A saint appeals to Saint Mary (the Blessed Virgin) for help in asserting the Trinity and resisting the monster of heresy. Engraving.

The saint was previously identified as possibly Saint Ignatius of Loyola, but does not resemble portraits of Ignatius

Left and above, allegories of the Holy Trinity, with lettering "Tres sunt qui dant testimonium in terra, et hi tres unum sunt" and "Tres sunt qui dant testimonium in coelo, et hi tres unum sunt", quoting from from John I.7-8, translated in the King James Version as "For there are three that beare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that beare witnesse in earth, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one". Right, a "vast scaly monster" representing heresy lashes with its trisulcate tongue three creators of heresy: Arius (Arianism), Sabellius (Sabellianism), and Faustus Socinus (Socinianism)

1 print

Wellcome Collection 10985i

The saint addresses the Virgin with the letters A.A.A. and a reference to Jeremiah I.6. That verse in English is: "Ah, Sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." The description of heresy as a "monstrum horridum ingens" is quoted from Virgil's description of the monster Rumour (Fama) in Aeneid IV.181