Category Archives: Cardinals

Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop-Emeritus of Boston

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A few years ago I was pleased to prepare the coat of arms for my friend and high school classmate, Archbishop Henning of Boston. At that time I was told his predecessor, Sean Cardinal O’Malley, OFM, Cap. would probably modify his arms to remove the impalement with the See of Boston but that there “was no hurry on that”, which is true enough.

Well, the time finally rolled around that His Eminence wanted to take care of that detail and I was commissioned to do the task.

His Eminence wanted to make no changes at all to the arms he first assumed in 1984 when he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. He used these same arms during his time as Bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts, and as Bishop of Palm Beach, Florida as well as during his tenure as Metropolitan Archbishop of Boston.

The field of these arms is red and displays a three masted sailing ship, at full sail, all in gold (yellow). This charge is taken from the portion of the arms associated with the name O’Malley that is known as the crest (i.e. the upper-most portion, usually above a helmet). This ship is placed amid three silver (white) stars that are taken from the arms of General George Washington, whose arms are used as the device of our federal capital city, where His Eminence was serving as a priest when he was selected to receive the fullness of Christ’s most holy priesthood as a bishop. The upper portion of Cardinal O’Malley’s personal arms are the arms of the Order of Saint Francis, (O.F.M. – the Order of Friars Minor – a loose translation of tile Latin for the Order of Little Brothers) signifying that Cardinal O’Malley is a Capuchin Franciscan. These arms show on a black cross, the crossed arms of Christ and Saint Francis, each bearing the Stigmata.

The big change was “un-impaling” or “un-marshaling” his personal arms with those of the See of Boston now that he is the Archbishop-Emeritus. Of course he retains the archiepiscopal cross in his achievement as well as the scarlet galero of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Perhaps the biggest difference comes with the cross placed behind the shield. Until now the Cardinal has displayed two chivalric crosses behind his shield. One was the red and silver “Cruz de Cristo” to signify that Cardinal O’Malley was named a Knight Commander of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1974 by the Portuguese government for outstanding service to the Portuguese people. The other was a white Maltese Cross. The inclusion of this cross signifies that Cardinal O’Malley was named as a Chaplain “Ad Honorum” of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta in 1991. This Order is more commonly known as the Knights of Malta. In this present emblazonment only the cross of the Order of Malta is being displayed.

When I was commissioned to do this work I pointed out to His Eminence, with respect, that it wasn’t really correct to display two different crosses of chivalric orders in this fashion. In addition, I prepared a treatment for him in which I traced the various regulations concerning the arms of Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops issued by different Popes throughout the centuries. I cited the Apostolic Constitution “Militans Ecclesiae Regimini” of Pope Innocent X from Dec. 19, 1644; the Motu Proprio  “Inter Multiplices Curas” of St. Pius X from February 21, 1905; in particular the Decree of the Consistorial Congregation “Apostolica Constitutione” approved by Pope Benedict XV from January 15, 1915; the Decree of the Consistorial Congregation, “Attentis Disponitionibus” approved by Pope Pius XII from May 12, 1951 (which reaffirmed the decrees of Innocent X & Benedict XV) and the Instruction “Ut Sive Solicite” from the Secretariat of State under St. Paul VI from March 31, 1969, as well as others.

It was the decree of Innocent X in 1644 that established that the armorial bearings of Cardinals should not contain any secular honors in the form of coronets indicating noble rank, or decorations from Orders of chivalry. According to this decree, never revoked, the armiger and even the artist depicting the coat of arms were excommunicated latae sententiae for including secular marks of honor in a coat of arms. Without revoking Innocent X’s entire document that excommunication was eventually revoked by Pope Pius IX in his Constitution, “Apostolicae Sedis” in 1869 which was also upheld and affirmed by Benedict XV in 1915. This set an early precedent which was later affirmed by other Popes. In particular, the decree approved by Benedict XV in 1915 says,

“Omnes S.R.E. Cardinales ad unitatem et aequalitatem ordinjs construendam, iubeant e propiis sigillis et insignibus quibuscumque, vulgo armis nuncupatis, amoveri coronas, signa ac omnes notas seculares, praeter eas quibus intra scutum armorum eorum familiae tamquam de essentia et integritate eorumdem armorum utuntur, et ut in posterum ab illorum usu abstineant. …aut nisi agatur de Ordine equestri S. Ioannes Hierosolymitani aut S. Sepulchri.”

