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Constantinian Order

See also:

Christian orders
Christian flags (index page)

I came across a photo of the flag of another Catholic order (an order with a flag-related origin according to legend). The image is at http://tinyurl.com/c465z (also saved here). The flag can be seen to the right, behind the speaker. It has a bluish-gray field- color of the order's capes. It bears in the center a cross of Constantine- a red cross fleury bordered gold, with a Chi-Rho (the X & P often seen in Christian imagery) in the center, on the upper and lower arms are I and S respectively, and on the dexter and sinister arms are Alpha and Omega symbols respectively. Further out on the dexter and sinister arms are a > and a recumbent H. In at least two corners of the flag are small devices, possibly fleur-de-lys (prob. in all 4 corners, but 2 are obscured in the photo).

An image of the cross, taken from http://www.constantinian.org.uk/main.htm

The legendary origin of the order given at http://www.constantinianorder.org/english/history_01.html:
"According to its most commonly repeated history, the original institution from which the modern Order descends was founded by the Emperor Constantine the Great to provide a guard for the Labarum, or Standard, which had been carried at the head of his troops at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD" but in actuality the earliest known records of the order are from the 16th century."

The Grand Mastership of the Order is hereditary in the House of Bourbon, specifically the Two Sicilies line, but the order stresses that the order is an international one, not tied to the Two Sicilies. Further info on the order can be found from the homepage http://www.constantinianorder.org/english/.
Ned Smith, 12 December 2005