Animals and Other Creatures as Symbolism in Religious Art

One downside of modern holy cards, for me, is that symbolism is rarely used. Most people can read now, so faith lessons can be explained in words and acted out in movies and videos. It’s likely that people today would either overlook symbols in modern holy cards or would misinterpret them as a factual statement.

For example, a person with zero experience of Christianity, may think Christians believe a dove is some sort of god rather than understanding that the dove, because it can fly between the sky (heaven) and earth, represents the spirit of God that flows between the Father and the Son, and flows between heaven and earth like (indicating we are making an analogy or comparison) a dove. You can tell when a dove is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit because it will have light around it or it will be in a beam of light from heaven.

How many of these creature symbols were you taught?

Snake or serpent—evil, whether the evil is from Satan, the world, or within ourselves; also, false teachings

Fish—followers of Christ; but people may have different explanations of why that is so. Some may think it’s because, before Vatican II, Catholics abstained from meat on Fridays and have lots of fish fries on the Fridays of Lent. Others will say it’s because Jesus told Simon (later Peter) Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people (Matt. 4:19). Still others may think it’s Jesus chose many fishermen to be His closest friends. But the top reason is this: the first letter of each word inthe Greek phrase “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” forms the word ICHTHUS, which forms a real Greek word that means fish. What a meaningful code (the simple image of a fish below) for the Apostles to use to hide from the authorities trying to kill them.

There are images of actual fish in holy cards depicting the story of Jesus meeting Peter as he fished, and of Jesus cooking fish on the shore for the Apostles. There is also a religious painting based on the Book of Tobit, from the story in which Archangel Raphael tells Tobias to save parts of the fish (to later heal his father’s blindness). But I don’t recall seeing the fish symbol, as pictured above, on a holy card.

Dog—fidelity, loyalty Back when holy cards were popular, the common thought was that animals would not go to heaven because they did not have the capacity to accept Jesus as Saviour. That has long since changed. Animals, even our pets, are smarter than 99% of humans gave them credit for. But more importantly, they are part of creation and mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Rest assured, your pets will be in heaven with you.

Bat—desolation (dryness in prayer)

Dragon—Satan, Lucifer

Lion—strength; also Saint Mark the Evangelist

Ox—endurance; also Saint Luke whose gospel emphasizes the sacrifice of Jesus. Ox is also associated with Saint Thomas Aquinas (more on him at another time).

Eagle—new life and Resurrection; also Saint John the Evangelist whose Gospel more about lofty theological things than the other gospels.

[Saint Matthew’s symbol is not an animal. It’s a human face because his gospel emphasized the humanity of Jesus.]

Lamb—Jesus; innocence

Sheep—believers

Goats—nonbelievers

Sometimes people get the lamb, sheep and goats in the Bible confused. The sheep and goats in the Bible represent humans. Humans will be separated at the Final Judgment (see Matthew’s Gospel) into “saved” and “damned” groups.

I like animals so I want to emphasize that the Bible is not saying goats are bad. This is one of those comparisons that is often taken as a statement of truth. The Bible says people will be separated like a shepherd separates sheep from goats. Shepherds aren’t calling the goats bad either. They just want them apart from the sheep.

In the Old Testament, lambs are sacrificed. Jesus is like a lamb in that He is sacrificed. Jesus is fully God and fully man–and no part lamb. The lamb is just a symbol, a comparison to things that are sacrificed.

These are just some of the animals and birds that were used symbolically in religious art. If you have other examples, please share in the comments section.

Next week: how objects and numbers (my favorite) are used as symbols in old holy cards. Hope you’ll stop by.