TIBALDI SANCTUS MICHAEL ARACHANGELUS
St. Michael the Archangel
At a time when the world is most in need of spiritual values common to all, it is apposite to recall and to honour a saint, an angel who unites the great religions. A holy being who links the pious and the secular, Saint Michael the Archangel’s presence transcends time and transcends cultures. He stands as an ally for mankind in the war against evil.
From passages in Scripture to modern films and graphic novels, Saint Michael is the embodiment of God’s warrior. Although it is the antithesis of theological discourse, a Hollywood movie provides perfect synecdoche: At the very beginning of Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, establishing the story's spiritual core, the Priest Vallon shows his son Amsterdam a medallion, asking him to name the being depicted upon it. Amsterdam, the story’s protagonist, replies, “St Michael.” The priest then asks, “And what did he do?” With a certainty and ferocity rare in a child, Amsterdam explains, “He cast Satan out of paradise!”
With the Talmud, the Jewish body of rabbinic lore, defining his name as “Who is like the Lord?”, by name alone he has provided the war-cry of the righteous angels in the heavenly battle fought against evil. He seems ubiquitous, St Michael appearing throughout the world’s holy works both by name or by inference. Supporting the defenceless and the captive, he is to the Jewish people their Champion, to Christians a bulwark against Satan and the rescuer of the souls of the faithful from the power of the enemy, at the hour of death.
In the Islamic tradition, Muslim commentators state (with reference to Sura 11:69) that Michael was one of the three angels who visited Abraham. Saint Michael also resonates with followers of the Bahá'í faith, the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, for whom Michael and Adam are the same individual, and with Jehovah’s Witnesses who believe that Jesus and the Archangel Michael are the same, the first being created by Jehovah and through whom he made the universe, the angels and mankind.
As a force for righteousness, for goodness, the descriptions, references and allusions are unequivocal. The Book of Revelation speaks of Michael as the leader of an army of Angels in Heaven, who overthrows Satan in a great battle. In Daniel 12, the Angel speaking of the end of the world and the Antichrist states that, “At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people.”
His achievements and roles in Biblical history are numerous, from being the cherub who stood at the gate of paradise, “to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24), to the angel through whom God published the Ten Commandments for the People of Israel. He is the angel who stood in the way against Balaam (Numbers 22:22) and the angel who routed the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35). But Saint Michael is not solely a warrior. He is also a healer, a physician, a protector.
A hyphen in the term “Judeo-Christian”, Saint Michael is in Midrashic lore the defender of Israel at the time of the biblical patriarchs. It was Saint Michael who rescued Abraham from the furnace into which he had been thrown by Nimrod (Genesis Rabbah xliv. 16), who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive (Midrash Pirke R. El.), and who protected Sarah from being defiled by Abimelech. It was Saint Michael who told Sarah that she would bear a son, and it was he who rescued Lot at the destruction of Sodom (Talmud B. M. 86b). And there is no greater symbol of his importance to the Jewish faith than his act of preventing Isaac from being sacrificed by his Abraham, while being tested by God.
For the Roman Catholic Church, Saint Michael carries the souls of all deceased to heaven. In many representations Saint Michael is shown holding scales, a reference to judgment in the hereafter for, at the hour of death, Saint Michael descends and offers every soul the opportunity to redeem itself before passing – a final gesture of both supreme mercy and resistance to the devil. Above all, he is the supreme enemy of Satan and the fallen angels.
THE TIBALDI SANCTUS MICHAEL ARCHANGELUS
A source of inspiration for countless painters, Saint Michael is typically depicted as winged and with unsheathed sword. Portrayed as young and strong, in magnificent armour he is often seen in combat with a dragon, or standing upon the vanquished Satan.
In John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, Saint Michael commands the God’s army of angels against the forces of Satan. Saint Michael defeats Satan in personal combat, wounding the Prince of Darkness in his side. It is this image that captures the essence of Saint Michael, and it is the image that adorns the pen fashioned in his honour by Tibaldi.
Tibaldi’s source is the stunningly beautiful icon created by a master from Palekh, who was influenced by the Russian modernist style. Adapted for the pen by Tibaldi’s talented artist, Lorena Straffi, the Archangel appears on gold background, the texture and detail simulating a mosaic. He tramples underfoot a devil, represented as a young man reclining on the grassy ground, decorated with narcissuses. In his right hand, Michael holds a cross, a spear and a criterion; in his left, he carries the lowered sword in the patterned sheath.
Tibaldi’s designers have wrapped this image around the pen’s barrel, creating its details in relief, for the Archangel’s wings, body and armour are reproduced in precious metal, hand-engraved and perforated to show the colours of a classic icon through the apertures. The image is also engraved on the 18k solid gold, part-rhodium-plated nib, with the angel’s wings and armour highlighted in 18k yellow gold.
Released a limited edition of 324 pens each in silver (fountain pen and roller ball), the number recalls the earliest reference to Saint Michael in the Old Testament, as the cherub who stood at the gate of paradise, “to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis3:24). It will also be made available in a series of 50 pens of each for the gold edition (fountain pen and roller ball), to represent the 50 angels in Christian and Islamic tradition. All pen trims are produced either sterling silver or solid gold, as appropriate, with the pen body in resin.
In keeping with Tibaldi tradition, THE TIBALDI SANCTUS MICHAEL ARCHANGELUS has been developed according to the strictures of the Divine Proportion (phi). Its clip is made using the lost-wax technique, implemented by hand by Tibaldi’s skilled engravers and shaped like an angel’s wing. It also incorporates the signature Tibaldi rotating wheel at its base.