St Servatius of Maastricht

Pilgrim badge from the shrine of St Servatius of Maastricht in the Netherlands. St Servatius was Bishop of Maastricht either in the 4th or 6th century. Pilgrims flocked to the site of his burial at Maastricht cathedral. In around 1400, an expensive reliquary in the shape of a mitred bust was made to contain the saint’s skull. After this, various badges were made as souvenirs of the bust. This badge is the lower half of a reliquary bust badge, depicting St Servatius’s shoulders and beard. Under the bust is a dragon, lying on its back with the base of a bishop’s crosier forced into its mouth. The dragon symbolises evil but may also refer to the legend that St Servatius had killed a dragon in Alsace when returning from a pilgrimage to Rome. During his stay in Rome the saint had dreamt that St Peter had given him one of the keys to heaven. The dragon’s tail on this badge is curled around the shank of a key. On the left side is the lower half of an angel who would have been holding the crosier (the folds of their robes can be seen). There would have been a corresponding angel on the right side, holding the key.