Shield of the Trinity
Encyclopedia
The Shield of the Trinity or Scutum Fidei is a traditional Christian
visual symbol
which expresses many aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity
, summarizing the first part of the Athanasian Creed
in a compact diagram. In late medieval England and France, this emblem was considered to be the heraldic arms
of God (and of the Trinity).
names, or scribal abbreviations thereof): The Father
("PATER"), The Son
("FILIUS"), and The Holy Spirit
("SPIRITUS SANCTUS"). The node in the center of the diagram (within the triangle formed by the other three nodes) is labelled God
(Latin "DEUS"), while the three links connecting the center node with the outer nodes are labelled "is" (Latin "EST"), and the three links connecting the outer nodes to each other are labelled "is not" (Latin "NON EST").
The links are non-directional — this is emphasized in one thirteenth-century manuscript by writing the link captions "EST" or "NON EST" twice as many times (going in both directions within each link), and is shown in some modern versions of the diagram by superimposing each occurrence of the "is" / "is not" text on a double-headed arrow ↔ (rather than enclosing it within a link). So the following twelve propositions can be read off the diagram:
The Shield of the Trinity is not generally intended to be any kind of schematic diagram of the structure of God, but instead is merely a compact visual device from which the above statements (contained in or implied by the Athanasian Creed) can be read off.
The precise origin of this diagram is unknown, but it was evidently influenced by 12th-century experiments in symbolizing the Trinity in abstract visual form — mainly by Petrus Alfonsi's Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of ca. 1109 (and possibly also by Joachim of Fiore
's different Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of three circles, which in turn led to the Borromean rings
being used as a symbol of the Trinity http://www.liv.ac.uk/~spmr02/rings/trinity.html), in combination with the Athanasian Creed. The Shield of the Trinity diagram is attested from as early as a ca. 1208-1216 manuscript of Peter of Poitiers' Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi, but the period of its most widespread use was during the 15th and 16th centuries, when it is in found in a number of English and French manuscripts and books (such as the Sherborne Missal), and as part of stained-glass windows and ornamental carvings in a number of churches (many in East Anglia
). The diagram was used heraldically
from the mid-13th century, when a shield-shaped version of the diagram (not actually placed on a shield) was included among the ca. 1250 heraldic shields in Matthew Paris'
Chronica Majora, while the ca. 1260 allegorical illustrations of a knight battling the seven deadly sins
in a manuscript of William Peraldus' Summa Vitiorum, and of a woman penitent fending off diabolical attacks in the De Quincy Apocalypse, show the diagram placed on a shield. In the 15th century, one form of the Shield of the Trinity was considered to be the coat of arms of God (see discussion below). The use of the diagram declined in England with the rise of Protestantism, and from the 17th century to the early 19th century, it was mainly of interest to historians of heraldry; but beginning in the 19th century it underwent a limited revival as an actively-used Christian symbol among English-speaking Christians, partly due to being included in books such as the Handbook of Christian Symbolism by W.J. and G.A. Audsley (1865).
of Ephesians
verse 6:16). For example, in this ca. 1247-1258 manuscript of John of Wallingford
's writings, the quote from Ephesians 6:16 is placed directly above the diagram.
The particular phrase "Shield of the Trinity", which is now the most common name for the diagram in English, didn't come into regular use until the 20th century. However, it is called in Latin Scutum Sancte Trinitatis or "Shield of the Holy Trinity" (where sancte is a medieval
form for more classical sanctae) on the font
in Crosthwaite Church, near Keswick, Cumbria
, England. Other variant names are "Arms of the Trinity", "Shield of the Blessed Trinity", "Emblem of the Trinity", "Arms of the Faith", "Emblem of the Holy and Undivided Trinity", etc.
