Mottoes+&+Values

What were the mottoes of the Order of St John? There are two mottoes of the Order, of uncertain origin. In Latin: **//Pro Fide; Pro Utilitate Hominum//**. In English: //For the Faith; For the Service of Humankind//. Following du Puy’s Augustinian Rule, members were to take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and also of service to the sick.

Today, the mottoes of the Order have been largely replaced by the two purposes within our Mission Statement: “//The mission of the Order of St John is to prevent and relieve sickness and injury and to act to enhance the health and well-being of people of all races and creeds anywhere in New Zealand.//”

Members are expected to adhere to the Order's Core Values. From 2001, our Values were //**Teamwork, Integrity, Professionalism and Empathy**// (the St John T.I.P.E). During 2015, new Core Values were introduced. You can read more about them here.

What are the virtues of the Eight-pointed Cross? There are actually three sets of virtues, but most cadets today have heard of only two of them. In Hospitaller times, the eight points of the cross stood for the eight Beatitudes as mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 5:1-12). In the early 20th Century, a best-selling St John book called 'First Aid to the Injured' gave us the eight virtues of a First-Aider, namely: **Observation, Tact, Resourcefulness, Dexterity, Explicitness, Discrimination, Perseverance and Sympathy**.

Before 1991, St John Cadets lived by these virtues. Recently, with the change from Cadets to Youth and the advent of the Enrolment Ceremony, eight new virtues were introduced: **Sympathy, Humility, Gentleness, Peace, Compassion, Unselfishness, Truth and Endurance**. However, the four arms of the cross - then as now - still stand for **Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude**.