"In Hoc Signo Vinces" is a Latin for "In This Sign (the Cross) You Shall Conquer." It was taken from a vision of the Empeor Constatine in about the year 310. At the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constatine's army was fiercely outnumbered by the contending emperor Maxentius.

On the evening before the battle, Constatine saw a Cross emblazoned on the horizon with the words "In Hoc Sign Crucis Vinces" surrounding it. He immediately set to work placing the cross on the shields of everyone in his army. The next day Constatine swept the enemy into the Tibrer River, and entered victoriously into Rome! It was this incident that blazed the trail for the Edict of Milan in 313, which ended the persecutions against the Catholics, and gave them the legal right to worship publicly.

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Leonidas