A shield-shaped version of the diagram placed on a red shield (heraldic "gules") was attributed
as the arms
of God (and of the Trinity) by heralds in 15th-century England and France. The "banner of the Trinity" which Jean Le Fevre
, Seigneur of St. Remy, and Jehan de Wavrin
attest that Henry V of England
displayed at Agincourt
would have been the same (but with the emblem
on a red flag instead of a red shield). This coat of arms was given the following heraldic blazon
in "On Sacred Heraldry" by E.L. Blackburne (attached as Appendix II to Emblems of the Saints, By which they are Distinguished in Works of Art by F. C. Husenbeth, edited by Augustus Jessopp, 3rd.ed. 1882):
The diagram on a blue shield (heraldic "azure") was the coat of arms of the Priory of Black Canons (monastery of Christ Church) near Aldgate
in the City of London
(see also the 15th century coat of arms attributed to St. Michael the Archangel
and the modern coat of arms of the Anglican diocese of Trinidad shown below). Two of the 13th-century manuscripts have the diagram on a green shield (heraldic "vert"), which is also found in the coat of arms of Trinity Parish
, Jersey shown below. Green is the color of Trinity Sunday
or the Trinity liturgical season in some traditions.
Other variant forms of the diagram have the lettering on nodes and links with a yellow background color (instead of white), since "or" (i.e. gold/yellow) is the other heraldic "metal" color
. So the arms attributed to St. Faith in late medieval England consist of a diagram with lettering on yellow, placed on a red or blue shield, while the parish of the Forest, Guernsey
uses a diagram with lettering on white or yellow nodes and links, placed on a green shield.
In the Middle Ages, the shield-shaped version of the diagram was sometimes imagined as a protective shield wielded by the Archangel Michael, or by an ordinary soul, in the spiritual warfare against dark forces described in Ephesians
chapter 6 (as in the ca. 1260 allegorical illustrations in manuscripts of Peraldus' Summa Vitiorum and the De Quincy Apocalypse).
A symmetrical rounded form of the diagram with one vertex
up and two down was apparently popularized in the modern period by the Audsleys' Handbook of Christian Symbolism; this rounded form also occurs with one vertex down and two up. The outer node captions can be reduced to simple initials ("P", "F", and "SS"). On the coat of arms of Trinity Parish, Jersey shown below, all four node captions are reduced to single initials, and in some late medieval English church decorations (such as the bench end at Holy Trinity church, Blythburgh
, Suffolk
and the font at St John the Baptist church, Butley, Suffolk
) the four connected circles are intended as a symbol of the Trinity even when all text is omitted.
Obviously, many further slight artistic variations can occur in the relative sizes of nodes and links, their exact placement, in lettering styles, in further decorative elaboration, etc. Occasionally one or more of the outer nodes is drawn as a non-circular shape to fit within a space allotted.
Also, the diagram can be color-coded in order to bring out the interrelationships between its elements more clearly; in the version included above, the positive or asserting parts of the diagram are shown in black, while the negative or denying parts of the diagram are in red. This is similar to the version of the Shield of the Trinity present in a 15th-century stained glass window in St. Peter and St. Paul church, Fressingfield, Suffolk, England (where only the positive or asserting parts of the diagram are shown — see link below).
Finally, a version of the diagram with translated English-language captions is shown in the illustration above. (For simplicity, the definite article
could also be left out of the English translations of the outer node captions, as in the next illustration below.) In the Middle Ages, Latin
was the liturgical language and main language of scholarship of Western Europe, so that Latin captions were then most often used (but at least one old rendition of the diagram in another language is attested in the ca. 1260 Anglo-Norman
French allegorical illustration in the De Quincy Apocalypse).
the top right or "dexter chief", when considered from the point of view of someone holding the shield from behind). And in the form of the diagram with one vertex up, the caption "PATER" or Father is always placed in the topmost node. The placement of the captions "FILIUS" or Son and "SPIRITUS SANCTUS" or Holy Spirit in the remaining two outer nodes can vary.
In the 13th-century versions of the diagram, the caption "FILIUS" is placed in the bottom node, and often a cross
is drawn in the link between the center node and the bottom node, in order to symbolize the idea that the Second Person of the Trinity entered into the world (or that "The Word was made flesh", as is stated in a Latin annotation on the diagram included in Matthew Paris'
Chronica Majora which quotes from the Vulgate
of John
verse 1:14). However, when this form of the Shield of the Trinity diagram with one vertex down is used after the 13th century, the Son is much more often placed in the top right node, and the Holy Spirit in the bottom node (as shown in the illustrations above).
