What Do Halos Tell Us?
There’s an artistic tradition of encircling the heads of saints with a ring of light. This is especially popular in Christian art where it’s often called a “halo.” In previous eras, we called it a “corona” ― Latin for “crown” (think coronation). Sometimes we called it a “nimbus” ― Latin for “cloud.”
But halos are not strictly a Christian thing. They actually predate Christianity. The gods and heroes of ancient Greece and Rome were often portrayed with halos. Some Central and South American civilizations depicted their gods wearing luminescent tiaras. In parts of Asia, Buddhists of the Theravada tradition have depicted their bodhisattvas this way.1 It’s an ancient and almost universal way of saying that someone is filled with the light of spiritual significance.
In Christian art, the halo has become ubiquitous. But halos can mean different things to different Christians. In the West, halos are used to convey something like moral excellence or righteousness. The halo’s light is the light of holiness. Among Eastern Christians, though ― those in Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Romania, etc. ― halos are not just about holiness. They’re also used to indicate intelligence or knowledge. Many times they represent power ― usually good power but not always. In the East, kings can be portrayed with halos. Sometimes Satan wears a halo.2
There’s also the shape. Halos aren’t always circles. When depicting a person of the Trinity, for instance, halos can be a triangle. Especially among Eastern Christians, God the Father is sometimes depicted wearing a six-pointed star, a symbol of the six days of creation. If a saint embodies a specific virtue ― justice or prudence or whatever ― they’re sometimes depicted wearing hexagonal halos.
You don’t see this much anymore but, in previous eras, if the person depicted was still alive when the image was made, their halo was square. To the ancient mind, the circle is a heavenly shape. It lacks a beginning or an end and so it’s eternal. It is thus reserved for those in heaven. The square, on the other hand ― immobile, as the earth was thought to be ― is for those still on earth.
In some cases, the halo can extend around a figure’s entire body, not just their head. This is called an “aureole” or, in Italian, a “mandorla.” They’re typically used for particularly illustrious manifestations of divine glory ― things like Jesus’s Transfiguration or Ascension.
But the mandorla is not a larger circle. It’s usually the shape of an oval with pointed ends, sort of like an almond. This is meaningful. In a Venn diagram, the geometric space where the two circles overlap is the shape of a mandorla. And so, when artists use the mandorla, it’s like saying that, in this moment or in this person, two worlds ― two different circles of existence ― are coming together. The human world and the divine world are overlapping.3
This is why Jesus, the God-Man, is often depicted inside a mandorla. This is why the saints get depicted in mandorlas ― they are humans radically shot through with the divine. Probably the most famous mandorla is the one on the tilma depicting the pregnant Our Lady of Guadalupe (pictured above). In Mary, the Incarnation takes place ― humanity and divinity come together and overlap ― and God’s divine light shines into the human.
See Elaine Magalis, Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd Edition, ed. Lindsay Jones (2005), s.v. “Nimbus,” pg. 6624.
See Richard Taylor, How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals (Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring, 2005), 19.
See Florence Williams, Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey (New York: W.W. Norton, 2022), 209.