São Vicente Municipality (Portugal)

Concelho de São Vicente, Madeira

Last modified: 2014-07-26 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: sao vicente(madeira) | st.vincent |
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• About the Flag
• Version without Coat of Arms
• Presentation of São Vicente

• São Vicente Communes
• Portugal

About the Flag

It is a fairly typical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a yellow and red background quarterly (town rank).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 Feb 2007

The arms are Or (realized light brown) a representation of Saint Vincent Proper robed Argent and mantled Gules and nimbed Or and holding a palm leaf Vert in his dexter hand and a grill Argent in his sinister. Mural crown argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "VILA DE S. VICENTE".
Meaning:
"São Vicente" means "Saint Vincent", whose likeness shows on the arms (canting). You can see it is Saint Vincent because of the grill he holds and* the missing ear (the grill only is St. Lawrences attribute). The silver grill is the instrument of torture, that killed him.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 Feb 2007

Well, I suppose I can help. Saint Vincent's symbol is the crow. In fact, the legend says that, after his death his body was thrown to the sea. However, the body came back and he was guarded by two crows. The body was carried from Valencia, Spain, to the Algarve (Saint Vincent's cape) and, there, also guarded by crows and, when Portuguese first King, Afonso Henriques, took the body and transported it to Lisbon in a ship, the ship itself was guarded by two crows, one in the front and another in the rear. This can be seen in Lisbon's Coat of Arms. The grill is for Saint Lawrence, who was grilled alive for refusing to give to the Roman Emperor the treasuries of the primitive Church in Rome, which were kept by him. Now comes the question I have: isn't there a change of saints?? I, in my opinion, guess so...
Bruno Alexandre, 27 Feb 2007

So here it goes, St. Lawrence impersonating St. Vincent. (SomeOne will be quite displeased! ;-)
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 Feb 2007

Flag and coat of arms adopted and published in the official journal Diário do Governo : II Série in 1974.07.05 (a remarkably later date, and unexpected as just few months after a revolution which supposedly reduced the State support of all things religious).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 Feb 2007

Version without Coat of Arms

Presentation of São Vicente

São Vicente municipality had 8804 inhabitants in 2001 and consists of 3 communes covering 93,10 km². It is part of of Madeira Autonomous Region, former Funchal District, traditional province and NUTS I, NUTS II and NUTS III Madeira.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 Feb 2007

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