The diagram below shows the earliest and most recent major variants of the "Shield of the Trinity" diagram: On the left, the form attested in various manuscripts ca. 1208-1260 A.D., and on the right the form popularized among some English-speaking Protestants in recent years by Paul P. Enns' 1989 book The Moody Handbook of Theology and H. Wayne House's 1992 book Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine. Note that in the 13th-century manuscripts, the cross is often drawn as a detailed artistic illumination of Christ on the cross, which is not attempted here.
A few authors of 20th-century books on Christian symbolism (such as Edward N. West in Outward Signs: The Language of Christian Symbolism, 1989) have been of the opinion that the form of the diagram with one vertex down and the captions "PATER" and "FILIUS" in the two top nodes is more appropriate for Western Christianity with its Filioque
, while the form of the diagram with one vertex up represents more closely the doctrine of the Trinity in Eastern Christianity (without the Filioque
) — though this hyper-refined interpretation does not agree with 13th-century usage, nor with the use of versions of the diagram with one vertex up by modern Catholics and Protestants.
from the realm of complex verbal philosophical abstractions and esoteric theological vocabulary to the realm of simple logic, as presented in the relatively easily graspable form of a concrete and conveniently compact visual diagram. It is remarkable as a basically-successful attempt, roughly 800 years old, to represent a complex set of abstract concepts in precise graphic form (as opposed to many of the near-contemporary attempts of Joachim of Fiore
and Raymund Lull
, which were not so successful). Thus it is probably one of the oldest meaningful "graphs", in the sense of graph theory
(technically, it is a complete graph
on 4 vertices, the same as the vertices and edges of a tetrahedron
).
Of course, if the diagram is interpreted according to ordinary logic
, then it contains a number of contradictions (since the set of twelve propositions listed above is mutually contradictory). However, if the three links connecting the three outer nodes of the diagram to the center node are interpreted as representing a non-transitive
quasi-equivalence relation (where the statement "A is equivalent to C" does not follow from the two statements "A is equivalent to B" and "B is equivalent to C"), then the diagram is fully logically coherent and non-self-contradictory. So the medieval Shield of the Trinity diagram could be considered to contain some implicit kernel of the idea of alternative logical systems
.http://trinities.org/blog/?p=15
Unlike some other logical or mathematical constructs sometimes offered as analogies for the Trinity (such as the Venn diagram and the cube viewed by inhabitants of a two-dimensional plane), the Shield of the Trinity does not too easily lend itself to interpretations which are non-orthodox from the traditional mainstream Christian point of view.
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
visual symbol
Christian symbolism
Christian symbolism invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world. Religious symbolism is effective when it appeals to both the intellect and...
which expresses many aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
, summarizing the first part of the Athanasian Creed
Athanasian Creed
The Athanasian Creed is a Christian statement of belief, focusing on Trinitarian doctrine and Christology. The Latin name of the creed, Quicumque vult, is taken from the opening words, "Whosoever wishes." The Athanasian Creed has been used by Christian churches since the sixth century...
in a compact diagram. In late medieval England and France, this emblem was considered to be the heraldic arms
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
of God (and of the Trinity).
Basic description
This diagram consists of four nodes (generally circular in shape) interconnected by six links. The three nodes at the edge of the diagram are labelled with the names of the three persons of the Trinity (traditionally the Latin-languageLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
names, or scribal abbreviations thereof): The Father
God the Father
God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...
("PATER"), The Son
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
("FILIUS"), and The Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
("SPIRITUS SANCTUS"). The node in the center of the diagram (within the triangle formed by the other three nodes) is labelled God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
(Latin "DEUS"), while the three links connecting the center node with the outer nodes are labelled "is" (Latin "EST"), and the three links connecting the outer nodes to each other are labelled "is not" (Latin "NON EST").
