A christening medal does not always depict a face. Many bear a sign: a dove, two interlaced Greek letters, a fleur-de-lys, a shell. These symbols are among the oldest in Christianity — some are two thousand years old — and each tells a precise story. This glossary reviews them, from origin to medal, citing each time the source from which the meaning comes.
The Chrisme (Chi-Rho)
Two superimposed Greek letters, Chi (Χ) and Rho (Ρ): the first two letters of Christos. It is the monogram of Christ, the oldest of all.
Its destiny turned on 28 October 312, at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, at the gates of Rome. Two contemporary Christian authors recount the event, and not in the same way. Lactantius, in On the Deaths of the Persecutors, says that Constantine received in a dream, the night before, the order to have "the heavenly sign of God" painted on his soldiers' shields. Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Life of Constantine, describes a daytime vision of a luminous cross accompanied by the words that became famous: In hoc signo vinces, "by this sign you shall conquer". Historians still debate what really happened; what is certain is that Constantine placed the Chi-Rho at the top of his standard, the labarum, and that the Edict of Milan, the following year, granted freedom of worship to Christians. The Chi-Rho then left the catacombs to cover coins, sarcophagi and mosaics throughout the Empire.
On a medal, it is often flanked by the Alpha and the Omega. See the Chrisme medal.
Alpha and Omega
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Α and Ω. The source is the Book of Revelation, where Christ says: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13; already 1:8). The meaning is simple and immense: everything begins and everything ends in him. On medals, the two letters almost always frame the Chi-Rho, as on fourth-century sarcophagi.
The cross
The Christian sign par excellence, instrument of torture turned sign of victory over death. But there is not one cross: there are dozens, and each has its geography.
The Latin cross, with its unequal arms, is the shape of the cross of Golgotha; it is the most widespread in the West. The Jerusalem cross, or Crusaders' cross, brings together a large cross potent and four small crosses in its corners: five crosses, traditionally read as the five wounds of Christ, or as Christ and the four Evangelists; pilgrims and crusaders brought it back from the Holy Land in the Middle Ages — see the Jerusalem cross. The Occitan cross, or Toulouse cross, has four trefoil arms adorned with twelve balls: the four seasons and the twelve apostles, emblem of the county of Toulouse and of the Occitan flag — see the Occitan cross. Manufacture Mayaud also offers crosses of its own creation, beaded or pierced as a rose window.
The dove
The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, and the source is the account of Christ's own baptism: "He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him" (Matthew 3:16). This is what makes it the most fitting symbol for a christening medal — the Spirit descends on the child as it descended on Jesus at the Jordan.
It also carries an older story: the dove that Noah releases from the ark and which returns with an olive branch, a sign that the waters are receding (Genesis 8:11). Peace, reconciliation, covenant: the dove says all of this. The first Christians engraved it on the tombs of the catacombs. See the Dove medal and the Divine Dove.
The lamb
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world": thus John the Baptist points to Jesus at the banks of the Jordan (John 1:29). The lamb is Christ offered in sacrifice, the Agnus Dei sung at every Mass. On medals it often appears in the arms of the Infant Jesus, as in our Virgin and Child with the Lamb, inspired by a painting by Bouguereau: the child holding a lamb is already the whole meaning of baptism.
The Sacred Heart and the Heart of Mary
A heart topped with flames, often surrounded by rays, sometimes girded with a crown of thorns: this is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, image of his love for humanity. The devotion is ancient, but it takes its present form at Paray-le-Monial, in Burgundy, where a Visitandine nun, Margaret Mary Alacoque, reports between 1673 and 1675 apparitions of Christ showing her his heart. The Sacred Heart becomes in the nineteenth century one of the most worn symbols in France, and the basilica of Montmartre is dedicated to it. See the Ex Voto medal and the Christ of the Sacred Heart.
The Heart of Mary, or Immaculate Heart, is its counterpart: a heart pierced by a sword, according to Simeon's prophecy to Mary — "and a sword will pierce your own soul too" (Luke 2:35) —, often surrounded by roses. The two hearts appear side by side on the reverse of the Miraculous Medal. See the Heart of Mary medal.
