Quatrefoil

The quatrefoil is a four-petaled flower or four-leafed clover. Like the fleur-de-lis, the quatrefoil has been used in a variety of heraldy, arts and architecture.

In Christian art and architecture, the quatrefoil often represents the four evangelists, Matthew, Luke, John, and Mark. The quatrefoil could also represent the Christian cross. Other groupings of four in the Christian tradition include:

• the Four Beasts seen by Ezekiel (Ezek. 4), Daniel (Dan. 7), and St. John (Rev. 4:6-9),
• the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (Rev. 6:2-9),
• the Four Greek Fathers of the Early Church (S. S. Athanasius, Basil, John Chrysostom, and Gregory Nazianzus),
• the Four Latin Fathers (S. S. Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, and Gregory the Great)
• the Four Cardinal Virtues (justice, prudence, temperence, fortitude)
• and the Four Perfections of God (unity, power, goodness, wisdom).

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