. St. Peter
Catholic Church
Our Banners
Several times during the liturgical year,
Pentecost and Christmas, we adorn the sanctuary area with banners appropriate
to the season. This page contains a
description of these banners. For now,
we only have black & white images of the Pentecost banners. When the banners are mounted in church, we
will take color photos and put them on this page.
When you are through with this page, you can
either click Back on your server to return to the previous page or click here to return to our home page.
The Pentecost Banners (Click here to go directly to
a description of the Christmas banners.)
The Pentecost banners are based
on the Veni Creator Spiritus (Come
Holy Ghost), one of the church's greatest hymns. This theme, and the idea of the Pentecost banners,
was brought about to give the liturgy of this important feast the sacred
respect that it deserves.
Each banner has a theme from the
passage in the hymn, chosen to relate the functions of the Holy Spirit and how
He touches us in our daily lives. The
horizontal design of the banners and the background suggests a unified concept symbolizing
the Holy Spirit unifying the church. The
strong green majority of the banners symbolizes spring, the fresh and new time
of the year when we celebrate Pentecost. Each banner has its own separate meaning. When
viewing the banners, they should be viewed from left to right.
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The first banner is entitled The
Living Spring, The Living Fire. Living
Spring implies an endless flow of graces dispensed by the seven Sacraments
through the power of the Holy Spirit . The fountain, with seven streams, also
symbolizes the seven Sacraments. The
Living Fire, as indicated by brightly colored flames, is suggesting the Holy
Spirit's assistance in perfecting our spiritual lives. |
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The theme of the second banner is Confirm Our Mortal Frame. This refers to the sacrament of
Confirmation in which the Holy Spirit makes those already baptized stronger and
more perfect Christians. This strengthening
is symbolically suggested by the pattern of the chain weaving through the
banner. The three stars symbolize the
conferring of the Sacrament in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. |
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Entitled Thrice Blessed
Three In One, the third banner refers to the three persons of the Blessed
Trinity. The Father is symbolized by a
large hand to show He is the Creator. The Son, the Redeemer, is shown by the Christogram
with arms of the Greek letters CH I in horizontal form to resemble the
form of the cross. The Holy Spirit,
the Sanctifier, is symbolized by the
dove. Each symbol is contained in a
triangle which suggests oneness. |
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The fourth banner is entitled
With Love Our Hearts Inflame. The symbolic reference here is the
Pentecostal Tongues of fire by which the Holy Spirit made Himself evident to
the Apostles when He descended among them after Christ’s ascension into
heaven. Thus the greatest act of love
is culminated in the coming of the Spirit as Advocate and Life-giver. |
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Thou
Who Art Called The Paraclete is the title of the fifth banner. The word Paraclete has been translated as “Advocate,”
“Intercessor,” or “Comforter. The Paraclete
has been symbolized in this banner by a dove soaring upward into the symbol
of the sun, suggesting the illumination brought by the Spirit to our understanding
of Christ's teachings. Because these
teachings are spread to the entire earth, we use the symbol of the orb, with
the cross implanted, along with the flame suggesting the intercession of the
Holy Spirit. |
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The theme of the sixth banner, Thou
Who Art Sevenfold in Thy Grace, is taken from the book of Isaiah and
describes the Root of Jesse. From this
Root will sprout a beautiful bud (Christ) upon Whom will rest the Spirit of
the Lord. The prophet then goes on to
enumerate the seven gifts of the Spirit; wisdom, understanding, counsel,
fortitude, knowledge, pity, and fear of the Lord. Illustrated on this banner is a Shoot
issuing from the Root. Christ is
depicted as the bud of the Shoot while each of the seven gifts is suggested
by a branch bearing a flower. |
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The seventh banner is entitled Guide Our
Minds With Thy Best Light. This banner
basically deals with us looking for knowledge and ability to solve our daily
problems. We ask the Holy Spirit for
this help. The large flame suggests
illumination and below, the tree of knowledge holds in its branches the Wise
Owl. The book symbolizes man's quest
for knowledge. |
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True Peace Unto Us Bring is the title of the eighth banner. Peace is a significant word in our time and,
to emphasize this, the word itself is spelled across the banner in bold
letters. Olive branches, long a symbol
of peace, weave into the letters. |
The Christmas
Banners
The Christmas Banners were designed by
Francis Deck and made of felt by sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students of
St. Peter’s School under the direction of Sister Regina Marie, O.S.U. These banners are eighteen feet long, and
thirty inches wide. They are based on the
first chapter of St.
John's
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The first banner is entitled "In
the Beginning Was the Word." This
banner recalls the theme of Creation, taken from the book of Genesis,
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The elements from both regions are shown as
the star, sun, moon, tree, land, birds, and the fish of the sea. In the lower right hand corner of the banner
is the Greek form of "Logos" or "Word" in bright blue
letters. This is symbolic of the
presence of Christ, in Whom all creation had its beginning and will be
fulfilled. |
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Entitled "He Was With God in the
Beginning. . .", the second banner shows the Blessed Trinity
symbolized by three large gold triangles Super-imposed upon each triangle is a
symbol. The single eye shows God the
Father; the green Chi |
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The third banner is entitled "Through
Him all things came to be . . ." This banner repeats the creation theme. It is suggested by large beige felt hands in
the act of inciting into motion all spiritual and material beings, typified
by the angels, constellations, trees, land, birds, and water. |
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Banner number four, entitled "All
that came to be had life in Him, and that life was the light of men.", shows
Christ as the light and life of man. Life is illustrated by the tree of life,
light by the Paschal candle. The large
Greek symbols, Α (alpha-beginning), and Ω (omega-end), imply the
inclusiveness of Christ's redemptive activity - "And the hope is that in
the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change
and decay, and have its share in that magnificent liberty which can only
belong to the children of God." |
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The fifth banner illustrates "A
light that shines in the darkness, a light that darkness could not
overpower." There are a
series of black horizontal lines upon which are superimposed pairs of wandering
eyes which attempt to pierce through these areas of darkness to the light. The darkness implies evil, which is also
represented by the serpent. In the
central part of the banner is the sun, a burst of light symbolic of Christ
who penetrated the darkness of death and sin, overcoming it through his
Incarnation and Redemptive Act. |
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The sixth banner is entitled "A
man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, as a witness
to speak for the light, so that
everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, only a witness to
speak for the light." The
word "BEHOLD," in large gold felt letters, introduces John the
Baptist in his role as witness to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. John's role is emphasized in the words,
"John came to bear witness to the light." The light is symbolized by the sun towards
the bottom of the banner. The ram's
horn upon which the word "BEHOLD" is superimposed represents John's
role as Precursor of Jesus. |
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The seventh banner depicts "He came
to us in His own domain and His own people did not accept Him." This banner shows the city of |
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The eighth banner is entitled
"And the word was made flesh." The final banner is a symbolic reference
to the birth of Christ at |
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Peter Parish, Kirkwood, MO