Symbols & Iconography

16th century cleric performing some act of charity

A bishop blessing his flock with a chalice nearby

A child being blessed by saint columbanus

A globe of fire hovering over his tomb

A group of women and children holding palms of martyrdom

A man by a tree with a hive of bees in the trunk, a sow with her litter underneath it, and a crow who had made a nest in the branches (a tree with three types of fruit)

A man kneeling in prayer so long that his knees have left dents in the stone

A man saying the rosary in bed with his wife

A papier-mâché, wooden or other sculpture of a camel was carried through the streets of béziers as part of the procession on his feast day

A torch lighting itself by touching his grave

A tree in her garden suddenly produced a full crop of them)

Abbess holding a model of ely cathedral

Abbess holding three ears of corn

Abbess in brigittine robes with a cross on her forehead, and holding a book and pilgrim‘s staff

Abbess praying before an altar

Abbess with a crown holding a staff which is budding

Abbess with a ring around her neck standing near the fountain

Abbess with an ear of corn

Abbess with angels holding a crown over her

Abbess with her hand on an altar

Abbess with mice at her feet

Abbess with mice running up her cloak

Abbess with mice running up her pastoral staff

Abbess within a family tree of the kings of england

Abbess, usually holding a lamp or candle, often with a cow nearby

Abbot blessing a bear, which brings him a log of wood

Abbot carrying a ladder

Abbot celebrating mass with purgatory open at his side

Abbot combating moors

Abbot digging a garden with his crown lying nearby

Abbot driving away the devil with a rod

Abbot giving alms to the poor

Abbot hermit with iron bands on his neck and arms, chains and a money bag near him

Abbot holding a book

Abbot holding a book and fleur-de-lys, surrounded by fleur-de-lys

Abbot holding a chalice and staff

Abbot holding a church in his hand

Abbot holding a church, representing his work founding cistercian houses

Abbot holding a lit lamp

Abbot holding a monastery in his hand

Abbot holding a scroll

Abbot holding a stone, to whom an angel brings a fish

Abbot holding chain, fetters or a lock

Abbot in a library with monks

Abbot in a tomb with staff and crucifix

Abbot in an ecstastic trance

Abbot in the same image as angels releasing souls from purgatory

Abbot leading a skeleton by the hand

Abbot near a mill with his staff in hand

Abbot near a wolf wearing a saddle

Abbot on horse back

Abbot raising a young nobleman from the dead

Abbot surrounded by the seven virtues

Abbot with a book

Abbot with a crown and scepter at his feet, turning a hand-mill, often with a church and bridge nearby

Abbot with a nearby chair

Abbot with a sword

Abbot with book and censer

Abbot with crozier

Abbot with royal regalia (crown, sceptre, etc.) at his feet

Abbot with three lilies in his hand

Abbot‘s staff

Aged monk in desert

Aged monk with bible

Aged monk writing

Alabaster box of ointment

Alms

Alms box around his neck

Alms-box

An angel carrying his soul to heaven

An anvil upon which rests his chopped off hands and feet

An old hermit clothed in skins and sporting a flowing beard

An old jesuit with two hearts on his breast connected by rays of light to christ and the virgin

An old man on a pillar holding a baby

Anchor

Anchor (an image of one was inscribed on her tomb)

Anchor (miraculously freed when cast into the sea with an anchor bound to him)

Anchor (noted for being steadfast in hope and courage in spite of great sufferings)

Angel

Angel holding a pen or inkwell

Angel holding an arm

Angel protecting him from lightning

Angel touching monks with a staff

Angels carrying him to heaven

Annunciation abbess holding the hand of the christ-child who is himself holding a basket

Annunciation abbess with a cross and rosary

Annunciation abbess with basket of bread and cup of wine

Anvil

Apollo

Apostle holding a book

Apostle holding a scroll

Apparently that’s where he started conducting mass

Apparition of our lord

Apparition of our saviour

Apple

Archbishop

Archbishop baptizing king saint edwin

Archbishop being murdered in church

Archbishop blessing his killers

Archbishop calling down rain by his prayers

Archbishop carrying a primatial cross

Archbishop holding an inverted sword

Archbishop kneeling before his murderers

Archbishop making a vow before a statue of the blessed virgin mary

Archbishop with a crosier in one hand and an upraised sword, piercing a crescent moon, in the other