The links are non-directional — this is emphasized in one thirteenth-century manuscript by writing the link captions "EST" or "NON EST" twice as many times (going in both directions within each link), and is shown in some modern versions of the diagram by superimposing each occurrence of the "is" / "is not" text on a double-headed arrow ↔ (rather than enclosing it within a link). So the following twelve propositions can be read off the diagram:
- "The Father is God"
- "The Son is God"
- "The Holy Spirit is God"
- "God is the Father"
- "God is the Son"
- "God is the Holy Spirit"
- "The Father is not the Son"
- "The Son is not the Father"
- "The Father is not the Holy Spirit"
- "The Holy Spirit is not the Father"
- "The Son is not the Holy Spirit"
- "The Holy Spirit is not the Son"
The Shield of the Trinity is not generally intended to be any kind of schematic diagram of the structure of God, but instead is merely a compact visual device from which the above statements (contained in or implied by the Athanasian Creed) can be read off.
Brief history
Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore , was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore . He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist...
's different Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of three circles, which in turn led to the Borromean rings
Borromean rings
In mathematics, the Borromean rings consist of three topological circles which are linked and form a Brunnian link, i.e., removing any ring results in two unlinked rings.- Mathematical properties :...
being used as a symbol of the Trinity http://www.liv.ac.uk/~spmr02/rings/trinity.html), in combination with the Athanasian Creed. The Shield of the Trinity diagram is attested from as early as a ca. 1208-1216 manuscript of Peter of Poitiers' Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi, but the period of its most widespread use was during the 15th and 16th centuries, when it is in found in a number of English and French manuscripts and books (such as the Sherborne Missal), and as part of stained-glass windows and ornamental carvings in a number of churches (many in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
). The diagram was used heraldically
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
from the mid-13th century, when a shield-shaped version of the diagram (not actually placed on a shield) was included among the ca. 1250 heraldic shields in Matthew Paris'
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire...
Chronica Majora, while the ca. 1260 allegorical illustrations of a knight battling the seven deadly sins
Seven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
in a manuscript of William Peraldus' Summa Vitiorum, and of a woman penitent fending off diabolical attacks in the De Quincy Apocalypse, show the diagram placed on a shield. In the 15th century, one form of the Shield of the Trinity was considered to be the coat of arms of God (see discussion below). The use of the diagram declined in England with the rise of Protestantism, and from the 17th century to the early 19th century, it was mainly of interest to historians of heraldry; but beginning in the 19th century it underwent a limited revival as an actively-used Christian symbol among English-speaking Christians, partly due to being included in books such as the Handbook of Christian Symbolism by W.J. and G.A. Audsley (1865).
Name
The only name for this diagram which was in any regular use during the Middle Ages was "Scutum Fidei" (a Latin phrase meaning "Shield of the Faith", taken from the VulgateVulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
of Ephesians
Epistle to the Ephesians
The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, often shortened to Ephesians, is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been credited to Paul, but it is considered by some scholars to be "deutero-Pauline," that is, written in Paul's name by a later author strongly influenced by...
verse 6:16). For example, in this ca. 1247-1258 manuscript of John of Wallingford
John of Wallingford
John of Wallingford , also known as John de Cella, was Abbot of St Albans Abbey in the English county of Hertfordshire from 1195 to his death in 1214...
's writings, the quote from Ephesians 6:16 is placed directly above the diagram.
The particular phrase "Shield of the Trinity", which is now the most common name for the diagram in English, didn't come into regular use until the 20th century. However, it is called in Latin Scutum Sancte Trinitatis or "Shield of the Holy Trinity" (where sancte is a medieval
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
form for more classical sanctae) on the font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
in Crosthwaite Church, near Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...
, England. Other variant names are "Arms of the Trinity", "Shield of the Blessed Trinity", "Emblem of the Trinity", "Arms of the Faith", "Emblem of the Holy and Undivided Trinity", etc.
