The Cross of the Constantinian Order of Saint George is a deep crimson Greek Cross Flory superimposed by the XP monogram in gold. At the end of each limb of the Cross is one of the letters I, H, S or V, representing the motto “In Hoc Signo Vinces.” The decoration is suspended from a sky blue ribbon of watered silk. The fifty soldiers entrusted to protect the Labarum constituted the “Labarum Guard” represented today by the fifty bailiff knights grand cross of justice of the Constantinian Order.
The legendary founder of the Constantinian Order of Saint George is the twelfth-century Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) Emperor Isaac II Angelus Comnenus. In the fifteenth century, an aristocratic family of Balkan exiles claiming descent from Isaac’s dynasty fought alongside Skanderbeg’s army in Albania.
Establishing their residence at Venice, they began to bestow an honour, which came to be identified as the “Constantinian Golden Militia.” In those days the brotherhood was an actual military force engaged in the wars against the Turks in the Balkans. In the sixteenth century, this Comnenus family’s claim to the Throne of Constantinople was recognised with several Papal Bulls, and their Golden Militia was likewise recognised.
Throughout its history, the Order has been closely linked to the Roman Catholic Church. To the Angelus grand masters, it was a point of reference in the wars against Muslim invaders; to the Popes it was part of the Counter Reformation.