On Saturday, July 11, 2026, the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey, in Conception, Missouri, elected Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB, (44) as their new abbot. He becomes the 11th abbot in Conception Abbey’s 153-year history. He received the abbatial blessing at Mass on August 30th.

Abbot Paul’s armorial achievement displays the personal arms impaled with Conception Abbey’s coat of arms. His personal arms refer to both his patron saint’s attributes and the shells in bordure are canting charges for his surname.

The blazon is: Arms impaled. In the dexter Azure, in chief a star of eight points Or ensigned with the letter “M” Sable above three fleur-de-lis arranged two and one, Argent. (Conception Abbey) In the sinister Gules, a sword palewise point upwards with a laurel wreath surrounding the pommel within a bordure of escallop shells, all Or. (Abbot Paul Sheller).

The Abbot will also occasionally make use of his personal arms alone, which has the advantage of displaying the full bordure of shells due to the lack of an impalement.

The coat of arms was designed and executed by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB, a monk of Conception Abbey.