"And yet he is listening to the dove, the symbol of inspiration which is speaking in his ear, dictating to him, the legend says, the antiphonal melodies, and undoubtedly whispering his dialogues, his homilies, his commentaries on the Book of Job, his pastoral letter--all the works which made him so immensely famous in the Middle Ages." As he made his way home, Durtal, still reflecting on this array of the Righteous, suddenly was struck by this idea: "There is no portrait in Chartres of a Saint whose present help was of yore desired above all others: Saint Christopher, whose effigy was usually to be found at the entrance to a cathedral, standing alone in a spot apart.
"It stood thus, formerly, at the door of Notre-Dame de Paris, and is still to be seen in one corner of the principal front at Amiens; but in most places the iconoclasts overthrew it, and the churches where the statue of Christopher is now to be seen may be easily counted.

It must once have existed at Chartres--but where?
The monographs on this cathedral never allude to it." Thus, as he walked on, he dreamed of the Saint whose popularity is easily accounted for, since our forefathers believed that they had only to look at his image, whether painted or carved, to be protected for a whole day from disaster, and especially from violent death.
So he was always placed outside in a prominent spot, and very large, so that he might easily be seen by the wayfarer, even from afar.

In some cases his effigy was found on a gigantic scale, inside the church.

Thus he is represented in the Dom at Erfurt, in a fresco of the fifteenth century, too much restored.
This colossal figure, five storeys high, extends from the pavement of the church to the roof.

Christopher has a beard which flows in a stream, and legs as thick as the pillars of the nave.