“All Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, in order to establish unity and equality within the Order, let them be required to remove crowns, emblems, and all secular insignia—commonly known as coats of arms—from their personal seals and devices of any kind (except for those elements used within the shield of their family arms as integral and essential parts thereof), and to refrain from using them in the future… unless the matter concerns the Equestrian Order of St. John of Jerusalem or the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.”

Archbishop Bruno Heim in his seminal work, Heraldry in the Catholic Church (Van Duren Press, 1978) says clearly that,

“Cardinals are forbidden to add crowns, mantles, supporters, decorations or any other honorific signs to their achievements, with the exception of the crosses of the Order of Malta and of the Holy Sepulchre.” (page 102).

After considering my suggestion, His Eminence elected to display just the cross of the Order of Malta in his achievement going forward. It was very gratifying to see His Eminence take my recommendation seriously. This, I must add, also proves a point that I have been making for quite a few years over and over in the pages of this blog. Namely, that heraldry isn’t just about drawing pretty pictures. One needs also to do the work, to do the research, to know what one is talking about especially with the scant and often sketchy regulations the Church has regarding ecclesiastical heraldry.

This was a very fun and interesting project on which to work. I have now had the opportunity to do this same thing for Cardinal Dolan as well as for Cardinal O’Malley. Perhaps there is a new area of expertise for me to develop: UN-impaling the coats of arms of bishops emeriti!

Timothy Cardinal Dolan Modification

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After I had been commissioned to provide the coat of arms for the present Archbishop of New York, Archbishop Hicks, I was asked a short time afterward if I would be willing to make the necessary modifications to the armorial bearings of His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan that would reflect that he is now the Archbishop-Emeritus. It was simply a matter of removing the impalement for the Archdiocese of New York from his armorial achievement.

BLAZON: Azure, upon a fess Argent an open crown Gules between two ancient scrolls Proper; in chief two crescents, to dexter Argent, to sinister Or; in base a crescent Or. The shield is ensigned with an archiepiscopal cross Or in pale behind the shield and surmounted by a cardinal’s galero with cords and fifteen tassels on either side in five rows of one, two, three, four and five all Gules. On a scroll below the shield is the motto: “Ad Quem Ibimus”.

EXPLANATION: The cardinal’s coat of arms, is composed of a shield upon which there are symbolic charges, a motto and the external ornaments of rank. The shield which is the most important feature of any heraldic device is blazoned (i.e. described) in heraldic language from the point of view of the bearer with the shield being held on his arm. Thus, where it applies, the term “dexter” (right) and “sinister” (left) are reversed as the device is viewed from the front.

By heraldic custom observed in North America, the arms of a diocesan bishop are “impaled” side by side on the same shield to the arms of his jurisdiction. This signifies that the diocesan bishop, in this case, the cardinal, is “married” to the See. The same method of impalement is employed in the coat of arms of two married people who are armigerous. During his tenure as the 13th Bishop and 10th Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan impaled his personal arms with those of the See of New York. Upon reaching his retirement it is customary to modify the full achievement of his armorial bearings to remove the impalement for the See of New York to indicate that he no longer exercises Ordinary Jurisdiction over the archdiocese.

For his personal arms Cardinal Dolan uses the design he assumed in 2001 upon becoming Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis, and which he also used as Archbishop of Milwaukee, reflecting his priestly ministry and interests. 

