The Arms of the Order of St. John

The arms of the Order of St. John.
Click to enlarge.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Since this summer, I've wanted to try my hand at rendering all the arms associated with the Order of St. John--the various priories around the world and so forth.  Well, project completed!  

I made this image to be poster size coming in at 16 inches x 20 inches and includes the coats of arms for the Sovereign Head, the Grand Prior, the Order itself, the 11 priories, 5 commanderies, and the St. John Eye Hospital Group.

All of these arms were devised and granted by the College of Arms and have as their basis the following blazon:  Gules, a cross throughout Argent in first quarter a representation of the Sovereign's crest.  Usually in the English manner, the first quarter is likely the obviously placement for any marks of differencing but has already been claimed by the Sovereign's crest.  Thus, the heralds opted to use the honor point, or center, for adding differencing marks.

I've added a small selection of the various arms in the Order of St. John illustrating these differencing marks. 

The coat of arms of the Sovereign Head of the Order of St. John,
HM King Charles III.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The Sovereign Head of the Order of St. John bears unique arms reserved only for the Sovereign, His Majesty King Charles III.  In these arms, we see the Order of the Garter belt taking precedence over St. John's Amalfi cross and draped with the black sash and Sovereign's badge.  In chief, we see the arms of the Order of St. John, where unfortunately, the Royal crest gets shrunk way too much in my opinion.  

Still, however, I love how this rendering came together and strikes a regal note.

Arms of the Order of St. John's Eye Hospital Group.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The Eye Hospital Group features an abstract representation of an eye with the Amalfi cross in the center.  The rather intricate blazon was recently shared with me: "a voided and pointed Ellipse fesswise Sable enclosing a Pellet conjoined to a Decrescent and Increscent Vert throughout and charged with a Maltese Cross Argent."

Arms of the Order of St. John's Priory in Kenya.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of the Priory of Kenya do not use a traditional European eschuteon but rather a native one which seems more appropriate.  The Priory's differencing mark also matches in shape and comes from the national flag. 

Arms of the Order of St. John's Commandery in Western Australia.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The Commandery in Western Australia features a black swan atop three lines of barry wavy.