I was always fascinated by the Jerusalem Cross. The first time I saw it was on my Wolfe Cub uniform at 9 years old; today, it is the history and the links of that cross that create something in my mind. And of course, as a Franciscan of the Third Order (OFS), I have communication with the American Franciscans of the Holy Land.

The Jerusalem cross (also known as “five-fold cross”, or “cross-and-crosslets” and the “Crusader’s cross”) is a heraldic cross and Christian cross variant consisting of a large cross potent surrounded by four smaller Greek crosses, one in each quadrant, representing the Four Evangelists and the spread of the gospel to the four corners of the Earth (metaphor for the whole Earth). It was used as the coat of arms of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem after 1099. Use of the Jerusalem Cross by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and affiliated organizations in Jerusalem continue to the present. Other modern usages include on the national flag of Georgia, and the Episcopal Church Service Cross and as a symbol used by some white supremacist and Christian nationalist groups.

According to Father David Grenier, a Catholic priest and member of the religious order, the Holy Land Franciscan Friars, which uses the Jerusalem Cross as its symbol, the cross originated in Eastern Christianity sometime in the fifth and sixth centuries and was later adopted by crusaders and the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1291. The symbolism of the five-fold cross is variously given as the five holy wounds, Christ and the four evangelists, or Christ and the four quarters of the world. The symbolism of five crosses representing the Five Wounds is first recorded in the context of the consecration of St. Brelade’s Church under the patronage of Robert of Normandy (before 1035); the crosses are incised in the church’s altar stone.

The “cross-and-crosslets” or Tealby pennies minted under Henry II of England during 1158–1180 have the “Jerusalem cross” on the obverse, with the four crosslets depicted as decussate (diagonal). Similar cross designs on coin obverses date back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period.

The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem is traditionally attributed to Godfrey of Bouillon himself. It was not, however, used by the Christian rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century. A simple blazon of or, a cross argent is documented by Matthew Paris as the coat of arms of John of Brienne, who had been king of Jerusalem during 1210–1212, upon John’s death in 1237.

The emblem used on the seals of the rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century was a simplified depiction of the city itself, showing the tower of David between the Dome of the Rock and the Holy Sepulchre, surrounded by the city walls. Coins minted under Henry II of Champagne (r. 1192–1197) show a cross with four dots in the four quarters, but the Jerusalem cross proper appears only on a coin minted under John I of Cyprus (r. 1284–1285).

At about the same time, the cross of Jerusalem in gold on a silver field appears as the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in early armorials such as the Camden Roll. The coat of arms of the king of Jerusalem featured gold on silver (in the case of John de Brienne, silver on gold), a metal on a metal, and thus broke the heraldic Rule of Tincture; this was justified by the fact that Jerusalem was so holy, it was above ordinary rules. The gold and silver were also connected to Psalms 68:13, which mentions a “dove covered in silver, and her feathers with yellow gold”.

The Gelre Armorial (14th century) attributes to the “emperors of Constantinople” (the Latin Empire) a variant of the Jerusalem cross with the four crosslets inscribed in circles. Philip of Courtenay, who held the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283 (even though Constantinople had been reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in 1261), used an extended form of the Jerusalem cross, where each of the four crosslets was itself surrounded by four smaller crosslets (a “Jerusalem cross of Jerusalem crosses”).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cross