AncientSymbols.Modern form.

In 312 AD, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the Roman emperor Constantine is said to have seen a cross of light in the sky with the words In hoc signo vinces: by this sign, you will conquer.

He had his soldiers mark their shields with the Chi-Rho, the first two Greek letters of Christ, and won the battle that made him master of Rome.

A year later his Edict of Milan ended the persecution of Christians. A faith once hidden in the catacombs went on to shape the empire, and the centuries that followed.

Quis ut Deus? is the meaning of Michael’s name. In Hebrew, Mi-ka-El: who is like God?

Tradition holds that when Lucifer sought to rise above his Creator, Michael answered with this one question. No one is like God. It was a battle cry and a rebuke in the same breath.

It is pride answered by humility, and it is why the words are carved on his shield. Worn on the back, it is a quiet reminder of whose side you stand on.

Long before it was a banner, the Chi-Rho was a monogram. Chi and Rho are the first two letters of Christos in Greek, laid over one another into a single mark. Early Christians cut it into catacomb walls and tombs as a quiet sign of faith.

Around it sit the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In Revelation, Christ says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Here the Chi-Rho stands at the front, with the Alpha and Omega on either side.

Across the back, in gold, is Pietas: the old Roman virtue of dutiful devotion to God, family and country. Together they say where you begin, where you end, and what you owe in between.