In Christian iconography martyrs are often depicted holding a palm frond.  The 14th-century nave screen in St Albans Cathedral, Hertfordshire, had new statues added to it in 2015, ‘to remember people who gave their lives for their faith’: ‘They represent all the different groups of Christians who worship in the Cathedral’. With the exception of St Alban each of the martyrs carries a palm.

Left to right: St Oscar Romero (1980), St Alban Roe (1642), St Amphibalus (c.300), St Alban (c.300), George Tankerfield (1555), St Elisabeth Romanova (1918), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1945).

Photographed June 2023.