Church Art Symbols

20 symbols to explore

Browse church art symbols

20 symbols.

Foliate Head

Faces sprouting, biting or surrounded by leaves peer from medieval churches and buildings across Europe, creating one of the period's most strange and memorable forms of architectural ornament.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialRenewalTransformationBalanceHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Chi-Rho Monogram

Formed from the Greek letters Chi and Rho, this ancient Christogram became one of Christianity's most enduring signs of Christ and continued to appear throughout medieval religious art.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithIdentityHopeHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Alpha and Omega Mark

Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, became a Christian declaration of Christ as beginning and end and remained a powerful motif in medieval art.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithIdentityHopeHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Tree of Jesse

Growing from the reclining figure of Jesse, the medieval Tree of Jesse transformed Christ's ancestry into a living tree of kings, prophets and sacred lineage.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFamilyFaithIdentityHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Pelican in Her Piety

Medieval bestiaries told of a pelican piercing her own breast to revive her young with blood, turning the bird into a powerful Christian image of sacrifice, love and redemption.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialCompassionLoveFaithHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Agnus Dei Seal

The haloed Lamb of God, often carrying a cross-staff or banner, was a familiar medieval image of Christ whose apparent gentleness carried powerful ideas of sacrifice and redemption.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithCompassionHumilityHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Hand of Benediction

Raised in blessing by Christ, saints and bishops, the benediction hand became a familiar medieval image of sacred authority, prayer and the giving of divine favour.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithCompassionProtectionHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Late Medieval Wounded Heart

A pierced or bleeding heart belonged to the intense visual language of late-medieval Passion devotion, inviting contemplation of Christ's suffering, wounds, sacrifice and compassionate love.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithCompassionLoveHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Marian Star

The star became a Marian attribute in medieval Christian art and devotion, echoing Mary as Stella Maris — the Star of the Sea — a guiding light associated with faith, hope and safe direction.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialGuidanceFaithHopeHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

A large cross surrounded by four crosslets, the Jerusalem Cross is rooted in medieval heraldic and eastern Mediterranean contexts and later became strongly associated with Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithIdentityGuidanceHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Vesica Piscis Mandorla

In medieval Christian art, the almond-shaped mandorla framed sacred figures and heavenly appearances, visually separating divine presence from the ordinary world around it.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithGuidancePeaceHistorically supported

Flash Classics£0.99

Sacred Heart Dagger

The Sacred Heart carries centuries of Christian devotion centred on divine love and suffering; the dagger belongs to a later flash vocabulary. Their modern combination makes devotion feel costly and physical: love held through pain rather than protected from it.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithLoveResilienceHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Keys of Saint Peter

The keys given to Saint Peter became one of medieval Christianity's clearest images of apostolic authority, linking the Gospel promise of the 'keys of the kingdom' with Peter and the Church of Rome.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithIdentityGuidanceHistorically supported

Gothic & Memento Mori£0.99

Candle Skull Seal

Bone and flame make the message immediate: the skull names mortality, while the candle turns a human lifespan into light that burns brightly, diminishes, and eventually goes out.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialDeathMemoryFaithHistorically supported

Gothic & Memento Mori£0.99

Wilted Lily Device

The lily is shown after its moment of fullness, making the bend of the stem and fading bloom a restrained image of mourning, impermanence, memory, and renewal.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialDeathMemoryRenewalHistorically supported

Gothic & Memento Mori£0.99

Funeral Bell Sign

The bell gives death a public voice: its imagined sound marks a farewell beyond the private circle of grief, turning remembrance into something heard, shared, and acknowledged by a community.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialDeathMemoryFaithHistorically supported

Gothic & Memento Mori£0.99

Last Flame Seal

A final flame holds at the edge of darkness, capturing the fragile interval before extinction while leaving open another reading: that even a small surviving light can become memory, vigil, faith, or hope.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialDeathMemoryHopeHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Bestiary Phoenix

The phoenix entered medieval bestiaries as a legendary bird consumed and renewed through death, becoming a vivid Christian image of resurrection, rebirth and hope.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialRenewalTransformationHopeHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Vernicle Badge

The vernicle carried the Holy Face of Christ on a small pilgrim badge, allowing medieval travellers to Rome to take home an image associated with the celebrated relic of Veronica's veil.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithMemoryCompassionHistorically supported

Heraldry & Emblems£0.99

Tau Cross

The simple T-shaped Tau Cross became closely associated with Saint Anthony and the medieval Antonines, linking Christian devotion with care for the sick and hopes for healing and protection.

3 variants9 filesPDFPNGSVG

CommercialFaithHealingProtectionHistorically supported

About church art symbols

Church Art symbols and their researched historical, cultural, and practical relationships.

Sanctum Hex Journal

Read beyond the catalogue.

Editorial research connected to church art and its historical settings.

Medieval Pilgrim Protective Symbols (1100-1600): Meanings, Origins, and Visual Language

Medieval Pilgrim & Protective Symbols from 1100-1600 evoke spiritual journeys and divine safeguard, blending iconic badges and crosses with sacred geometry in a vivid contemporary curation.

Read article →

Curated sets

Collections with related symbols.

Collection overlap is shown against the symbols on this meaning page.

15 matching symbols

Medieval Pilgrim Protective Symbols (1100-1600) Collection

Medieval Pilgrim Protective Symbols (1100-1600) gathers 25 symbols shaped around pilgrim badges, journey signs, devotional monograms, protective emblems, shrine souvenirs, manuscript motifs, and symbols of faith, endurance, healing, identity, and safe return, with each mark chosen for clarity, historical resonance, and a strong editorial silhouette.

4 matching symbols

Memento Mori Mortality Symbols Collection

Memento Mori Mortality Symbols gathers 25 symbols shaped around hourglasses, candles, skull-adjacent marks, decay and renewal motifs, time symbols, and mortality emblems, with each mark chosen for clarity, historical resonance, and a strong editorial silhouette.

1 matching symbol

Traditional Nautical Tattoo Collection

Traditional Nautical Tattoo gathers 25 symbols shaped around traditional flash language, protection motifs, bold line symbolism, and heirloom Americana composition, with each mark chosen for clarity, historical resonance, and a strong editorial silhouette.