meditations and prayers. The Stations of the Cross usually take the form of oil paintings, moulded and painted plaster or carved wood set into frames and suspended on the aisle walls so that the sequence may be easily followed. The Life of the Virgin Another form of biblical, and occasionally extra-canonical, narrative that is often illustrated is the Life of the Virgin, in earlier periods concentrating on her early life using additional apocryphal scenes drawn from books such as the "Infancy Gospel of James", written about the middle of the 2nd century CE. Cycles of Mary usually take the story up to the Birth of Christ, often including the visit of the Magi and the Flight to Egypt, and later usually cover later scenes from the life of Mary, especially her presence at the Crucifixion, Pentecost and her death, known as the Death of the Virgin, for which depictions of the Assumption of Mary began to be substituted from the late Middle Ages. The Old Testament The aspect of the Old Testament that appears most frequently in a continuous narrative form is the Creation and the Downfall of humankind through the actions of Adam and Eve. Surviving large-scale extensive schemes of Old Testament stories are comparatively rare. The oldest is in mosaics of the 5th century in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. There are two complete frescoed schemes in Italy, one painted by Giusto de Menabuoi in the Baptistery of the Cathedral of Padua in the 14th century and another of about the same date by Bartolo di Fredi in the Collegiate Church in San Gimignano. There are some surviving schemes in stained glass, including that in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. By far the best known of such schemes are the one painted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and that created in bronze for the doors of the Baptistery of Florence by Lorenzo Ghiberti, the so-called "Gates of Paradise". Many more schemes survive in similar small-scale carvings on portals or doors. Lives of the Saints Many churches and cathedrals are dedicated to a particular biblical or early Christian saint and bear the name of that saint. Other churches have been founded by or have been associated with some person who was later canonised. These associations are often celebrated in the decoration of the church, to encourage worshippers to emulate the piety, good works, or steadfast