The fleur-de-lys
Three petals bound by a ring. Before being the emblem of the kings of France, the fleur-de-lys is a symbol of purity associated with the Virgin Mary: in Annunciations painted in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the angel Gabriel almost always holds a lily. Its three petals are traditionally read as the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Saint Joseph too is depicted with a lily, sign of his chastity. See the Fleur-de-Lys, the Star of Lilies and the Virgin with Lilies.
The tree of life
A tree planted on its roots, its foliage spread: the tree of life opens the Bible and closes it. It stands "in the midst of the garden" of Eden (Genesis 2:9), and reappears in the heavenly Jerusalem, bearing twelve fruits, "and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). Between the two, Christian tradition saw in the cross itself a new tree of life: the hymn Crux fidelis by Venantius Fortunatus, in the sixth century, sings of it as "the one and noble tree". On a medal, the tree speaks of life handed down, the rooting of a family, the growth of a child — a symbol everyone can read, believer or not, which makes it a natural choice for a christening as for a birth. See the Tree of Life medal and the Beaded Tree of Life.
The star
Two stars inhabit medals. The star of Bethlehem, the one that guided the Magi to the Child (Matthew 2:2), often four-pointed on our Virgin and Child medals, like a sign in the sky of the medal. And the morning star, eight-pointed like a compass rose: it is one of the names Christ gives himself — "I am the bright morning star" (Revelation 22:16) — and one of Mary's titles in the litanies, she who precedes and announces the day. See the Morning Star.
The scallop shell
The shell has been the emblem of the pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela since the Middle Ages: pilgrims arriving in Galicia gathered it on nearby beaches and sewed it onto their hats, proof of the road travelled and a sign of recognition on the way. It is also, in the iconography of baptism, the vessel with which water is poured over the head of the baptised — hence its natural presence on a christening medal. See the Saint-Jacques medal.
The guardian angel
"He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways" (Psalm 91:11). Belief in an angel attached to each person is ancient; the Church devotes a feast to it, on 2 October. On medals, the guardian angel is shown watching over a child, often at the edge of a path or a precipice. It is the most universal subject of the repertoire: it requires no first name and speaks to everyone. See the Guardian Angel.
The monogram of the Miraculous Medal
On the reverse of the medal born of the apparitions on the rue du Bac, in 1830, is a set of signs that the visionary, Catherine Labouré, said she saw exactly as they are: an M surmounted by a cross, beneath it the two hearts — that of Jesus crowned with thorns, that of Mary pierced by a sword —, all surrounded by twelve stars, those of the woman of the Apocalypse "crowned with twelve stars" (Revelation 12:1). First struck in 1832, this medal has become the most widely distributed in the world. This M surmounted by a cross was also, for a very long time, the logo of Mayaud Frères: it still appears in many of our archives, and among the logos our Manufacture uses today — a direct link between the Miraculous Medal and the history of the house. Read our history of the christening medal.
The rose and the rose window
The rose is one of Mary's flowers — Rosa mystica, "mystic rose", in the Litany of Loreto. It gave its name to the great round windows of cathedrals, whose tracery radiates around a centre like petals around the heart of the flower. Manufacture Mayaud transposes them into medals, in mother-of-pearl or openwork gold. Read our guide to cathedral rose windows.
And the symbols of the first Christians
Two signs from the catacombs, rarer on medals, deserve to be known. The fish: in Greek, ichthus forms the acrostic of "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour" — a discreet sign of recognition in the time of persecutions. The anchor: figure of hope, "an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast" (Hebrews 6:19), whose shape conceals a cross. Archaeologists find them engraved on Christian tombs in Rome from the second century.
Sources
- The Bible: Genesis 2:9 and 8:11; Psalm 91:11; Matthew 2:2 and 3:16; Luke 2:35; John 1:29; Hebrews 6:19; Revelation 1:8; 12:1; 22:2; 22:13 and 22:16.
- Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum (Sources chrétiennes, vol. 39); Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine.
- Venantius Fortunatus, hymn Pange lingua gloriosi proelium certaminis (Crux fidelis), sixth century.
- Inrap, dossier "La période paléochrétienne".
- Diocese of Paris, "Sainte Catherine Labouré"; Sanctuary of Paray-le-Monial, on Margaret Mary Alacoque.
- Jean Tricou, "Enseignes de pèlerinages et de dévotion", Bulletin des musées lyonnais, 1957.