PALM-TREE, SYMBOLISM OF 604 PALM-TllEE, SYMBOLISM OF
from earth, and as near as possible to heaven. Perhaps no point is more worthy of mention, if we wish to pur- sue the comparison, than the elasticity of the fibre of the palm, and its determined growth upwards, even when loaded with weights (" nititur in pondus palma"). Such particulars of resemblance to the righteous man were variously dwelt on by the early Christian writers. Some instances are given by Celsius in his Hierohotani- con (Upsala, 1747), ii, 5"22-5-i7, One, which he does not give, is worthy of quotation : " Well is the life of the righteous likened to a palm, in that the palm below is rough to the touch, and in a manner enveloped in dry bark, but above it is adorned with fruit, fair even to the eye ; below it is compressed by the enfoldings of its bark; above it is spread out in amplitude of beautiful greenness. For so is the life of the elect — despised be- low, beautiful above. Down below it is, as it were, en- folded in mau}^ barks, in that it is straitened by innu- merable afflictions; but on high it is expanded into a foliage, as it were, of beautiful greenness by the ampli- tude of the rewarding" ((Gregory, Mor. on Job nx, 49). There may also in Cant, vii, 8, "I will go up to the palm-tree, I will take hold of tlie boughs thereof," be a reference to climbing for the fruit. The Sept. has avajiii- aofiai tv Ti^ (poh'tKi, Kpari'irrio twv iitl/kiuv aurov. So in ii, 3 and elsewhere (e. g. Psa. i, 3) the fruit of the palm may be intended; but this cannot be proved.
(4.) The passage in Eev. vii, 9, where the glorified of all nations are described as "clotlied with white robes and palms in their hands," might seem to us a purely classical image, drawn (like many of Paul's images) from the Greek games, the victors in which carried palms in their hands. But we seem to trace here a Jewish element also, when we consider three passages in the Apocrypha. In 1 Mace, xiii, 51 Simon Macca- biEus, after the surrender of the tower at Jerusalem, is described as entering it with music and thanksgiving " and branches of palm-trees." In 2 JIacc. x, 7 it is said that when Judas Maccaba^us had recovered the Temple and the city " they bare branches and palms, and sang psalms also unto Him that had given them good success." In 2 Mace, xiv, 4 Demetrius is presented " with a crown of gold and a ])alm." Here we see the palm-branches used by Jews in token of victory and peace. (Such indeed is the case in the Gospel narrative, John xii, 13.) There is a fourth passage in the Apoc- rypha, as commonly published in English, which ap- proximates closeh' to the imagery of the Apocalypse: "I asked the angel, What are these? He answered and said unto me, Tlicse be they which have put off the mortal clothhig, and now tlic}' are crowned and receive palms. Then said I unto the angel, What young per- son is it that crowueth them and giveth them palms in their hands? So he answered and said unto me. It is the Son of (iod, whom thev have confessed in the world" (2 Esdr. ii, 44-47). See Datk,
PAL^M-TPiEE, Christian Symbolism of. I. The palm has been among all nations a symbol oi victory : " What is signified by the palm," says St. Gregory the Great {Homily on Ezech. ii, 17), "except the reward of victory ?" The jirimitive Church used it to express the triumpli of the Christian over death through the resur- rection. " Tlie just shall flourish as the palm" (Psa. xci, 13), over the world, the flesh, and the devil, by the gen- eral exercise of the Christian virtues. The palm is the symbol of those conflicts which are carried on between the flesh and the spirit (Origen, in Joan.xxi; Ambrose, in Luc. rii). On the tombs the palm is generallj' accompanied by the mono- gram of Clirist, signifying that every victory of tlie Cliristian is due to this di- vine name ami sign, '• By tliis conquer." This intention appears very evident when, as in the present instance (Hosio, Monogram of p. 436), the monogram is surrounded by Christ, with palms. Perhajjs the same signification Palm-branches, should be given to the palm joined to
the figure of the Good Shepherd, or to the crook which is its hieroglyphic sign, to the fish (Perret, IV, xvi, 3, 10, 49), or to any other symbolical figure of the Saviour. When engraved upon portable articles, as upon jewels (Perret, ibid, and 13, 25, etc.), the palm seems to ex[)ress, not only victory already gained, but victory in anticipa- tion ; it should therefore serve to encourage the Chris- tain yet battling with the world, as it places before his eyes the reward which awaits the victor.
2. But the palm is especially the S3-mbol of martyr- dom; for to the early Christian death was victorj-; therefore we conquer when we fall, says Tertullian {Apol. 1) ; and as St. Gregory appositely remarks (/. c), "it is concerning those who have vanquished the old enemy in the combat of martyrdom, and who now re- joice at their victory over the world, that it is written, ' Tliey have palms in their hands' " (Kev. vii, 9). The palm of martj'rdom has also become, in the language of the Church, a classical and sacramental expression. In the diptychs, the acts of the martyrs, and the martyr- ologies, we read : " He has received the palm of martyr- dom—he has been crowned with the palm cf the mar- tyrs" (Cassiodorus, Be Persecut. Vandul. apud Kuin. xv, 73). St. Agatha replied to the tyrant, " If you do not rend my body upon the rack, my soul cannot enter the paradise of God with the palm of martyrdom." Thus it has become the custom to paint martyrs with a palm in their hands; and the symbol is so common that no one can misunderstand it. "To the people the palm signifies that the valiant atldetes have gained the victory" (Cas- siodorus, Variar. i, 28). Each of them, says Bellarmine {De Eccl. Triumph, xi, 10), is represented with the spe- cial instrument of his torture: the attribute common to all is the palm. In the mosaic of St. Praxedus (Ciam- pini, Vet. Mon. t. xi, tab. xlv), on every side of the great arch are seen, exactly according to the Apocalypse (vii, 9), a vast multitude of persons, the great multitude whom no man can number, having palms in their hands. Other mosaics have two palm-trees spanning tlie whole picture, and bearing fruits which are the emblem of the martyr's rewards. This symbol had previously been used in the Catacombs. On all the monuments representing our Lord between St. Peter and St. Paul, the palm-tree is generally surmounted by a phoenix, a double symbol of the resurrection given to the apostle to the Gentiles, because he was the first and most zealous preacher of this consoling doctrine.