St Ignatius Loyola

Kretkampis, Šakiai district

From a cross with the sculpture of St Zita.

St Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus, is portrayed dressed as a Jesuit, in a cassock without buttons and a cape, and holding the open book of the rule of the Order. He is often represented with the inscription Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam (To the greater glory of God) in the open book, and IHS, the monogram of the Order. This is also a symbol of the name of Jesus, which has not survived in this work. The embossed sculpture, together with a sculpture of St Zita, was nailed to the shaft of a cross which stood near Kretkampis in the Šakiai region. Crosses were rarely decorated with embossed sculptures of saints in Lithuania; these two sculptures reflect the cross-carving features of the 1930s, when very decorated crosses were becoming more popular.

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė

Kretkampis, Šakiai district

From a cross with the sculpture of St Zita.

St Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus, is portrayed dressed as a Jesuit, in a cassock without buttons and a cape, and holding the open book of the rule of the Order. He is often represented with the inscription Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam (To the greater glory of God) in the open book, and IHS, the monogram of the Order. This is also a symbol of the name of Jesus, which has not survived in this work. The embossed sculpture, together with a sculpture of St Zita, was nailed to the shaft of a cross which stood near Kretkampis in the Šakiai region. Crosses were rarely decorated with embossed sculptures of saints in Lithuania; these two sculptures reflect the cross-carving features of the 1930s, when very decorated crosses were becoming more popular.

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė