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Visual symbol expressing the Christian Trinity

The Shield of the Trinity or Scutum Fidei (Latin for "shield of faith") is a traditional Christian visual symbol which expresses many aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity, summarizing the first part of the Athanasian Creed in a compact diagram. In late medieval Europe, this emblem was considered to be the heraldic arms of God (and of the Trinity).

The precise origin of this diagram is unknown, but it was evidently influenced by 12th century experiments in symbolizing the Trinity in abstract visual form—mainly by Petrus Alfonsi's Tetragrammaton Trinity diagram of c. 1109 (and possibly also by Joachim of Fiore's different Tetragrammaton Trinity diagram of three circles, which in turn led to the Borromean rings being used as a symbol of the Trinity ), in combination with the Athanasian Creed. The Shield of the Trinity diagram is attested from as early as a c. 1208–1216 manuscript of Peter of Poitiers' Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi, but the period of its most widespread use was during the 15th and 16th centuries, when it is in found in a number of English and French manuscripts and books (such as the Sherborne Missal), and as part of stained glass windows and ornamental carvings in a number of churches (many in East Anglia). The diagram was used heraldically from the mid 13th century, when a shield shaped version of the diagram (not actually placed on a shield) was included among the c. 1250 heraldic shields in Matthew Paris' Chronica Majora, while the c. 1260 allegorical illustrations of a knight battling the seven deadly sins in a manuscript of William Peraldus' Summa Vitiorum, and of a woman penitent fending off diabolical attacks in the De Quincy Apocalypse, show the diagram placed on a shield. In the 15th century, one form of the Shield of the Trinity was considered to be the coat of arms of God (see discussion below). The use of the diagram declined in England with the rise of Protestantism, and from the 17th century to the early 19th century, it was mainly of interest to historians of heraldry; but beginning in the 19th century it underwent a limited revival as an actively used Christian symbol among English speaking Christians, partly due to being included in books such as the Handbook of Christian Symbolism by William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley (1865).

The only name for this diagram which was in any regular use during the Middle Ages was "Scutum Fidei" (a Latin phrase meaning "Shield of the Faith", taken from the Vulgate of Ephesians verse 6:16). For example, in this c. 1247–1258 manuscript Blythburgh, Suffolk and the font at St John the Baptist church, Butley, Suffolk) the four connected circles are intended as a symbol of the Trinity even when all text is omitted. Obviously, many further slight artistic variations can occur in the relative sizes of nodes and links, their exact placement, in lettering styles, in further decorative elaboration, etc. Occasionally one or more of the outer nodes is drawn as a non circular shape to fit within a space allotted. Also, the diagram can be color coded in order to bring out the interrelationships between its elements more clearly; in the version included above, the positive or asserting parts of the diagram are shown in black, while the negative or denying parts of the diagram are in red. This is similar to the version of the Shield of the Trinity present in a 15th century stained glass window in St. Peter and St. Paul church, Fressingfield, Suffolk, England (where only the positive or asserting parts of the diagram are shown—see link below). Finally, a version of the diagram with translated English language captions is shown in the illustration above. (For simplicity, the definite article could also be left out of the English translations of the outer node captions, as in the next illustration below.) In the Middle Ages, Latin was the liturgical language and main language of scholarship of Western Europe, so that Latin captions were then most often used (but at least one old rendition of the diagram in another language is attested in the c. 1260 Anglo Norman French allegorical illustration in the De Quincy Apocalypse).

As the First Person of the Trinity, the Father is always in the most honorable position in the diagram. So in the form of the diagram with one vertex down, the caption "PATER" or Father is always placed in the top left node (which is heraldically the top right or "dexter chief", when considered from the point of view of someone holding the shield from behind). And in the form of the diagram with one vertex up, the caption "PATER" or Father is always placed in the topmost node. The placement of the captions "FILIUS" or Son and "SPIRITUS SANCTUS" or Holy Spirit in the remaining two outer nodes can vary. In the 13th century versions of the diagram, the caption "FILIUS" is placed in the bottom node, and often a cross is drawn in the link between the center node and the bottom node, in order to symbolize the idea that the Second Person of the Trinity entered into the world (or that "The Word was made flesh", as is stated in a Latin annotation on the diagram included in Matthew Paris' Chronica Majora which quotes from the Vulgate of John verse 1:14). However, when this form of the Shield of the Trinity diagram with one vertex down is used after the 13th century, the Son is much more often placed in the top right node, and the Holy Spirit in the bottom node (as shown in the illustrations above). The diagram below shows the earliest and most recent major variants of the "Shield of the Trinity" diagram: On the left, the form attested in various manuscripts c. 1208–1260 AD, and on the right the form popularized among some English speaking Protestants in recent years by Paul P. Enns' 1989 book The Moody Handbook of Theology and H. Wayne House's 1992 book Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine. Note that in the 13th century manuscripts, the cross is often drawn as a detailed artistic illumination of Christ on the cross, which is not attempted here. A few authors of 20th century books on Christian symbolism (such as Edward N. West in Outward Signs: The Language of Christian Symbolism, 1989) have been of the opinion that the form of the diagram with one vertex down and the captions "PATER" and "FILIUS" in the two top nodes is more appropriate for Western Christianity with its Filioque, while the form of the diagram with one vertex up represents more closely the doctrine of the Trinity in Eastern Christianity (without the Filioque)—though this hyper refined interpretation does not agree with 13th century usage, nor with the use of versions of the diagram with one vertex up by modern Catholics and Protestants.

C. 1208–1216 manuscript of Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi by Peter of Poitiers (Petrus Pictavensis) — Cotton Faustina B. VII folio 42v
C. 1230 manuscript of Robert Grosseteste's writings — Durham Cathedral manuscript A. III.12, f. 14v
C. 1247–1258 manuscript of John of Wallingford's writings — Cotton Julius D. VII folio 3v at British Library
C. 1255–1265 manuscript of Summa Vitiorum or "A Treatise on the Vices" by William Peraldus — Harley 3244 folios 27–28
Folio 38r of the Abingdon Apocalypse (British Museum additional manuscript 42555, c. 1262) contains a form of the Shield of the Trinity, according to the Michael Evans journal article (however, without text, and with a superimposed central cross). The diagrams in Matthew Paris' Chronica Majora and the De Quincy Apocalypse (Lambeth palace ms. 209, folio 53r) are not online, but are shown in the Michael Evans journal article (also, a full page color reproduction of the Lambeth Apocalypse illustration is on page 48 of the Rodney Dennys book).

"The Heraldic Imagination" by Rodney Dennys (1975). (Good historic and heraldic references)
"An Illustrated Fragment of Peraldus's Summa of Vice: Harleian MS 3244" by Michael Evans in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 45 (1982), pp. 14–68. (Contains descriptions and photos of most known surviving 13th century diagrams, including experimental attempts to use the basic structure of the diagram for other purposes)
"Church Symbolism: An Explanation of the more Important Symbols of the Old and New Testament, the Primitive, the Mediaeval and the Modern Church" by Frederick Roth Webber (2nd. edition, 1938). (Convenient overview from the point of view of Christian symbolism; also, the earliest attestation of the exact phrase "Shield of the Trinity" that I can find)
"Handbook of Christian Symbolism" by William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley (1865). (Probably the earliest significant source for the 19th century revival of use)