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Ecclesiastical heraldry is the tradition of heraldry developed by Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldy evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses. It is most formalized within the Roman Catholic Church, where most bishops, including the Pope, have a personal coat of arms. Similar customs are followed by clergy in the Anglican Church, the Lutheran Church, the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, and the Orthodox Churches. Institutions such as schools and dioceses bear arms called impersonal or corporate arms.

Ecclesiastical heraldry differs notably from other heraldry in the use of special symbols around the shield to indicate rank in a church or denomination. The most prominent of these symbols is the ecclesiastical hat, commonly the Roman galero or Geneva bonnet. The color and ornamentation of this hat carry a precise meaning. Cardinals are famous for the "red hat", but other offices are assigned a distinctive hat color. The hat is ornamented with tassels in a quantity commensurate with the office.

Other symbols include the cross, the mitre and the crozier. Eastern traditions favor the use of the mantle or cloak rather than the galero. The motto and certain shapes of shields are more common in ecclesiastical heraldry, while supporters and crests are less common. The papal coat of arms has its own heraldic customs, primarily the Papal Tiara (or mitre), the keys of Saint Peter, and the ombrellino (umbrella). Institutional arms have slightly different traditions, using the mitre and crozier more often than personal arms.

Contents 1 History 2 Shield 2.1 Personal design 2.2 Marshalling 3 Around the shield 3.1 Ecclesiastical hat 3.2 Cross 3.3 Mitre and pallium 3.4 Crosier 3.5 Mantle 3.6 Motto 4 Papal insignia 5 Chivalric insignia 6 See also 7 References 8 Works cited 9 External links

[edit] History

Heraldry developed in Europe from the late eleventh century, originally as a system of personal badges of the warrior classes, which served, among other purposes, as identification on the battlefield. The same insignia were used on seals to identify documents. The earliest seals bore a likeness of the owner of the seal, with the shield and heraldic insignia included.<ref>Williamson, Debrett's Guide, p.14.</ref> Over time, the seals of the nobility were reduced to just the shield.

The Church likewise identified the origin and ownership of documents and buildings with seals, but were typically oval in shape to distinguish from secular round seals.<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia, Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref> The Synod of London required seals for all religious authorities in 1237, and Edward I of England decreed in 1307 that no document would be valid without one.<ref>Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.134.</ref> Personal seals of bishops and abbots continued to be used after their deaths, gradually becoming an impersonal seal.<ref>Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.134.</ref> These seals initially depicted a person, but as secular seals began to depict only a shield, clergy followed this development by adopting seals with heraldic insignia.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.223-224.</ref> As non-combatants, the clergy tended to replace military elements with clerical elements. The shield was retained, but other non-clerical devices—such as helmets and coronets—were often replaced by ecclesiastical hats.

There was no structured Church heraldry until the seventeenth century, when a system for ecclesiastical hats attributed to Pierre Palliot came into use.<ref>Selvester, Aspects of Heraldry.</ref> The full system of emblems around the shield was regulated in the Catholic Church by the letter of Pope Pius X Inter multiplices curas of February 21, 1905. The composition of the shield itself was regulated and registered with the Heraldry Commission of the Roman Curia, but since this office was abolished by Pope John XXIII in 1960, shield design has had no official guidance.<ref>Noonan, The Church Visible, p.188.</ref> The Collegio Araldico (College of Heraldry) in Rome is recognized by the Holy See but has no enforcement powers, and the Annuario Pontifico (Pontifical Annual) ceased publishing the arms of members of the Roman Curia after 1969.<ref>Catholic Heraldry at heraldica.org.</ref> International custom and national law govern limited aspects of heraldry, but since 1960, shield composition has depended on expert advice. Archbishop Bruno Heim, a noted ecclesiastical armorist (designer of arms), said

Ecclesiastical heraldry is not determined by heraldic considerations alone, but also by doctrinal, liturgical and canonical factors. It not only produces arms denoting members of the ecclesiastical state but shows the rank of the bearer.... In the eyes of the Church it is sufficient to determine who has a right to bear an ecclesiastical coat of arms and under what conditions the different insignia are acquired or lost... The design of prelatial arms is often a disastrous defiance of the rules of heraldry, if only as a breach of good taste.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.43-45.</ref>

A similar system in the Anglican communion was approved in 1976.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.225-226.</ref> The traditions of Eastern Christian heraldry have less developed regulation. Eastern secular coats of arms often display a shield before a mantle topped with a crown. Eastern clergy often display coats of arms according to this style, replacing the crown with an appropriate hat drawn from the liturgy.