The Cardinal’s design is composed of a blue field on which is seen a silver (white) fess, a bar across the center of the design which is about one-third of the area of the shield. At the center of the fess is a red crown, taken from the arms of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Cardinal’s home, and which he first served in episcopal ministry. The crown is placed between two scrolls, that are described as “Proper,” or “as they appear naturally.” These scrolls are to honor the cardinal’s baptismal patron, St. Timothy, who was the recipient of two of St. Paul’s Epistles.

Above the fess are two crescents; one silver (white) and one gold (yellow), and one below which is also gold. The silver crescent honors our Blessed Mother, in her title of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States, and the charge is taken from the arms of the Pontifical North American College, in Rome, where Cardinal Dolan studied for the priesthood and later served for seven years as rector. The other two crescents, of gold, are taken from the Dolan family arms and honor the cardinal’s parents. 

For his motto, Cardinal Dolan has selected the phrase “AD QUEM IBIMUS”. By the use of these words taken from St. John’s Gospel (John 6:68), Cardinal Dolan takes the words of St. Peter as was said to Jesus, “LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO,” for truly the Lord is the way to all and eternal happiness.

The external ornaments include a gold archiepiscopal cross with two horizontal bars (sometimes referred to as a patriarchal cross) placed vertically behind the shield decorated with red jewels. This is often mistaken for a processional cross like the one used in liturgical processions. However, like other heraldic ornaments the archiepiscopal cross has its origins in something which is no longer actually used. In the Middle Ages such a cross, without a corpus, was carried directly in front of all archbishops and Papal Legates as a symbol of their authority. Later, the cross was adopted for use by all bishops so archbishop’s added a second horizontal bar to their crosses to distinguish them from the episcopal cross of simple bishops. While no longer actually used it has remained a symbol of the archiepiscopal office in heraldry. It is not, as is sometimes supposed, a symbol of the office of Metropolitan because the archiepiscopal cross is used by all archbishops, even those who are not Metropolitan Archbishops.

In addition, above the shield is the red ecclesiastical hat called a “galero” with fifteen tassels pendant on either side. This is the singular heraldic emblem that distinguishes the coat of arms of a cardinal. This broad brimmed hat, once worn in cavalcades, is no longer used but remains as a heraldic emblem. The galero was first bestowed on the Cardinals of the Roman Church by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyon in 1245. It was the first hat to be distinguished by the use of a specific color (scarlet) and it was also to be adorned with tassels. However, originally the number of tassels was not fixed. There are various examples of cardinals’ coats of arms that show as few as two tassels suspended from the galero and as many as seventy-two! What marked these coats of arms as those belonging to cardinals was that the galero, cords and tassels were red and nothing else. No one else could use such a red hat except a cardinal regardless of how many tassels were suspended from it. The number eventually was fixed at thirty (usually depicted as fifteen suspended on either side of the shield in a pyramidal pattern) only in 1832. A system for distinguishing the ranks of other clergy based on the color of the hat, of the cords and the number of the tassels did not come into existence until the Instruction of Pope St. Pius X “Inter Multiplices” in 1905. 

These external ornaments are those used for a prelate with the rank of cardinal who is also an archbishop.

It was my great pleasure and my privilege to assist His Eminence with this project.

Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church

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During the Sede Vacante the person in charge of the affairs of the Church is the Chamberlain (Camerlengo) of the Holy Roman Church. Since 2019 that man has been the (Irish-born) American, Kevin Cardinal Farrell, former Bishop of Dallas, Texas and also former Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, DC.

During the time of the Sede Vacante he functions as the caretaker of the Church and the Regent of the Vatican City-State. The symbol of the Church since the time of the existence of the Papal States, the crossed keys and ombrellino, are placed above his existing coat of arms in the achievement. These may always be used during his tenure in office but, practically speaking, most of those who are Camerlengo make use of these added ornaments only during the Sede Vacante. Special coins will be struck to mark this moment in the Church’s history bearing the arms of the Camerlengo.

This version of Farrell’s arms is by Marco Foppoli.

Timothy Cardinal Radcliffe, OP

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It took a bit of time but the arms used by Timothy Cardinal Radcliffe, OP the Dominican friar who was created cardinal just last autumn by the late pope and who will now be an elector in the upcoming Conclave, has now been published.