Variations
Some variations of the Shield of the Trinity diagram are shown in the image below:A shield-shaped version of the diagram placed on a red shield (heraldic "gules") was attributed
Attributed arms
Attributed arms are coats of arms given to legendary figures, or to notable persons from times before the rise of heraldry. Beginning in the 12th century, imaginary arms were assigned to the knights of the Round Table, and soon arms were given to biblical figures, to Roman and Greek heroes, and to...
as the arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of God (and of the Trinity) by heralds in 15th-century England and France. The "banner of the Trinity" which Jean Le Fevre
Jean Le Fevre
Jean Le Fevre was a Burgundian chronicler and seigneur of Saint Remy. He is also known as Toison d'or because he served as King of Arms to the Order of the Golden Fleece. Of noble birth, he adopted the profession of arms and with other Burgundians fought in the English ranks at Agincourt...
, Seigneur of St. Remy, and Jehan de Wavrin
Jehan de Waurin
Jehan de Waurin , French chronicler, belonged to a noble family of Artois, and was present at the battle of Agincourt....
attest that Henry V of England
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
displayed at Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
would have been the same (but with the emblem
Emblem
An emblem is a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — e.g., a moral truth, or an allegory — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint.-Distinction: emblem and symbol:...
on a red flag instead of a red shield). This coat of arms was given the following heraldic blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
in "On Sacred Heraldry" by E.L. Blackburne (attached as Appendix II to Emblems of the Saints, By which they are Distinguished in Works of Art by F. C. Husenbeth, edited by Augustus Jessopp, 3rd.ed. 1882):
- Gules, an orle and pall Argent, conjoined and surmounted of four plates, occupying the dexter and sinister chief and the base and fess points respectively; the first inscribed "Pater", the second "Filius", and the third "Spiritus Sanctus", the centre "Deus"; the connecting portions of the orle between them having the words "non est", and those of the pall "est".
The diagram on a blue shield (heraldic "azure") was the coat of arms of the Priory of Black Canons (monastery of Christ Church) near Aldgate
Aldgate
Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
(see also the 15th century coat of arms attributed to St. Michael the Archangel
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
and the modern coat of arms of the Anglican diocese of Trinidad shown below). Two of the 13th-century manuscripts have the diagram on a green shield (heraldic "vert"), which is also found in the coat of arms of Trinity Parish
Trinity, Jersey
Trinity is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is in the north east of the island.Trinity has the reputation of being the most rural of Jersey's parishes, being the third-largest parish by surface area with the third-smallest population. The parish covers 6,817 vergées...
, Jersey shown below. Green is the color of Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
or the Trinity liturgical season in some traditions.
Other variant forms of the diagram have the lettering on nodes and links with a yellow background color (instead of white), since "or" (i.e. gold/yellow) is the other heraldic "metal" color
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
. So the arms attributed to St. Faith in late medieval England consist of a diagram with lettering on yellow, placed on a red or blue shield, while the parish of the Forest, Guernsey
Forest, Guernsey
The Forest is a parish in Guernsey. It is the highest parish on the island, with altitudes of up to about 100 m. The full title being Ste Margurite de la Foret after the parish church....
uses a diagram with lettering on white or yellow nodes and links, placed on a green shield.
In the Middle Ages, the shield-shaped version of the diagram was sometimes imagined as a protective shield wielded by the Archangel Michael, or by an ordinary soul, in the spiritual warfare against dark forces described in Ephesians
Epistle to the Ephesians
The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, often shortened to Ephesians, is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been credited to Paul, but it is considered by some scholars to be "deutero-Pauline," that is, written in Paul's name by a later author strongly influenced by...
chapter 6 (as in the ca. 1260 allegorical illustrations in manuscripts of Peraldus' Summa Vitiorum and the De Quincy Apocalypse).
A symmetrical rounded form of the diagram with one vertex
Vertex (geometry)
In geometry, a vertex is a special kind of point that describes the corners or intersections of geometric shapes.-Of an angle:...
up and two down was apparently popularized in the modern period by the Audsleys' Handbook of Christian Symbolism; this rounded form also occurs with one vertex down and two up. The outer node captions can be reduced to simple initials ("P", "F", and "SS"). On the coat of arms of Trinity Parish, Jersey shown below, all four node captions are reduced to single initials, and in some late medieval English church decorations (such as the bench end at Holy Trinity church, Blythburgh
Blythburgh
Blythburgh is a small English village in an area known as the Sandlings, part of the Suffolk heritage coast. Located close to an area of flooded marshland and mud-flats, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 300. Blythburgh is best known for its church, Holy Trinity, internationally known as...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
and the font at St John the Baptist church, Butley, Suffolk
Butley, Suffolk
Butley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.Butley lies east of the town of Woodbridge on the B1084 road. Administratively, Butley forms part of the Suffolk Coastal district; from 1934 to 1974 it had been part of the former Deben Rural District.- External links :**...
