The first use of the Compass Rose emblem of the Anglican Communion was occasioned by the convening in 1954 of "The First World Congress of the Anglican Communion" at The Cathedral Church of St. Mark, Minneapolis, Minnesota, all as is memorialized in stone at the crossing of the cathedral. It was designed in that year for the Congress by

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Edward N. West of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York. The Compass Rose was modernized in 1988 and the new design was laid into the floor of Canterbury Cathedral during the Twelfth Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. At the centre of the circular emblem is

Saint George's Cross In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with the cru ...

, a reminder of the origins of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

and a link unifying the past to the Communion today. Encircling the cross is a band bearing the inscription " The Truth shall make you free" (

John 8 John 8 is the eighth chapter in the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It continues the account of Jesus' debate with the Pharisees after the Feast of Tabernacles, which began in the previous chapter. Verses 1-11, along ...

:32). It is written in the original

New Testament Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

, the traditional language of scholarship within the Anglican Communion. From the band radiate the points of the compass. The compass symbolizes the worldwide spread of the Anglican Faith. Surmounting the shield, at the North, is a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

, the symbol of apostolic order essential to all Churches and Provinces constituting the Anglican Communion. The design was adapted with the colors of blue and gold and made into a flag by Canadian-born priest, Father Andrew Notere. The Archbishop of Canterbury received the first flag at Lambeth Palace in December 1990, and the flag was officially inaugurated at the Meeting of the Primates of the Communion in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

in April 1991.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline Religious flags Anglicanism

Crosses in heraldry

Gospel of John