As Ireland assumes the presidency of the Council of the European Union we will become even more familiar with the EU flag, with its circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background, as it is flown from various buildings throughout the country. How those 12 stars came to be part of that flag is interesting.
Some years ago, in the Catholic chapel in Brussels Airport, I saw a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, with a crown of 12 stars. There were also some leaflets in different languages there that said the flag of the European Union derived from the crown of 12 stars on the head of the Woman of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation.
The Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse (revelation) of John, is difficult to understand. However, it is widely accepted in Catholic theology that “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” is a reference to Mary. The blue background, which represents the sky, is also believed to represent the Virgin Mary’s robe, as it has been widely portrayed in art.
Some of the world’s greatest artists have shown Mary with a crown of 12 stars, often in a depiction of Mary’s Immaculate Conception or the Assumption [of Mary to Heaven]. Those artists include Velázquez and Rubens.
Velázquez’s painting of the Immaculate Conception is in the National Gallery in London while a painting by Rubens of Mary with a crown of 12 stars is in the Prado in Madrid. Many other famous artists, including Murillo and de Zurbarán, have painted Mary in a similar manner.
Leading art galleries around the world, including the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan in New York, all have paintings which depict Mary as the woman of the apocalypse. The National Gallery in Dublin contains a similar depiction by Giovanni Tiepolo.
The European flag was first adopted by the Council of Europe on December 8th, 1955 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The flag was later adopted by the European Economic Community in 1985 and the European Union in 1993, when the EU was established following the Maastricht Treaty.
The design of the flag was part of a collaboration involving French artist Arsène Heitz, who worked for the Council of Europe. He said that he took inspiration from Mary’s crown of 12 stars, which was depicted in a statue in Strasbourg Cathedral and which, in turn, derived from the Book of Revelation. “And a great wonder appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Revelation 12.1).
Heitz also referred to the “miraculous medal” as a source of inspiration. This is a medal that originated in France and shows Our Lady on the front of the medal with a crown of 12 stars and the letter “m” on the reverse, encircled by 12 stars.
Paul Levy, who worked for the Council of Europe and was responsible for organising the design process for the flag, was of Jewish origin and had been imprisoned during the second World War. He later converted to Catholicism.
[ Vatican excommunicates followers of global Catholic sectOpens in new window ]
The three founders of the EEC were devout Catholics: Robert Schuman (France), Konrad Adenauer (Germany) and Alcide de Gasperi (Italy). Schuman was declared venerable – putting him on the road to canonisation – by Pope Francis in 2021. These three men wished to overcome the heady nationalism which led to the second World War. Levy chaired the committee that selected the flag from a number of submissions. Some of them included stars, with one submission containing a single star.
Mary, crowned with 12 stars, has also been associated with military victories, for instance at Lepanto. Polish victors at Vienna paid tribute to Our Lady of Czestochowa, crowned with 12 stars. But in Europe a flag of the union would henceforth fly alongside many national flags besides those.
There is a Jewish element to the 12 stars, which for centuries have been taken to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 apostles, thus relating to the Old and New Testament.
Today, 70 years after the creation of the flag, Europe is more secular and some have dismissed religious meaning in it. Instead it has been suggested that the 12 stars represent harmony, unity, the 12 hours on a clock or the 12 months of the year.
Finola Kennedy is an economist and author of Cottage to Creche: Family Change in Ireland (2001), Frank Duff: A Life Story (2011) and Local Matters: Parish, Local Government and Community in Ireland (2022)