Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/234

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. n. SEPT. 3, 10*.

LH.S.

(10 th S. ii. 106.)

THE monogram is very probably of Greek origin. It is a contracted form of the sacred name of Jesus. An early form was IHC, sometimes even still more contracted into 1C. The former almost certainly represented the first three letters of the Greek 'I^ous), or the Latin Jes(us), the J of the Latin being the Greek I, the e being written as the capital Greek ?? (or e long) and as the Latin H, and the s expressed, not by the Greek 2 ( = s), but by the old form 0.

The IH has been found on the tomb of a martyred virgin of the first ages of Chris- tianity (cf. Pugin's * Glossary of Eccl. Orna- ments,' s.v. ' Monograms ').

The IHS is to be found on coins of the time of Justinian II. (circa 685-711) in this manner : d. N. IhS. ChS, &c., which, being interpreted, is Dominus Noster Jhesus Christus, <fcc. Again, on a coin of Con- stantino VI. (780-791), Ih SVS. XPISTVS ., Latin h, making Jhesus or Ihesus, and the final s ; in the latter instance, on the other hand, the h is unquestionably (according to Dom H. Leclercq, ' Abreviations,' 'Diet. d'Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie' edited by R.R. Dom Cabrol, Abbot of Farnborough, Hants) the Greek e long, or tj.
 * kc., occurs. In the former case we have the

Dom Leclercq also gives other inscriptions (ibid.) in which the monogram occurs thus :

1. VBI DEPOSVIT IHS VESTIMENTA bVA (sixth century)= where Jesus put off His garments.

2. DNS NOSTER IHS XPS (ninth cen- tury=Our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. A diptych: EGO SVM IHS NAZA- KENVS=I am Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus the JNazarene.

Next, it is easy from the above to conceive how the cross came to be introduced into the monogram. Over the letters was placed very naturally, the usual sign of a con- traction, so that by merely lengthening upwards the first stroke of the H a cross was made. This idea is still more apparent in the case of the Gothic lettering of the Greek 7cr(ovs). Later on, for the sake of symmetry, an independent stem was very often given, in certain types, to the cross, and the cross- arm (or sign of contraction) was shortened to^preserve the balance.

The writer at the outset hazarded the opinion that very probably the sign is of Greek origin, for this seems to him to be the

conclusion to which the weight of evidence available points ; but " when doctors disagree, who shall decide?" and indeed authorities are not wanting on both sides, some main- taining the existence of a Latin origin. How- ever this may be, Dynamius, a grammarian of the sixth century, and Amalarius, a well-known liturgist of the ninth century, both uphold the Greek origin. In the ninth century Druthmar, a monk of Corbie (cf. Dom Leclercq, as above), writing on the subject, describes the sign thus : *' Scribitur cum tribus litteris, id est iota, et e longa et sigma."

The monogram IHS, referred to by Lucis as being on altar f rentals and suchlike, is, inter alia, the badge of the Jesuits. Being originally instituted as "The Company of Jesus," they naturally enough adopted a sign so particularly appropriate to them, seeing that they were par excellence (by name) the followers of Jesus. However, the monogram dates back far earlier than the date of their institution (c. 1536), and in the particular form which they adopted was perhaps first made generally known and popular by St. Bernardine of Siena, a Franciscan, who died in 1444. Thus according to Martigny and Alban Butler, and we find that contemporary pictures of the saint represent him as holding a tablet on which the sacred monogram is portrayed in the centre of a circle and surrounded by rays, and which he used to exhibit to the vast multitudes who flocked to hear him preach, thereby to move them to compunction and devotion. A copy of the original monogram may be seen on the walls of the Franciscan Church of the Ara Coali in Rome. L T sed as a separate mono- gram, the IHS is rare before the time of St. Bernardine (vid. Pugin, ' Glossary,' ibid.).

The interpretation "Jesus Hominum Sal- vator," also attributed to this saint, is merely a "coincidence," as is also the more modern signification in the vernacular, I H(ave) S(uffered).

The IHS has also been used as a badge of the Dominican Order, but in this case it is represented on a Host, with rays.

As regards the A.M.D.G., which is likewise (as Lucis rightly supposes) a Jesuit motto, and which is very commonly used by the Jesuits, I have always heard the translation Lucis gives, namely, *' To the greater glory of God." Many a time have I, as a boy at Stonyhurst College, put A.M.D.G. at the head of a theme. Unlike the IHS, this is an exclusively Jesuit motto. B. W.

The origin of this sacred symbol is uncon- nected with the history of the Jesuits. As