Since the time of St. Ignatius, IHS has been the official seal of the
Society of Jesus. The three letters comes from a Greek
monogram iota, eta, and sigma (the first three letters of the name
Jesus). In Latin, this became IHS. This monogram
became more popular after the twelfth century when St. Bernard insisted
much on devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and the fourteenth, when
the founder of the Jesuati, Bl. John Colombini (d. 1367), usually
wore it on his breast. Towards the close of the Middle Ages IHS became
a symbol, quite like the chi-rho in the Constantinian period. Sometimes
a cross appears above the H and three nails underneath it, while the
whole
figure is surrounded by rays. IHS became the accepted iconographical
characteristic of St. Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419) and of St. Bernardine of
Siena (d. 1444). St. Ignatius of
Loyola adopted the monogram in his seal as general of the Society of
Jesus (1541), and thus it became the emblem of the Jesuits. IHS was
sometimes understood as "Jesus Hominum Salvator", i.e. Jesus, the
Saviour of men.
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