He has not been ordained a bishop so there is no episcopal cross behind the shield in the achievement. Overall, he has chosen very Dominican looking symbols and a differenced version of the arms of Radcliffe. A very handsome coat of arms.

His Eminence Decrees…

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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.

Cardinal McElroy Installed in the Capital

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On March 11, His Eminence Robert Cardinal McElroy (71), Cardinal Priest of San Frumenzino ai Prati Fiscali, previously Bishop of San Diego (2015-2025) and originally a priest and Auxiliary Bishop (2010-2015) of San Francisco, was installed as the 8th Archbishop of Washington, DC.

At his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop he assumed a coat of arms which he then substantially changed when he moved to San Diego. In 2022 when he was created Cardinal I was privileged to assist him in preparing his coat of arms and at that time some further revisions and improvements to the design were made. At this most recent move, his personal arms, unchanged any further, were marshaled to those of the archdiocese and the episcopal cross was changed to an archiepiscopal cross.

From the website of the archdiocese we find the following:

“Arms impaled. In the dexter: Quarterly Azure and Gules, a cross bottony over all quarterly Or and Argent; 1, a crescent Argent; 2, three mullets of six points fesswise in chief Argent; 3, as many mullets of five points fesswise in chief Argent; 4, a head erased affronté and winged all Argent. In the sinister: Per fess Azure and Vert, in chief the stylized silhouette of Mission San Francisco de Assis above, in base, that of Mission San Diego both Argent; in base below to dexter a dove turned to sinister volant wings addorsed and to sinister, an oak leaf both Argent scales Or.

The shield is ensigned with an archiepiscopal cross Or in pale behind the shield and surmounted by a cardinal’s galero with cords and fifteen tassels on either side in five rows of one, two, three, four and five all Gules.

On a scroll below the shield is the motto: “Dignitatis Humanae.”

The arms of the Archdiocese of Washington were devised in 1947 by William F. J. Ryan and modified in 2001 by Anthony W. C. Phelps, when the cross bottony was substituted for the original cross of chain links in silver. Cardinal McElroy’s arms were devised originally by Rev. Timothy Pelc. The present blazon of his arms was done by Rev. Guy Selvester. The rendering of the impaled arms was done by Georgina Wilkinson.”

Cardinal McElroy Translated to Washington, DC

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Today, the Holy Father announced to transfer of Robert Cardinal McElroy (70), the Bishop of San Diego, to succeed Wilton Cardinal Gregory (77) as Metropolitan Archbishop of Washington, DC.

I did not design the Cardinal’s coat of arms but I did prepare the current emblazoning on his elevation to the College of Cardinals.

In addition to a new impalement and the addition of an archiepiscopal cross it will be interesting to see if the Cardinal modifies his personal arms at all. The two charges in chief represent two California historic Mission Churches in San Francisco (where he served as a priest) and in San Diego (where he has been serving as diocesan bishop).

Of course I’m no fan of bishops modifying their arms when they move but I could see how he might wish to eliminate these two very Californian references. On the other hand, they both also serve to honor the places of his origin and previous ministry. So, retaining them could also be a good thing. Time will tell.

Below is how his coat of arms may appear after he is installed in Washington:

Cardinal Bychok

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His Eminence, Mykola Bychok, CSsR (44) is a Ukrainian Catholic who serves as Eparch of Ss. Peter & Paul of Melbourne since 2020. On December 7 he will become the Church’s youngest cardinal.

The arms he assumed upon becoming a bishop were designed by others for him and he was not entirely satisfied with them. With his upcoming creation as a cardinal he saw this as an opportunity to tweak the design of his coat of arms.

The redesigned coat of arms does not depart that much from what he originally had but cleans it up a bit and adds the external ornament unique to Cardinals.

