The Episcopal Shield

The Episcopal Shield was adopted by the General Convention in 1940. The red cross on a white field is the St. George Cross. It indicates the link between the Episcopal Church and the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican Communion. The colors red, white and blue are the colors of the flags of both the United States and England.

The miniature crosses in the blue quadrant symbolize the nine original American dioceses that met in Philadelphia in 1789 to adopt the constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The outline of the miniature crosses is in the form of St. Andrew's Cross in tribute to the Scottish church's role in ordaining the first American bishop, Samuel Seabury, in 1784.