# The Holy Name, IHS

**Christogram**

**Known today as.** The monogram IHS, the first three letters of Jesus in Greek, often within a sunburst.

Kind: Sacramental

## What was it used for?

Painted over doors and hearths, carved on beams, and worn, as a sign of protection and devotion.

## What does modern science say?

Seen everywhere in Catholic art and architecture.

## What lore surrounds it?

St. Bernardino of Siena spread its devotion in fifteenth-century Italy, preaching with a tablet of the name in gold rays and urging people to replace faction badges with it; the Jesuits later took it as their emblem.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Catholic Encyclopedia.** The Catholic Encyclopedia opens its article by denying “that there is any intrinsic power hidden in the letters composing it,” yet records that St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran “carried with them on their missions in the turbulent cities of Italy a copy of the monogram of the Holy Name, surrounded by rays, painted on a wooden tablet, wherewith they blessed the sick and wrought great miracles,” and “recommended their hearers to have the monogram of Jesus placed over the gates of their cities and above the doors of their dwelling.” The monogram IHS “contains the first and last letter of the Holy Name” as written IHESUS and “is first found on a gold coin of the eighth century”; “some erroneously say that the three letters are the initials of: ‘Jesus Hominum Salvator.’”

## Sources

- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Jesus Christ, Holy Name of.” newadvent.org/cathen/07421a.htm

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*The Holy Name, IHS.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/holy-name-ihs

Historical description, not medical advice.