Ecclesiastical heraldry

Ecclesiastical heraldry refers to the use of heraldry within Christianity for dioceses, organisations and Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses. It is most formalized within the Catholic Church, where most bishops, including the pope, have a personal coat of arms. Clergy in Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches follow similar customs, as do institutions such as schools and dioceses.

Ecclesiastical heraldry differs notably from other heraldry in the use of special insignia around the shield to indicate rank in a church or denomination. The most prominent of these insignia is the low crowned, wide brimmed ecclesiastical hat, commonly the Roman ''galero''. The color and ornamentation of this hat indicate rank. Cardinals are famous for the "red hat", while other offices and churches have distinctive colors of hat, such as black for priests and green for bishops, customarily with a defined number of tassels that increases with rank.

Other insignia include the processional cross, and the episcopal mitre and crosier. Eastern traditions favor the use of their own style of hat and crosier, and the use of the mantle or cloak rather than the ecclesiastical hat. The motto and specific shapes of shields are more common in ecclesiastical heraldry, while supporters and crests are less common. The papal coats of arms have their own heraldic customs, primarily the papal tiara, the keys of Saint Peter, and the ombrellino (umbrella). Pope Benedict XVI substituted a specific design of mitre for the papal tiara in his coat of arms, being the first pope to do so, despite the fact that Pope Paul VI was the final pope to be crowned with the papal tiara. The arms of ecclesiastical institutions have somewhat different customs, using the mitre and crozier more often than is found in personal arms, though different churches greatly vary in their use. The arms of corporations (organizations) are denominated "impersonal" or "corporate" arms.

History

Heraldry developed in medieval Europe from the late 11th 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 authenticate documents. The earliest seals bore a likeness of the owner of the seal, with his shield and heraldic insignia included.

The Catholic Church likewise identified the authenticity and ownership of documents and buildings with seals, which were ordinarily enclosed in a pointed ovular shape denominated a "vesica piscis", or simply "vesica", to distinguish them from the circular seals of secular use. King Edward I of England decreed in 1307 that all legal documents required a seal. These seals originally depicted a person, but as secular seals began to depict only shields, clergy likewise used seals with heraldic insignia. Personal seals of bishops and abbots continued to be used posthumously, and gradually became the impersonal seals of dioceses. Clergy tended to replace martial devices with clerical devices. The shield was retained, but helmets and coronets were replaced by ecclesiastical hats; in some religious arms a skull replaced the helmet.

Ecclesiastical heraldry developed significantly in the 17th century when a system for ecclesiastical hats that is attributed to Pierre Palliot came into use. 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 21 February 1905, while the Heraldry Commission of the Roman Curia regulated composition of the shield itself until Pope John XXIII abolished the body in 1960. The ''Annuario Pontificio'' ceased to publish the arms of cardinals and previous popes after 1969. International custom and national law govern some aspects of ecclesiastical heraldry, but composition of shields is now mostly guided by expert advice. Archbishop Bruno Heim, a noted ecclesiastical armorist, i. e., designer of arms, stated that:

A similar system for the Church of England was approved in 1976. 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 a hat drawn from liturgical use.

Marking documents is the most common use of arms in the Church today. A Roman Catholic bishop's coat of arms was formerly painted on miniature wine barrels and presented during the ordination ceremony. Cardinals may place their coat of arms outside the church of their title in Rome. Impersonal arms are often used as the banner of a school or religious community.

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. Women traditionally display their coats of arms on a diamond-shaped lozenge; abbesses follow this tradition or use the cartouche.

Personal design

The first rule of heraldry is the rule of tincture: "Colour must not appear upon colour, nor metal upon metal." 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 bearings 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 ignored in clerical arms: the flag and arms of Vatican City notably have yellow (gold) and white (silver) placed together. In Byzantine tradition, colors have a mystical interpretation. Because gold and silver express sublimity and solemnity, combinations of the two are often used regardless of the rule of tincture.

In the Roman Catholic Church, clergy may use their family arms subject to limitations on "warlike or inappropriate symbolism".

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. 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 are found impaled with those of the See of Canterbury in a document from 1411. 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. Crowding can be reduced by placing a smaller shield overlapping the larger shield, known as an inescutcheon or an escutcheon surtout. 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. 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. A married Church of England bishop combines his arms with those of his wife and the diocese on two separate shields placed ''accollé'', or side by side.

Roman Catholic bishops in England historically used only their personal arms, as dioceses established by the See of Rome are not part of the official state Church of England and cannot be recognized in law, though in Scotland the legal situation has been different and many Roman Catholic dioceses have arms. If a suffragan or auxiliary bishop has a personal coat of arms, he does not combine it with the arms of the diocese he serves.

Around the shield

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

Ecclesiastical hat

The ecclesiastical hat is a distinctive part of the achievement of arms of a Roman Catholic cleric. This hat, called a galero, was originally a pilgrim's hat like a sombrero. It was granted in red to cardinals by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyon in the 13th 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 16th century. In the 19th century the galero was viewed heraldically as specifically "Catholic", but the Public Register of Arms in Scotland show Roman Catholic, presbyterian Church of Scotland and Anglican Episcopalian clergy all using the wide brimmed, low crowned hat. The galero is ornamented with tassels (also called ''houppes'' or ''fiocchi'') indicating the cleric's current place in the hierarchy; the number became significant beginning in the 16th century, and the meaning was fixed, for Catholic clergy, in 1832. A bishop's galero is green with six tassels on each side; the color originated in Spain where formerly a green hat was actually worn by bishops. A territorial abbot was equivalent to a bishop and used 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 archiepiscopal province. Both patriarchs and cardinals have hats with fifteen tassels. A cardinal's hat is red or scarlet while a patriarch who is not also a cardinal uses a green hat; the patriarch's tassels are interwoven with gold. Primates may use the same external ornaments as patriarchs.

The depiction of the galero in arms can vary greatly depending on the artist's style. The top of the hat may be shown flat or round. Sometimes the brim is shown much narrower; with a domed top it can look like a cappello romano with tassels, but in heraldry it is still called a galero. The tassels may be represented as knotted cords.

A special exception is made for Chinese bishops, who avoid using a green hat in their arms since "to wear a green hat" is a Chinese idiom for cuckoldry. Rather than green, these bishops use a variety of colors from violet and black to blue, or scarlet if a cardinal. A cross behind the shield denotes a bishop.

Lesser Roman Catholic prelates use a variety of colors. Violet hats were once actually worn by certain monsignors, 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

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