<P> The fleur - de-lis or fleur - de-lys (plural: fleurs - de-lis, or fleurs - de-lys), is a stylized lily (in French, fleur means "flower", and lis means "lily") that is used as a decorative design or motif, and many of the Catholic saints of France, particularly St. Joseph, are depicted with a lily . Since France is a historically Catholic nation, the fleur - de-lis became "at one and the same time, religious, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in French heraldry . </P> <P> The fleur - de-lis is represented in Unicode at U + 269C (⚜) in the Miscellaneous Symbols block . </P>

When was the fleur de lis first used