Archbishop with a wounded head

Archdeacon holding a staff and book, with birds on his shoulder

Archdeacon making a pact with the devil from which he is rescued by the virgin

Arm on an altar

Armed man with a cross on his coronet, a banner with three eagles, and a model of the church of heiligenkreuz in his hand

Armed with a sword, confronting the commander of a spanish force about to invade oria, italy

Armor

Arrow

Arrows

Asperges

Asperges (exorcises evil spirits)

At dinner with saint wolfgang

At her betrothal to joachim

At the bottom a ladder that reaches into heaven

At the grave of saint martin of tours (ambrose saw his burial in a vision)

Augustinian giving bread to a sick person

Augustinian holding a container of bread

Augustinian holding a container of money

Augustinian holding a lily

Augustinian holding crucifix garlanded with lilies

Augustinian with a star above him

Augustinian with a star on his breast

Ax

Axe

Baby being dedicated by his parents at the foot of a cross

Baby with bees on his mouth

Bag

Bag of coins

Bag of money

Baker’s peel

Baker‘s peel or shovel

Bald man with a beard wearing the robes of a bishop while holding a book, and with his heart pierced with thorns

Bald man with a beard wearing the robes of a bishop while holding a picture of the virgn mary

Bald man, often with a fringe of hair on the sides and a tuft on top

Ball and chain

Banner

Banner with red cross on a white background

Baptismal font

Baptizing

Baptizing king olaf of sweden

Baptizing saint stephen of hungary

Baptizing the eunuch of ethiopia

Baptizing the son of king radbod

Barefoot king with his hair in a fillet

Bareheaded girl in armour with sword, lance and/or banner

Barrel

Basket with bread rolls

Baskets

Bear

Bearded bishop giving a blessing

Bearded king with a sword and arrow

Bearded layman with a stone mason‘s hammer

Bearded man holding an oar

Bearded man with a hoe lying under his feet

Bearded man with two oxen near him

Bearded monk in the midst of wolves holding a book and irish satchel

Bearded monk taming a bear

Bearded monk with sunbeams over his head

Bearded old man holding a blanket containing small people representing the souls of all believers saved since his first reaction to god

Bearded old man offering food to three angels

Bearded warrior with a lance and tub

Bearded, old man with a tau staff, bare feet, franciscan cincture, and small birds fluttering around him

Beehive

Beehive at his feet

Bees

Beggar

Beggar in a tri-cornered hat sharing his alms

Beggar revealing his identity to his parents on his death bed

Beggar with a gospel in his hand

Beheaded

Beheaded bishop carrying his severed head – the head sometimes wears its mitre, and there is often a vine growing over his neck

Beheaded woman carrying her head and a martyr‘s palm

Beheaded woman with a block, axe, and her head at her feet

Being beheaded by a sword

Being beheaded by the king

Being brought a palm of martyrdom by an angel

Being carried by angels

Being carried to heaven by the angels

Being crowned with thorns by an angel

Being dragged by her hair from a convent

Being given a golden apple by the infant jesus who is reaching out of an image of the madonna and child

Being healed by saint peter the apostle

Being invited by our lord to receive holy communion

Being killed by her father

Being martyred with the three companions

Being murdered at an altar

Being murdered at the altar

Being murdered with saint aureus of mainz

Being received with great celebration at the edelstetten abbey

Being saved from drowning by saint maurus

Being sheltered from rain by an eagle or other large bird

Being supported by angels while jesus descends from the cross to heal him

Bell

Bell (exorcises evil spirits)

Benedctine nun with a book

Benedictine abbess with a book (indicative of her scriptural knowledge), a clock, and lightning (which she once miraculously turned aside)

Benedictine abbess with chalice and wafers

Benedictine abbot dressed as a bishop standing by the tyne with two monasteries nearby

