Conversion of St. Paul celebrated in painting

The conversion of Saul (St Paul) the feast day celebrated Monday, January 25, is portrayed in this famous  fresco by Michelangelo. On the road to Damascus, where he was going to obtain authorization from the synagogue to arrest Christians, Paul was struck to the ground, blinded by a sudden light from heaven. The voice of God, heard also by Paul's attendants, as artists make clear, said, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' They led him to the city where, the voice had said, he would be  told what he had to do. According to a tradition, connecte with the medieval Custom of representing pride as a falling horseman, Paul made the journey on horseback. He lies on the ground as if just thrown from his horse, prostrate with awe, or unconcious. He may be wearing Roman armour. Christ appears in the heavens, surrounded by angels. Paul's attendants run to help him or try to control the rearing horses. The bolt light confirms the symbolic meaning; the dim awarerness of fallen man is touched by the lightning flash of grace, and as universal conciousness awakens in him, he loses his identity as a persecutor and gains true knowledge