The various Catholic Symbols and Religious Jewelry
Christianity is
the form of religion where people follow Christian denomination. To preach the
Christian religion, people use to go for prayers in Christian church. Christian
church are the worldwide traditions which represents the Christian faiths,
preaches, worship, religion and saying of the god Jesus Christ.
Catholic
religious jewelry has a long and rich history, developing from simple anchors
into a myriad of different forms and representations, each with its own story.
Catholic religious jewelry began as a way for Christians to identify each other
while avoiding persecution, but today we wear Catholic religious jewelry as a
proud proclamation of our faith.
The cross is one
of the earliest and most widely recognized Christian symbols. The use of the
cross as a Christian symbol starts with Christ Himself. Since, through His
death, Christ sanctified the very implement of His torture, the cross has come
to signify His victory over death and sin.
The cross did not
become openly used in Catholic religious jewelry until around the 3rd century
A.D., when the emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Since then the
cross has become the most significant of Christian symbols, and has been widely
used in art and Catholic religious jewelry.
Catholic religious
jewelry played a important role in the protection and promotion of early
Christianity. In early days, Christians were often persecuted for their faith, so
it was not safe to openly display the cross. So they instead wore other forms
of Catholic religious jewelry, such as the Ichthys(two intersecting arcs
resembling the profile of a fish) and the anchor(or mariners cross). The Ichthys was probably used in Catholic religious jewelry as a reference to
Christ as the fisher of men. The anchor was used in Catholic religious
jewelry as a symbol of hope based in the faith in Christ. Early Christians used
these forms of Catholic religious jewelry so as to avoid persecution.
The cross and the
crucifix:
Nowadays many
different variations of the cross are used in Catholic religious jewelry. The
most commonly used form of the cross is the Celtic cross, Latin cross, Calvary
cross.
The Celtic cross
is a cross with a circle around the cross bar. The circle represents the sun,
which was worshiped by the Irish prior to their conversion to Christianity.
The Latin cross
is a cross with a long vertical bar intersected slightly above center by a
shorter horizontal bar. The Latin cross can be of two types used for two
different purposes: The Latin cross with the body of Christ, or crucifix and The
Latin cross left blank. The former is used by the Catholic Church as a
representation of Christs sacrifice, while the later is used by the
Protestants as a representation of Christs resurrection.
The Calvary cross
has three graded steps leading up to it. It is believed that the steps
represent the hill of Calvary
, the place where Jesus was crucified. These are
just a few of the different types of crosses used in Catholic religious
jewelry.