Voided or White Cross
This cross can be viewed either as just the outline - a Voided Cross, or as a solid White Cross.
(On this page we are using the same image for both the Voided and the White Cross, although the Voided Cross usually has a heavier border. Whether a cross is termed 'voided' or 'white' depends less on the thickness of the lines, and more on the function or interpretation of the cross; as explained below.)
Voided Cross
Voided Cross
For Christians, the Voided Cross reminds them that Christ rose from death on the cross to proclaim His victory over sin, death, and the devil. So there is nothing 'void' about a Christian cross.
© Logo of the Seventh Day Adventists
The Gamma Cross is often confused with the Voided Cross
Coticed Cross
'Voided Cross' (or the French 'Croix Vidée') is simply a heraldic term for when only the edge of the cross is traced. For example, a cross shape could be incised or carved in a rock or lump of wood. The background colour or the material around the incision shows the shape of the cross, as seen in the logo of the Seventh Day Adventists.
A Voided Cross can be any shape or form of cross. The cross is charged with a smaller cross of the same design, but having the same colour as the background. Only the border of the larger cross is visible. (On this page, the cross shown top-left is a solid black cross overlaid with a smaller white cross.)
Other terms include Fimbriated Cross (fringed), Bordered Cross, Clechée Cross and Pierced Cross. (See also the Empty Cross.)
In heraldry, when the voided part of a cross is just a border within the cross, it is called a Coticed Cross (French: Coticée). Like most heraldic markings, the border has no particular Christian significance.
The White Cross
White Cross
There are innumerable societies and groups that use the name White Cross, including:
- Several altruistic organisations, such as the White Cross Mission in England that focusses on orphaned children in Romania, and the White Cross in America, founded as a mission society by some American Baptist ladies in 1919. They modelled their society on the Red Cross, sending aid to people in trouble and generally supporting missionaries and their work in America and overseas.
- The White Cross was a rather nasty chemical bomb used in the First World War, which disabled the enemy by irritating eyes and other moist tissues. The bombs were identified by a white cross painted on the artillery shell casing, which was easier than printing the contents: bromoacetone, bromobenzyl cyanide, bromomethyl ethyl ketone, chloroacetone, ethyl bromoacetate, and xylyl bromide. Other gases were used and their shells painted with different distinguishing colours. (See Yellow Cross, Blue Cross and Green Cross.) Victims of the gassing prompted the formation of specialist medical corps and research organisations which continue today. (See Lorraine Cross and the American Lung Association.)
