Saint symbolism has been used from the very beginnings of the religion.[1] Each saint is said to have led an exemplary life and symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church.[2] A number of Christian saints are traditionally represented by a symbol or iconic motif associated with their life, termed an attribute or emblem, in order to identify them. The study of these forms part of iconography in art history.[3] They were particularly used so that the illiterate could recognize a scene, and to give each of the Saints something of a personality in art.[2] They are often carried in the hand by the Saint.
Attributes often vary with either time or geography, especially between Eastern Christianity and the West. Orthodox images more often contained inscriptions with the names of saints, so the Eastern repertoire of attributes is generally smaller than the Western.[c] Many of the most prominent saints, like Saint Peter and Saint John the Evangelist can also be recognised by a distinctive facial type. Some attributes are general, such as the martyr's palm.[4] The use of a symbol in a work of art depicting a Saint reminds people who is being shown and of their story. The following is a list of some of these attributes.
chasuble, book often inscribed with Ad majorem Dei gloriam, or the letters AMDG, the christogram IHS with a cross across the h (traditionally with three nails below the letters, and the letters and nails surrounded by the sun's rays), sword, cross, biretta [a]
With gray hair and beard holding a scroll with words from Isaiah 7:14, (in Latin)ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitur nomen eius Emmanuel (behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel)[b]
peasant holding a sickle and a sheaf of corn, a sickle and staff, as an angel plows for him; or with an angel and white oxen near him. In Spanish art, his attributes are a spade or a plough.[7]
crowned Annonciade abbess, usually with cross and rosary, or holding the hand of the Christ Child, who is holding a basket; Annonciade abbess with basket of bread and cup of wine; with Father Gabriel Mary; having a ring placed on her finger by the Christ Child[citation needed]
in a professor's gown with his arm around shoulder of a young student whose gaze is directed towards Heaven; giving his garments to the poor[citation needed]
purse, man in Trinitarian habit, with the white with blue and red cross on the breast, with chains in his hands or at his feet, captives near him, and his mitre at his feet[citation needed]
lamb, head on a platter, animal skin (the camel-skin coat of the Gospels), pointing at Christ or a lamb, often portrayed carrying a long crudely made cross[a]
depicted with a mustache and short beard, wearing a cloak and a crown inscribed with lilies, holding a cross in his right hand, and his severed head in his left hand.[17]
portrayed as being cast into the sea in a sack full of serpents and scorpions. He may also be shown as his coffin floats with four angels seated on it, or being led bound on a dromedary.[citation needed]
Carrying a leper through a river; ferryman; hart; holding an oar; man listening to a talking stag; oar; stag; with Jesus and Saint Martha as patrons of travelers; young hunter with a stag; young man killing his parents in bed; young man wearing a fur-lined cloak, sword, and gloves; young, well-dressed man holding a hawk on his finger[citation needed]
Represented in pictures with a winged devil whom she leads by a chain. She is also shown enduring various tortures or fighting a dragon.[citation needed]
young woman setting a cross on the head of the devil while holding a lily in her hand; young woman with a crown, palm, and sword; young woman with a palm, book, and a sword in her breast; young woman with a unicorn, symbolizing virginity, and palm; young woman with Saint Prosdocimus[citation needed]
silk gloves and a richly embroidered cape with a jeweled clasp at the neck[b], boy bishop, often with a discarded crown by his feet; represented vested in pontifical garments and holding a book and a crosier[citation needed]
robe of a virgin, with her eyes on a plate, lamp, sword[a] (also: Cord; woman hitched to a yoke of oxen; woman in the company of Saint Agatha, Saint Agnes of Rome, Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Thecla; woman kneeling before the tomb of Saint Agatha)[citation needed]
depicted with a diamond falling from heaven as he celebrates Mass; shown holding a chalice with a diamond in it or at the altar, giving a diamond to a king[31]
