The Lamb of God
The lamb stands for Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, sacrificed and risen.
What the Lamb of God means
The lamb is a symbol of Christ taken from John the Baptist's words, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Catechism explains that the title presents Jesus both as the suffering Servant who lets himself be led silently to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7) and as the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover (CCC 608).
In art the lamb takes several forms. With a staff and a banner it signals the Resurrection; with blood flowing from its breast into a chalice it recalls the Passion; resting on a book with seven seals it shows Christ as judge, drawing on the Book of Revelation, where the Lamb stands "as though it had been slain" (CCC 1137). At Mass the Agnus Dei is sung while the priest breaks the host, and before Communion he raises the host and says the Ecce Agnus Dei.
HistoryThe Good Shepherd carrying a lamb is one of the few Christian images that date from the first century. From the fourth century the lamb appears on sarcophagi, such as that of Junius Bassus (died 358), and in apse mosaics, often standing on a mount from which four rivers flow. In 691 the Council in Trullo, held in Constantinople, ruled that Christ should be shown in human form rather than as a lamb. Around the same time Pope Sergius I directed that the Agnus Dei be sung at the breaking of the bread in the Roman Mass.
