearded patriarch or Christ holding the souls of the deceased in a sort of large apron placed on his lap. If a devil is present, it is the one that seizes the rich man’s soul.

Not be confused with

Saint Roch

Lazarus, ill and licked by dogs, can be mistaken for St Roch. This saint of the 15^th century is sick with plague; he shows his wound (or bubo) on his leg and he is accompanied by a dog that brings him a loaf of bread in its mouth. But Roch is always standing and dressed as a pilgrim of St James’s Way with a scallop shell.

Saint Roch; Tourcoing, France

The biblical narrative

The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 16

There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
 (Luke 16:19-23)

Comment

Lazarus then finds himself in Abraham’s bosom, a place of heavenly banqueting, exactly the opposite of what he has known on earth. The rest of the text gives some importance to the death of the rich man and his attempt to warn his brothers, but the parable is not a condemnation of the rich, rather an appeal to pity, to compassion, to charity, an appeal to “see” the one who is at the door and who remains invisible to the rich man, hidden behind his belongings.

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