Lives of Saint Peter and St Paul - Tours Cathedral

Dated from about 1260 this 13th century stained glass window at Tours cathedral. The window is designed with five quatrefoil designs running up the centre of the window. Each design as five image, one in each corner and one in the centre of each quatrefoil. The resulting 20 scenes documents events in the life of SS Peter and Paul.

From the base to the top, the Tours Peter and Paul window forms a theological ascent:

• Christ’s commission at the bottom—heaven authorises the apostolic mission.

• Peter’s martyrdom—humility and imitation of the Cross.

• Peter’s miracles and deliverance—power and mercy in life.

• Paul’s martyrdom—steadfast confession before the empire.

The same Cross that the angel first holds in obedience to Christ reappears at every level, beneath Tabitha’s body, beneath Peter’s own, beneath the souls ascending in light, binding the entire narrative together.

Through its glowing glass, the viewer sees the complete theology of apostleship: called by Christ, tested through suffering, and redeemed through the Cross into everlasting life.

At the base of the window the narrative begins not with the apostles, but with Christ Himself.

In the lower half, Christ, distinguished by a cruciform halo, stands at the left, facing a winged angel with a slender staff on the right. Between them flows an invisible current of command: the Son of God sends His messenger to carry the authority of the Cross into the world.

Above, in the central quatrefoil, that same angel now holds a tall cross, the emblem of divine power and the foretoken of martyrdom. The flanking scenes continue the theme of victory over pagan darkness: on one side a group offers what seems a severed hand or glove to a seated ruler, a token of defeated sorcery; on the other, men cast their charms into a flaming brazier, recalling the burning of magical books in the Acts of the Apostles.

This opening tier is a theological prelude rather than a narrative one: the Cross itself, commissioned by Christ and borne by His angel, will rule everything that follows.

Below, the apostle stands before judges and rulers, holding a book of testimony and receiving the sealed order for his execution. In the great central quatrefoil, two executioners bind him to a cross lying flat upon the ground, the moment before it is raised upside-down. Peter’s request to be crucified head-downward, out of humility before Christ, gives the scene its distinctive posture.

Above, moral contrasts accompany his death: on one side a demon drags away a lost soul, on the other a persecutor strikes a kneeling victim. Peter’s calm obedience is set against the violence and corruption of the world that condemns him.

The tier recalls Peter’s ministry before his final passion. At its centre, under a darkened sky, four guards run in terror, the instant after Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. In the lower left corner we see the cause of their flight: Peter kneels in his cell while an angel outside, bearing keys and a staff, unlocks the gate. Opposite this, Peter and Paul stand before a crowned ruler, boldly professing their faith.

Above, on the left, Peter appears before a magistrate at his arrest; on the right, a woman anoints the body of Tabitha (Dorcas) laid upon a cross-shaped bier, the prelude to her resurrection. This register celebrates the divine power at work through the apostle, the authority to heal, to restore life, and to be delivered from danger until his appointed hour.

The story of Paul forms a companion Passion to that of Peter below. In the centre, the apostle kneels with hands bound to a post outside the city walls, while an executioner raises his sword for the fatal stroke. The lower corners complete the parallel: at the left, Paul defends himself before a Roman magistrate wearing a rounded cap; at the right, the body of Peter is unbound from his inverted cross.

Above, Paul is led away by a soldier who holds his hands and carries a staff across his shoulder, and, on the opposite side, the emperor Nero points heavenward in grim recognition of the righteousness of the man he has condemned.

Together these scenes form a complete Passion: trial, procession, execution, and worldly judgment, answered by the heavenly crown glimpsed above.