Purple Cross

- for royalty, nobility, spirituality and 'courageous' animals

This page introduces a coloured cross used for royalty, nobility, spirituality, and by an Australian charity to recognise 'courageous' animals - the Purple Cross.

(Or did you mean to search for Papal Cross?)

Roman nobleman wearing toga

Thousands of years ago, the Phoenicians discovered a purple dye from the fermented secretions of the spiny sea snail (Murex brandaris).

Because of its rich colour, non-fading quality and general rarity, the dye was expensive and reserved almost exclusively for royalty, nobility and spiritual occasions. From these associations, the colour also became used as a mark of respect for people who had died. Even today, purple has the same connotations. For example, many Purple Crosses were erected when the widely loved Pope Paul II died in 2005.

The colour purple is created when red light and blue light are combined. Red is a 'hot' colour and blue is 'cold', therefore purple can have the mysterious quality of befuddling our senses and feelings. It can arouse special emotions, often in the form of passion or romance; both artists and commercial advertisers use this to their advantage. Too much purple can create moodiness (see Isaac Newton and the rainbow).

In nature, various purple tints are seen in delicate flowers, such as lavender, lilac and violet. And it was this latter flower that was the name of Australian stud-farmer, Mrs Violet Barry Lambert JP, who joined an animal charity during the First World War: 'The Purple Cross Society'. This organization was supported by similar middle- and high-class ladies who spent much of their energy looking after horses used in the war. (See also the Blue Cross animal aid society.)

In memory of this, in 1993 the Australian Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals established the Purple Cross Award "to recognise the deeds of animals which have shown outstanding service to humans, particularly if they show exceptional courage in risking their own safety or life to save a person from injury or death."