In hoc signo vinces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In hoc signo vinces (Greek: "εν τούτω νίκα") is a Latin phrase meaning "in this sign you shall conquer."
According to legend, Constantine I adopted this as a motto after his vision of a cross on the sky just before the Battle of Milvian Bridge against Maxentius in the year 312. The historian Eusebius states that Constantine was marching with his army (Eusebius doesn't specify the actual location of the event, but it's clearly not in the camp at Rome), when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words "Εν Τουτω Νικα" ("by this, conquer!", often rendered in Latin as In hoc signo vinces). At first, Constantine didn't know the meaning of the apparition, but in the following night, he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies. Eusebius then continues to describe the Labarum, the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign.
The phrase is the motto on the coat of arms borne by Jan III Sobieski and other members of the Sobieski line; it is also on the coat of arms of the O'Donnell clan.
This phrase was also in use by and of some significance to the Knights Templar, and also plays a role in many modern fraternal orders and secret societies including the Free Masons and the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
[edit] Cultural references
- Motto of the Royal Army Chaplains Department
- Public motto of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
- Motto of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., USA.
- Crest of the Royal Hockey Club DRAGONS, Antwerp, Belgium [1]
- Motto of Birkirkara, Malta.
- Appears on the patches of Marine All-Weather Fighter-Attack Squadron 533.
- Seen on the coat of arms of the second mechanised infantry battalion, Norwegian Army.
- Motto of the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong and Wah Yan College, Kowloon, two Jesuit-run secondary schools in Hong Kong.
- The band Deadsy adopted this saying as their band manifesto.
- George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party, wrote a political manifesto called In hoc signo vinces in 1960.
- Appears on the 33 degree crest in the Scottish rite branch of Freemasonery
- Appears on the crest of Pall Mall cigarettes.
- Appears in Postal², accompanying a dollar symbol, on a statue, in front of the "Fee of America" building.
- Appears on the crest of Madras Christian College of Chennai, India
- Appears in the TV series Carnivale, as the inscription on the Masonic temple
- Mentioned by hiphop artist Ras Kass in the song "Nature of the Threat"
