Saints & Medals

The devotional medal as an object is old, and it descends from a much older practice of wearing a small struck disc bearing an image. What separates a medal from other devotional jewelry is specificity: it identifies a named figure, and often a particular title or apparition of that figure, rather than making a general statement. That is why choosing one for another person is harder than choosing a cross — you are choosing not just a faith but a devotion within it.

Saints are identified in Christian art by attributes: objects, animals or details of dress conventionally shown with them. The convention exists because most people who encountered these images could not read, and it survives into jewelry unchanged. A figure with a lily, a figure with a flame above the head, a figure holding a book and a cross — each identifies someone, and the identification is stable enough across centuries that a medal made today uses the same signals as a fifteenth-century panel.

Guardian angel imagery sits slightly apart from the saints. It shows a winged figure with one or more children, most often walking or standing beside them, and it is not a portrait of any named individual. That generality is why it is such a common gift at a baptism or for a child: it does not require the giver to know which devotion a family keeps. It appears here as pendants, small medals and stud earrings.

Two established designs turn up constantly and are worth knowing by name: the Miraculous Medal, with its distinctive reverse, and the scapular medal, which stands in for a cloth garment. Both are covered below. Beyond them the collection carries Marian titles, Saint Benedict, San Judas and others, in yellow, two-tone and tricolor gold, with cubic zirconia set into some designs; each listing names the figure, the metal and the measurements.

A medal names a devotion; other forms do not

The functional difference is specificity. A medal carries an image of a named figure, and frequently a particular title of that figure, so it declares something narrower than other devotional forms do. That has practical consequences when buying for someone else: a medal that names the wrong devotion is not neutral, it is simply the wrong one, whereas a less specific piece cannot be wrong in that way. It also means a medal carries information — the giver who knows the recipient's patron is saying so.

Attributes, and reading a saint from the imagery

Attributes are the conventional objects shown with a figure so that the figure can be identified without a caption. Some are near-universal: a lily for purity in Marian and Josephine imagery, a book for a teacher or founder, a staff for a traveller, keys for Peter, an animal companion for Francis. Others are specific to one figure and appear nowhere else. On a struck medal the attribute is usually the most emphasised element after the face, because it is what makes the piece legible at a glance.

Patrons, as the tradition assigns them

The tradition assigns particular saints to particular occupations, places, conditions and circumstances, and those assignments are the usual reason a person wears one medal rather than another. They arise historically — from an episode in a life, a place of ministry, or long local custom — and they are not uniform: the same figure is claimed by different trades in different countries. A person's own patron is most often the saint of their given name, their confirmation name, their profession or their family's town.

The Miraculous Medal, and the design on its reverse

The Miraculous Medal is an oval design that dates to nineteenth-century France, and it is unusual in that both faces are prescribed. The front shows a standing figure with arms lowered and open, encircled by a Latin inscription. The reverse is the part people recognise: a letter M surmounted by a cross, two hearts beneath — one wreathed in thorns, one pierced — and a border of twelve stars. Because the reverse is part of the design, engraving it is not conventional on this particular medal.

The scapular medal, and what it stands in for

A scapular is a cloth garment, two small panels joined by cords and worn over the shoulders under clothing, associated with the Carmelite tradition. Cloth wears out, and in the early twentieth century a metal medal was permitted as a substitute for those who found the garment impractical. The medal conventionally carries a Marian image on one face and an image of the Sacred Heart on the other, and it is worn in the same way the cloth would have been.

Engraving the back of a medal

Most medals have a plain reverse, which makes them one of the better surfaces for engraving: flat, slightly curved, and framed by a rim. What fits depends on diameter. A small oval takes a date, or initials and a date; a larger disc takes a name above a date. Block lettering holds up better than script on a curved back, and shallow engraving on a piece worn constantly will soften over years of contact with skin and fabric. Established designs with a prescribed reverse are the exception.