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Celtic Cross History and Symbolism |
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It seems that most people who know about Celtic Art as part of their personal heritage have the sort of knowledge that the academic cannot cite as fact since the source is mainly oral tradition. This does not prevent common knowledge from being strongly, even passionately believed nor does it mean that it is not true. Where the scholar fears to venture writers who are more interested in satisfying fantasy views of history and mysticism have fewer qualms. The popularity of Celtic images and symbols has produced plenty of blurb cards that give the buyer of gift ware designs the sort of meaning they want to hear. The scholarship and authenticity of these statements ranges from very responsible to outright quackery. Right or wrong all this information adds to the modern folk lore of what Celtic Art means. |
19th century Celtic Revival Cross
Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
More about Celtic Revival Crosses |
The Cross did not become a common symbol of Christianity until the 4th century. Images of the cross were in fact quite rare before the Golden Legend became popular and the "discovery" of the "True Cross" promoted fragments of the "True Cross" as powerful relics.
There are in Britain stone monuments that may be the ancestor of the Celtic Cross. The Chi-Rho symbol, the monogram of Christ was a commonly used symbol of Christianity in the 4th century Roman Empire. The Emperor Constantine who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire used as his emblem the Chi-Rho in a laurel wreath. Thus combined were a pagan Imperial symbol of Rome with a symbol of the new faith. The diagonal cross members of the Chi were eventually conventionalized to a single horizontal cross member that made its cross with the vertical stem of the Rho and the wreath was conventionalized into a simple circle. There are examples of this where the loop of the Rho is also conventionalized into a shepherd’s crook. One can easily see how the curved crook of the staff could disappear to leave just a cross in a circle as is common in many Welsh crosses of the early Celtic Christian period which followed the Roman withdrawal from Britain.
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New book
by Courtney Davis
and Stephen Walker
| Constantine used the Chi-Rho as a military insignia and victory symbol as well. The cross symbolizes Christ's victory. Military use of the cross as a favorite element of heraldry descends from the shields and standards of the Roman Empire.
| The early circled cross stone monument as it survives in Ireland and Scotland exists in two forms, the incised slab and the free standing cross. The slab form has a cross carved in relief where the free standing cross has the stone cut away so that the shape of the ringed cross is carved in the round. In both types there are examples that range from crude and primitive to the very ornately decorated. In many cases the most highly decorated have carving on all the surfaces, even the edges of the ring and ends of the arms. The carvings fall into several categories, with several or all of these present on any example. Human figures representing Biblical stories or the crucifixion offer the most obvious meaning. Endless knotwork, spirals, meanders and "key patterns" and zoomorphic animal patterns make up the majority of early cross carving subjects. These are the same elements that are used in much the same way in metalwork and in Gospel illumination. The term insular is used to describe this style. There are many regional variations. The Iona group crosses are distinctive in their shape. Many of the Irish High crosses of the 10th century are capped with a pitched roof or "house cap" that are similar to reliquaries made to resemble a Celtic oratory. |
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