as Christ shows her his wounded side; habit and attributes of a Cistercian abbess; being blinded by the Heart of Jesus; nun to whom Christ extends his hand from the cross; in attendance when Christ shows his Heart to the Father[citation needed]
Western: alabaster box of ointment; a skull on top of a book. Eastern: container of ointment (as a myrrhbearer), or holding a red egg (symbol of the resurrection); embracing the feet of Christ after the Resurrection [citation needed]
Mauro is represented in robes of a bishop with a book. Sergio and Pantaleone, in military attire, on a horse, while raising a flag with red cross on a white background[citation needed]
Vested as a Bishop. In Eastern Christianity, wearing an omophorion and holding a Gospel Book. Sometimes shown with Jesus Christ over one shoulder, holding a Gospel Book, and with the Theotokos over the other shoulder, holding an omophorion, holding three golden balls or coins, crozier, anchor, boat, children, wheat sheaves[a]
Augustinian holding a bird on a plate in the right hand and a crucifix on the other hand; holding a basket of bread, giving bread to a sick person; holding a lily or a crucifix garlanded with lilies; with a star above him or on his breast[38]
oil lamp or hanging lamp, rock,[42] depicted sometimes as a Benedictine monk (in black habit) or as an abbot with a staff or as a deacon wearing a dalmatic[43]
old hermit dressed only in long hair and a loincloth of leaves; hermit with an angel bringing him the Eucharist or bread; hermit with a crown at his feet[46][47]
Depicted carrying her own head, represented in art with a stag behind her and a long key hanging from her girdle, or otherwise carrying a key and a sword crossed, a device which commemorates St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Andrew[50]
Depicted as a Hieronymite abbess with a book, depicted as a pilgrim, often with Jerome and Eustochium, depicted prostrate before the cave at Bethlehem, depicted embarking in a ship, while a child calls from the shore, weeping over her children, with the instruments of the Passion, holding a scroll with Saint Jerome's epistle Cogite me Paula, with a book and a black veil fringed with gold, or with a sponge in her hand.[51]
converting pagans, overturning idols, founding Auxerre cathedral,[52] sometimes in the dress of a pilgrim in reference to his name (peregrinus means pilgrim in Latin), snake[53]
Depicted as a bishop directing the building of a church. Sometimes the sick may be shown being healed at his tomb or as his relics are carried in procession[citation needed]
Dominican holding a blue candle or a candle with a blue flame, Dominican lying on his cloak which is spread over hot coals, Dominican holding fire in his bare hands, Dominican catching fish with his bare hands, Dominican beside the ocean, often holding or otherwise protecting a ship[citation needed]
devil ploughing before him, depicted as an abbot with a book and whip, devil at his feet, with a stag (or hind) near him, with Saints Adelbert, Ludmila, and Vitus, hermit with a skull and a girdle of leaves[citation needed]
Depicted as a bishop holding a jar. Sometimes he is shown with Saint Justina of Padua to whom he was a spiritual father according to a medieval source. He may be depicted wearing a Benedictine habit.[citation needed]
↑ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Symbolism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
↑ Fonck, L. (1910). St. John the Evangelist. In The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company). Retrieved 14 August 2017 from New Advent.
↑ James, M.R. (1895). Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS in the Library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.62–5.
↑ "Lo Stemma di Papa Francesco". L'Osservatore Romano (Vatican website). Retrieved March 18, 2013. il fiore di nardo indica San Giuseppe...Nella tradizione iconografica ispanica, infatti, San Giuseppe è raffigurato con un ramo di nardo in mano, translates as "the spikenard represents Saint Joseph...In the Hispanic iconographic tradition, in fact, St Joseph is depicted with a branch of spikenard in his hand"
↑ Novaković, Stojan (1893). Први основи словенске књижевности међу балканским Словенима: Легенда о Владимиру и Косари (in Serbian). Belgrade: Serbian Royal Academy. p.136.
↑ Rabenstein, Katherine (April 1999). "Opportuna of Montreuil, OSB". Saints O' the Day for April 22. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
↑ Rabenstein, Katherine (March 1999). "Pharaïldis of Ghent". Saint of the Day, January 4. SaintPatrickDC.org. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
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