I received an interesting piece of correspondence today from a reader concerning the coat of arms of the See of Johannesburg, South Africa. The archbishop there, Stephen Cardinal Brislin, who has served there since 2024 (arms below) issued a recent decree determining the appearance and uses of the coat of arms of the archdiocese of Johannesburg and authorizing its use.

His decree specifies that this coat of arms is to be used by all Chancery Staff and Departments of the Archdiocese for all official correspondence. He goes on to say that any department wishing to use it in letterhead must first obtain his permission and that it may not be used for personal use.

It is to be published in the archdiocesan paper which will then constitute its promulgation. This decree will be in effect unless specifically repealed by either him, or one of his successors as archbishop.

The blazon of the arms is: “Azure, within a bordure Or, a pall Proper between, in chief, the letters Chi and Rho enfiling an open crown, to dexter, the monogram of Our Lady and to sinister a pick-axe and shovel in saltire, all Or; all within a bordure Or.”

I think it’s great that in a country where it is not the custom for the Ordinary to impale his own arms with those of the See, a prelate has taken enough interest to devise an archdiocesan coat of arms as distinct from his own coat of arms and then also to regulate its use by his own authority. Far too little attention is paid to heraldry by so many bishops and when they do it is often to “modernize” it or to try to make it more “relevant” and by so doing they ruin it. Here, the archdiocese has a suitable coat of arms—perhaps a bit busy for some, but really not a poor design at all—and is establishing by archiepiscopal decree that its use must be authorized. I applaud this effort on the part of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg.