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The story of The maltese cross. I feel we can't do our job unless we know where we come from.
The badge of a Firefighter is the Maltese Cross. The Maltese Cross is a symbol of protection, a badge of honor, and its story is hundreds of years old. When a courageous band of Crusaders, known as the Knights of St. John, fought the Saracens for possession of the Holy Lands, they were faced with a new weapon not known to European fighters. It was a simple but horrible device of war. The Saracens weapon was fire.
As the Crusaders advanced on the walls of the city, they were bombarded WITH GLASS BOMBS CONTAINING NAPTHA. When they were saturated with the liquid, the Saracens threw flaming torches into the Crusaders. Hundreds of Knights were burned alive while others risked their lives in an effort to save their kinsmen from painful fiery deaths. Thus, these men became the first Firemen and the first of a long line of firefighters. Their efforts were recognized by fellow Crusaders who awarded each other with a badge of honor similar to the cross firefighters wear today.
Since the Knights of St. John lived for close to four centuries on the Island of Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, the Cross came to be known as the Maltese Cross. The Maltese Cross is your symbol of protection. It means that the Firefighter that wears the cross is willing to lay down his life for you, just as the Crusaders sacrificed their lives for their fellow man many years ago. The Maltese Cross is a Firefighter’s badge of honor, signifying that he works in courage------a ladder rung away from death.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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First of Jack, you are the one who inserted yourself into a conversation among people who do want to learn about our Fire Service Symbology. If you don't care about the subject, why invite yourself in with your own opinion that it doesn't matter ("What does it matter where it came from? It doesn't affect the way we do the job today...?)
Then you stated, "What should be important is the history of the US fire service and then the history of your own department." The symbols we use are part of the history of the US Fire Service, as you even pointed out that the Maltese Cross is unique to the US.
So what if I believe education and history are important to being a well-developed Firefighter? You started your role in this thread by expressing your own rather high opinion.
In my 20 years in the Army I have never once seen the need for un/under educated or gullible "cannon fodder," and the Army works actively to promote education for every Soldier. In this modern age the Army cannot afford to have "cannon fodder" who dumbly do their job by rote. The Fire Service afford "cannon fodder" even less.
We like to call ourselves a "Brotherhood" in the Fire Service, and history, tradition and symbols are a part of what makes any brotherhood, be it the military, Masons, or firefighting
I don't presume to tell you how to do your job, as I think we established this conversation isn't about doing the job. This discussion is about ancillary knowledge, the "extra stuff" which makes you more well-rounded
I'm not the one who said this knowledge was essential to being a Firefighter, only that knowing makes you a better Firefighter.
Which is my opinion. If you don't like it, fine. the coin a phrase, "everyone's got an opinion and they usually stink."
Greenman
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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jack/Ben,
I guess we should form a new group:"Bitter Burned Out Firemen That Probably Don't Know It".
At first, this was one of those threads that I didn't even bother reading. The title was so inane that it generated nothing more than a laugh, at first. But then I saw the number of posts(and that jack's was the last), I had to read through it.
One argument used to support this far-fetched concept is the quote:"Why do Generals study military history? It doesn't have any effect on how wars are fought today, but it makes them well-rounded leaders."
This statement really defined the level of thought behind this post. Generals study military history because every thing they are taught is based on history. Military history has EVERYTHING to do with how wars are fought today! The Pincer, the Hammer&Anvil, Flanking and Out-flanking are all basic principles of modern warfare that were developed thousands of years ago.
IMO, the only "history" that is essential to my endeavors as a firefighter are: A. The history of the apparatus and appliances I am using so that I am aware of any defects or points of failure that may occur so I can prepare myself to deal with them. And B. The history of the structure involved so that I can plan my attack with knowledge of possible hazards that may arise during the course of my actions.
Knowing what the 8 points of the Maltese Cross stand for or why my Chief has 3 bugles on his collar will provide me with nothing more than some interesting trivia for the next time it's dead at the station.
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Maybe I forgot to clearly state that although knowing history and tradition make you a better all-around Firefighter, it comes secondary to knowing and being able to do the job well.
I think it'd be good to partner with someone who knew the job inside and out by today's standards and-ah knew the history and traditions which led to today's standards pretty well.
Greenman
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Permalink Reply by ramonjrbernardo on
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thanks for that great story Robert,.here in the Philippines we also wear badge with Maltese cross..
