Last modified: 2005-02-26 by dov gutterman
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Present official Coat of Arms, done by Blanco-Rújula
by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
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Modified variant by Beascoechea
by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
See also:
From <www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/8070/shield.htm>:
Our Coat of Arms uses symbols of our history, culture and
religion. It was first recognized by the Spanish Crown in 1511,
but it wasn't until March 9,1905 that al law, establishing the
official Coat of Arms was signed. After numerous investigations
and amendments to that statute, the final version was approved
and signed into law in 1976.The green background stands for our
vegetation, our hopes and courtesy. Within the background there's
a lamb on top of the Book of Revelations, holding the seven seals
of The Apocalypse. The lamb symbolizes peace, purity, humble,
integrity, and holds a white flag with a red cross. The flag
means "truce", or knowledge to stop fighting. Both, the
lamb and the flag, are symbols of "John The
Baptist" or San Juan Bautista, the original name given by
the Spanish settlers.
The rim is covered by 16 symbols: castles signifying the
"Kingdom of Castilla" and lions, representing the
"Kingdom of Leon" and a flag, with both, lions and
castles, representing the unity of both kingdoms, also shows the
"Cross of Jerusalem" used by the Monarchs to expel the
"non christians" from the Spanish peninsula. The crown
on top symbolizes the "Royalty" who authorized this
shield. To the right, an "F" for Fernando, to the left,
a "Y" for Ysabel, the King and Queen of the Spanish
Empire. The motto reads: "Joannes Est Nomem Ejus",
it means "John is it name", the original name of
the island.
Our Coat of Arms is the oldest in use in America, other countries
created a new Coat when they became independent, ours is the only
one that remembers the Spanish presence in the "New
World" or America.
Dov Gutterman, 28 December 1998
There exists a slightly different version of the Coat of Arms
of Puerto Rico. The two differences are found on the
shield's border:
1) The Cross of Jerusalem has a small cross at each corner.
2) Instead of the flag of Castile and Leon there is a flag of
Aragon and Sicily.
An example can be seen at <www.angelfire.com/az2/puertorico/prescudo.html>.
Also it is interesting to note that when this Coat of Arms was
granted to P.R. it included a flag based upon the same.
While the original drawing no longer exists, luckily the original
description does. Part of the description can be read (in
Spanish) at <www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/8070/bandera.htm>.
Marcos Obregon, 19 Febuary 2002
It is true that this version existed previous to the
declaration of the present Coat of Arms as the official
one. But it was not an accurate representation of the
original one given to the Island by the King of Spain. The
present and official one is thought to be the most accurate
version so far.
It's a pity that the source of this information is not mention,
if there exists one. To this point, we can only say that
this is a putative first flag. What I can interpret from
the description, the flag was divided in two horizontal bands,
red the lower one with a white symmetrical cross in the middle
(not sure what "dos a dos" or "two by two"
means), and green the upper band with a golden castle to the
hoist and a golden lion to the fly.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 20 Febuary 2002
The motto on the Coat of Arms is "JOANNES EST NOMEN
EJUS". It's Latin. It means "John is his
name" and is a quotation from the book of Luke in the
Bible. The elderly Zachary (also spelled Zechariah) was
told by an angel that his wife Elizabeth would give birth to a
son, and that they would name him John. Zachary was struck
speechless until the child was born. When the time came to
name the baby, Elizabeth said his name was John, but the rest of
the family objected, wanting to name the child after his father
and arguing that no one in the family had ever been named
John. They approached Zachary for instructions, and he
wrote on a tablet "His name is John." The baby
was the cousin of Jesus and grew up to be known as John the
Baptist, one of the most important saints in the Christian
religion. The quotation is pertinent to Puerto Rico as a
reference to the island's capital, San Juan, which is Spanish for
St. John. The coat of arms, which shows a lamb with a
banner resting upon a book, is also a reference to John, as he
was the one who referred to Jesus with the words "Behold the
Lamb of God."
Joe McMillan, 22 August 2002
"Dos o dos" refers to a equally divided cross.
I believe it describes a white greek cross over a red
background. This is a design used by the order of St. John
the Baptist also known as the Knights of Malta. This makes sense
because the island was then known as San Juan Bautista.
Marcos Obregon, 21 October 2002
One of the explanations of the Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico
refers to the "Jerusalem Cross" on the border. In fact,
as is correctly pointed out elsewhere, the Jerusalem Cross
contains four smaller crosses in each corner.
The cross on the Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico is, in fact, the
Templar Cross that decorated the ships of Christopher Columbus.
Columbus and members of his family belonged to a knightly order
that was a reconstituted Templar Order that took root in the
Iberian Peninsula following the suppression of the Templars and
was known as the "Order of Christ."
In every which way it resembled the Templars and bore the same
insignia and "pattee" style of the Templar Cross.
Alexander Roman, 17 April 2003
First, the Order of Christ was Portuguese, not Spanish.
Second, the crosses on the Puerto Rico Coat of Arms are not
crosses of the Order of Christ. The cross of the O of C is
voided white.
Third, I don't believe Columbus was a member of this order. I
never saw it mentioned in his biographies., and I believe that at
the time the knights of the order were required to be
celibate. Columbus was not. I'd want more
documentation on this.
Fourth, Columbus's voyages were undertaken in overt competition
with the explorations being conducted at the same time by
Portuguese mariners under the sponsorship of the Order of
Christ. It's highly unlikely he would have used the O of C
emblem on his ships.
Fifth, neither the cross of the Order of Christ nor the crosses
on the Puerto Rico CoA are "patee." The crosses
on the Puerto Rico Coat of Arms and seal are crosses potent.
Joe McMillan, 18 April 2003
You may well be correct on your second and third points, but on the first you are mistaken. The Port