Flag of Europe - Design - Biblical Interpretation

Biblical Interpretation

One interesting aspect of the flag is the likeness to the twelve-star halo of the Virgin Mary seen in the sacred art of the Catholic Church. The flag's designer, Arsène Heitz, has acknowledged that the Book of Revelation (which is where the twelve-star halo of the Queen of Heaven was first mentioned) helped to inspire him. Revelation 12:1 is cited to explain the symbolism: "A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (a crown of stars can be interpreted as a "Crown of Immortality"). It has been noted that the date the flag was adopted, 8 December 1955, coincided with the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast decreed in 1854 by Pope Pius IX.

A myth has evolved around Paul Lévy, a Belgian of Jewish descent, who vowed that if he should survive the war, he would convert to Christianity. He duly survived and became a Catholic. When the Council of Europe was established, Lévy became Chief of its Department of Culture. In 1952, when the idea of a European flag was being discussed, Lévy backed the flag of the Pan European Movement. However, the cross element in its design was rejected by Socialists and Turks as too Christian. Allegedly, Lévy one day passed a statue of the Virgin Mary with a halo of stars and was struck by the way the stars, reflecting the sun, glowed against the blue of the sky. Lévy later visited Count Benvenuti, a Venetian Christian democrat and then Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and suggested that he should propose twelve golden stars on a blue ground as motif for the flag of Europe. However, the idea for the flag's design came from Arsène Heitz, not Lévy, and Lévy has stated that he was only informed of the connection to the Book of Revelation after it was chosen. Official authorities of the European Union disregard the biblical interpretation as myth.

Despite the formal rejection of biblical references, on 21 October 1956 the Council of Europe presented the city of Strasbourg, its official seat, with a stained glass window for Strasbourg Cathedral by the Parisian master Max Ingrand. It shows a blessing Madonna underneath a circle of 12 stars on dark blue ground. The overall design of the Madonna is inspired by the banner of the cathedral's Congrégation Mariale des Hommes, and the twelve stars are found on the statue venerated by this congregation inside the cathedral (twelve is also the number of members of the congregation's council).