01-06-2007 - Traces, n. 6 Debate The True Story of the EU Flag by Mario Mauro Each people and each political organization symbolizes itself with flags that distinguish its collective identity. Europe is identified by the blue flag with twelve stars that flutters on all our public buildings and is featured on the license plates of our cars. The flag was adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe. It was confirmed as the symbol of the European Union in the Constitutional Treaty signed in Rome on October 29, 2004, though this was later rejected by the French and Dutch referenda. It is not generally known, but Christianity is evoked in the European Constitution through its supreme symbol, the flag, because those twelve stars come from the cult of the Virgin Mary and have no connection with the number of the member states. Not everyone knows this, because the true origin of the flag with its twelve stars is subject to a mystification orchestrated within its institutions. If you visit the EU’s official site, you will read that “the crown of golden stars represents solidarity and harmony between the peoples of Europe,” or that “in various traditions, twelve is a symbolic number that represents completeness.” The EU site continues its explanation, used also by Rai Uno in the program Giorni d’Europa broadcast Saturday, February 24th. This states that “it is also obviously the number of the months of the year and the hours indicated on the dial of a clock. The circle is another symbol of unity.” These are mystifications on which we need to shed some light, retracing the stages that led to the creation of the European flag. The competition for a design for the flag was organized in 1950 by the Council of Europe. It was won by a then little-known painter, Arsène Heits. His design showed twelve white stars arranged in circle on a dark blue background. Arsène Heits got the idea for the design from the “Miraculous Medal” he wore around his neck. This medal was struck after the apparition of the Virgin to Catherine Labouré in 1830. The Virgin herself told the nun that the medal should represent the twelve stars crowning the head of the woman of the Apocalypse. Bernadette Soubirous was wearing the “Miraculous Medal” around her neck on a piece of string on February 11, 1858, when the Virgin appeared to her for the first time in Lourdes. The original colors, white and blue, particularly impressed the chairman of the panel of judges, the Belgian Jew Paul M. G. Lévy, who probably saw it as evoking the blue and white flag of the newborn state of Israel. The flag’s official adoption was celebrated with a solemn ceremony, scheduled to take account exclusively of the engagements of the members of the Committee of Ministers, and was held on December 8,1955, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a day that just happened to be free for all the leaders involved.