Baptismal Font - St. Bridget's - Bride, Isle of Man - Stone Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

This stone baptismal font can be found in St. Bridget church in the village of Bride.

This light-coloured stone baptismal font is octagonal in shape as are the pillar and the base. The font has an octagonal carved dark-wood cover. Around the baptismal bowll is the famous quote form Matthew 19:14: 'suffer little children...'. On the front panel of the font are inscribed the letters, 'IHS' which is a 'Christogram'.

More infomration on the IHS or JHS Christogram of western Christianity is shown below:

In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus.

The Greek letter iota is represented by I, and the eta by H, while the Greek letter sigma is either in its lunate form, represented by C, or its final form, represented by S. Because the Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC".

"IHS" is sometimes interpreted as meaning "Jesus Hominum (or Hierosolymae) Salvator", ("Jesus, Saviour of men [or: of Jerusalem]" in Latin) or connected with In Hoc Signo. Such interpretations are known as backronyms. Used in Latin since the 7th Century, the first use of "IHS" is an English document dated from the 14th Century; in The Vision of William concerning Piers Plowman. Saint Bernardo popularised the use of the 3 letters on the background of a blazing sun to displace both popular pagan symbols and seals of political factions like the Guelphs and Ghibellines in public spaces (see Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus). The HIS monogram with the H surmounted by a cross above three nails surrounded by a Sun is the emblem of the Jesuits, according to tradition introduced by Ignatius of Loyola in 1541. English-language interpretations of "IHS" have included 'In His Service'.

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Approximate Age of Artefact: Not listed Relevant Website: Not listed

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