The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-23

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OF flowers, the ivy means eternal life; the
lily, sacred TO the Virgin and all holy saints
and martyrs, means purity and chastity; the
olive is peace and concOrd the oak is virtue
and strenth; the -Bennet-St. Benedi0t's
herb-is frequent ornament for crookets and
finals, its finely draped leaf rendering it spe-
cially apt for an enclosing foliage palm
branch is the sign of the Christians victory
in martyrdom; the eucharistio symbols of
grapes and wheat-ears need no comment;
while the rose and royal pomegranate are also
too well known to need explanation as ecole-
sastical symbols. I. ..H. n..
Then for colors: white as also silver, means
innocence and purity, the greatest virtue in
culcated in the early Church, and with this
virtue that also of charity black is for counsel.
antiquity, and mourning blue is piety and
sincerity, divine contemplation and godliness
of conversation: being the color of the heavens
il is attributed to the holiest persons, which
was the reason why the Jewish High Priest
wore it, and why Our Lady wears it; gold is
purity, dignity wisdom and glory of higher
quality of spiritual merit than even the chaste
and stainless silver; green is the bountifulness
of God, mirth youth, and gladness-a green
field is a symbol of the Resurrection, and red
is divine charity and love, also martyrdom.
In monumental symbolism the early priests
had lion under their feet, as significant of
how they trampled down the strong powers of
the world and the evil powers of sin; distaff
means the mother of a family; naked body,
deep humility, whether partially shrouded
or emacated; the crossed legs signify
the accomplishment of the VOW of
pilgrimage to the Holy Land; angels bearing
a child mean the newborn soul ascending to
heaven; churches, ETC., in the hand denote
founders and builders; body finely clothed
in the upper part and lying under a gorgeous
canopy, but terminating in worm-eaten
skeleton, shows the vanity of riches and the
pitiful end of all human glory; a chalice shows
a priest--so does a ring-so does the hand
raised in benediction over cup; but the first
two fingers raised, and the third and fourth
dropped, denote bishop. ..f.-..
Pennant, in his "Notes on Lichield Cathe-
dral," quoted by Poole, says-'I have
singular drawing of tomb, and cast of
knight, naked to his waist, his legs and
thighs armed, and at his feet and head a stags
horn; his hair long and dishevelled; scroll
i'll his hands, as if he was reading a confess
sion or act of contrition; across his middle, on
his basnet, is his coat of arms, which show
him to have been a Stanley. He is called
Captain Stanley, and is said to have been eX-
communicated, but to have received funeral
rites in holy ground, having shown signs of
repentance, ON condition that his monument
should bear these marks of disgrace. find a
Sir Humphrey Stanley, of Pipe, who died in
the reign of Henry VII, who had a squabble
with the chapter about carrying the water
through his lands to the close. He also de-
| frauded the prebendary of Stotford of his
tithes; so, probably, this might be the gentle
man who incurred the censure of the Church
| for his impiety."
1t was not likely that poor Sir Humphrey
| would ever have his name inscribed on the
| diptych from which the names of the faithful
| dead which were read by the deacon with a
| loud voice after the conservation of the host.
! Bishops unjustly condemned had their names
! inscribed on the diptych by way of reparation;
but bold, high-handed, self-willed Cap
tain Stanley was surely not of the number.
And naming the host brings us to the small fact
| that the wafer, before conservation, is called
ltar-bread, or singing bread; and that the
altar-clOth covering the elements is the corpo-
rale, as covering the body. -..
Then there are various meanings connected
with crosses, of which, by-the-way, there are
many kinds. The altar cross, the professional
cross, the rood cross, the relquary cross, the
| conservation, and the pectoral cross. The pee
tOral cross was oftentimes of great service il
| the lives of holy men. st. Gregory of Tours
| once extinguished fire by simply drawing
forth his pectoral cross, in which were relics
of the Blessed Virgin, of the Apostles, and o
| st. Martin. The four eXtremities of the cross
| represent the four quarters of the globe IL
which the doctrine of Christ is preached; the
| four pieces of wood of which it is made
namely, the upright piece the cross piece, and
the two supplemental pieces under the feet
| and title, represent each deep mystery. Sc
do the four nails. The spear is charity, and
| the crown of thorns penance. As the end OF
| the cross is glory, so at the end of most III
| figures is added the word "Alleluia." When
placed on the altar it is between two lights, to
| show Christ as the Mediator between Jew and
Gentle; and the spire-cross is surmounted by
a weathercook to intimate the watchfulness
and vigilance needed by the Church.
| In the representations of angels they are
| mostly robed in white, and "discalceate," " or
without sandals, to show that they are not
of earth; they are winged with golden feathers,
and they wear jewelled apparels; sapphires,
meaning divine contemplation; rubies, divine
love; crystals, purity; and emeralds, unfading
youth. r.L
They bear-1. Flaming swords as ministers
of the wrath of God 2. Trumpets, as being the
voices of God; g. Sceptres, as executors of the
power of God 4. Thuribles or censers, carry
ing up the prayers of saints to God-thuri
bles or censers symbolic the prayers
of the faithful; 5. instruments of music
as harps, organs, ETC., as intimating
the felicity which they enjoy, and the happi
ness to which they invite the soul These
are the meanings with which the>old painter:
surrounded their angels. Patriarchs and pro
phets of the olden times are represented a:
carrying scrolls of parchment, rolled up, anc
with their heads covered by hoods, in sigI
that before the advent of Christ the doctrine
of Gods grace was involved in obscurity anC
undeveloped, the Scriptures as yet sealed
book and folded parchment. And of indi
yidual saints and angels, st. Michael bears
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