Francisco César García Magán (59) a priest of Toledo, Spain was ordained as the Titular Bishop of Scebatiana and Auxiliary of Toledo on January 15.

The design of his arms is a bit amateurish and cliched; four quarters each with a symbol. The problem with that is that while it might seem an attractive idea from the point of view of design, affording four chances to include different symbols, the idea of quartered arms implies four separate coats of arms that have been marshaled together on the same shield by the method of quartering.

It is, as I said, an amateur’s mistake to think that a newly assumed coat of arms may start out being a shield divided into four quarters each bearing something different. Having said that the new bishop’s arms are aesthetically pleasant and the symbols used are, at least, appropriate.

In the first quarter the Jerusalem cross is used not to symbolize the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher. That cross, used by that order, is not exclusive to it. Here it represents the Passion of the Lord. The second quarter alludes to the Spanish territory of Castile. The third quarter is symbolic of Our Lady (star of the sea) and the fourth quarter alludes to justice and to Canon Law, the academic color for which is green.