Marking documents is the most common use of arms in the Church today. A Catholic bishop's coat of arms was formerly painted on miniature wine-barrels and presented during the ordination ceremony.<ref>Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.133; Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.115.</ref> Cardinals may place their coat of arms outside the church of their title in Rome.<ref>"Instruction", 1969, n.28-29.</ref> Impersonal arms are often used as the banner of a school or religious community.

[edit] Shield

The shield is the normal device for displaying a coat of arms. Clergy have used less-military shapes such as the oval cartouche, but the shield has always been a clerical option. Clergy in Italy often use a shield shaped like a horse's face-armor. Clergy in South Africa sometimes follow the national style using a Nguni shield.<ref>von Volborth, Heraldry of the World, p.176.; See the coat of arms of Botswana, the arms of Gauteng, or the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government.</ref> Women traditionally display their coats of arms on a diamond-shaped lozenge; abbesses follow this tradition or use the cartouche.

[edit] Personal design

Unless a new bishop has a family coat of arms, he typically adopts within his shield symbols that indicate his interests or past service. Devotion to a particular saint is represented by symbols established in iconography and heraldic tradition.

The first rule of heraldry is the rule of tincture, which says that "colour must not appear upon colour, nor metal upon metal."<ref>Heim, Or and Argent, p.9.</ref> The heraldic metals are gold and silver, usually represented as yellow and white, while red, green, blue, purple and black normally comprise the colors. Heraldic insignia are intended for recognition at a distance (in battle), and a contrast of light metal against dark color is desirable. The same principle can be seen in the choice of colors for most license plates.

This rule of tincture is often broken in clerical arms; the flag and arms of Vatican City notably has yellow and white placed together. In Byzantine tradition colors have a mystical interpretation. Since gold and silver express sublimity and solemnity, combinations of the two are often used regardless of the rule of tincture.<ref>Heim, Or and Argent, p.102.</ref>

[edit] Marshalling

If a bishop is a diocesan bishop, it is customary for him to combine his arms with the arms of the diocese following normal heraldic rules.<ref>Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.134.</ref> This combining is termed marshalling, and is normally accomplished by impalement, placing the arms of the diocese to the viewer's left (dexter in heraldry) and the personal arms to the viewer's right. The arms of Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, are found impaled with those of the See in a document from 1411.<ref>Woodcock, The Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p.119.</ref> In Germany and Switzerland quartering is the norm rather than impalement. Guy Selvester, an American ecclesiastical heraldist, says if arms are not designed with care, marshalling can lead to "busy", crowded shields. This can be avoided by placing a smaller shield overlapping the larger shield, known as an inescutcheon or escutcheon of pretense. In the arms of Heinrich Mussinghoff, Bishop of Aachen, the personal arms are placed in front of the diocesan arms, but the opposite arrangement is found in front on the arms of Paul Gregory Bootkoski, Bishop of Metuchen.<ref>See arms of Heinrich Mussinghoff and Paul Bootkoski; Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.56-57.</ref> Cardinals sometimes combine their personal arms with the arms of the Pope who named them a cardinal. As Prefect of the Pontifical Household Jacques Martin impaled his personal arms with those of three successive pontiffs.<ref>Martin, Heraldry in the Vatican, p.32.</ref> A married Anglican bishop combines his arms with those of his wife and the diocese on two separate shields placed accollé, or side-by-side.<ref>Woodcock, Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p.119.</ref>

Catholic bishops in England use only their personal arms, as dioceses established by the See of Rome are not part of the state-established Church and cannot be recognized in law.<ref>Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p.465; Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.133.</ref> If a suffragan bishop or auxiliary bishop has a personal coat of arms, he does not combine it with the arms of the diocese he serves.<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia, Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref>

[edit] Around the shield

The shield is the core of heraldry, but other elements are placed above, below, and around the shield. The entire composition is called the achievement of arms. Some of these accessories are unique to Church armory or differ notably from those which normally accompany a shield.

