LION. - In ancient Christian monuments the prophet Daniel is represented between two lions, both in sarcophagi and in the catacomb paintings, or in the inscriptions on which this scene is depicted.
It then appears as a symbol of the forces of evil, the "leo rugiens" (1 Pt. 5:8), in opposition to the Good Shepherd in the well-known inscription of Veratius Nicator (Wilpert, Sarcophagi, I, p. 70, fig. 27). There it is together with the dragon, according to the concept expressed in the prayer preserved in the Gelasian Sacramentary: "let not the roaring lion and the devouring dragon oppose him" (the deceased).
The lion also appears as an ideographic sign of the name of a deceased man, Pontius Leo, in an epigraph of the Lateran Museum (O. Marucchi, The Monuments of the Pio Lateranense Museum, Milan 1910, pl. 59, no. 44). It is furthermore a symbol of the evangelist St. Mark and as such is already found in the mosaics of St. Pudentiana and of the Baptistery of Naples.
Josi, Enrico. “Leone.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, col. 1133. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/leone-2.
MLA
Josi, Enrico. “Leone.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 1133. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/leone-2.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_leone_2,
author = {Josi, Enrico},
title = {Leone},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {1133},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/leone-2}
}
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