The blazon is: Tierced in pall; in chief, Gules a rose Argent, barbed and seeded Or between three bezants; in dexter base Azure a trident (tryzub) topped with a Greek cross, all Or; in sinister base Or a Latin cross on a perch of a staff topped by a sponge in bend and a spear in sinister bend all Azure. The shield is ensigned with the galero of a cardinal of the holy Roman Church with cords and 30 tassels disposed in five rows of one, two, three, four and five all Gules; the whole within a mantle Gules lined ermine surmounted by the Eastern mitra Gules; in saltire behind the mantle a crozier and a cross both Or.

The charges in chief symbolize the place he is from; the trident (differenced by the addition of a cross) is a symbol of Ukraine; the cross, sponge and spear are borrowed from the arms of the Redemptorist Order of which he is a member.

I was very happy to consult on this redesign and work to put it together with Mr. Richard d’Apice of the Australian Heraldry Society. As with all our collaborations the artwork has been deftly provided by Mr. Sandy Turnbull, also of the Australian Heraldry Society.

Cardinal Gibbons

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The varied armorial bearings of James Cardinal Gibbons. I often speak about the incorrect practice of a prelate deciding to change or modify his existing coat of arms. Even when arms are assumed (as opposed to granted by a heraldic authority) the bearer should not feel free to completely change them. Sometimes arms are augmented to reflect a new honor received or a change in status. However, completely changing a coat of arms, once assumed, should be avoided.

Gibbons was made Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina which did not yet have its own diocese, in 1868 and served there until he was made Bishop of Richmond, Virginia from 1872-1877. He bore the first coat of arms in both of those places. When he was made archbishop of Baltimore in 1877 he simply modified the external ornaments to reflect his promotion but still used the same shield depicting the seated Virgin Mary. Over the course of the next 44 years of his tenure in Baltimore he then changed his coat of arms no less than three times!

He adopted the arms showing the Holy Spirit descending from a cloud over the globe and also made use of an impalement depicting a pall (pallium). This would have been before the archdiocese had a coat of arms for itself and Gibbons was simply doing with this variant what many an archbishop had done. Namely, using an impalement with a pallium to indicate the status of a metropolitan archbishop.

In 1911, however, he changed his arms entirely again and adopted the coat of arms he bore until his death in 1921. These were done for him by Pierre Chaignon La Rose and I would think that what brought about the last change was the adoption of an archdiocesan coat of arms with which Gibbons’ personal arms were impaled. No doubt La Rose, who was fond of “correcting” coats of arms he didn’t like, convinced Gibbons to adopt the last design which was based on the arms of Gibbons used in Ireland (by a family the cardinal may or may not have had any connection to) differenced by the escallop shell, a symbol of St. James.

I have to admit his original coat of arms wasn’t very good and the final one he ended up with was rather good. But, the process of making many and varied changes throughout his life is not good at all.

Priest—Cardinal—THEN Bishop

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Ángel Cardinal Fernández Artime, S.D.B. (born August 21, 1960) is a priest of the Salesians of St. John Bosco, who has been their Rector Major since 2014, the first Spaniard to hold that office. 

On July 9, 2023, Pope Francis announced his plans to create him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 30 September. He is the first superior of a religious congregation be made a cardinal.  At that consistory he was assigned the rank of cardinal deacon with the title of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Via Tusculana.

Pope Francis told Fernandez he could continue to serve as rector until July 31,2024, when he will be given a new assignment. He was made a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on October 4, 2013. The Salesians plan to hold an election to replace him as rector in the spring of 2025.

His episcopal consecration is scheduled for April 20, 2024. Pope Francis has assigned him the titular see of Ursona with the title of archbishop.

The coat of arms he assumed upon becoming a Cardinal (left) correctly omits any sort of episcopal cross behind the shield. Cardinals are not entitled to use this cross unless they possess the episcopal character. His coat of arms will have the addition of an archiepiscopal cross (right) after his ordination as an archbishop. Until then he uses the armorial bearings of a priest who is a cardinal and his coat of arms will be modified to indicate his rank as an archbishop after April 20.

