What does IHS mean?

Answer

George Eliot’s novel “Silas Marner” includes a scene where a townswoman named Dolly Winthrop brings Silas some lard cakes with the letters IHS baked into the top of each one. The irony lies in the fact that neither Dolly nor Silas understands the meaning of the letters. Dolly simply includes IHS on her baked goods because she sees the letters in her church every Sunday and assumes they hold some significance. Her explanation is rather amusing: “They’re good letters, else they wouldn’t be in the church; and so, I prick ’em on all the loaves and all the cakes, though sometimes they won’t hold, because o’ the rising . . . and I hope they’ll bring good to you, Master Marner, for it’s wi’ that will I brought you the cakes; and you see the letters have held better nor common” (chapter 10).

Unlike Mrs. Winthrop, we do not need to remain uninformed about the meaning of IHS. IHS is a Christogram, representing an abbreviation of the name of Christ. It is a Latinized version of the Greek letters ΙΗΣ (iota-eta-sigma), the first three letters of the name “Jesus” in Greek. Therefore, the IHS symbol signifies “Jesus.” Other Christograms include ICXC (the first and last letters of the name “Jesus Christ” in Greek) and a superimposed X and P (the first two letters of “Christ” in Greek).

Sometimes the letters IHS are intertwined with each other. Other depictions include a cross above or stemming from the H. The symbol is commonly found in Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and other “High Church” denominations, appearing on vestments, scapulars, windows, medallions, tombstones, and crosses. The Jesuits, or members of the Society of Jesus, incorporate IHS in their official seal, with three nails below the H and rays surrounding the entire monogram.

Over the centuries, this Christogram has been associated with various meanings. One interpretation is that it is a shortened form of the Latin phrase Iesus Hominum Salvator (“Jesus, the Savior of”).

Men”). Other appended meanings of IHS include Iesum Habemus Socium (“We Have Jesus as Our Companion”) and Iesus Humilis Societas (“Humble Society of Jesus”). According to legend, Constantine the Great saw a vision of a cross and the Latin words In Hoc Signo Vinces (“In This Sign You Will Conquer”). Some have taken the first three words of the command to Constantine and given IHS another meaning. And some have skipped Latin altogether, tacking on a purely English meaning: “In His Service.” Originally, however, IHS simply meant “Jesus.”

It is always good to know the meaning of the symbols that we use. We should not be like Dolly Winthrop, who superstitiously used IHS as a good-luck charm without ever knowing what it meant. Mrs. Winthrop was blindly following what was, to her, an empty liturgy. There is nothing wrong with tradition, per se, but we should be careful not to cloak our praise of Jesus’ name in symbols and monograms based on dead languages. Better to boldly proclaim the name above all names «Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: », (Philippians 2:9) in a way everyone can understand than to risk keeping people like Mrs. Winthrop in the dark.