The Seal of our Diocese

The central figure in the seal of the Diocese of Florida is St. John the Evangelist. He holds in his left hand a chalice, one of the symbols of St. John, (without the snake sometimes shown with his chalice). The Book of Common Prayer in his right hand indicates that it was in this Diocese that the first Anglican Prayer Book services to be held in the continental limits of the United States were aboard John Hawkins' ship anchored in the St. Johns River off Fort Caroline in 1565.

Above St. John's head are seven golden stars representing the seven churches which organized the Diocese in 1838: Christ Church, Pensacola; Christ Church (now Trinity Church), Apalachicola; St. John's, Tallahassee; St. John's, Jacksonville (now the Cathedral); St. Joseph's (now St. James', Port St. Joe); St. Paul's, Key West; and Trinity, St. Augustine.

St. John, wearing an alb, stands with three palm trees on either side, suggestive of the subtropical latitude of Florida. The eagle with wings outspread in the lower third of the seal is one of the symbols of St. John; this being a bald eagle is also a symbol of the United States. Beneath the eagle, hiding his talons, is an orange branch with the blossoms which, being the State flower, are reminders that all of the State was once included within the Diocese of Florida.

The use of St. John is assumed to have an historical connection with the St. Johns River - the largest in the State, and until the advent of modern transportation, the chief means of travel and commerce within Florida.