The interesting plant known as the _Passion-flower_, although of comparatively modern origin, is now freely used to symbolize the passion of our Lord. The ten faithful apostles,--omitting St. Peter who denied and Judas who betrayed our Lord,--the hammer and the nails, the cross, the five sacred wounds, the crown of thorns, the cords which bound Him, are all, by an exaggerated symbolism and straining after analogy, supposed to be represented by its various parts. It was discovered by early Spanish settlers in America, and was welcomed by them as useful in teaching Christianity to the Indians. It is the one contribution of the new continent to the ecclesiastical symbolism of flowers. _Symbols of the Evangelists and Apostles._--The Evangelists are often represented by four scrolls, four open books, or four streams of water issuing from Christ the Rock; but most commonly the Evangelistic symbols are the _Man_, the _Lion_, the {84} _Ox_, and the _Eagle_. These figures refer to the mysterious creatures described by the prophet Ezekiel, and afterward by St. John, as adoring ceaselessly before the throne of God. "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." The man is assigned to St. Matthew and his Gospel, because of the manner in which the manhood of our Lord is set forth, the lion to St. Mark, because he shows {85} His royal dignity and power; the ox to St. Luke, because his is the sacrificial Gospel and dwells on the Atonement; and the eagle to St. John, because his Gospel rises to the contemplation of the sublimest mysteries of the Christian faith. [Illustration: Man, Lion, Ox, Eagle symbols] All these symbols are winged, as showing that the message of the Gospels is to go to all the earth as the concern of all men everywhere. All four symbols are sometimes combined into one, called a Tetramorph. Each Apostle has also his own appropriate symbol. St. James the Greater has the escallop shell and staff of the pilgrim. His shrine in Spain was one of the great centers to which pilgrims came from all lands. [Illustration: Apostle symbols--S. Peter, S. Andrew, S. James ye more, S. Johan, S. Thomas, S. James ye less.] St. John, as an Apostle, has a cup with a winged serpent rising from it, in reference to the tradition {86} that St. John once drank with impunity from a poisoned chalice after having made the sign of the Cross over it. St. Thomas bears the spear with which he was slain, or the carpenter's rule, from a legend that he was sent to the king of the Indies to build him a palace. St. Thomas gave to the poor the money intrusted to him by the king. He was cast into prison, but the king had a vision of a marvelous palace in Paradise built for him by the money given in charity. St. Thomas was released, and the king became a Christian. St. Peter has the keys, in reference to our Lord's words to him, and to his opening of the door of the Church to Jews and to Gentiles.