The coat of arms of His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York from 1939-1967. The blazon is: Arms impaled; in the dexter Argent on a saltire Gules between four Greek crosses Gules the sails of a windmill in saltire Argent (New York Archdiocese). In sinister Sable, on a fess Argent four ermine spots Sable; overall a bend Or goutee de sang; a chief of the Religion (Spellman).
The arms of the archdiocese employ a red X-shaped cross of St. Patrick, the patron of the archdiocese. On this is superimposed the sails of a windmill to recall the Dutch who first settled the city of New Amsterdam, later called New York. The four red crosses represent the four Gospels. Spellman’s own arms were not the first that he adopted when he was made a bishop. His original coat of arms depicted the Santa Maria, flagship of Christopher Columbus, under full sail. He used these when he was Auxiliary Bishop of Boston. After he was translated to New York Spellman adopted the arms we see here. Unfortunately, I do not know the meaning behind the ermine spots or the gold bend. I know the drops of blood were an allusion to the Precious Blood of Christ. As a Bailiff of the Order of Malta he includes both the chief of that order (Gules a cross throughout Argent) and places the shield on the cross of the order.
The external ornaments include the galero and the mitre as well as the archiepiscopal cross and the crozier. These arms were designed long before the 1969 Instruction of Pope Paul VI forbidding the use of mitre and crozier in the arms of bishops, archbishops and cardinals.
I have always like this particular coat of arms. It is an exmaple of good heraldry which is a rare find among the coats of arms of American prelates…of any era!
