Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/72

54 is the object of the following catalogue to supply a clue to the practical antiquary in his interpretation of ancient art, where, but for this sacred heraldry, he must have worked in the dark. In the middle ages, pictures were the books of the unlearned; and those who were unable to read, could at once recognise a Saint by his appropriate emblem. The memory of these things has long since faded away in our country; but illuminated manuscripts, painted glass, the paintings which decorate the screen-work or walls of many of our churches, monastic seals, and early wood-engravings, furnish us with the means of resuscitation.

Saints of the highest order had a double feast, or nine lessons assigned to them in the Breviary, so that the reader may easily ascertain to which he ought to give a preference in cases of doubt. When the same emblem belongs to many Saints of the same denomination, an asterisk (*) is prefixed to the emblem as a caution, that he may not too hastily appropriate.

The following abbreviations have been employed throughout, to which are here added the vestments belonging to each order, as a means of distinguishing from each other different Saints who had the same emblem.