PAX

An allegorical divinity among the ancients, worshipped as the godde of peace. She had a celebrated temple at Rome, which was built by Vespas i an, and was consumed by fire in the reign of Commodus. This term is sometimes applied to a small image of Christ, because, in former times, the ki which the people gave it before leaving church was called the ki of peace. But the common pax, or osculatorium, was a metallic plate with a crucifix engraved on it. It is now disused. (See Ducange, Osculatorium; Milner, in the Archaologia, vol. xx. p. 534.) [s. 915]