Last March 19th the Right Reverend Alexandre Ineichen (59) was installed as the 40th Abbot of the Abbey of St. Maurice d’Augane in Switzerland. He had been confirmed in that position by Pope Leo XIV the previous October. The abbey is a community of Canons Regular and the Abbot is a Territorial Abbot, meaning that while he does not hold the rank of Bishop he nevertheless has the governing authority over the territory belonging to the Abbey as its Ordinary. Such a position used to be referred to as an Abbot Nullius but in more recent times is now called a Territorial Abbot. Many such abbacies had existed in former times with the Abbot exercising jurisdiction over not only the members of his community but of the diocesan clergy and lay faithful who lived within the territory of the abbacy. St. Paul VI began a process of phasing out such jurisdictions and today only a handful of them survive.

The distinguishing characteristic of the arms of a Territorial Abbot is that it makes use of the green galero, cords and tassels usually associated with the coat of arms of a bishop. However, since the armiger does not hold the rank of bishop there is no episcopal cross behind the shield but instead the usual veiled crozier of an abbot. Abbot Alexandre has also chosen to place the arms of the Abbey on an inescutchen overall rather than either quartering or impaling his arms with those of the Abbey, a good choice given the composition of his own personal arms.