Brewer's: Symbols of Saints

SAINTS. SYMBOLS.

Agatha
Carrying her breasts in a dish.

Agathon
A book and crozier.

Agnes
A lamb at her side.

Anastasia
A palm branch.

Andrew
A saltire cross.

Anne
A book in her hand.

Anthony
A tau cross, with a bell at the end, and a pig by his side.

Apollonia
A tooth and palm branch. She is applied to by those who suffer from toothache.

Asaph
and Aydan A crozier.

Barbara
A book and palm branch.

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.

Catherine
An inverted sword, or large wheel.

Cecilia
Playing on a harp or organ.

Christopher
A gigantic figure carrying Christ over a river.

Clare
A palm branch.

Clement
A papal crown, or an anchor.

He was drowned with an anchor tied round his neck; also a pot.

Crispin
and Crispian

Two shoemakers at work.

Cuthbert
St. Osbald's head in his hand.

David
A leek, in commemoration of his victory over the Saxons.

Denys
Holding his mitred head in his hand.

Dorothy
Carrying a basket of fruit.

Edward the Confessor
Crowned with a nimbus, and holding a sceptre.

Elizabeth
St. John and the lamb at her feet.

Faith
A gridiron.

Felix
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 holding his beads in one hand.

Gabriel
A flower-pot full of lilies between him and the Virgin.

George
Mounted on horseback, and transflxing a dragon.

Giles
A hind, 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.

James the Less
A fuller's pole. He was killed by Simon the fuller.

John Baptist
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.)

Jerome
A blue hat, and studying a large folio volume,

Jude
With a club or lance.

Julian
Ferrying travellers across a stream.

Lawrence
A book and gridiron.

Louis
A king kneeling, with the arms of France at his feet; a bishop blessing him, and a dove descending on his head.

Loy
A crozier and hammer. He is the patron saint of smiths.

Lucy
With a short staff in her hand, and the devil behind her; or with eyes in a dish.

(See Lucy.)

Luke
Sitting at a reading-desk, beneath which appears an ox's head; or pictorially engaged upon a Bambino. (Ezekiel vii. 1-10.)

Margaret
Treading on a dragon, or piercing it with the cross.

Mark
A man seated writing, with a lion couchant at his feet.

Martin
On horseback, dividing his cloak with a beggar behind him on foot.

Mary the Virgin
Carrying the child Jesus and a lily is somewhere displayed.

Mary Magdalen
A box of ointment.

Matthew
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.

Nicholas
A tub with naked infants in it. He is patron saint of children.

Paul
A sword and a book. Dressed as a Roman.

Peter
Keys and a triple cross; or a fish; or a cock.

Philip
A pastoral staff, surmounted with a cross. He was hung on a tall pillar.

Roche
A wallet, and a dog with a loaf in its mouth sitting by. He shows a boil in his thigh.

Sebastian
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.

Simon
A saw, because he was sawn asunder.

Stephen
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.

Thomas
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 Apostles, Evangelists etc.)

Symbols
of other sacred characters.

Abraham
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.

David
Kneeling, above is an angel with a sword. Sometimes he is represented playing a harp.

Esau
With bow and arrows, going to meet Jacob.

Job
Sitting naked on the ground, with three friends talking to him.

Joseph
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.

King Saul
Is represented as arrayed in a rich tunic and crowned. A harp is placed behind him.

Solomon
Is represented in royal robes, standing under an arch.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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