[Footnote 9: Naviculum quippe ecclesiam cogitate,--turbulentum mare hoc seculum.----_S. Aug. de Verb Dom_.]
[Footnote 10: Quaeque super signum resident coeleste Columbae, Simplicibus produnt regna patere Dei. _S. Paulin. ep. 12, ad Sever_.]
[Footnote 11: Cum nollet idolis sacrificare (sc. S. Reparata) ecce, gladio percutitur: cujus anima in Columbae specie de corpore egredi, coelumque conscendere visa est.--_Martyrol. Rom. viii. Id. Oct._ Emicat inde Columba repens, Martyris os nive candidior Visa relinquere, et astra sequi: Spiritus hic erat Eulaliae Lacteolus, celer, innocuus. _Pruden. Perist. Hymn. 9._
Compare also the Passion of S. Potitus,--Act. SS. Bollandi, 13 Jan. So, in the cemetery of S. Calistus, a piece of glass was found by Boldetti, on which S. Agnes was represented between two doves, the symbols of her Virginity and Martyrdom.]
[Footnote 12: Crucem corona lucido cingit globo Cui coronas sunt corona Apostoli, Quorum figura est in columbarum choro. (S. Paulin. Epp.)]
The caged bird is symbolical of the contrary; this has been found upon the phial containing the blood of a martyr. Of this, Boldetti says, 'It is represented on the mosaic of the ancient Tribune of S. Mary beyond Tiber; one being seen at the side of Isaiah the Prophet, the other at that of the Prophet Jeremiah.' In the same way, partridges and peacocks, each with its own meaning are represented. So, again, lions, tigers, horses, oxen, strange fishes, and marine monsters, represent the fearful martyrdoms to which God's servants were exposed: a point which the reader will do well to bear in mind, because in treating of Norman mouldings we shall have occasion again to refer to this matter. So, again, the extended hand symbolised Providence. We have also the seven stars, the moon, and many other symbols of a similar kind. Nor must we forget the _Agnus Dei_, by which our Blessed Lord Himself was represented; nor the _Pastor Bonus_, in which His own parable was still further parabolised. The Christian gems found in the Catacombs are all charged with some symbolical device. Upon these is the ship for the Church, the palm for the martyr, and the instrument of torture: as well as the sacred monogram expressing our Saviour's name. The same symbol blazed on the _labarum_ of the first Christian Emperor; and the very coins symbolically showed that the Church had subdued the kingdoms of this world. That fearful heresy, Gnosticism, which arose from an over-symbolising, shows, nevertheless how deeply the principle, within due limits, belonged to the Church. The Gnostic gems exhibit the most monstrous perversions of symbolical representations: the medals of Dioclesian bear a lying symbol of a crushed and expiring Christianity. Later still, new symbols were adopted: mosaics, illuminations, ornaments, all bore some holy emblems. The monogram _ihs_ found in every church in Western Christendom: the corresponding symbol stamps the Eucharistic wafers of the East. [Footnote 15]