) the four connected circles are intended as a symbol of the Trinity even when all text is omitted.
Obviously, many further slight artistic variations can occur in the relative sizes of nodes and links, their exact placement, in lettering styles, in further decorative elaboration, etc. Occasionally one or more of the outer nodes is drawn as a non-circular shape to fit within a space allotted.
Also, the diagram can be color-coded in order to bring out the interrelationships between its elements more clearly; in the version included above, the positive or asserting parts of the diagram are shown in black, while the negative or denying parts of the diagram are in red. This is similar to the version of the Shield of the Trinity present in a 15th-century stained glass window in St. Peter and St. Paul church, Fressingfield, Suffolk, England (where only the positive or asserting parts of the diagram are shown — see link below).
Finally, a version of the diagram with translated English-language captions is shown in the illustration above. (For simplicity, the definite article
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
could also be left out of the English translations of the outer node captions, as in the next illustration below.) In the Middle Ages, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
was the liturgical language and main language of scholarship of Western Europe, so that Latin captions were then most often used (but at least one old rendition of the diagram in another language is attested in the ca. 1260 Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
French allegorical illustration in the De Quincy Apocalypse).
Orientation of diagram, and placement of outer node captions
As the First Person of the Trinity, the Father is always in the most honorable position in the diagram. So in the form of the diagram with one vertex down, the caption "PATER" or Father is always placed in the top left node (which is heraldicallyDexter and sinister
Dexter and sinister are terms used in heraldry to refer to specific locations in an escutcheon bearing a coat of arms and by extension also to a crest. "Dexter" means to the right from the viewpoint of the bearer of the arms, to the left of that of the viewer...
the top right or "dexter chief", when considered from the point of view of someone holding the shield from behind). And in the form of the diagram with one vertex up, the caption "PATER" or Father is always placed in the topmost node. The placement of the captions "FILIUS" or Son and "SPIRITUS SANCTUS" or Holy Spirit in the remaining two outer nodes can vary.
In the 13th-century versions of the diagram, the caption "FILIUS" is placed in the bottom node, and often a cross
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
is drawn in the link between the center node and the bottom node, in order to symbolize the idea that the Second Person of the Trinity entered into the world (or that "The Word was made flesh", as is stated in a Latin annotation on the diagram included in Matthew Paris'
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire...
Chronica Majora which quotes from the Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
verse 1:14). However, when this form of the Shield of the Trinity diagram with one vertex down is used after the 13th century, the Son is much more often placed in the top right node, and the Holy Spirit in the bottom node (as shown in the illustrations above).
The diagram below shows the earliest and most recent major variants of the "Shield of the Trinity" diagram: On the left, the form attested in various manuscripts ca. 1208-1260 A.D., and on the right the form popularized among some English-speaking Protestants in recent years by Paul P. Enns' 1989 book The Moody Handbook of Theology and H. Wayne House's 1992 book Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine. Note that in the 13th-century manuscripts, the cross is often drawn as a detailed artistic illumination of Christ on the cross, which is not attempted here.
A few authors of 20th-century books on Christian symbolism (such as Edward N. West in Outward Signs: The Language of Christian Symbolism, 1989) have been of the opinion that the form of the diagram with one vertex down and the captions "PATER" and "FILIUS" in the two top nodes is more appropriate for Western Christianity with its Filioque
Filioque clause
Filioque , Latin for "and the Son", is a phrase found in the form of Nicene Creed in use in the Latin Church. It is not present in the Greek text of the Nicene Creed as originally formulated at the First Council of Constantinople, which says only that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father":The...
