On the South Porch of the cathedral are twelve statues, all dating from the 1871 restoration. The choice of figures was guided by the desire to represent the principal founders of the Church.
Over the doorway St. Peter and Paul and the four evangelists:
- St. Matthew
- St. Mark
- St. Peter, "the patron faint of the church, occupies the niche with the canopy of more elaborate workmanship than the rest"
- St. Paul
- St. Luke
- St. John the Evangelist
Below are the two founders of the Abbey Church:
- King Osric, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Hwicce in the seventh century (Wikipedia).
- Abbot Serlo, abbot of Gloucester, 1072-1104.
The four figures in the niches of the buttresses represent the four Latin fathers of the Church:
- St. Augustine, with the book of his writings one hand, and in the other a flaming heart, indicative of his fervent charity.
- St. Gregory, the book of his Translations of the Scriptures, and a model of a church, showing his great support to the Church of Christ
- St. Jerome, in his hand the book of his writings, and on his shoulder is a dove as an emblem of the Holy Ghost
- St. Ambrose, shown singing his celebrated hymn, and has also a book (because of the restoriation, we could not make a photo of his statue).
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