QUATREFOIL

Many historical churches have religious symbols throughout their buildings and St. Francis de Sales is no exception!  One of the most prominent symbols in our church is the QUATREFOIL.  Commonly found in gothic architecture, a quatrefoil consists of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles. The word quatrefoil means "four leaves", from Latin quattuor (four), plus folium (leaf). In Christianity, each of the leaves of the quatrefoil are believed to symbolize the four evangelists of the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

All of the original stained glass windows in our church (including the clerestory windows on the ceiling) contain a quatrefoil, usually as an outline containing other symbols.  On the large windows, it's always located on the bottom panel:

 In the Clerestory windows, the quatrefoil extends the to the width of the circle:

We have a few NEW things that contain a quatrefoil, the most prominent one being the symbol on the front of our new altar:

You'll notice that the light fixtures in the ceiling of the chapel and entrance have the quatrefoil shape.  The beautiful new light fixture in the Main Street vestibule has quatrefoils within its design:

The new Sacred Heart window over the altar has some quatrefoils incorporated into the glass:

Since it is easy to divide a quatrefoil into equal portions or into other shapes, it has also come to symbolize harmony, symmetry, and proportion.  In Native American culture, the four leaves of the quatrefoil symbolize the four ends of the earth (much like the points on a compass): North, South, East, and West.  Some say it is an ancient symbol of good luck (of course the Irish already know this as their four leaf clover!). 

So the next time you're at St. Francis de Sales church, take a good look around and savor all of the quatrefoil symbols which have truly stood the test of time.  Can you find any others?