Benedictine abbot holding a barrel in his hand

Benedictine abbot receiving royal envoys

Benedictine abbot with a skull and crossbones at his feet

Benedictine abbot with supernatural fire near him

Benedictine giving alms or food to the poor, often from a basket

Benedictine hermit or monk or abbot near a well with a dragon on a chain

Benedictine monk accompanied by a hind

Benedictine monk admonishing an evil-doer

Benedictine monk holding a standard on a city wall

Benedictine monk holding an abbot‘s staff, a missioner‘s cross, and wearing the sun on his chest

Benedictine monk with a missioner‘s cross with a bear nearby

Benedictine nun accompanied by a hart, usually white

Benedictine nun holding a book and axe

Benedictine nun holding a book and with one hand raised

Benedictine nun holding a church

Benedictine nun holding a lily

Benedictine nun with an ox

Benedictine nun with three geese

Benedictine with gardening tools and a cross

Benedictine with sheep

Bible

Bird

Birds

Bishop

Bishop accompanied by swans and otters

Bishop arguing with a pagan

Bishop at the altar being murdered by huns

Bishop baptizing a king

Bishop baptizing saint odilia of alsace

Bishop beheaded with sword

Bishop being beheaded

Bishop being given a cathedral and a palm of martyrdom by the blessed virgin mary

Bishop being hacked to pieces at the foot of an altar

Bishop being murdered at mass with young king saint eric

Bishop being murdered by a man wielding an axe

Bishop being murdered with two priests bishop holding a crozier and sword bishop holding a large sword and standing between two priests with saint colman and and saint totnan

Bishop being presented to pope sixtus iii by saint peter the apostle and saint apollinaris of ravenna

Bishop being stabbed by two men

Bishop blessing a burning castle

Bishop bringing a child or man back to life

Bishop calming a storm

Bishop carrying a knife

Bishop carrying his eyes

Bishop carrying his severed head

Bishop carrying one or two large keys

Bishop carrying small stones on a book

Bishop carrying the head of saint john the baptist and a bunch of grapes (refers to a legend about a vision he received)

Bishop carrying three loaves of bread (misrepresentation of the heads)

Bishop carrying three severed heads

Bishop celebrating mass as an angel brings him a scroll

Bishop delivering a blessing while a devil flees from it

Bishop destroying a statue of apollo

Bishop distributing alms

Bishop distributing alms to the poor

Bishop dragged by a bull

Bishop drawing water from a rock with his mitre nearby

Bishop driving a devil before him

Bishop driving demons out of a temple

Bishop driving snakes before him

Bishop encountering the spirit of his dead sister

Bishop enthroned between two deacons

Bishop freeing a poisoned well from a dragon

Bishop giving a blessing as angels carry his crozier

Bishop giving alms to a crippled man

Bishop giving alms to the poor

Bishop having his eyes put out

Bishop having his hands cut off

Bishop healing a boy‘s eyes

Bishop healing three men dying of fever

Bishop hoeing a piece of ground

Bishop holding a blossoming thistle

Bishop holding a book

Bishop holding a cathedral

Bishop holding a chalice

Bishop holding a chalice with a spider above or in it

Bishop holding a church

Bishop holding a church and a book

Bishop holding a crozier and palm (indicative of his office and martyrdom)

Bishop holding a crozier and sword

Bishop holding a dish

Bishop holding a fish

Bishop holding a fish and a key

Bishop holding a fish with keys in its mouth

Bishop holding a fishing rod

Bishop holding a gimlet

Bishop holding a gospel

Bishop holding a hook with two prongs

Bishop holding a jewelled cross

Bishop holding a key and accompanied by an angel meeting burghers at a city gate

Bishop holding a key in one hand while placing his crozier on a dragon

Bishop holding a large sword and standing between two priests

Bishop holding a mirror in which the virgin mary is reflected

Bishop holding a model of gubbio

Bishop holding a pen while surrounded by a swarm of bees

Bishop holding a roasting spit

Bishop holding a scroll

Bishop holding a shoe

Bishop holding a staff and following his own funeral procession

Bishop holding a sword and book

Bishop holding a sword and crucifix

Bishop holding a triple cross with grapes on a missal nearby

Bishop holding a wheel outlined in candles

Bishop holding an axe

Bishop holding an open book

Bishop holding chains

Bishop holding his severed head in his hands

Bishop holding his tongue with a pair of tongs

Bishop holding lichfield cathedral and a branch, usually a vine

Bishop holding manacles

Bishop holding the cathedral in the midst of a battlefield with the dead surrounding him