[edit] Ecclesiastical hat

The hat called a galero (or gallero) is a distinctive part of the achievement of a Roman Catholic cleric. The galero was originally a pilgrim's-style hat like a sombrero, granted in red to cardinals by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyon in the thirteenth century, and was adopted by heraldry almost immediately. The galero in various colors and forms was used in heraldic achievements starting with its adoption in the arms of bishops in the sixteenth century. By the nineteenth century it was viewed as specifically "Catholic".<ref>Selvester, Aspects of Heraldry.</ref> The galero is ornamented with tassels (also termed houppes or fiocchi) indicating the cleric's place in the hierarchy; the number became significant beginning in the sixteenth century, and the meaning was fixed in 1832.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.226-7.</ref> A bishop's heraldic galero is green with six tassels on each side; the color originated in Spain where formerly the green hat was actually worn by bishops.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.69.</ref> A territorial abbot is equivalent to a bishop and uses a green galero. An archbishop's galero is green but has ten tassels. Bishops in Switzerland formerly used ten tassels like an archbishop because they were under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See and not part of an archepiscopal province.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.95.</ref> Both patriarchs and cardinals have a galero with fifteen tassels, but a patriarch's galero is green while a cardinal's is red or scarlet. The patriarch's tassels are interwoven with gold.<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia, Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref> Primates may use the same external ornaments as patriarchs.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.107.</ref><ref>Lartigue, Dictionnaire & Armorial, contains examples of nineteenth-century archepiscopal arms with 30 tassels, eg. Lyonnet (p.236b), De Breil (p.134b), Forcade (p.150b), Fruchaud (p.172a).</ref>

The depiction of the galero in arms can vary greatly depending on the artist's style. Typically the top of the hat is flat and the brim is wide. However, the brim can be rendered much narrower, and the top can be domed. Such variants look like a cappello romano with tassels, but in heraldry it is still considered a galero. The tassels may be represented simply as knotted cords.

Chinese bishops often avoid using green galero in their arms since a "wearing a green hat" is the Chinese idiom for cuckold.<ref>The title of the film The Green Hat comes from this idiom, according to reviews by the Adelaide and Tribeca film festivals.</ref> Rather than green, these bishops use a variety of colors from violet and black to blue, or scarlet if a Cardinal.

Lesser prelates use other colors. The superior general of an order displays a black galero with six tassels on each side, while provincial superiors and abbots use a black galero with six or three tassels on each side, although Norbertines (White Canons) use a white galero. Violet hats were once actually worn by certain Monsignors,<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.69-70, 118-119.</ref> and so in heraldry they have used a violet hat with red or violet tassels in varying numbers, currently fixed at six on each side. The lowest grade of Monsignor, a Chaplain of His Holiness, uses a black hat with violet tassels.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.119-121.</ref> Although a priest would rarely assume arms unless he had an ancestral right to arms independent of his clerical state, a priest would use a simple black galero with a single tassel on each side. Priests who hold an office such as rector would have two tassels on each side.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.124-125.</ref>

Clergy of the Anglican Communion who are not bishops historically bore arms identical to a layman, with a shield, helm and crest, and no ecclesiastical hat. In 1976 a system for deans and canons was authorized, allowing a black hat similar to a galero, black or violet cords, and three violet or red tassels on each side.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.135,139-142; Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.225-226; von Volborth, The Art of Heraldry, p.71.</ref> A priest may use a black and white cord with a single tassel on each side, and a deacon a hat without tassels. A Doctor of Divinity may have cords interwoven with red and a hat appropriate to the degree, and members of the Ecclesiastical Household add a Tudor rose on the front of the hat. According to Boutell's Heraldry, this system represents the practice of the Church in England in the sixteenth century.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.226.</ref>

