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TheShield of the Trinity orScutum Fidei (Latin for'shield of faith') is a traditionalChristian visualsymbol which expresses many aspects of the doctrine of theTrinity, summarizing the first part of theAthanasian Creed in a compact diagram. In late medievalEurope, this emblem was considered to be theheraldic arms of God, and of the Trinity.
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 theTrinity, traditionally theLatin-language names, orscribal abbreviations thereof:The Father (PATER),The Son (FILIUS), andThe Holy Spirit (SPIRITUS SANCTUS).
The node in the center of the diagram, within the triangle formed by the other three nodes, is labelledGod (LatinDEUS). The three links connecting the center node with the outer nodes are labelledis (LatinEST). The three links connecting the outer nodes to each other are labelledis not (LatinNON EST).
The links are non-directional—this is emphasized in one thirteenth-century manuscript[1] by writing the link captionsEST orNON EST twice as many times, going in both directions within each link. It is shown in some modern versions of the diagram by superimposing each occurrence of theis /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 theAthanasian 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'sTetragrammaton-Trinity diagram ofc. 1109, and possibly also byJoachim of Fiore's different Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of three circles, which led to theBorromean rings being used as a symbol of the Trinity,[2] in combination with the Athanasian Creed.
The Shield of the Trinity diagram is attested from as early as ac. 1208–1216 manuscript of Peter of Poitiers'Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi. 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 theSherborne Missal[3]), and as part ofstained-glass windows and ornamental carvings in a number of churches, many inEast Anglia.
The diagram was usedheraldically from the mid-13th century, when a shield-shaped version of the diagram, not actually placed on ashield, was included among the c. 1250 heraldic shields inMatthew Paris'Chronica Majora. The c. 1260 allegorical illustrations of a knight battling theseven deadly sins in a manuscript ofWilliam 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 ofProtestantism. From the 17th century to the early 19th century, it was mainly of interest to historians of heraldry. 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 1865Handbook of Christian Symbolism byWilliam James Audsley andGeorge Ashdown Audsley.
The only name for this diagram which was in any regular use during the Middle Ages wasScutum Fidei, a Latin phrase meaning'Shield of the Faith', taken from theVulgate ofEphesians verse 6:16. For example, in this c. 1247–1258 manuscript ofJohn of Wallingford's writings, the quote from Ephesians 6:16 is placed directly above the diagram.[1]
The particular phraseShield of the Trinity, which is now the most common name for the diagram in English, came into regular use in the 20th century. It is called in LatinScutum Sancte Trinitatis or'Shield of the Holy Trinity' (wheresancte is amedieval form for more classicalsanctae) on thefont in Crosthwaite Church, nearKeswick, Cumbria, England. Other variant names areArms of the Trinity,Shield of the Blessed Trinity,Emblem of the Trinity,Arms of the Faith,Emblem of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, etc.
Some variations of the Shield of the Trinity diagram are shown in the image below:
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A shield-shaped version of the diagram placed on a red shield (heraldic "gules") wasattributed as thearms of God (and of the Trinity) by heralds in 15th-century England and France. The "banner of the Trinity" whichJean Le Fevre, Seigneur of St. Remy, andJehan de Wavrin attest thatHenry V of England displayed atAgincourt would have been the same, but with theemblem on a red flag instead of a red shield. This coat of arms was given the following heraldicblazon in "On Sacred Heraldry" by E.L. Blackburne, attached as Appendix II toEmblems of the Saints, By which they are Distinguished in Works of Art byF. 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 ofBlack Canons (monastery of Christ Church) nearAldgate in theCity of London. See also the 15th-century coat of arms attributed toSt. Michael the Archangel and the modern coat of arms of the Anglican diocese of Trinidadshown below. Two of the13th-century manuscripts have the diagram on a green shield (heraldic "vert"), which is also found in the coat of arms ofTrinity Parish, Jerseyshown below. Green is the color ofTrinity 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 otherheraldic "metal" color. So the arms attributed toSt. Faith in late medieval England consist of a diagram with lettering on yellow, placed on a red or blue shield, while the parish of theForest, 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 thespiritual warfare against dark forces described inEphesians chapter 6, as in thec. 1260 allegorical illustrations in manuscripts of Peraldus'Summa Vitiorum and the De Quincy Apocalypse.
A symmetrical rounded form of the diagram with onevertex up and two down was 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, Jerseyshown below, all four node captions are reduced to single initials. In some late medieval English church decorations (such as the bench end at Holy Trinity church,[4]Blythburgh,Suffolk and the font at St John the Baptist church,[5]Butley, Suffolk) the four connected circles are intended as a symbol of the Trinity even when all text is omitted.
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.
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 linkbelow.
A version of the diagram with translated English-language captions is shown in the illustration above. For simplicity, thedefinite 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. At least one old rendition of the diagram in another language is attested in the c. 1260Anglo-Norman French allegorical illustration in the De Quincy Apocalypse.
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 captionPATER orFather is always placed in the top left node, which isheraldically the top right or "dexter chief", when considered from the point of view of someone holding the shield from behind. In the form of the diagram with one vertex up, the captionPATER or Father is always placed in the topmost node. The placement of the captionsFILIUS orSon andSPIRITUS SANCTUS orHoly Spirit in the remaining two outer nodes can vary.
In the 13th-century versions of the diagram, the captionFILIUS is placed in the bottom node. Often across 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 inMatthew Paris'Chronica Majora which quotes from theVulgate ofJohn verse 1:14). 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 c. 1208–1260 AD, and on the right the form popularized among some English-speaking Protestants in recent years byPaul P. Enns' 1989 bookThe Moody Handbook of Theology and H. Wayne House's 1992 bookCharts 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 inOutward Signs: The Language of Christian Symbolism, 1989) have been of the opinion that the form of the diagram with one vertex down and the captionsPATER andFILIUS in the two top nodes is more appropriate for Western Christianity with itsFilioque. 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.
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