St. Mark Evangelist

Today is the Feast Day of my favorite Evangelist (or, at least, Mark is my favorite Gospel). Sing the Office Hymns for Apostles and Evangelists, of course; here are the mass chants for the day. One of these, Signa, sung for Communion (mp3), seems to come from Mark 16: 17-18:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Another, the Alleluia, is called "Loquebantur variis linguis," and although the score and sound file aren't available, I'm assuming it's this text:

Loquebantur variis linguis apostoli, alleluia.
Magnalia Dei, alleluia.
Repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto,
et ceperunt loqui variis linguis.
Magnalia Dei, alleluia.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. Alleluia.
The apostles spoke in many tongues, alleluia,
Of the great works of God, alleluia.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak in many tongues
of the great works of God, alleluia.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Alleluia.

Here's Tallis' version of this:



Here is some Mark art, three from the Wikipedia entry "Mark the Evangelist."

This is an "Illumination of St. Mark in the 11th century Trebizond Gospel (Russian State Museum, Saint Petersburg)":




Here's a Coptic icon of St. Mark:




Here's a "Russian Orthodox icon of St. Mark the Evangelist, 18th century (Iconostasis of Transfiguration church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia)":




This gorgeous one is from the GLASGOW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT, and is from "Southern Italy/Sicily: mid-late 12th Century":