Why is a winged lion marks emblem

However, this also expressed the heraldic meaning of majesty and power, while the book well showed the concepts of wisdom and peace a constancy of the Serenissima Republic and the halo gave an image of religious piety. The sword, in addition to the meaning of strength, is instead also a symbol of justice and in fact it is recurrent in the anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic representations of Justice. You can find numerous other municipalities that have adopted him as their patron, but above all you can see him in numerous representations in the Venetian squares and in the regional flag, all evidence of the legacy left to us by the Serenissima Republic of Venice.

The Lion of Saint Mark is the symbol of Venice. Why a Winged Lion? The winged lion is the symbol of St. Mark the Evangelist, and is used as the logo for our parish. This symbol comes from St.

Mark's description of John the Baptist's voice "crying out in the wilderness" upon hearing the Word of God Mark His voice is said to have sounded like that of a roaring lion. It was a prophecy! Many years later, Venice will be in fact the place of rest after his death. After the prophecy, St. Mark continued his journey and he finally died probably in Alexandria, Egypt. During the Serenissima, the Doges aimed to have the greatest number of relics in the city, because they brought prestige and… numerous pilgrims.

Since ancient times, the Coptic community of Alexandria claimed to keep the relics of St. This fact had not left indifferent the Doges in Venice, who aimed to have in the city even one of the four evangelists. They organized a secret mission in A.

They managed to pass the customs control hiding the relics under a load of vegetables and pork, which the Muslims refused to touch because considered impure. Once in Venice, the two tribunes hid the relics in the Basilica, where they were found only in , on 25 June. Mark became the symbol and patron saint of the city, and the Basilica assumed great value as the guardian of the remains of one of the four Evangelists.

Only from about the Lion of St. Mark, in the form of a winged Lion, begins to represent St. Mark and the Serenissima Republic. Why a winged Lion?