The Scarlet Nuncio

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On September 30 Pope Francis held a Consistory in order to create new cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Among those was the Frenchman from the Archdiocese of Rennes, Christophe Cardinal Pierre (77), who since 2016 has served as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America. He was named Cardinal Deacon of San Benedetto fuori Porta San Paolo. The arms he assumed on becoming a bishop in 1995 are now ensigned with the scarlet galero of a cardinal.

Cardinal McElroy

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On August 27, in Rome, Pope Francis will create twenty-one new Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Among these, the Most Rev. Robert W. McElroy (68) a priest and Auxiliary Bishop in San Francisco who has, since 2015, served as the 6th Bishop of San Diego, California will receive the red hat. He assumed arms when he was made Auxiliary of San Francisco in 2010 and he later modified his coat of arms after he was translated to San Diego. He has decided to make two minor adjustments to his existing coat of arms by changing the episcopal cross which had previously been of a specific shape to a more general form and to change the oak leaf in the base of his shield from green on green to a contrasting color to make it easier to see.

His coat of arms as a Cardinal Priest are:

By heraldic custom observed in North America, the arms of a diocesan bishop are “impaled” side by side on the same shield to the arms of his jurisdiction, in this case, the Diocese of San Diego. This signifies that the diocesan bishop, in this case, the cardinal, is “married” to the See. The same method of impalement is employed in the coat of arms of two married people who are armigerous.

The coat of arms of the See of San Diego is composed of a gold (yellow) field and symbols of San Diego (St. Didacus in Latin), the diocesan patron saint. Diego was born to poor Spanish parents shortly before the year 1400. His love of poverty never left him. As a Franciscan brother he was a selfless servant of the poor and was known to heal the sick with the Sign of the Cross, the central charge of the diocesan coat of arms. The Spanish stew pot in the upper left quadrant indicates Diego’s boundless charity and tireless efforts to feed the hungry. San Diego had a special devotion to the Lord in his Passion, symbolized by the three nails in the other three quadrants. Diego died on Nov. 12, 1463, at the Franciscan monastery in Alcalá, Spain, pressing a crucifix to his heart and repeating the words of the Good Friday chant: “Dulce lignum, dulce ferrum, dulce pondus sustinet” (Precious the wood, precious the nails, precious the weight they bear.)

For his personal arms Cardinal McElroy uses the design he assumed in 2015 upon becoming Bishop of San Diego reflecting his priestly ministry and interests. The arms are composed of two sections of the field. In the upper portion, on a blue background, are stylized depictions of two California Missions. The upper is Mission San Francisco and the lower is Mission San Diego. Prior to becoming Bishop of San Diego the cardinal served as Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco. The lower part of the field shows a green background. On this field we see a silver (white) dove in flight which symbolizes peace; a silver (white) oak leaf used as a symbol of life and the gold (yellow) scales symbolizing justice. These three virtues are important to the life, work and ministry of the cardinal.

For his motto, Cardinal McElroy has selected the phrase “DIGNITATIS HUMANAE”  (Of the Dignity of the Human Person) which is also the title of the Second Vatican Council’s “Declaration on Religious Freedom”. 

The shield is ensigned with a gold (yellow) episcopal cross. Such crosses resemble  contemporary processional crosses but they are, in fact, different. In the Middle Ages such a cross, without a corpus, was carried directly in front of all metropolitan archbishops and Papal Legates as a symbol of their authority. Eventually all bishops began using this emblem and adopted it in their coats of arms as well. The episcopal cross ceased to be used in the late XIX Century but the cross behind the shield continues to be used by bishops in ecclesiastical heraldry. The cardinal retains the use of an episcopal cross, with a single horizontal bar, because while the Holy Father has promoted him to the dignity of the Sacred College of Cardinals he retains his office as Bishop of San Diego. In the armorial bearings of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church the external ornaments around the shield reflect the office exercised by the individual cardinal. Those cardinals who are also archbishops use a cross with two horizontal bars; those who are bishops use one with a single horizontal bar. In the rare case of a cardinal who does not possess the episcopal office no cross at all appears in his coat of arms.

