From Holy Pictures to the Healing Saints Faith and the Heart

Dr. N. Boyadjian studied medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He graduated in 1943 and very quickly turned to cardiology, publishing many works on the subject of electro-cardiography and cardiac arrhythmias. In 1966 he became Head of the Cardiology Service in the Brussels Polyclinic. He has always been interested in the symbolism and iconography of the heart. He had assembled an important collection of hearts, and in 1980 he published a work, "The Heart, its History, its Symbolism, its Iconography, and its Diseases", which was illustrated by a great number of objects and pictures from his collection. For many years he had naturally been also collecting Holy Pictures, which are often decorated with hearts. Captivated by their charm, he widened his field of investigation and gathered together several thousands of them, dating from the 17th to the 20th century, illustrating themes from the New Testament, the lives of the saints, the pilgrimage centres, the First Communion... As a doctor, he tried to understand the cult of the healing saints which has been so widespread for centuries. This book, containing more than 600 illustrations, of which 400 are in colour, is an attempt to restore the popularity of these little pictures which our forebears loved and venerated so much, and which form a part of our cultural heritage.