Looking for help: Blazon for Maryknoll Priest

[Edward Hillenbrand]

Hi folks,

I am looking for some help on a blazon for a Maryknoll Priest. He was captured and his health shattered several years ago. As Maryknoll is an American order I wanted ti impale the arms. I have two main concerns: Being that so many priests get martyred that I am not usurping another's arms, secondly that I have everything phrased correctly. The blazon is below:

For a shield Lozenge a Impaled per pal sinister the arms of the Maryknoll Priests; to wit: alternating gyronny in pieces of eight, argent then sable, with the Honorable Ordinary Cross countercharged Guiles and azure. Dexter Sanguine, an argent Wheel of St. Catherine of Alexandria, broken at the top by the Vatican Banner of dexter Or sinister argent.

For helm a sable galero with a two single tassels, sable.

Thanx in advance for your help & advice.

[JMcMillan]

Two points, one a question and the other a problem.

Question: why a lozenge for the shield? This normally connotes a woman. Most priests who use arms seem to use the normal heater-shaped shield, at least in English-speaking countries. An oval is an acceptable substitute if he wishes to avoid the martial connotation of the heater.

Problem: Only the head of an order is entitled to impale the arms of the order with his personal arms. The arms of the order may, if desired, be alluded to somehow in the personal arms. (In addition, the arms of the order would be in the dexter half of the shield, the personal ones in the sinister.)

If I were doing this, I'd clean up the design first and worry about the blazon afterwards. But if you can post a picture it will be easier; I, for one, can't figure out what you have in mind by describing the wheel as broken by the banner.

[GSelvester]

While impaling personal arms with arms of jurisdiction is common in N. America for bishops and abbots (i.e. those who have jurisdiction over something) I don't see the reasoning behind wanting to have these arms be impaled "because he is American". Having impaled arms is not an indication of being American.

In addition, while there are many examples of members of Religious communities impaling their arms or marshaling their arms in some other way to those of their Order or Congregation such a practice is really very incorrect. Marshaling personal arms to those of a Religious community is not the heraldic way of showing membership in that community. Rather, it is the heraldic manner of claiming full jurisdiction over it. Bishops impale their personal arms with the arms of their diocese because they are "married" to it (that's why the method most often used by married armigers is employed) and this arrangement of two separate coats of arms marshaled on one shield lasts only during their tenure of office. Once they retire or are transferred they may no longer continue to impale their arms.

So, impaling personal arms for this priest with those of Maryknoll would be a colossal mistake. Instead, it would be far better to have un-impaled arms and incorporate some charge, ordinary or tincture from the arms of Maryknoll into the design of the personal arms of this priest. Otherwise his coat of arms would illustrate that he is claiming a jurisdiction to which he is not entitled.

In addition, there is no "Vatican Banner". The flag of the Vatican City-State is Or and Argent. But, unless he works in Vatican City or is a citizen of Vatican City why include that? It does not, as many erroneously suppose, imply membership in the Roman Catholic Church. The colors of the Holy See (i.e. the office of the papacy) which are seen by many by extension as the "arms of the Church" are Gules and Or. The banner of the Church is Gules with the papal tiara and keys on it.

Why not do something like: "Gyronny of eight Gules and Or; on a chief Sanguine a St. Catherine's wheel Argent"? The gyronny alone is enough of an allusion to Maryknoll and the Gules and Or differences it while at the same time employing the colors of the "arms of the Church". The chief Sanguine alludes to the shedding of blood and then the wheel Argent stands out nicely against that.

I hope this advice is helpful.

[Chris Green]

For those of us who are neither Roman Catholic nor from NY State a modicum of background reading is in order:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryknoll

If as I suspect Maryknoll has a connection with the Dominicans then this is the CoA you refer to for the sinister side:



Otherwise my comments would echo those of Fr Selvester.

[GSelvester]

More like this, I think.

[GSelvester]

If as I suspect Maryknoll has a connection with the Dominicans...

Nope.

[Chris Green]

If as I suspect Maryknoll has a connection with the Dominicans...

Nope.

I bow to your superior knowledge of matters Roman Catholic. I was misled by the fact that the Maryknoll community apparently includes the Maryknoll Sisters of St Dominic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryknoll_Sisters_of_St._Dominic

[Edward Hillenbrand]

OK, so far so good. The reason behind the St. Catherine's wheel with the Holy See's bannor as that is my understanding of how it should be shown for whom he was tortured. Good info about impaling the arms only for the head of the order. As to the wrong side I blame the cat.

Let me work on this some more and see what I come up with.

I told the Padre it would take some time.

[JMcMillan]

Obviously I defer to Fr. Guy on Catholic iconography, but wonder if perhaps one of these would work to connote Catholicism (red and gold), Maryknoll (gyronny pattern), and torture.

Option 1:



The number and size of the blood drops could be changed as desired for artistic effect.

Option 2:

[Chris Green]

Joseph: Your wheels look to me more like water wheels than torture wheels. To conform to the usually accepted hagiography, a wheel representing St Catherine should be broken, since she was said to have been condemned to be broken by the wheel but instead it broke and she was eventually beheaded.

I must say that I find the idea of representing an instrument of torture on a modern CoA somewhat distasteful. Moreover, if I read Edward's original post correctly, the priest in question was badly treated in prison but not tortured to death. If the priest survived his incarceration, perhaps something like a bird flying from the broken bars representing his prison cell might be more uplifting.