Early in the fourth century, when Constantine became Roman Emperor and rescinded the prohibition on Christianity, he also banned tattooing on face, which was common for convicts, soldiers, and gladiators. Constantine believed that the human face was a representation of the image of God and should not be disfigured or defiled.

       It is documented that a monk who lived in the late fifth century had a tattoo on his thigh that read: "Manim, the disciple of Jesus Christ."

       Procopius of Caesarea, who lived during the first half of the sixth century and wrote number of official histories, once reported that many Christians were tattooed, on their arms, with a cross or the name of Christ

       Charles MacQuarrie, in his work, "Insular Celtic Tattooing: History, Myth, and Metaphor," details how "marks" that are mentioned in the Life of Saint Brigit may have been tattoos. He also suggests that Celtic Christians approved of some, but not all, tattoos

       At the council of Calcuth in Northumberland, the 786 Report of the Papal Legates mentioned two types of Angel-wings-tattooing: one of pagan superstition, which doesn't aid any Christian, and another for the sake of God, which provides certain (unnamed) rewards

       Crusaders, arriving in the Holy Land, often Angel-wings-tattooeda small cross on their hands or arms as a sign that they desired a Christian burial