The Meaning Of
"IHS"
In
the 3rd Century AD, the Name of Jesus was often contracted in
Greek manuscripts and the Greek for Jesus Iesous was shortened to
IH (iota-eta) and eventually to IHS (for the first 3 letters,
although the last is really a sigma)much as Christos was
abbreviated as Chi-rho which you usually see as a P with an X
through it (The "P" is really the Greek Rho and the
"X" is the Greek Chi). This pheomena of contracting
sacred names in the Greek manuscripts of early Christian
Literature is referred to as nomina sacra. Since those
times, the IHS became Latinized as Greek learning gradually
disappeared following the collapse of the Romas Empire. Today
there are many other interpretations of the anagram such as In
His Service. A monogram of the name of Jesus Christ. From
the third century the names of our Saviour are sometimes
shortened, particularly in Christian inscriptions (IH and XP, for
Jesus and Christus). In the next century the "sigla" (chi-rho)
occurs not only as an abbreviation but also as a symbol. From the
beginning, however, in Christian inscriptions the nomina sacra,
or names of Jesus Christ, were shortened by contraction, thus IC
and XC or IHS and XPS for Iesous Christos. These Greek monograms
continued to be used in Latin during the Middle Ages. Eventually
the right meaning was lost, and erroneous interpretation of IHS
led to the faulty orthography "Jhesus". In Latin the
learned abbreviation IHC rarely occurs after the Carlovingian era.
The mongram became more popular after the twelfth century when St.
Bernard insisted much on devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and
the fourteenth, when the founder of the Jesuati, Blessed John
Colombini (d. 1367), usually wore it on his breast. Towards the
close of the Middle Ages IHS became a symbol, quite like the chi-rho
in the Constantinian period. Sometimes above the H appears a
cross and underneath three nails, while the whole figure is
surrounded by rays. IHS became the accepted iconographical
characteristic of St. Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419) and of St.
Bernardine of Siena (d. 1444). The latter holy missionary, at the
end of his sermons, was wont to exhibit this monogram devoutly to
his audience, for which some blamed him; he was even called
before Martin V. St. Ignatius of Loyola adopted the monogram in
his seal as general of the Society of Jesus (1541), and thus it
became the emblem of his institute. IHS was sometimes wrongly
understood as "Jesus Hominum (or Hierosolymae) Salvator",
i.e. Jesus, the Saviour of men (or of Jerusalem=Hierosolyma).
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Copyright © 2000-2004 Rev. Dr. Farrell W. Taylor Jr.