Christogram

The Holy Name of Jesus Christ

The early St Mary’s chancel was elaborately decorated with colour and stenciling. The restoration works have restored the original colours to the chancel and some of the ornate stenciled detail. The chancel walls and arches now bear crowns and crosses reflecting the kingship of Christ. Situated among these more obvious symbols is one that will be familiar to Catholics even if we can’t remember its meaning.

The Christogram or symbol for Christ composed of overlapping letters I H S form an abbreviation for the Holy Name of Jesus Christ. In the Greek, Jesus is written ιησους which is transliterated as “ihsous” and pronounced iēsous. This is the Holy Name as it was written in the Gospels. The monogram draws on the first three letters of the Greek spelling of the Holy Name of Jesus.