The Marian Cross is an informal name applied to a Roman Catholic cross design. It consists of a traditional Latin cross with the crossbar extended on the right, and a letter "M" (for the Virgin Mary) in the lower right quadrant.
A recently publicized use of the Marian Cross was on the personal coat of arms of Pope John Paul II, displayed prominently on his casket at his funeral, although it may have been in use before this. A similar design had appeared over a century earlier on the Miraculous Medal due to a Marian apparition to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830, where the M represents the Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the cross during the Crucifixion of Jesus.[1][2]
As the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano stated in 1978:
Pope John Paul II's coat of arms was thus based on his strong Marian devotion and attachment to the Rosary. [4] In an address to the Montfortian Fathers, he attributed this partly to reading one of Saint Louis de Montfort's books, True Devotion to Mary[5] as a "decisive turning point" in his life.[6] He also singled out de Montfort's work in his encyclical entitled Redemptoris Mater[7] as a key example of Marian devotion. And in his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae Pope John Paul II discussed the inspiration of the rosary and how his motto Totus Tuus was inspired by the Mariology in the writings of Saint Louis de Montfort.[8]