Within Presbyterian Church heraldry, a minister's hat is represented as black with a single blue tassel on each side, though a doctoral bonnet or Geneva cap may replace the galero.<ref>Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p.470; See arms of Rev. Denis Towner.</ref> The office of moderator does not have a corporate arms,<ref>Innes of Learney, Scots Heraldry, p.143.</ref> but for official occasions, a moderator may add tassels to his personal arms to indicate parity with offices of other churches: three for a moderator of a presbytery, six for a moderator of a regional synod, and ten for a moderator of the General Assembly.<ref>Innes of Learney, Scots Heraldry, p.35-37; Encyclopedia Britannica, Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref> Clergy of the Chapel Royal display red tassels.

[edit] Cross

The display of a cross behind the shield is restricted to bishops as a mark of their dignity.<ref>Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.139.</ref> The cross of an ordinary bishop has a single horizonal bar or traverse, also known as a latin cross. A patriarch uses the patriarchal cross with two traverses, also called the cross of Lorraine. The papal cross has three traverses but this is never displayed behind the papal arms.

Beginning in the fifteenth century, the cross with a double traverse is seen on the arms of archbishops, and relates to their processional cross and the jurisdiction it symbolizes.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.227; Catholic Encyclopedia, Processional Cross.</ref> Except for cardinals of the Roman Curia, most cardinals head an archdiocese and use an archepiscopal cross on their arms. Other cardinals use a simple latin cross,<ref>Noonan, The Church Visible, p.191-192,194.</ref> as is found in the arms of Joseph Cardinal Zen, bishop of Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is not an archdiocese.

Today all cardinals are required to be bishops, but priests named cardinal at an advanced age often petition the Pope for an exception to this rule. Since the cross is one heraldic emblem that only bishops have the right to bear, cardinals who are not consecrated bishops do not use it.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.74; Selvester, Aspects of Heraldry.</ref> Notable examples are Albert Cardinal Vanhoye and Avery Cardinal Dulles, although curiously the latter's arms do display a cross.<ref>Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. at Fordham University.</ref>

[edit] Mitre and pallium

The use of mitre on personal arms was suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1969, and remains only on corporate arms.<ref>"Instruction", 1969, n.28.</ref> Before then in the Roman Catholic Church (and currently in the Anglican Church) the mitre was placed above the arms of all persons who were entitled to wear the mitre, including abbots. It substitutes for the helmet of military arms, but may also appear as a crest placed atop a helmet, as was common in Germanic heraldry.<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia, Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref> The mitre and galero are often found together,<ref>Lartigue, Dictionnaire.</ref> and even in the arms of a cardinal, who alone had the right to actually wear a galero, the mitre was not entirely displaced.<ref>von Volborth, Heraldry of the World, p.171, shows the arms of Francis Cardinal Spellman thus in 1967.</ref> The mitre may be represented either gold (auriferata) or jewelled (pretiosa), the former more common in English heraldry.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.224.</ref> A form of mitre with coronet is proper to the Bishop of Durham because of his role as Prince-Bishop of the palatinate of Durham.<ref>Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p.467,469. The use of coronet by all archbishops is "mistaken" and "inaccurate".</ref> For similar reasons the Bishop of Durham and some other bishops display a sword behind the shield, pointed downward to signify a former civil jurisdiction.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.225; Rogers, The Pageant of Heraldry, p.142-143.</ref>

The pallium is a distinctive vestment of archbishops, and may be found on their arms as well as the corporate arms of archdioceses, displayed either above or below the shield. The pallium is sometimes seen within the shield itself. With the exception of York, the archepiscopal dioceses in England and Ireland include the pallium within the shield.<ref>Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p.466-467. The arms of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster and older versions of the arms of York also have the pallium.</ref>

