New Bishop of the Church of Sweden

[Marcus Karlsson]

Åke Bonnier was consecrated as Bishop of Sweden's oldest diocese namely Skara on Sunday 26 august. His arms from the official diocesan website can be seen below:


The first and fourth fields shows the diocesean Arms. The other the personal arms of the Bishop with a Christ monogram denoting Bishop Bonnier's particular devotion to Our Saviour. The inverted Chevron symbolises an open book, and the importance of Books in the Bishop's Family (which is one of the leading Publishing Families in Sweden) and also the importance of the Bible. The Motto in Swedish translates as "Give honour unto Jesus".

[Ton de Witte]

nice simple design

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

I must admit that I am not as fully informed as I might like to be about ecclesiastical heraldry, so there are many elements that do not recognise. My main question is - Is the Bishop Roman Catholic or Protestant?

[Chris Green]

Lutheran.

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

Thanks, Chris. It is all the external ornamentation that confuses me. And, of course, I had not even thought about the Lutherans.

[steven harris]

Wonderful arms.

[Chris Green]

The arms were designed by two well-known Swedish heraldic designers, one being an IAAH member - Claus Berntsen.

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

I am showing my ignorance here - Why is the shield quartered and not impaled? I thought that impaling was the standard. The office on the dexter and the man on the sinister. Or has that gone out of fashion?

[Chris Green]

Swedes don't usually impale. Most if not all bishops with arms have their personal arms quartered with those of the see.

[Arthur Radburn]

Very nice arms. I like the idea of the inverted chevron symbolising an open book.