Formally known as an achievement, armorial achievement, or heraldic achievement, what is commonly referred to as a “coat of arms” consists of several parts. The original purpose of a coat of arms was to mark warriors in battle by displaying symbols or badges on shields, flags and clothing. This made an individual easily identifiable in the carnage and confusion of war. Ecclesiastical heraldry refers to the use of heraldry within the Christian Church for dioceses and Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses.
Blazon: azure, a fleur-de-lys or between three estoiles or
Description: a gold fleur-de-lys representing simultaneously the Most Holy Trinity, Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, between three six-pointed gold stars (estoiles) representing the attributed arms of St. Wilfrid, all on a field of blue (azure).
A shield in samnitic shape, the crest is a bishop’s mitre with a bishop’s crozier turned outward (a symbol of pastoral jurisdiction), and an archiepiscopal cross with a double traverse (a symbol of metropolitical dignity) “impaled” vertically behind the shield with five red stones (representing the five wounds of Christ). A pallium (the distinctive vestment of metropolitan archbishops) is displayed draped upon the shield. The whole achievement is then surmounted by an archbishop’s galero, green with commensurate tassels.
Motto: Deus caritas est “God is love” 1 John 4:16
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