The Holy Trinity

The image of the Holy Trinity that I chose to analyze is this artwork above from San Clemente, Rome. I found this one the most interesting because it is not just the generic Trinity of the old white man, the young white man, and the dove. Although there are the doves for the Holy Spirit, there are more differences for both “the Father” and “the Son” in the Trinity.

I believe that, in this image, the hand above the main dove, coming from the top of the artwork, is the hand of God. I then see the middle sheep on top of the pedestal with the cross above it as Jesus who is surrounded by his twelve disciples (the other twelve sheep). I chose this image because the imagery makes you think more than a traditional depiction of the Trinity. I also really liked how this depiction of the Trinity does show the twelve disciples as they are a part of Jesus and his story as well as Jesus being known as the Good Shepherd.

An important part of the image is the aspect of God’s hand reaching down towards both the Holy Spirit and Jesus which I believe helps symbolize the equality of the 3 persons in one God. This also helped me to think of Jesus as being both divine and human. Jesus is close to the ground near the other sheep, showing He is close to humanity in certain aspects, but as he is not fully on the ground like his disciples, he is also divine like God.

The representation of the Holy Spirit also connects to Jesus’ existence as both divine and human. Jesus’ ability to perform miracles on earth stems from the help of the Holy Spirit. I believe this to be the reason as to why there are also twelve doves surrounding the cross. I believe these twelve other doves to be representing the disciples and helping us understand how the disciples did their job in spreading the word of God. As many of the gospels say, the disciples were able to speak to many people from all over at the same time. These people were able to hear the Word of God in their native language through the help of the Holy Spirit in the disciples. That is why I believe that the top dove looking down towards Jesus is the Holy Spirit as a part of Him as well as the other twelve doves being a part of His twelve disciples.

When looking at many of the other paintings or images of the Trinity, although beautiful with deep meaning, they are often straightforward in their imagery. I thought this depiction was very interesting because of the differences in how “the Father”, “the Son”, and the Holy Spirit were represented.