Beatenberg commune (Bern canton, Switzerland) (original) (raw)

This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

See also:

Interlaken district
Bern canton
Switzerland
RAMPANT in Dictionary of Vexillology

Beatenberg

[ [Flag of Beatenberg] ](../images/c/ch-be155.gif)image by Pascal Gross

Argent a Wyvern rampant Vert armed of the First and langued Gules St Beat Proper habited Sable with nimbus and book leaves Or bound Gules and holding in his dexter hand a raised stick Sable.
(The basic difference in heraldry between a "wyvern" and an ordinary "dragon", is that a dragon has four feet whilst a wyvern has only two, but the difference is often (sometimes officially) ignored.)
Christopher Southworth

This is Saint Beat who is fighting a dragon on the canting flag of Beatenberg.
Pascal Gross, 19 February 2002

Beatus of Lungern (d. ca. 112), a hermit who lived and died in a cave on Mount Beatenberg, Switzerland. His legendary story has him the apostle of Switzerland, baptized in England by St. Barnabas and ordained in Rome by St. Peter, who sent him to evangelize the Swiss [Helvetians]. His cave became a place of pilgrimage and his legend has him fighting and slaying a dragon there. Saint's day: 9 May.
Source: Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney, 1980.
Jarig Bakker, 20 February 2002

In spite of the – in this case – canting name "Beat", it isn't pronounced as the English "to beat", but as "be-at" (e like French et, a like u in cup).
The name comes from Latin beatus (happy). – Ed.