Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)
A lamb, usually with a halo and carrying a cross-staff with a banner: Christ as the Lamb of God, from John the Baptist’s words “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
Meaning
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells how John the Baptist pointed Jesus out as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”, and says that at his baptism Jesus was already that Lamb. The words are said at every Mass. The Agnus Dei is sung or recited at the breaking of the bread, and before Communion the priest holds up the host and says, “Ecce Agnus Dei” (“This is the Lamb of God”). Britannica places the chant between the Lord’s Prayer and Communion, and notes that Anglican and Lutheran liturgies have kept it. In art the Lamb bears a cross or a flag, and from the fifth century a halo. Agnus Dei is also the name of small wax discs stamped with the Lamb and blessed by the pope. Catholics hear the words at every Mass.
Origin and history
The lamb is among the oldest Christian images. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) counts 88 catacomb frescoes of the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulders between the first and fourth centuries; in them, following the archaeologist Joseph Wilpert, the lamb is the soul of the dead carried to heaven. After Constantine the lamb became Christ himself in the mosaics of the new basilicas. St Paulinus of Nola described one: “Christ is represented in the form of a lamb; the voice of the Father thunders from heaven; and through the dove the Holy Spirit is poured out.” In apse mosaics the Lamb stands on a mountain from which flow four streams for the four Evangelists. Constantine gave the Lateran baptistery a golden lamb pouring water. A sixth-century mosaic in St Peter’s showed blood flowing from the Lamb’s side into a chalice. The lamb was not yet only Christ: on the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (d. 358) it also stands for Moses, John the Baptist and the three young men in the furnace.
The wax Agnus Dei
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) describes the wax discs: round or oval, stamped with a lamb bearing a cross or flag, blessed by the pope in the first year of his reign and every seventh year after, and worn round the neck or kept as objects of devotion. When they are first heard of, about 820, they were made from the remains of the previous year’s paschal candle. The oldest surviving one dates from Gregory XI (1370). In Elizabethan England they were among the “popish trumperies” whose import the penal laws forbade.
Related signs
The Pelican in her piety is another sign of Christ giving his blood, and the Lamb is stamped on the host of the Chalice and host.
Read next
- Next in Catholic symbolsPelican in her pietyA pelican wounding her own breast to feed her young with her blood: a traditional Christian sign of Christ, who saves people by his blood.
- In Paulinus of Nola’s apse the Lamb is Christ and the dove the Holy Spirit.DoveA dove, in Christian art the sign of the Holy Spirit, and also of the Christian soul.
See also
Chalice and host, Keys of St Peter, Papal tiara, Rosary, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Miraculous Medal.
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 522–556, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part One, “The Mysteries of Christ’s Life”, Holy See (vatican.va), nos. 523, 536
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal, §308, The Holy See (vatican.va), nos. 83, 157
- The Lamb (in Early Christian Symbolism), Maurice Hassett, “The Lamb (in Early Christian Symbolism)”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent, The Lamb (in Early Christian Symbolism)
- Agnus Dei, Herbert Thurston, “Agnus Dei”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent, Agnus Dei
- Agnus Dei (Britannica), Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Agnus Dei”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article text
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from crosses or curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
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