, while the form of the diagram with one vertex up represents more closely the doctrine of the Trinity in Eastern Christianity (without the Filioque
Filioque clause
Filioque , Latin for "and the Son", is a phrase found in the form of Nicene Creed in use in the Latin Church. It is not present in the Greek text of the Nicene Creed as originally formulated at the First Council of Constantinople, which says only that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father":The...
) — though this hyper-refined interpretation does not agree with 13th-century usage, nor with the use of versions of the diagram with one vertex up by modern Catholics and Protestants.
Significance
The main achievement of the Shield of the Trinity diagram is to transfer a large part of the essential "mystery" or "paradox" of the Christian doctrine of the TrinityTrinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
from the realm of complex verbal philosophical abstractions and esoteric theological vocabulary to the realm of simple logic, as presented in the relatively easily graspable form of a concrete and conveniently compact visual diagram. It is remarkable as a basically-successful attempt, roughly 800 years old, to represent a complex set of abstract concepts in precise graphic form (as opposed to many of the near-contemporary attempts of Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore , was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore . He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist...
and Raymund Lull
Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull was a Majorcan writer and philosopher, logician and tertiary Franciscan. He wrote the first major work of Catalan literature. Recently-surfaced manuscripts show him to have anticipated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory...
, which were not so successful). Thus it is probably one of the oldest meaningful "graphs", in the sense of graph theory
Graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...
(technically, it is a complete graph
Complete graph
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a complete graph is a simple undirected graph in which every pair of distinct vertices is connected by a unique edge.-Properties:...
on 4 vertices, the same as the vertices and edges of a tetrahedron
Tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. A regular tetrahedron is one in which the four triangles are regular, or "equilateral", and is one of the Platonic solids...
).
Of course, if the diagram is interpreted according to ordinary logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, then it contains a number of contradictions (since the set of twelve propositions listed above is mutually contradictory). However, if the three links connecting the three outer nodes of the diagram to the center node are interpreted as representing a non-transitive
Transitive relation
In mathematics, a binary relation R over a set X is transitive if whenever an element a is related to an element b, and b is in turn related to an element c, then a is also related to c....
quasi-equivalence relation (where the statement "A is equivalent to C" does not follow from the two statements "A is equivalent to B" and "B is equivalent to C"), then the diagram is fully logically coherent and non-self-contradictory. So the medieval Shield of the Trinity diagram could be considered to contain some implicit kernel of the idea of alternative logical systems
Classical logic
Classical logic identifies a class of formal logics that have been most intensively studied and most widely used. The class is sometimes called standard logic as well...
.http://trinities.org/blog/?p=15
Unlike some other logical or mathematical constructs sometimes offered as analogies for the Trinity (such as the Venn diagram and the cube viewed by inhabitants of a two-dimensional plane), the Shield of the Trinity does not too easily lend itself to interpretations which are non-orthodox from the traditional mainstream Christian point of view.
Selected references
- "The Heraldic Imagination" by Rodney DennysRodney DennysLieutenant-Colonel Rodney Onslow Dennys, CVO, OBE, FSA was a British foreign service operative and long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. During World War II he served in the Intelligence Corps of the British Army.Dennys joined the Foreign Service in 1937, serving in...
(1975). (Good historic and heraldic references) - "An Illustrated Fragment of Peraldus's Summa of Vice: Harleian MS 3244" by Michael Evans in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 45 (1982), pp. 14–68. (Contains descriptions and photos of most known surviving 13th-century diagrams, including experimental attempts to use the basic structure of the diagram for other purposes)
- "Church Symbolism: An Explanation of the more Important Symbols of the Old and New Testament, the Primitive, the Mediaeval and the Modern Church" by Frederick Roth Webber (2nd. edition, 1938). (Convenient overview from the point of view of Christian symbolism; also, the earliest attestation of the exact phrase "Shield of the Trinity" that I can find)
- "Handbook of Christian Symbolism" by William James Audsley and George Ashdown AudsleyGeorge Ashdown AudsleyGeorge Ashdown Audsley was an accomplished architect, artist, illustrator, writer, decorator and pipe organ designer who excelled in many artistic fields but is perhaps best known today for having designed the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia.Born September 6, 1838 in Elgin, Scotland, apprenticed...
