The Celtic Cross

A beautiful survivor of ancient British Celtic culture is its art. Ornamental, favouring curves to straight lines, Celtic art is deep in symbolism. Its twirls and interlacing breathe life into these petrified relics.

Quite creepy; hence its attraction to the present-day Goth subculture.

The Celtic Cross

Celtic Cross

An ornamented standing stone cross with a circle is called a High Cross. There are various other names, including Iona Cross, Scottish Cross, Irish Cross, Welsh Cross, Anglican Cross, St. John's Cross, Halo Cross, Sun Cross... and a few more names we mention below. Sometimes the cross arms extend beyond the circle, and sometimes the arms terminate at the circle, in which case it can be referred to as a Disc Cross.

An early 19th century Celtic Cross grave marker with Triquetra twirls. Yorkshire, England

In Germany and Holland, it is called the Keltisch Cross and in various countries it is known as the Gaelic Cross (the Fleur-de-Lis Cross is also sometimes called a Gaelic Cross).

Anglicans and Episcopalians usually call this the Anglican, Episcopal or Celtic Cross, whereas Catholics often refer to it as the Irish Cross. But just as the Protestant Christ is the same as the Catholic Christ is the same as the Lutheran Christ, all these crosses are one and the same.

The cross is so named because early examples are found in the Celtic land of Ireland, where, in the 8th century (or possibly earlier), missionaries erected these stone crosses to mark preaching stations and monasteries. (See also Wayside Cross.)

Logo Cross

This cross is an ideal design for several Christian organisation, such as the 'Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops', whose logo (shown on the left) is a Voided Latin Cross with a circular arrangement of letters to form a Celtic Cross.

Celtic Crosses are also found extensively in churchyards and market squares in other the Celtic lands: Wales, the south-west of England and Scotland. The stone used for these crosses in western Britain is usually local sandstone - relatively soft and easy to carve intricate and beautiful designs. The basic construction is simply a Latin Cross with a ring. The meaning of the cross is well known, but what is the ring?

Logo of the
Church in Wales

Flag of the Church in Wales (yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) See also St. David's Cross

Because of its antiquity, the Celtic Cross is popular with neo-Druids, occultists, neo-Pagans and New Age followers, who see the ring representing the thunder god Taranis and refer to the cross as a Taranis Wheel. (See also Kabbalah Cross and the St. Brighid's Cross..) Another interpretation is that the cross might be an astrological navigation instrument.

The most common Christian interpretations of the ring include:

a symbol of eternity that emphasizes the everlasting life in Heaven for those who accept Christ
the everlasting love of God, as shown through Christ's crucifixion
the world, for which Christ died
the resurrection of Christ
a crown of thorns
a halo
and finally, the story of St. Patrick, living with some new Christian converts who had been Druids. Patrick took one of their standing stones etched with a circle that symbolised their moon goddess, and scratched a Latin cross mark over the circle. This was to show that Christianity had replaced their pagan beliefs.

Who knows, the circle might have originally represented a moon god, the Sun god, a cosmic wheel, or a phallic symbol plus an association with everlasting life. But when the stone crosses were carved by Christians, they were doing so with their Christian God in mind. And like church buildings, hymns, vestments and many other trappings used by the Church in those days, they were influenced by existing pagan customs and culture in their art and design. (Christians believe that the cross occurs so often in nature and ancient religious thought, along with many other older religious items, as prefiguring; to prepare humanity for the great sacrifice of Jesus. See Meaning of the Cross.)

8th century St. Martin's Cross at Iona Abbey

The original St. John's Cross at Iona Abbey.
Click photo to enlarge.
(Photo by Dennis Turner, reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license)

There is one further, albeit unlikely, suggestion about the circle; that it might be simply a structural support for the horizontal arms.

One of the best-preserved Celtic crosses is the 8th century St. Martin's Cross, which stands in front of Iona Abbey. This is a replica of the earlier St John's Cross, which has an enormous arm span for a stone cross; over two metres. Without the circle to support the weight of the arms, it is unlikely the cross would have stood for such a long time. However, we discount that suggestion in favour of a religious connection for the circle. If ancillary supports were necessary then straight braces at 45 degrees would be more effective.

Other names for these crosses include St. Columba Cross, after the 6th century Irish missionary, Iona Cross, Ionic Cross, and sometimes mistakenly called an Iconic Cross, although no doubt many pilgrims have treated this cross as an icon.

Churches in Scotland and Ireland are often dedicated to St. John and therefore a Celtic Cross in those churches might be called St. John's Cross. Confusingly, during the First Crusade, there was an order of mediaeval monks known as the Order of St John of Jerusalem who used the Maltese Cross as their emblem. That emblem is also referred to as St. John's Cross. (See Hans's Cross for another cross of St. John the Baptist.)

The Celtic Cross outside St. Peter's

'Christ the King'
Photo by C M Diamond, Peterborough, Ontario

The Celtic Cross form is given other names, such as St. Peter's Cross, although St. Peter is usually associated with an inverted cross. An example can be seen outside the Cathedral of St. Peter-in-Chains, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

On the lawn there is a bronze statue of "Christ the King" which was erected in 1926. The artist's name is unknown but it was purchased by Bishop O'Brien when visiting Rome circa 1925. The statue was his gift to the Diocese of Peterborough for the celebration of their 100th anniversary of the first mass that was said in Peterborough on June 5, 1826.

'Christ the King' statue base
Photo by C M Diamond, Peterborough, Ontario

The white Canadian granite base is by a local monument maker, an Irishman, who formed an incuse image of a Celtic cross in the stone and then poured molten lead into the hollow. There are two such crosses on this monument. The arms are shaped like nails, representing the nails that were driven into Jesus on the cross. (See also Nails Cross)

Yet another saint associated with the Celtic Cross is St. Brendan. This cross is often adorned with a dolphin (see the story of St. Brendan.)

See also Celtic knotwork of the Pict Cross, Triquetra, the Sun Cross and the Crown of Thorns Cross

So much for the interpretation of the circle; but what does this symbol of a combined cross and circle really mean? See the meaning of the cross and also read The Cross and Eternity by Rev. David Linde.