More Words From Designs

Celtic cross by permission from Kimon Brown

   Nothing says Irish than a Celtic cross or a Claddaugh.  You may carve a Latin cross or a pair of wedding rings on any monument and they say what they mean. But when it comes to base ethnic symbols – especially Irish – a shamrock, Celtic cross or Claddaugh just make no sense in anything but an Irish setting. What the interwoven designs represent is a topic for tomes and can not be covered here. The Irish hold one of mankind’s longest traditions of dignified burial rites. Many of the designs you find on distinctly Irish monuments speak a language millennia old.

 

Pillar & Trees: A generic symbol if ever there was one. In almost all traditions a pillar symbolizes what the tree had in primitive thought - the cosmic buttress, the heavenly support, the fortification on all levels. It is a symbol of strength and guidance.  During daylight the Lord  appeared to the wandering Israelites in the desert as a pillar of cloud to lead them toward the Promised Land. At night a pillar of fire served them with  light.(Ex. 13:21-22)  In 1 Kings 7:15-22, Solomon erects two pillars named Joachim and Boaz, at the entrance to his famed Temple. Two pillars represent the duality resolved by the pathway between them and leading into a new life.

 

             

Rainbow: A rainbow is a roadway which reaches into heaven and returns to earth. A visual and psychological connection between heaven and earth, but, above all, it is the symbol of reconciliation between Noah and God - and presumably all mankind.  "I set my ribbon in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." (Gen. 9:13) 

Rosary: The standard rosary, known as the mystic rose garden of the Virgin Mary is 150 beads divided into groups of 10 by 15 larger beads. Each one third or five decades is called a chaplet and recalls five of the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary. Each Mystery is an episode from the life of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. They are: 1) The Joyful Mysteries: The Annunciation of Mary: the Visitation of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin; the Nativity; the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple; the Finding of Jesus at the Temple (remember he was lost to his parents while talking to the Rabbis). 2) The Sorrowful Mysteries: the Agony in the Garden; the Scourging of Jesus; the Crown of thorns; the Way of the Cross; the Crucifixion. 3) The Glorious Mysteries: the Resurrection; the Ascension; the Decent of the Holy Spirit; the Assumption and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Lily: The white Madonna Lily is the symbol of the state of purity and chastity of the Virgin Mary.  But don't fall back on that too much.  The lily can be seen in the arms of St. Joe - and not because Mary should be there also - as well as along side several other Saints and emblems as well.  View the lily as a symbol of purity.  Purity need not harbor chastity, yet it often implies it. For example in almost every painting of the Archangel Gabriel, God's heavenly messenger, you'll find a lily.  Which denotes, of course, that what Gabriel says is 'straight and true.'

 

Vesica piscis: Also known as Mandorla is the elongated almond-shape formed by 2 intersecting circles.  The circles depict heaven and earth

 

ChiRho: Medieval  monogram of Christ, sometimes spoken of as the chirho, because it is a combination of these two letters X P.

Butterfly: The Resurrection for all the obvious reasons: because it emerges from a chrysalis and subsequently takes flight. 

 

Angels

can be a tough read. The original meaning of the word and the sign is THE ONE SENT. In short, a messenger. From there designers and people in general have created an entire flock of these messengers from God; we even give them wings.

There are Archangels, Seraphims, Cherbims, cupids, and all kinds from those with cute bellies to those with horns on their heads. We saw on the Talty monument, the messenger is none other than the departed. Unless a designer is specific, as I was on the Talty monument, always assume that  a message is within the design. Unless, of course, I come across one of those lovely little sleeping angels people attach to markers. Then, I just smile

The number of man.  5 senses, 5 wounds of Christ.

Rosettes are favorite, thus over done, symbols and signs. Having five pedals they are a sign of mankind (head, arms and legs extended) and a sign of the crucifixion of Christ. As a symbol it represents wholeness in a holistic manner. 5 is a sacred number and a rosette should always be drawn with 5 pedals (8 pedals represents the Rosetta Stone symbol) . However, with all this ado, only consider it in its symbolic fashion if it is a predominant image on a marker. You will rarely ever see it alone. Designers employ rosettes to express and differentiate between passionate love and family/friendship love. A marker offering a carved bouquet showing two roses and three rosettes might mean a family with three children and two loving parents.