(1865). (Probably the earliest significant source for the 19th-century revival of use)
Links to depictions of the Shield of the Trinity diagram
13th-century manuscripts
- Ca. 1208–1216 manuscript of Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi by Peter of Poitiers (Petrus Pictavensis) — Cotton Faustina B. VII folio 42v
- Ca. 1247–1258 manuscript of John of Wallingford's writings — Cotton Julius D. VII folio 3v at British Library
- Ca. 1255–1265 manuscript of Summa Vitiorum or "A Treatise on the Vices" by William Peraldus — Harley 3244 folios 27–28
- Folio 38r of the Abingdon Apocalypse (British Museum additional manuscript 42555, ca. 1262) contains a form of the Shield of the Trinity, according to the Michael Evans journal article (however, without text, and with a superimposed central cross).
- The diagrams in Matthew Paris' Chronica Majora and the De Quincy Apocalypse (Lambeth palace ms. 209, folio 53r) are not online, but are shown in the Michael Evans journal article (also, a full-page color reproduction of the Lambeth Apocalypse illustration is on page 48 of the Rodney Dennys book).
15th or 16th-century manuscripts and books
- This page has a scan of a 16th-century woodcut which is very similar to an illustration in a Book of HoursBook of HoursThe book of hours was a devotional book popular in the later Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and...
printed by Simon Vostre in Paris in 1524 (as reproduced in vol. 2 of DidronAdolphe Napoleon DidronAdolphe Napoleon Didron was a French art historian and archaeologist.Didron was born at Hautvillers, in the département of Marne, and began his education as a student of law...
's 1843 Christian Iconography). - The Sherborne Missal — illustration for Trinity Sunday in an early 15th-century manuscript at British Library online.
- See the coat of arms attributed to St. Michael ("Sent Myhell") in a 15th-century (ca. 1460?) heraldic manuscript in the image at right.
- A redrawn version of the arms of the monastery of Christ Church, London can be seen as part of the on-line version of the 1894 book A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry by James Parker.
15th or 16th-century church decorations
- Depiction by 16th-century Spanish artist Jerónimo Cosida
- St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
- St. Peter and St. Paul, Salle, Norfolk, England
- St. Martin, Nacton, Suffolk, England
- St Michael's Church, Framlingham (carved baptismal font without text)
- St. Peter and St. Paul, Fressingfield, Suffolk, England (shows only the "positive" parts of the diagram, as discussed above)
- St. Mary, Henham, Essex, England
- St. John the Baptist, Butley, Suffolk, England
- Holy Trinity, Blythburgh, Suffolk, England
- Photographs of stained-glass windows on Flickr:
Some modern church decorations
- Holy Trinity church, Bottisham, Cambridgeshire (shield-shaped diagram on red shield)
- Grace Episcopal Church, Decorah, Iowa (stained glass window)
- Circular diagram on stained-glass window — St Oswald's, Sowerby, North Yorkshire
- Embroidered church decoration (with decorative outer "Sanctus" circle) — Mary Magdalene, Lincoln
- Stained glass window with trefoil nodes — St Andrew, Wissett, Suffolk
- Stained-glass window — St Andrew, Newcastle
- Stained-glass window — St Andrew, Newcastle
- Stained-glass window — Holy Trinity, Brathay, Cumbria
- Banner for the first Sunday of Trinity, in seasonal liturgical colors of white and green, with symbols of the three Persons of the Trinity — North Salem Lutheran Church, Sandusky, Ohio
- Stained glass window of Shield of Trinity diagram as symbol of the Athanasian Creed — Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Sterling, Illinois
- Floor decoration — Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Port Orange, Florida (for artist's draft of design, see here)
- Stained glass window of diagram in circular form — Lehigh Valley Presbyterian Church, Pennsylvania
- Elaborate stained-glass window with symbolic representations of the three persons of the Trinity filling the three outer nodes — Trinity Episcopal Church, Lawrence, Kansas (photo is contained in PDF file on all the stained-glass windows in the church)