[edit] Crosier

The crozier was displayed as a symbol of pastoral jurisdiction by bishops, abbots, abbesses, and cardinals even if they were not bishops. The crozier of a bishop is turned outward or to the right. Frequently the crozier of an abbot or abbess is turned inward, either toward the mitre or to the left, but this distinction is disputed and is not an absolute rule.<ref>Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p.466; Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.67.</ref> Pope Alexander VII decreed in 1659 that the croziers of abbots include a sudarium or veil, but this is not customary in English heraldry.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.228.</ref> The veil may have arisen because abbots, unlike bishops, did not wear gloves when carrying an actual crosier.<ref>Selvester, Aspects of Heraldry.</ref> Because the cross has similar symbolism,<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.226.</ref> the crozier was suppressed on most personal arms by the Catholic Church in 1969, and is now found only on corporate arms, and the personal arms of abbots and some abbesses.<ref>Noonan, The Church Visible, p.191.</ref> In English custom and in the Anglican Church, two crosiers are often found crossed in saltire behind the shield.<ref>Encyclopedia Britannica, Ecclesiastical Heraldry; Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.224; Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p.468.</ref>

A simple knobbed staff is shown behind the arms of some priors and prioresses as a symbol of office analogous to the crosier.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.74-75; New Catholic Dictionary (1910). Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref> Arms of priors from the fifteenth century had a banner surrounding the shield,<ref>von Volborth, Heraldry of the World, p.169.</ref> but today this is often a rosary.<ref>von Volborth, Heraldry of the World, p.175.</ref>

[edit] Mantle

Mantling was originally a piece of material attached to a helmet and covering the shoulders, possibly to protect from the sun. In secular heraldry the mantling was depicted shredded, as if from battle. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries another form of mantling called a "robe of estate" became prominent.<ref>von Volborth, The Art of Heraldry, p.64; von Volborth, Heraldry of the World, p.21,174.</ref> This form is used especially in the the Orthodox Churches, where bishops display a mantle tied with cords and tassels above the shield. The heraldic mantle is similar to the mantiya and represents the bishop's authority. It can also be found in the arms of the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.<ref>Williamson, Debrett's Guide, p.49; Noonan, The Church Visible, p.195.</ref>

The outside of the mantle may be any color, typically red, while the inside is white or sometimes yellow to distinguish it from a secular mantle.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.133.</ref> Prof. David Johnson has suggested that the mantle of all bishops should be white inside, excepting only patriarchs who use ermine, to indicate that all bishops are equally bishops and to emphasize the consular nature of Orthodoxy.<ref>Johnson, Orthodox Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref> Above the mantle is a mitre (of the Eastern style) between a processional cross and a crosier. The earliest examples of the arms of Orthodox hierarchs have the cross to the dexter of the mitre and the bishop's staff to sinister, but opposite examples exist. An abbot (archimandrite or hegumen) should display a veiled abbot's staff to distinguish it from the bishop's staff.

Archpriests and priests would use a less ornate mantle in their arms, and an ecclesiastical hat of the style they wear liturgically. While an Orthodox monk (not an abbot) displaying personal arms is rare, a hieromonk would appropriately display a monastic hat and a cloak or veil suggestive of his attire, and a heirodeacon would display an orarion behind the shield.

A shield in front of a mantle or cloak may be found among bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches.<ref>See Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys.</ref> However, some Eastern ecclesiastical variations omit the mantle but retain the mitre, cross and staff.<ref>Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.</ref> Maronite bishops traditionally display a pastoral staff behind the shield, topped with a globe and cross or a cross within a globe.<ref>Arms of the bishop of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn.</ref> Eastern Catholic bishops may follow the Roman style with a galero, although the shield itself is often rendered in a byzantine artistic style, and a mitre if present would be in the appropriate liturgical style.<ref>See examples from the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and East Canada, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, and Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago; the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church uses the western-style mitre in the liturgy.</ref>

[edit] Motto

Catholic bishops and Presbyterian churches use a motto in their arms,<ref>See St. James and St. Matthew's Presbyterian Churches.</ref> though it is rare among Anglican bishops.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.224; Catholic Encyclopedia, Ecclesiastical Heraldry. A notable exception is the motto on the coat of arms of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.</ref>