Anchors

A traditional symbol of steadfast safety.  In Christendom as in Hebrews 6:19, the anchor symbolizes the assurance that Jesus has given all mankind salvation. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19).  When the anchor is combined with the Dolphin it represents Christ on the cross.   When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.(Acts 27:17)   Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. (acts 27:29)

Anchor by permission from Kimon Brown

 

The sweep of the ‘serp’ is a symbol of spiritual freedom, when you find an arch, a bow or any curved housing enclosing a central design as it encloses this cross and creates a chapel effect, it represents the vault of heaven. Here we show pillars supporting the vault. The pillars stand aside the cross and rosary atop the three virtues. Therefore this design says vividly that through constant prayer our faith grows more spiritually and stronger day by day.  Our faith, like the strength of Atlas holds up the heavenly domain.

 

Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident

 

 

Like emblems, some images need no explanation. Many people live and die by the Law.

 

 

Doves - birds in general.

by permission from Bill  Peisher, Woodburn Monument
Doves: An international symbol for peace, doves hold a unique place in Christendom.  Like angels which are messengers of God, and are always a messenger of God, the dove represents the Holy Spirit in all and any depictions.  It shows several times throughout the Bible but whether carrying an olive branch to Noah after the Flood or appearing as a flaming Columbine to the apostles at Pentecost or as a snow white dove to Mary during the Incarnation, and to St. Ann at the Annunciation or before John the Baptist and Christ Himself as a direct message from God the Father, the dove is the logo/sign of the third person of the Trinity.

 

Grapes are transformed into wine.  The obvious symbol for the transformation of Christ's blood into wine (food) for his flock.  When you employ grapes into your design in a generic setting you convey the thirst quenching 'juiciness' of the fruit. Bring the design to stone or to stain glass and you speak of man's spiritual transformation.  Add to the design a cross to make specific the transfiguration of Christ.  Add a chalice (or Grail) into the design and the image is specific to the Eucharist.  Remember the chalice alone is not the symbol of transformation.

by permission from Bill  Peisher, Woodburn Monument

   Grapes are very often employed to count family members. For legal reasons I cannot reproduce a design I had done a number of years back that held six bunches of grapes. Each bunch draped over a frame containing the names of each separate though related family group. Each bunch totaled the number of family members; both surviving and departed.

Hands hold an innumerable amount of meaning. Usually their meaning strikes out at you. An open hand held to your face is a STOP sign.  Add some rays to the same hand, it is the Hand Of God. Because of this a designer is free to simply create a good drawing and expect the builder to carve it as drawn. Modern monuments are fairly simple to build – although they still are hard and heavy, even the average bronze marker. Bronze is cast to moulds and stone is sandblasted from cut stencil. The design is plotted by computer then cut by a stencil cutting machine. The stencil is then glued to the stone and then processed by a series of sandblasting techniques – steeling,  shaping, bluing, etc. A good design does not need explanation. Good designs become symbols and signs apparently on their own. Witness these two hands by permission from Bill  Peisher, Woodburn Monument

 

 

The gate or gateway is so popular in stone design that it is common.  The gate shares the symbolism of the Door - as Christ is the 'door.'  But, as many a monument will show you, we lean more toward Mary than Jesus. The Virgin Mary is known as the 'gate of heaven.'  Mary is also called the porta clausa, 'the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut and we often draw a key attached to the left gate to symbolize this .... ‘for the Lord, the God of Isreal, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut.  Only the prince (Christ) may sit in it...' (Ezekiel 44:1-3)  The gate depicts the entrance to a new life within this life and/or the next.  'Enter by the narrow gate...(Matt 7:13)  &ldots; As an antidote: when I was back there in seminary school - studying to be ordained as a Brother of the Order of the Sacred Heart - before I discovered girls, that is - a one Brother Regis told his students that if we prayed to the Virgin Mary and lead a life of sin; not to worry. Even if Jesus closed the gates of heaven to us, Mary would open all the windows for us.  I sure hope Brother Regis was right.

1)   The Garden and its Rocks

2)    First, Some Basics

3)    Reading Monuments

5)   Lettering; More Than Meets The Eye

6)   Time To Go Home Now

Part I

Part II

Part III

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

Cemetery Book

ART

Literature

Joe Pegasus