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Episcopal Church

Episcopal Church

by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 15 November 2000

Origin of the flag
St. George cross variant

Origin of the flag

In the undercroft of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City in the Diocese of Long Island in a show case is what is claimed to be the original Episcopal Flag, It was designed by a member of the Cathedral William M. Baldwin who was a diocesan delegate to General Convention.

To my recollection the story is that Mr. Baldwin on the night before a General Convention thought that the Episcopal Church should have a flag - so he designed and made one. I was on the staff of the Cathedral from 1984 through 1999 - first as Chaplain at St. Paul's School, then as Canon Pastor, and finally as Provost. William Baldwin's flag is framed and was in the Cathedral House until I moved it to the undercroft. It might be as legendary as Betsy Ross but it would be nice to check the historicity.
Rev. Canon F. Anthony Cayless, 4 July 2004

Following this lead, the following article from The Diocesan Archives was located on a Diocese of Long Island webpage:

The History of the Episcopal Church Flag

by Louise M. Baietto, Deputy for Finance & Administration

Many in our church today - both clergy and laity - are unaware of the circumstances that preceded the design and adoption of our Church Flag and its roots in the Diocese of Long Island. The following has been compiled from various documents in the diocesan archives and, I hope, will be of some interest.

It was not until 1940 that the General Convention, meeting in Kansas City, adopted unanimously (first in the House of Bishops and then also unanimously in the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies), an official flag for the Episcopal Church.

The history of the church flag, however, goes back to 1918 when the Diocese of Long Island celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Bishop Frederick Burgess, second bishop of Long Island, appointed a committee to make plans for observing the anniversary and selected William M. Baldwin, a member of the Cathedral Chapter to head the committee. Among Mr. Baldwin's plans was a great procession through the grounds of the Cathedral to precede the anniversary service. To heighten its color, he arranged with heraldic experts to design banners to be carried in the procession. There was a diocesan banner, three for the archdeaconries (then Brooklyn, Queens and Suffolk), 20 for the diocesan societies, and one for each parish and mission, a total of some 170 banners in all. The flags made the procession a "fine and picturesque sight," but the absence of a flag representing the Episcopal Church saddened Mr. Baldwin. Others agreed and the next Long Island diocesan convention petitioned General Convention which responded by establishing a Commission and appointing Mr. Baldwin as its secretary.

Story has it that when Mr. Baldwin presented his model of the flag to the Gener