The motto is a statement of belief rather than a war cry as sometimes found on military coats of arms. Gustavo Testa, designated cardinal in December 1959, quickly selected as his arms a shield with the words "sola gratia tua" and the motto "et patria et cor" in order to meet a publishing deadline. Literally these phrases mean "only by your favor" and "fatherland and heart". Testa explained to Pope John XXIII that the shield meant "I am a cardinal because of you alone", and the motto meant "because I am from Bergano and a friend."<ref>Martin, Heraldry in the Vatican, p.242.</ref>

[edit] Papal insignia

Main article: Papal regalia and insignia

Saint Peter is represented holding keys as early as the fifth century. As the Roman Catholic Church considers him the first pope and bishop of Rome, the keys were adopted as a papal emblem; they first appear with papal arms in the thirteenth century.<ref>Noonan, The Church Visible, p.189.</ref> Two keys perpendicular were often used on coins but last appeared in the shield of the papacy in 1555, after which the crossed keys are used exclusively.<ref>Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, p.6-7.</ref> The keys are gold and silver, with the gold key placed to dexter (viewer's left) on the personal arms of the Pope. Two silver keys or two gold keys were used late into the sixteenth century.<ref>Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, p.12-13.</ref>

The Papal Tiara or triregnum is the three-tiered crown used by the Pope as a sovereign power. It is first found as an independent emblem in the thirteenth century, though at that time with only one coronet.<ref>Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, p.22.</ref> In the fifteenth century the tiara was combined with the keys above the papal shield. The tiara and keys together within a shield form the arms of Vatican City. In heraldry the white tiara is depicted with a bulbous shape and with two attached red strips called lappets or infulae.<ref>Noonan, The Church Visible, p.195.</ref> The coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI sparked controversy by displaying a mitre and pallium instead of the customary tiara.

The red and gold striped ombrellino or pavilion was originally a processional canopy or sunshade and can be found so depicted as early as the twelfth century.<ref>Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, p.27.</ref> The earliest use of the ombrellino in heraldry is in the 1420s, when placed above the shield of Pope Martin V. More commonly it is used together with the keys, a combination first found under Pope Alexander VI.<ref>Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, p.31.</ref> This combined badge represents the temporal power of Vatican City between Papal reigns, when the acting head of state is the cardinal camerlengo. The badge first appeared with a cardinal's personal arms on coins minted by order of the camerlengo, Cardinal Armellini, during the inter-regnum of 1521. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it appeared on coins minted sede vacante by papal legates, and on coins minted in 1746 and 1771 while a pope reigned.<ref>Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, p.34.</ref> The ombrellino appears in the arms of basilicas since the sixteenth century, with ornamentation for major basilicas. If found in a family coat of arms, it indicates that a member of the family had been pope.<ref>von Volborth, Heraldry of the World, p.172.</ref>

The papal coat of arms is often depicted with angels as supporters.<ref>Vocabolario Araldico Ufficiale della Consulta Araldica (1907), images 384 and 420.</ref> Other Roman or Anglican clergy do not use supporters unless they were awarded as a personal honor, or were inherited with family arms.<ref>Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, p.224; Catholic Encyclopedia, Ecclesiastical Heraldry.</ref>

[edit] Chivalric insignia

Roman Catholic clergy may not display insignia of knighthood in their arms, except awards received in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre or the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. If entitled, Roman Catholic clergy may display the red Jerusalem Cross for the former or the Maltese Cross for the latter behind the shield, or may display the ribbon of their rank in the order.<ref>Noonan, The Church Visible, p.195-196.</ref> This restriction does not apply to laymen who have been knighted in any royal or Papal order, who may display the insignia of their rank, either a ribbon at the base of the shield or a chain surrounding the shield.

Anglican clergy may display chivalric insignia. The Dean of Westminster is also the Dean of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and displays the civil badge of that order.<ref>Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church, p.136.</ref>

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Works cited

[edit] External links

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• Marco Foppoli - an Italian civil and ecclesiastical heraldist
• A Gallery of Arms Designed and Emblazoned by Fr. Guy Selvester
• Metuchen Armorial, Fr. Guy Selvester
• Catholic Heraldry at heraldica.org
• Heraldry of Catholic Clerics
• Armoria ecclesiastica - Church arms in South Africa
• Thylacine Press - works on ecclesiastical heraldry