John the Evangelist, Palmatius and Simplicius - responses

The somewhat feminine saint in the middle is John the Evangelist (feast day 6 May). As John was the youngest of the apostles, he is often depicted with a youthful appearance and without a beard. He is the only one of the apostles to die a natural death, but he was tortured because of the Gospel. The golden chalice in his hands, from which Evil is escaping in the form of a tiny dragon, points to the legend that John survived being poisoned. The two martyrs next to John are Palmatius and Simplicius. It is remarkable that only these two are depicted and addressed in the prayer, as their story is inextricably intertwined with that of the priest Calepodius and the married couple Felix an Blanda: all of them were tortured on 10 May.