In addition, above the shield is the red ecclesiastical hat called a “galero” with fifteen tassels pendant on either side. This is the singular heraldic emblem that distinguishes the coat of arms of a cardinal. This broad brimmed hat, once worn in cavalcades, is no longer used but remains as a heraldic emblem. The galero was first bestowed on the Cardinals of the Roman Church by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyon in 1245. It was the first hat to be distinguished by the use of a specific color (scarlet) and it was also to be adorned with tassels. However, originally the number of tassels was not fixed. There are various examples of cardinals’ coats of arms that show as few as two tassels suspended from the galero and as many as seventy-two! What marked these coats of arms as those belonging to cardinals was that the galero, cords and tassels were red and nothing else. No one else could use such a red hat except a cardinal regardless of how many tassels were suspended from it. The number eventually was fixed at thirty (usually depicted as fifteen suspended on either side of the shield in a pyramidal pattern) only in 1832. A system for distinguishing the ranks of other clergy based on the color of the hat, of the cords and the number of the tassels did not come into existence until the Instruction of Pope St. Pius X “Inter Multiplices” in 1905. 

These external ornaments are those used for a prelate with the rank of cardinal who is a diocesan bishop while not being a metropolitan archbishop according to the Instruction of the Holy See, “Ut Sive“, of March, 1969.

It was my great pleasure to advise the Cardinal on his armorial achievement and to assist him in preparing this version upon his elevation to the Sacred Purple.

Blessed Stefan Wyszynski

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On September 12 the Pope will beatify the late Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski (1901-1981) who was the Archbishop of Gniezno, making him also the Primate of Poland and also of Archbishop of Warsaw from 1948-1981. In 1953 he was created a Cardinal and in 1957 made Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere. After his death the two archdioceses have been under the care of separate archbishops.

His somewhat unconventional coat of arms speaks loudly of the love he had for his homeland.

Great Use of a Wonderful Coat of Arms

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In 1966 Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. A special commemorative medal was struck to mark the occasion. The obverse depicted a portrait in profile of the cardinal. The reverse (pictured) depicted his very nicely designed coat of arms. These arms are actually not those he assumed upon becoming a bishop. When he moved to New York he adopted an entirely different coat of arms which he used for the rest of his life. Those are on the medal.

The personal coat of arms containing a chief “of Religion” is shown, as is tradition, impaled with he arms of the See of New York. In addition, as was the older usual custom in addition to the cardinal’s galero and archiepiscopal cross there are both a mitre and a crozier (turned “outward”) depicted as well as the cross of the Order of Malta placed behind the shield.

A Priest Among the Cardinals

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On November 28, 2020 Pope Francis created new cardinals. Among them was Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap (86) who, for the past forty years, has served as the Preacher of the Pontifical Household. Given his advanced age Cardinal Cantalamessa requested to be dispensed from the requirement of receiving episcopal ordination prior to receiving his red hat. While it is not unprecedented it is still rather rare for a Cardinal of the Roman Church not to be a bishop as well. (Contrary to an erroneous idea that never seems to die there were no “lay cardinals” in the Church. All the cardinals who were members of the College of Cardinals previously but had not received ordination were, nevertheless, tonsured clerics and, therefore, NOT members of the laity).

Following the correct customs which are sometimes ignored by the foolish or the ignorant (see: the coat of arms of the late Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ), Cardinal Cantalamessa ensigns his coat of arms with the scarlet cardinal’s galero but does not make use of the episcopal cross behind the shield because he lacks the episcopal character. As a cardinal, he may make use of pontifical insignia when celebrating Mass solemnly (the mitre, the ring and the crozier) and he may wear a pectoral cross. He also has the option of wearing scarlet cardinal’s robes or his own Religious Habit. It was interesting to note that at the Public Consistory at which he was created a cardinal he wore his habit with a surplice and did not wear the scarlet choir dress of a cardinal.

Ad Multos Annos!