Jane Pierce finds support and comfort in her faith, but unlike many people, she has more than 100 crosses to which she turns.

Pierce, 78, of Brewer has been collecting the crosses for nearly 20 years.

She is so well known for her collection that Pierce has earned the moniker “Cross Lady.”

The retired librarian often speaks at churches and nursing homes about her collection. Recently, she and her daughter displayed and labeled her pendant, or necklace, crosses so they could be more easily seen and compared.

“I never dreamed I’d be doing this,” she said of her focus on crosses.

Pierce does not think of herself as an expert, but she knows her crosses.

She can recognize many of the 400 known styles of Christianity’s most famous symbol.

She remembers how each one came into her possession and the style of the cross it represents. She also is knowledgeable about the history and evolution of the cross.

“Long before crosses were placed on top of church steeples,” she said, “roosters were used. It was a symbol of Peter denying Christ three times because the cock crows three time in the morning.”

Pierce did not set out to collect crosses, although she always has been a regular churchgoer. Raised in Connecticut, she came to Maine in the 1960s.

The “Cross Lady” worked as a children’s librarian at the Bangor Public Library for 25 years before taking a job as the librarian at Eastern Maine Medical Center in the 1980s. She worked at the hospital until her retirement in 1994.

Dr. Edward Harrow, whom she met at EMMC, is one of the people who have helped Pierce’s collection grow. A pulmonary specialist in Bangor, Harrow often travels outside the United States, but he isn’t somebody you would think knows much about the religious symbolism of the cross.

Harrow is Jewish and a longtime member of Congregation Beth El, the Reform synagogue in Bangor. He also is an artist and carved the Torah stand, menorah and the Ark for the French Street shul.

“I have had more fun looking for these crosses,” he said shortly before heading to New York last week to celebrate Passover with his daughter and her family, which includes a new grandson. “Plus, it’s another excuse to go shopping.”

Harrow has found crosses for Pierce in Spain, India, Nicaragua and Jerusalem, often from small shops or street vendors. He said that his selection method is simple.

“I try to find one that looks nice, is interesting and different,” he said. “I love looking at them and talking to the people I buy them from.”

Most Western Christians use the Latin cross today, according to Pierce. With a cross bar that is about half as long as the main piece, it is considered by many denominations to be the “one true cross” on which Jesus was crucified.

The Greek cross, made up of four sections equal in length, is an ancient shape for the cross. It was used by early Christians to disguise the cross when Christianity was illegal. Similarly shaped crosses included the Passion cross with pointed ends that represents the suffering Jesus at his crucifixion.

Many of the crosses in Pierce’s collection are small, wooden versions of these cross styles. Some are decorated with tiny, delicate flowers, others with birds or letters.

Many other distinctive crosses in Pierce’s collection are associated with saints.

The Tau cross, which looks like the capital letter T, is associated with St. Francis of Assisi, who signed correspondence with it in place of his own signature. The letter in Hebrew and Greek represented the totality of a person’s life.

St. Bridget wove her first cross from straw. Similar crosses were hung in houses and barns to protect buildings against fire and lightning and the inhabitants from illness and epidemics. Modern versions most often are gold pendants that resemble woven straw.

The cross of St. James was in the shape of a Latin cross with a point on the bottom end. The other three ends of the cross featured a trefoil. These crosses were carried during pilgrimages and the point allowed them to be thrust into the ground. It also may have been used as a warrior’s cross during the crusades.

Pierce’s Maltese Cross was bought for her in Haiti during a friend’s mission trip. The Maltese Cross is the symbol of the Knights of Malta and the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Four spearheads converge at the centers with extensions representing the Beatitudes.

The stories about how people find the crosses and who they are purchased from are as important to Pierce as the items themselves. Although she often asks friends and family to find crosses for her, sometimes they arrive unsolicited.

“There’s a little girl at church who every Sunday checks to see what cross I’m wearing,” Pierce said. “One day she brought me a ceramic cross that I have up on my refrigerator. She told me that she saved up all her money, then went to the Dollar Store to buy it for me. That makes it very special.”

Pierce said that she enjoys sharing the collections with friends and strangers. She also turns to it for comfort when she is feeling depressed or lonely.

“I look at these and see the love of the people who came into my life,” she said.