The Design of the Seal of the Episcopal Church was adopted by the General Convention in 1940. It shows the red cross that divides the white field into four rectangles; it is the cross of St. George, the patron Saint of England. The colors red, white, and blue are the colors of the flags of both the United States and England. The blue field to the upper left contains a cross made of nine crosslets. The composite cross is the Cross of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. Each of the nine crosslets which make up the Cross of St. Andrew represents one of the nine dioceses which met in Philadelphia in 1789 to form the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The Cross of St. Andrew remembers the fact that Samuel Seabury, first bishop in America, was consecrated by bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The seal thus reveals the heritage of the Episcopal Church by both England and Scotland.
Violet for Advent & Lent