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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You really are married to tradition. Guess it's the 20 years of living it. Good for you. Keep it all in mind next time you're crawling into a hot one, I'm sure the fire will respect you for it.
I don't get your obsession with tradition. The fire service has it, I was taught it and then we moved on to the job. It makes no difference to me where the maltese cross came from, it's there.
And as for the story of the knights, whoop dedoo. That was just something someone pulled up one day and decided that it was about firefighters. Seems to me, they were knights (soldiers) fighting to take someone's rightful land from them. And we want to make THAT the history of the US fire service?
It's a symbol, and NOT one that firefighters died for -originally. From whatever its origin it has been adapted by the US fire service. I don't have to buy the story to respect the badge we wear today. Nor do I need to know that story. Now Ben Franklin, that's another issue.
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OK. I'm married to tradition. So what?
I know my job and do my job well, and when I'm working a call it doesn't matter at all. period. I work the call.
As for the story of the knights, or the story of St. Florian, being true, does it matter? Someone at some point in time thought the story worth using as a reason for picking the Maltese Cross as our symbol. There are lots of myths and fables used as a basis for picking one symbol over another. They're interesting stories. I for one just wanted to point out that the whole knights vs Saracens thing was total BS, by the fact that our modern symbol is nothing like what they used.
As for learning about Benjamin Franklin and his many contributions to Firefighting in the U.S., that IS another issue.
I for one don't understand your aversion to tradition. Luckily there's room to agree to disagree as to whether it's important to know, or not.
Blessed Be.
Greenman
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Greenman, where are you getting that I am not about tradition? Certainly not from what I've written. I only disagreed with the original poster that it isn't necessary to know the story of the maltese
falconto be a (qualified, competent, good) firefighter. I appreciate the tradition of the fire service as well as that of my department. How our badge got to be the shape it is is a minuscule part of our shared tradition. Why are our uniforms blue? Shouldn't they be red? Why do we wear the uniform cap that we do? I've never heard that discussed when I was a rookie.
I happen to have thought that a discussion titled;
The story of The maltese cross. I feel we can't do our job unless we know where we come from. was more than a bit of nonsense. If you go back you'll see that my comments said nothing about tradition being useless, only the story about the mc.
May the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster bless you with his (gender neutral) appendage.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Excellent question!
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Ralph,
No. Geez, you guys played rough. Did you use a marinara sauce on it?
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I can only base my assessment on what you written, having never met you or spoken with you.
On the point that this knowledge of our exalted Firefighter cross isn't necessary to do the job, you and I agree. where I see your anti-tradition stance is in your postings to me with such gems as, "You really are married to tradition." and "Obviously, after all those years in the service you've become tradition bound."
As for the title of the original post, I don't speak for that guy. Obviously he has stronger feels about it than you or I.
Here's how I think we ended up with the symbol we got:
Sometime, a long time ago perhaps in a city like Boston, a Fire Company (Perhaps the Insurance Company which owned the Fire Company) wanted a logo for their company, and an Irish Catholic Firefighter thought St. Florian's cross would do the job since many of the customers of the Fire company were Catholic (and already had St. Florian as their Patron Saint) and so the company started using it on it's sign, apparatus, etc.. Other Catholic Fire Companies saw the new logo, liked it and plagiarized it until it became ubiquitous and even after Fire Departments were formed by cities and counties the old logo stuck. Sometime later, some Fire Academy guy wanted an ice-breaker type story and remembered the Story of the Knights of Malta fighting the Saracens and adapted the story to his needs. People bought it and that is the reason we have the "Maltese Cross" and never bothered to question it, and so it became the "Unofficial Truth" of the Fire Service. The end.
May your Macaroni bowl never be empty.
Greenman
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I'd go further back into our discussions, my comments to you about being tradition bound came after your comments about me being anti-tradition. Retiring out after 20 years suggests to me that you're a tradition kind of guy.
As to your hypothesis as to the origination of the fire service symbol I would agree with you on that. It makes the most 'sense'.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Ortiz on
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ok when i started this whole thing i didnt expect it to get out of hand. I probably should of worded the title better, but i also thought it was a cool story and great history b.s. or not. If anyone dosent like it then you dont have to comment on it. For the people that did appreciate it I thank you. I think we all agree we have a job to do and it will get done knowing our history or not. I just came across it and thought i would share it.
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