Symbols of Saints
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Symbols.
Agatha
Carrying her breasts in a dish.
Agathon
A book and crozier.
Anastaʹsia
A palm branch.
A saltire cross.
A tau cross, with a bell at the end, and a pig by his side.
Apolloʹnia
A tooth and palm branch. She is applied to by those who suffer from toothache.
Asaph and Aydan
A crozier.
Barbara
Barnabas
A staff in one hand and an open book in the other; or a rake.
Bartholomew
A knife; ora processional cross.
Blaise
Iron combs, with which his body was torn to pieces.
Bridget
A crozier and book.
An inverted sword, or large wheel.
Cecilia
Playing on a harp or organ
A gigantic figure carrying Christ over a river
A palm branch
A papal crown, or an anchor. He was drowned with an anchor tied round his neck; also a pot
CrispinandCrispian
Two shoemakers at work
A leek, in commemoration of his victory over the Saxons
Holding his mitred head in his hand
Dorothy
Carrying a basket of fruit
Edward the Confessor
Crowned with a nimbus, and holding a sceptre
St. John and the lamb at her feet
A gridiron
An anchor
Flower
Her head in her hand, and a flower sprouting out of her neck
Francis
A seraph inflicting the five wounds of Christ; or a lily on a trampled globe
Fyacre
Arrayed in a long robe, praying and holdings his beads in one hand
Gabriel
A flower-pot full of lilies between him and the Virgin
Mounted on horseback, and transflxing a dragon
A bind, with its head in the saint’s lap
Ignatius
The monogram I.H.S. on the breast or in the sky, circled with a glory. Fairhold says the mystery of the Trinity was thus revealed to him
James the Greater
A pilgrim’s staff; or a scallop shell
Symbols.
James the Less
A fuller’s pole. He was killed by Simon the fuller
A camel-hair garment, small rude cross, and a lamb at his feet
John Evangelist
A chalice, out of which a dragon or serpent is issuing, and an open book; or a young man with an eagle in the background. (Ezekiel vii. 1–10.)
A blue hat, and studying a large folio volume
Julian
Ferrying travellers across a stream
A book and gridiron
A king kneeling, with the arms of France at his feet; a bishop blessing him, and a dove descending on his head
A crozier and hammer. He is the patron saint of smiths
With a short staff in her hand and the devil behind her; or with eyes in a dish. (See Lucy.)
Sitting at a reading-desk, beneath which appears an ox’s head; or pictorially engaged upon a Bambino. (Ezekiel vii. 1–10.)
Treading on a dragon, or piercing it with the cross
A man seated writing, with a lion couchant at his feet
On horseback, dividing his cloak with a beggar behind him on foot
Carrying the child Jesus, and a lily is somewhere displayed
Mary Magdalen
With a halberd, with which Nadabar killed him. As an evangelist, he holds a pen, with which he is writing on a scroll. The most ancient symbol is a man’s face. (Ezekiel vii. 1–10.)
Michael
In armour, with a cross, or else holding scales, in which he is weighing souls
A tub with naked infants in it. He is patron saint of children
A sword and a book. Dressed as a Roman
Keys and a triple cross; or a fish; or a cock
A pastoral staff, surmounted with a cross. He was hung on a tall pillar
A wallet, and a dog with a loaf in its mouth sitting by. He shows a boil in his thigh
Bound to a tree, his arms tied behind him, and his body transfixed with arrows. Two archers stand by his side; sometimes presenting a sheaf of arrows to the Lord
A saw, because he was sawn asunder
A book and a stone in his hand
Theodora
The devil holding her hand, and tempting her
Theodore
Armed with a halberd in his hand, and with a sabre by his side
With a builder’s rule, or a stone in his hand, or holding the lance with which he was slain at Meliapour
Thomas of Canterbury
Kneeling, and a man behind him striking at him with a sword
Ursula
A book and arrows, She was shot through with arrows by the Prince of the Huns
(See A Postles, Evangelists, etc.)
Symbolsof other sacred characters.
An old man grasping a knife, ready to strike his son Isaac, who is bound on an altar. An angel arrests his hand, and a ram is caught in the thicket
Kneeling, above is an angel with a sword. Sometimes he is represented playing a harp
Esau
With bow and arrows, going to meet Jacob
Sitting naked on the ground, with three friends talking to him
Conversing with his brothers Benjamin is represented as a mere boy
Judas Iscariot
With a money bag. In the last supper he has knocked over the salt with his right elbow
Judith
With Holofernes head in one hand, and a sabre in the other
Noah
Is represented as looking out of the ark window at a dove, which is flying to the ark, olive branch in its beak
Is represented as arrayed in a rich tunic and crowned. A harp is placed behind him
Is represented in royal robes, standing under an arch.
