Ihs meaning catholic

It is extremely common to walk into a Catholic church and see the letters IHS etched on a crucifix or prominently featured in a stained glass window. What do they mean?

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. A monogram of the name of Jesus Christ. In the next century the "sigla" chi-rho occurs not only as an abbreviation but also as a symbol. These Greek monograms continued to be used in Latin during the Middle Ages. Eventually the right meaning was lost, and erroneous interpretation of IHS led to the faulty orthography "Jhesus". The monogram became more popular after the twelfth century when St.

Ihs meaning catholic

What a strange set of letters. The study of writing graphology is an interesting science because written languages go back some five thousand years. It is believed that the earliest form of writing, not counting cave paintings, was Sumerian Cuneiform. Cuneiform writing dates back to earlier than BC. It is a kind of symbol-writing system rather than an alphabet. Letters that make up alphabets are also tiny symbols, of course, but alphabets came a little later in history. Symbol pictures of ancient systems eventually became too cumbersome for use with a growing literate class. So they were just shrunken down to smaller and starker graphic forms based on the pictures. The best illustration of this transformation from symbol pictures to letters is the Hebrew alphabet, which is quite interesting and expressive. Its ancient pictograph looked exactly like the head of an ox, horns and all.

A century later in St. Donate now! Its ancient pictograph looked exactly like the head of an ox, horns and all.

They are the first letters of one from two words in Greek language: Christ and Jesus Christ. The abbreviation in form " IHS " appeared in first time on the coins of Justinian II on the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries. There appeared also Latin interpretations of the abbreviation IHS , among others:. These developed inscriptions were most likely formed because in the Middle Ages people mistakenly read the letter E as H. According to a legend , this inscription with the cross was seen by emperor Constantine the Great in his sleep before the battle against Maxentius in on the Ponte Milvio. Commentators unfriendly to the Catholic Church sometimes interpret the abbreviation IHS as derived from the solar idols of the Egyptian mythology : Isis , Horus and Seth. Nevertheless, present scientific knowledge does not confirm such interpretations.

A monogram of the name of Jesus Christ. In the next century the "sigla" chi-rho occurs not only as an abbreviation but also as a symbol. These Greek monograms continued to be used in Latin during the Middle Ages. Eventually the right meaning was lost, and erroneous interpretation of IHS led to the faulty orthography "Jhesus". The monogram became more popular after the twelfth century when St. Bernard insisted much on devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus , and the fourteenth, when the founder of the Jesuati, Blessed John Colombini d. Sometimes above the H appears a cross and underneath three nails, while the whole figure is surrounded by rays. IHS became the accepted iconographical characteristic of St.

Ihs meaning catholic

What a strange set of letters. The study of writing graphology is an interesting science because written languages go back some five thousand years. It is believed that the earliest form of writing, not counting cave paintings, was Sumerian Cuneiform. Cuneiform writing dates back to earlier than BC. It is a kind of symbol-writing system rather than an alphabet. Letters that make up alphabets are also tiny symbols, of course, but alphabets came a little later in history. Symbol pictures of ancient systems eventually became too cumbersome for use with a growing literate class. So they were just shrunken down to smaller and starker graphic forms based on the pictures. The best illustration of this transformation from symbol pictures to letters is the Hebrew alphabet, which is quite interesting and expressive.

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This is to say that languages and their graphics naturally go through transitions over time. Aleph is the first letter of the Modern Hebrew alphabet. Wikimedia Commons. And maybe this difference is close enough to the Greek to cause the confusion. These developed inscriptions were most likely formed because in the Middle Ages people mistakenly read the letter E as H. June 1, Learn how your comment data is processed. Visit Sacred Windows at www. Peter Darcy Peter Darcy is a writer and editor who spent thirty years in the non-profit sector and various business enterprises. It was a truly big event! Letters that make up alphabets are also tiny symbols, of course, but alphabets came a little later in history. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. One obvious example is the ubiquitous St.

It is extremely common to walk into a Catholic church and see the letters IHS etched on a crucifix or prominently featured in a stained glass window. What do they mean? In the early centuries of the Church it was a secret symbol, often etched on tombs of Christians.

Page Talk. Visit Sacred Windows at www. Its ancient pictograph looked exactly like the head of an ox, horns and all. According to a legend , this inscription with the cross was seen by emperor Constantine the Great in his sleep before the battle against Maxentius in on the Ponte Milvio. However, it is most likely a question of a misunderstanding that occurred when the Christian religious culture transitioned from Greek to Latin. Search: Submit Search. So they were just shrunken down to smaller and starker graphic forms based on the pictures. This is particularly true with matters of the ancient Church about which we have very unreliable information. But why not embrace both! Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Thanks to their partnership in our mission, we reach more than 20 million unique users per month! In The Catholic Encyclopedia. Maere, R.