Maltese Cross Fire Meaning

One can easily find a hundred web sites that will tell you that the symbol of the fire service comes from the knights of malta and their battles with ottoman pirates or the saracens.

Maltese cross fire meaning. The fire service borrows the emblem of the cross from the knights of st. In fact while the maltese and st florian crosses are different they have a lot of similarities in meaning. There were many of. Each of the 8 has a very distinguished and deep meaning.

Maltese crosses are usually black and white or red and white. The 1 st point of the cross stands for gallantry. The maltese cross is a cross symbol consisting of four v or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles two tips pointing outward symmetrically. This is the story that this symbol of chivalry has to tell and bring to.

The story is that these knights had a cross on their tunics and that the saracens used fire as a weapon against them. This mean for one to have a gallant appearance an act of marked courtesy spirited and conspicuous. The maltese cross is a badge of honor signifying that he works in courage a ladders rung away from death. The maltese cross is a symbol of protection and a badge of honor.

John now the. If you take a look at almost any fire apparatus today you re likely to see the maltese cross. John in 1126 who ruled the maltese islands from 1530 to 1798 and became known as the knights of malta. It s even believed the more modern maltese cross is derivative of the older st florian cross.

While the firefighter cross s shape most closely resembles the st florian cross it clearly also looks a lot like the maltese cross. While it s not really there for aesthetic appeal this emblem has a very rich history and it symbolized an elite group of people that have dedicated their lives to serve their everyone in need. The cross is eight pointed and has the shape of four v shaped arms joined together at their bases so that each arm has. The maltese cross has its roots in crusader crosses and was originally the symbol of the republic of amalfi italy in the 11th century.

John of jerusalem knights hospitallers a charitable non military organization that existed during the 11th and 12th centuries that. It was adopted by the knights hospitallers of st. When a courageous band of crusaders known as. The maltese cross firefighters.

The cross represents the fire service ideals of saving lives and extinguishing fires. All of this is true. The maltese cross is nowadays widely used and associated with malta as a country used by the national airline air malta as part of its livery and even featuring on the maltese euro coins for example. The history of the maltese cross by mica calfee.

It is a heraldic cross variant which developed from earlier forms of eight pointed crosses in the 16th century. Its story is hundreds of years old. Although chiefly associated with the knights hospitaller order of st. The maltese cross is identified as the symbol of the christian warrior.

The maltese cross has 8 points.