Bishop holding the cathedral of cashel, ireland

Bishop holding the cathedral of trier

Bishop holding the city or cathedral of split, croatia

Bishop holding the crowned head of saint oswald

Bishop holding the town of san gimignano

Bishop holding three bags of gold

Bishop holding three balls

Bishop holding two arrows

Bishop in a cave with his parishioners

Bishop in a library

Bishop in a small chariot, which he used for travelling his diocese

Bishop in his episcopal robes holding the cathedral he built

Bishop kneeling at an altar with an angel whispering to him

Bishop listening to an angel playing music

Bishop making a bear carry his luggage because it has eaten his mule

Bishop making a chalice with a goldsmith‘s hammer

Bishop making baskets with his mitre and crozier laying nearby

Bishop menaced by devils

Bishop near a child that holds a book

Bishop on a throne decorated with lions

Bishop on horseback, raising his crozier at a dragon

Bishop on lérins with a phoenix nearby

Bishop overseeing construction of a church

Bishop overturning idols

Bishop performing a wedding

Bishop pierced by two swords

Bishop pointing at a roe

Bishop preaching to pagans

Bishop raising to life a goose which a wolf has brought to him

Bishop raking a piece of ground

Bishop reaching his staff to a lame man

Bishop reading desk where nearby sits a shield with three wooden shoes

Bishop reciting his breviary

Bishop refusing to adore an idol

Bishop saving monks from a burning monastery

Bishop scattering seed, emblematic of spreading the faith

Bishop singing on a funeral pyre

Bishop stabbed with a dagger

Bishop stabbed with a sword or knife

Bishop stabbing, beating or pinning down a dragon with his crosier

Bishop standing amidst bell–founders

Bishop standing near a beehive

Bishop standing on a devil

Bishop standing over a defeated heretic

Bishop standing with lions

Bishop surrounded by lions

Bishop telling the frogs to keep silence while he preaches

Bishop tending to sick people

Bishop trampling a basilisk (symbol of arianism) underfoot

Bishop trampling on a judge

Bishop trampling on heretics

Bishop trampling on snakes

Bishop using his stole as a leash on a dragon

Bishop washing the feet of the poor

Bishop wearing a coat of mail under his cope

Bishop wearing a cord around his neck

Bishop with a bear

Bishop with a bear and mule in the background

Bishop with a bear licking his feet

Bishop with a bird (usually a dove or pigeon), often speaking in his ear or leading him somewhere

Bishop with a book

Bishop with a book and razor (refers to his tonsure)

Bishop with a book on which lays a fish and two keys

Bishop with a book on which sit two eyes

Bishop with a book with a wine vessel on it

Bishop with a book, codex or scroll

Bishop with a boy holding a ball

Bishop with a broken glass

Bishop with a bull at his feet

Bishop with a bunch of grapes or a vine at his side

Bishop with a camel, indicating his origin in the north african deserts, and confusing his story with the other aphrodosius

Bishop with a casket of relics of saint firminus of amiens

Bishop with a chalice and dragon at his feet

Bishop with a chalice on its side at his feet because he once dropped the chalice during a mass and nothing spilled from it

Bishop with a church sitting on his left arm

Bishop with a crippled or epileptic child at his feet

Bishop with a crosier in his right hand, on the open palm of his left a miniature church of chased gold

