Coat of arms of Puerto Rico
| The coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico | |
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| Date of origin | 1511 |
| Shield | Vert a paschal lamb couchant carrying a banner argent charged with a cross gules resting upon a closed book gules leaved Or with seven seals pendant within a bordure compony of sixteen gules and argent the argent pieces alternating a lion rampant purpure ducally crowned Or and a Jerusalem cross Or and the gules pieces charged alternately with a castle Or and a banner quarterly I & IV Castile and II & III León, the whole ensigned by a coronet, on the dexter side a monogram F ensigned by a coronet Or and yoke with ribbons gules and on the sinister side a monogram Y ensigned by a coronet Or and sheaf of five arrows proper. |
| Motto | Joannes est nomes ejus, Spanish meaning "John is his name". |
The Coat of arms of Puerto Rico was first granted by the Spanish Crown in 1511, making it the oldest heraldic achievement still currently in use in the Americas.1 The territory was ceded by Spain to the United States in accordance to the peace treaty that ended the Spanish-American War in 1899, after which two interim arms were adopted briefly. A law was passed in 1905 that re-established the historical armorial bearings as the arms of the territory; after numerous investigations and amendments, the current version was adopted in 1976.
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History
The major symbolism of the Coat of Arms relates to the dominance of Spain, the strong Catholic influence in the region, and the integrity of Puerto Rico as a colony of Spain. There have been different variations of the coat of arms changing throughout Puerto Rico's history. The current version was officially re-adopted by the Commonwealth government of Puerto Rico in 3 June 1976.
On the shield:
- The green background represents the island's vegetation. The Lamb of God and flag on the shield are those of St. John the Baptist, while the book with the seven seals on which the lamb sits represents the Book of Revelation, generally attributed to John the Apostle.
- The border is made up of 16 different elements: castles and lions to represent the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of León, a flag with the arms of the Crown of Castile and León, and The Cross of Jerusalem to stand for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose succession rights passed to the Kingdom of Sicily, and henceforth to the Spanish Crown.
- The gold-crowned F and the arrows (Spanish: flechas) represent Ferdinand II of Aragon, while the Y and the yoke represent Ysabel, ie., Isabella I of Castile who were the Catholic monarchs when Puerto Rico was discovered.2
- The Latin motto, "JOANNES EST NOMEN EJUS" (a quotation from the Vulgate of Luke 1:63), means "John is his name", referring to St. John the Baptist or San Juan Bautista, the original name of the island.
The coat of arms is now used as the official emblem of the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico State Department and of the Government of Puerto Rico as a whole.13
Seal
All U.S. states employ a seal as their official emblem. A seal of Puerto Rico exists, but it has been replaced with the traditional coat of arms as the main emblem of the commonwealth. It has all the elements of the coat of arms with the exception that they have been stripped of any religious elements. In the seal, the lamb carries a white banner instead of one with a red cross. The lamb's staff does not have the cross mounted on top. The book the lamb sits on does not have the seals of the Book of Revelation. The first Governors used the seal as their emblem but in recent years the usage of the seal was limited to being the official emblem of Puerto Rico and its Legislature among some offices of the Departments of the Executive Branch.3
See also
External links
References
- ^ a b New York Daily News, June 3, 2008.
- ^ [1] s/Escudo.htm Official Puerto Ricao Government website.]
- ^ a b "Puerto Rico - Coat of Arms and Seal". CRW Flags. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/pr%29.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
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