Editing Flag of Europe (section)

===Marian interpretation===
{{further|Crown of Immortality|Circle of stars}}
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| image1    = Statue of Virgin Mary in the Cathedral of Strasbourg.jpg
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| caption1  = Statue of the Blessed Virgin in [[Strasbourg Cathedral]] (1859)
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| caption2  = ''Blessing Madonna'', the stained glass window donated by the Council of Europe to [[Strasbourg Cathedral]] in 1956.<ref name="Economist"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Large full version of the window |publisher=venez-chez-domi.fr |url=http://www.venez-chez-domi.fr/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/32-abside-notre-dame-de-strasbourggrande.jpg |access-date=28 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227042738/http://www.venez-chez-domi.fr/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/32-abside-notre-dame-de-strasbourggrande.jpg |archive-date=27 February 2009}}</ref>
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[[File:Shield of Dom Guéranger.svg|thumb|165px|Arms of monk and priest [[Prosper Guéranger]] (1805–1875)<ref>p. 309 of [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k374920v/f315.image "Armorial des prélats Français du XIXème siècle"]</ref>]]

In 1987, following the adoption of the flag by the EC, Arsène Heitz (1908–1989), one of the designers who had submitted proposals for the flag's design, suggested a religious inspiration for it. He stated that the circle of stars was based on the iconographic tradition of showing the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Blessed Virgin Mary]] as the [[Woman of the Apocalypse]], wearing a "crown of twelve stars".<ref name="Economist"/><ref name="Gialdino">Carlo Curti Gialdino, ''I Simboli dell'Unione europea, Bandiera – Inno – Motto – Moneta – Giornata''. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato S.p.A., 2005. {{ISBN|88-240-2503-X}}, pp.&nbsp;80–85. Gialdino is here cited after a translation of the Italian text published by the ''Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe'' ([http://www.cvce.eu/obj/carlo_curti_gialdino_the_symbols_of_the_european_union_origin_of_the_design_for_the_european_flag-en-df9f9dde-98a3-461b-a8a8-8f9c13012343.html cvce.eu]):

<blockquote>Irrespective of the statements by Paul M. G. Levy and the recent reconstruction by Susan Hood, crediting Arsène Heitz with the original design still seems to me the soundest option. In particular, Arsène Heitz himself, in 1987, laid claim to his own role in designing the flag and to its religious inspiration when he said that 'the flag of Europe is the flag of Our Lady' [''Magnificat'' magazine, 1987].

Secondly, it is worth noting the testimony of Father Pierre Caillon, who refers to a meeting with Arsène Heitz. Caillon tells of having met the former Council of Europe employee by chance in August 1987 at Lisieux in front of the Carmelite monastery. It was Heitz who stopped him and declared "I was the one who designed the European flag. I suddenly had the idea of putting the 12 stars of the Miraculous Medal of the Rue du Bac on a blue field. My proposal was adopted unanimously on 8 December 1955, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I am telling you this, Father, because you are wearing the little blue cross of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima".</blockquote></ref>

Heitz also made a connection to the date of the flag's adoption, 8 December 1955, coinciding with the [[Feast of the Immaculate Conception]] of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[[Paul M. G. Lévy]], then Director of Information at the Council of Europe responsible for designing the flag, in a 1989 statement maintained that he had not been aware of any religious connotations.<ref>{{cite web |title=European Union: Myths on the flag |orig-year=1995 |year=2002 |publisher=[[Flags of the World (website)|Flags of the World]] |url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/eu!myt.html |access-date=4 August 2007}} "While Count Coudenhove-Kalergi in a personal statement maintained that three leading Catholics within the Council had subconsciously chosen the twelve stars on the model of Apocalypse 12:1, Paul M.G. Lévy, Press Officer of the Council from 1949 to 1966, explained in 1989 that there was no religious intention whatsoever associated with the choice of the circle of twelve stars." Peter Diem, 11 June 2002.</ref>

In an interview given 26 February 1998, Lévy denied not only awareness of the Marian connection, but also denied that the final design of a circle of twelve stars was Heitz's. To the question "Who really designed the flag?" Lévy replied:

<blockquote>I did, and I calculated the proportions to be used for the geometric design. Arsène Heitz, who was an employee in the mail service, put in all sorts of proposals, including the 15-star design. But he submitted too many designs. He wanted to do the European currencies with 15 stars in the corner. He wanted to do national flags incorporating the Council of Europe flag.<ref name="Gialdino"/></blockquote>

Carlo Curti Gialdino (2005) has reconstructed the design process to the effect that Heitz's proposal contained varying numbers of stars, from which the version with twelve stars was chosen by the Committee of Ministers meeting at Deputy level in January 1955 as one out of two remaining candidate designs.<ref name="Gialdino"/>

Lévy's 1998 interview apparently gave rise to a new variant of the Marian anecdote. An article published in {{lang|de|[[Die Welt]]}} in August 1998 alleged that it was Lévy himself who was inspired to introduce a Marian element as he walked past a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.<ref>{{cite news |last=Pinzka |first=Thomas |url=https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article625491/Der-Sternenkranz-ist-die-Folge-eines-Geluebdes.html |title=Der Sternenkranz ist die Folge eines Gelübdes |trans-title=The crown of stars is the result of a vote |newspaper=[[Die Welt]] |date=26 August 1998 |access-date=3 November 2018|language=de}}</ref>

An article posted in ''La Raison'' in February 2000 further connected the donation of a stained glass window for [[Strasbourg Cathedral]] by the Council of Europe on 21 October 1956. This window, a work by Parisian master [[Max Ingrand]], shows a blessing Madonna underneath a circle of 12 stars on dark blue ground.<ref name="origine">{{cite web |title=L'origine chrétienne du drapeau européen |publisher=atheisme.org |url=http://www.atheisme.org/drapeau.html |access-date=21 January 2009|language=fr}}</ref> The overall design of the Madonna is inspired by the banner of the cathedral's ''Congrégation Mariale des Hommes'', and the twelve stars are found on the statue venerated by this congregation inside the cathedral (twelve is also the number of members of the congregation's council).<ref>{{cite web |title=Congrégation Mariale des Hommes |date=4 February 2004 |publisher=Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg |url=http://www.cathedrale-strasbourg.fr/congregation_mariale.aspx |access-date=24 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114001435/http://www.cathedrale-strasbourg.fr/congregation_mariale.aspx |archive-date=14 November 2008 |url-status=dead |language=fr}}</ref> The Regional Office for Cultural Affairs describe this stained glass window called "Le vitrail de l'Europe de Max Ingrand" (The Glass Window of Europe of Max Ingrand).<ref>{{cite web |title=Le vitrail de l'Europe de Max Ingrand |publisher=DRAC Alsace |url=http://docpatdrac.hypotheses.org/jep-2015/jep2015-20-vitrail-europe-max-ingrand |access-date=14 October 2017|language=fr}}</ref>