Bishop with a crown at his feet

Bishop with a demon

Bishop with a dog

Bishop with a dog at his feet

Bishop with a dragon

Bishop with a dragon leashed with a clerical stole

Bishop with a finger to his lips

Bishop with a fish tied to his crozier

Bishop with a fish with a ring in its mouth

Bishop with a fountain springing from his tears

Bishop with a globe

Bishop with a goose or geese

Bishop with a hammer, anvil, and horseshoe

Bishop with a horse

Bishop with a horse nearby

Bishop with a hound and hunting horn

Bishop with a knife or sword in his hand

Bishop with a lamb at his feet (refers to his name)

Bishop with a large host

Bishop with a mash rake (a beer brewing tool)

Bishop with a missionary‘s cross

Bishop with a nail or nails driven into his head

Bishop with a palm of martyrdom

Bishop with a peacock

Bishop with a pitcher of water

Bishop with a purse

Bishop with a rooster nearby

Bishop with a skull wearing a papal tiara near him or on a book

Bishop with a stag

Bishop with a stag with a crucifix

Bishop with a swan

Bishop with a swan on either side

Bishop with a sword

Bishop with a sword and dragon

Bishop with a sword in his mouth

Bishop with a wheel, a symbol of his father‘s trade, and an emblem he had chosen for his coat of arms

Bishop with a wolf

Bishop with an arrow broken above his breast

Bishop with an axe and tree

Bishop with an axe in his head

Bishop with chalice and abbot‘s staff

Bishop with crozier and book

Bishop with crozier and papal pallium

Bishop with duke grimoald at his feet

Bishop with emperor justinian

Bishop with globes and mathematical books

Bishop with gray hair and a long, tapering gray beard

Bishop with hereford cathedral

Bishop with his chin on his chest

Bishop with his tongue being torn out

Bishop with lightning flashing near him

Bishop with loaves of bread

Bishop with no hands preaching

Bishop with pallium

Bishop with the blessed virgin mary appearing to him

Bishop with the coat of arms of brabant

Bishop with three arrowheads

Bishop with three children

Bishop with three children in a tub at his feet

Bishop with three hosts on a baker‘s shovel

Bishop with three rings on his right hand

Bishop with three stones

Bishop with three swords

Bishop with three wooden shoes

Bishop with venus

Black dog (the form a demon took upon being driven out)

Blackbirds

Blessed virgin mary holding the child jesus, representing his advocacy of the doctrine of mary as mother of god

Blessing the chalice of the mass with his hands cut off

Blind cistercian abbess

Blind man being led by a wolf

Blind or blindfolded bishop

Blue field with undulating silver lines superimposed with an inverted gold chevron with a gold cross at its point (his coat of arms)

Blue t on his shoulder

Boat

Boat hook

Boiled in oil

Bones, referring to the relics of saint gervase and saint protase which were revealed to him in a vision

Book

Book (devotion to scripture and study)

Book of gospels

Book stabbed with a sword

Book, pen or scroll, indicative of his work as a writer

Books

Bound maiden standing on a funeral pyre with an angel

Box of ointment

Boy bishop

Boy carrying a large stone on his shoulder

Boy defeating a dragon (emblematic of chasing out devils and evil)

Boy in a boat

Boy in royal robes holding a lily

Boy king trampling his disloyal sister

Boy receiving a crown of flowers from an angel (referring to his end as a martyr)

Boy with a millstone

Branch

Bread

Bread (from feeding the people)

Breasts on a dish

Bright red (skinless) man holding his own skin

Brigittine abbess with a hind at her side

Brigittine being brought communion on her death bed

Brigittine dressing a poor man’s wounds

Brigittine holding a lily

Broken cup

Broken cup and serpent representing poison

Broken utensil

Broom

Broom (referring to being a home maker)

Brush (refers to the tradition that he was a painter)

Buckler

Builder’s rule

Bull

Bull, cross and mitre

Burgundian knight with a fountain springing under his sword

Burned at the stake

Bush

Butcher

Calming a storm

Candle

Cannon ball and sword (referring to prisoners of war he ransomed)

Cannon, its attack being reminiscent of the lightning that struck her father

Capuchin carrying a beggar‘s wallet

Capuchin holding the infant jesus in his arms

Cardinal bearing a whip in his hand