What do the gospels have to do with animals?

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,

bless the bed that I lie on."

This traditional prayer to the four evangelists appears in The Children's Book of Bedtime Blessings, put out this year by Paulist Press. The accompanying illustrations, by local artist Dennis Rockhill, show an ox, eagle, lion and man arrayed protectively around a sleeping child.

What do animals have to do with the Gospel writers?

They -- along with a human figure -- are the traditional symbols associated with the evangelists. They often appear in stained glass windows. The west portico, the royal portico, of Chartres Cathedral in France, dating to 1145, is adorned with a carving of Christ surrounded by the four symbols of the evangelists.

The well known winged representations of the lion, ox, eagle and human appear in the Irish Book of Kells, dating to the year 800. Dante Alighieri portrayed the four symbols in Cantos 28 of Purgatorio in 1306-21.

But where did the symbols originate? As representations of the Gospels, they date back to at least the second century. St. Irenaeus of Lyons (d. 202), wrote about the four symbols and explained how they represented Christ as portrayed in the Gospels: "'The first living creature was like a lion', symbolizing his effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; 'the second was like a calf', signifying sacrificial and sacerdotal order; 'the third has as it were, the face of a man' -- an evident description of his advent as a human being; 'the fourth was like a flying eagle,' pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with his wings over the Church" (Against Heresies).

Irenaeus was drawing from symbols presented in the Book of Revelation: "In the center and around the throne, there were four living creatures ... The first creature resembled a lion, the second was like a calf, the third had a face like that of a human being, and the fourth looked like an eagle in flight" (Rev. 4:6-7). The study version of the New American Bible explains that these four creatures "symbolize, respectively, what is noblest, strongest, wisest and swiftest of creation."

In turn, the creatures in Revelation parallel Old Testament representations of the cherubim who supported God's throne as seen by the prophet Ezekiel. These four cherubim are represented as having four faces -- a lion, man, eagle and ox (Ez 10:14).

The cherubim are more often mentioned in the Old Testament than the New (for example, Gn 3:24; 1 Sm 4:4; and Ps 99:1). We may be used to thinking of the cherubim as cute little child-like angels that we often see on cards, especially at Christmas. But, from the biblical descriptions, they may seem quite different from that. Their name comes from an Assyrian word meaning "powerful" and "to be near."

St. Augustine described the cherubim as "the Seat of the glory of God" and "the fullness of knowledge." So we can see how associating symbols of knowledgeable and powerful creature with the gospel accounts of Jesus -- who is the fullness of God -- could come about.

But why have different symbols? Well, we have different gospels, from different storytellers, each emphasizing a different and compelling aspect of Jesus' life and message.

John, the last gospel written, for example, presents the most highly developed understanding of Jesus as the Christ, the very Word of God. John presents a lofty, heavenly understanding of Christ in all his glory and power. So it is easy to see why John's gospel would be symbolized by the powerful, soaring eagle. Indeed, the gospel even starts in heaven: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).

St. Augustine said it this way: John "soars like an eagle above the clouds of human infirmity, gazing upon the light of the unchangeable truth with the keen and steady eyes of the heart."

In the same way, each of the other three gospels presents a certain image of Christ. So Luke presents Jesus as the compassionate and willing victim who fulfilled the plan for salvation. Therefore, the Gospel begins with Zechariah, a priest in the Temple. The Temple priest's main job was to offer the sacrifice, and the greatest and most noble of the Temple sacrifices was that of the ox.

Mark begins in the wilderness, with John, "the voice crying out in the wilderness." So the male lion, solitary and roaring in the wild, represents Mark's gospel.

Finally, there is Matthew, written for a largely Jewish audience to show Jesus as a type of "new Moses", fulfilling the law of Israel and establishing the new and eternal covenant. Also, Matthew begins his gospel by tracing the human genealogy of Jesus "the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Mt 1:1). So Matthew's gospel is represented by a human being.

But whatever symbols are used to express the Gospels, their message remains the same: "the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to us" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1846).

(Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia; History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff; Calvin College web site; Fr. Felix Justin, SJ at Loyola Marymount University; Catechism of the Catholic Church; and the New American Bible, St. Joseph Study Edition)