Greek initials in church

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ewlabonte

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Hi, I’m a new Catholic. I recently noticed that above the baptismal font and on a few pillars in the church is an insignia that looks like a Greek nu with a rho passing through it. Basically it looks somewhat like the chi rho but with an N looking letter instead of an X. I asked the woman who teaches RCIA, and she didn’t know what it was. What is it, what does it stand for?
 
I cant find that information on Google…
I do remember that there is a display in my local cathedral that describes the Masons marks found all over the chapel on pieces of stone. These are normally fairly discrete… but each mason would have his “Masons Mark”, and put this mark on a discrete but visible place on each part on the church where he worked. These marks are often Ligatures of greek or latin letters like you describe.

A photo would help.

It could be either of 2 greek letters.

A lower case n with a tail, η is Eta (lower case.)
An upper case N is Ν which is an upper case Nu.

I dont know enough greek to know if either have other catholic symbology.

However This wikipedia article is worth a look:

IHS, with a cross above the H… is the Christogram: Iota, Eta, Sigma
ins, or ιης
putting the cross above the η would produce a ligature like you describe. If the other letters were spaced out it might look like it was intended to have meaning on it’s own.
 
I’m curious, can you try doing a google image search and share a photo? I can’t picture what it is in my head to even guess what it stands for.

Also, does it accompany an icon of a saint, or of Christ? Or is it just the letters?
 
Here are Greek letters. If you can pick it out from these, maybe someone could help. 😉

ΕΡΤΥΘΙΟΠΑΣΔΦΓΗΞΚΛΖΧΨΩΒΝΜ
ερτυθιοπασδφγηξκλζχψωβνμ
 
ewlabonte said:
I’ll try to get a photo from my church. But it looks something like this: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho.png
Click to expand...
Is it possible that it’s a Rho, with a crossbar with exaggerated “serifs” on the ends? I’ve seen ikons where horizontal bars put over abbreviations have these little “serifs” for want of a better word) on the end: the one on the left end of the bar dips down slightly, the one on the right goes up. If these little doodads on the ends are overemphasized, it might look like an elongated Nu. In which case, it would just be a variation on Chi-Rho, where the crossbar and the upright of the Rho form the Chi. See figure on the left.
HOWEVER…I also found, as you can see, a Chi-Rho with an added Nu. The website I found this on suggests the Nu stands for “Nikē” or “victor”.

Nu? 😃
 
John_Lazarus said:
Is it possible that it’s a Rho, with a crossbar with exaggerated “serifs” on the ends? I’ve seen ikons where horizontal bars put over abbreviations have these little “serifs” for want of a better word) on the end: the one on the left end of the bar dips down slightly, the one on the right goes up. If these little doodads on the ends are overemphasized, it might look like an elongated Nu. In which case, it would just be a variation on Chi-Rho, where the crossbar and the upright of the Rho form the Chi. See figure on the left.
HOWEVER…I also found, as you can see, a Chi-Rho with an added Nu. The website I found this on suggests the Nu stands for “Nikē” or “victor”.

Nu? 😃
Click to expand...
Interesting, I’ve never seen “NIKA” used in this way before. In the East we use this:

 
John_Lazarus said:
Is it possible that it’s a Rho, with a crossbar with exaggerated “serifs” on the ends? I’ve seen ikons where horizontal bars put over abbreviations have these little “serifs” for want of a better word) on the end: the one on the left end of the bar dips down slightly, the one on the right goes up. If these little doodads on the ends are overemphasized, it might look like an elongated Nu. In which case, it would just be a variation on Chi-Rho, where the crossbar and the upright of the Rho form the Chi. See figure on the left.
HOWEVER…I also found, as you can see, a Chi-Rho with an added Nu. The website I found this on suggests the Nu stands for “Nikē” or “victor”.

Nu? 😃
Click to expand...
I’m going to Pentacost vigil tonight. I’ll sneak in early and take a couple of pics.
 
ewlabonte said:
Here are two views of them. They are in each archway at the left and right side of the church.

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho-1.JPG

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho-2.JPG

And here’s an icon of Mary and Jesus that’s over the baptismal font.

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/Icon.JPG

Sorry about the quality. They are a little dark. The church is “Our Lady Immaculate” in Athol, Massachusetts. I’m so glad I became a Catholic. 🙂
Click to expand...
Maybe it’s “NP”, a warning to the babies about to be baptized:

“No peeing!” 😃
 
ewlabonte said:
Here are two views of them. They are in each archway at the left and right side of the church.

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho-1.JPG

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho-2.JPG

And here’s an icon of Mary and Jesus that’s over the baptismal font.

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/Icon.JPG

Sorry about the quality. They are a little dark. The church is “Our Lady Immaculate” in Athol, Massachusetts. I’m so glad I became a Catholic. 🙂
Click to expand...
We’re glad you became Catholic too! When you mentioned the letters, I was very curious too because my home parish (in Norfolk) has something more like what John Lazarus pointed out.

Can’t say I’ve ever seen what your parish has, though!
 
ewlabonte said:
Here are two views of them. They are in each archway at the left and right side of the church.

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho-1.JPG

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/nurho-2.JPG

And here’s an icon of Mary and Jesus that’s over the baptismal font.

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81767838/Icon.JPG

Sorry about the quality. They are a little dark. The church is “Our Lady Immaculate” in Athol, Massachusetts. I’m so glad I became a Catholic. 🙂
Click to expand...
I will check it out, thanks 🙂
 
John_Lazarus said:
Is it possible that it’s a Rho, with a crossbar with exaggerated “serifs” on the ends? I’ve seen ikons where horizontal bars put over abbreviations have these little “serifs” for want of a better word) on the end: the one on the left end of the bar dips down slightly, the one on the right goes up. If these little doodads on the ends are overemphasized, it might look like an elongated Nu. In which case, it would just be a variation on Chi-Rho, where the crossbar and the upright of the Rho form the Chi. See figure on the left.
HOWEVER…I also found, as you can see, a Chi-Rho with an added Nu. The website I found this on suggests the Nu stands for “Nikē” or “victor”.

Nu? 😃
Click to expand...
I saw the version on the right in the chapel of the church. I’m not sure whether it’s connected with the one in the church without the cross.
 
Nobody in my church seems to know what it means. I was thinking that instead of a P or a rho maybe its a D on top of an I and the whole thing might stand for “Domina Nostra Immaculata”. The name of the church is “Our Lady Immaculate”.
 
If nothing else I’ve learned a lot about chrismons, christograms and other christian monograms. But I suspect it must have something specific to do with that church. If I could only locate the architect… or something about the history of the church. Perhaps the local library.
 
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