Dove
A dove, in Christian art the sign of the Holy Spirit, and also of the Christian soul.
Meaning
The Gospel of Matthew says that when Jesus was baptized he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and the dove appears above him in pictures of his baptism and at Pentecost. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908) sums up the dove as a Christian emblem as the Holy Spirit, in person or in his works, and also as the Christian soul in which the Spirit dwells. The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the dove among the symbols of the Holy Spirit, joining Noah’s dove, which came back with an olive branch as a sign that the earth could be lived on again, to the dove at Christ’s baptism: “Christian iconography traditionally uses a dove to suggest the Spirit.”
Origin and history
The dove on many epitaphs in the Roman catacombs takes its meaning from Noah. In Genesis the dove he sent out from the ark came back at nightfall with a twig of olive in its mouth, the leaves still green, and Noah knew the waters had gone down. Noah was painted in the catacombs from as early as the end of the first century, Walter Lowrie wrote; in the earliest, in the vestibule of the catacomb of Domitilla, only the dove with its olive branch survives. The Catacombs of St Callixtus explain the dove holding an olive branch as the soul that has reached divine peace.
Where you’ll see it
Above Christ in pictures of his baptism; on the shoulder of Pope Gregory the Great, who is generally painted with one as a sign of divine guidance; as two doves drinking from a chalice in the catacombs; and, since at least the early Middle Ages, as a dove-shaped vessel hung by chains above the altar to hold the Eucharist for the sick, which the Catechism notes some churches still use.
See also
Chi-Rho, Skull and crossbones, Latin cross, Orthodox cross, Jerusalem cross, Celtic cross.
Sources
- Matthew, chapter 3, The Holy Bible, Knox translation, via New Advent, Matthew 3:16
- Genesis, chapter 8, The Holy Bible, Knox translation, via New Advent, Genesis 8:10–11
- Dove, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent
- Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Name, Titles, and Symbols of the Holy Spirit, §701, The Holy See (vatican.va), §701
- Monuments of the Early Church, Walter Lowrie, 1901, Macmillan, New York and London (Internet Archive), p. 205
- The Catacombs of Saint Callixtus: Christian symbols, Catacombs of St Callixtus, Rome
Last reviewed September 24, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research