St. Zacharias cross
The Saint Zacharias Blessing
- Known today as
- A cross bearing a string of capital letters and small crosses, each standing for a Latin invocation against the plague; the crosses stand for those that begin “Crux.”
- Kind
- Amulet
Revised October 3, 2026: Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
St. Zacharias cross: what was it used for?
Printed on sheets and medals and hung on house doors or worn in plague years, especially in Central Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
St. Zacharias cross: what does modern science say?
Examples survive in collections such as the Wellcome’s.
St. Zacharias cross: what lore surrounds it?
Clerics of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries spread the legend that St. Zacharias, a bishop of Jerusalem, had gathered the prayers, which were kept in a Spanish monastery and recommended at the Council of Trent in 1546.
Sources
- Skemer, D. C. (2016). Deciphering a Central European plague amulet. Wellcome Library blog; republished by Brewminate. Read in full · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)
- Sources
- 1 cited: 1 read in full.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026
- Chicago
“St. Zacharias cross.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-zacharias-cross.
- MLA
“St. Zacharias cross.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-zacharias-cross. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
St. Zacharias cross. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-zacharias-cross
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See Also
Drawing on the same sources: Skemer
Nearby in the alphabet
Stinkhorn · St. Walburga’s oil (A clear liquid that gathers on the stone slab over the relics of St) · The stole (the sign of his sacred office) · St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) · Storax calamite (packed in reeds (calami) for export) · St. John’s fires (The bonfires lit across Europe on the eve of the Nativity of St) · Sugar (Saccharum officinarum) · St. Ignatius water (Water blessed with a relic or medal of St)
Historical description, not medical advice.