Courage, Counsel and Justice - Lion of St. Mark

Handcrafted from an antique seal from early 1800s Italy, this talisman features a lion with a book and a sword in its paws is representing the evangelist St Mark and is also the symbol of the city of Venice. St Mark, represented as a lion, is a typical Christian iconography derived from the prophetic visions contained in Revelations 4:7. The lion is one of the four living creatures described in the book as a place around the throne of the Almighty and they are chosen as symbols of the four evangelists. Matthew is depicted as a human, Mark as a lion, Luke as a bull, and John as an eagle.   Venetian tradition states that when St. Mark was traveling through Europe, he arrived at a lagoon in Venice, where an angel appeared to him and said "Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus. "Hic requiescet corpus tuum.", which translates to "May Peace be with you, Mark, my evangelist. Here your body will rest."  The remains of St. Mark are interred in the Basilica of St. Mark which is located in the famo