(Father Philip G. Bochanski, vicar general and moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, designed the coat of arms for Bishop-elect Dennis Walsh. Father Bochanski, who has designed the coat of arms of other bishops, provided this narrative about the design of Bishop-elect Walsh’s coat of arms.)
In designing the shield — the central element in what is formally called the heraldic achievement — a bishop has an opportunity to depict symbolically various aspects of his own life and heritage, and to highlight aspects of Catholic faith and devotion that are important to him. The formal description of a coat of arms, known as the blazon, uses a technical language, derived from medieval French and English terms, which allows the appearance and position of each element to be recorded precisely.
A diocesan bishop shows his commitment to the flock he shepherds by combining his personal coat of arms with that of the diocese, in a technique known as impaling. The shield is divided in half along the pale or central vertical line. The arms of the diocese appear on the dexter side — that is, on the side of the shield to the viewer’s left, which would cover the right side (in Latin, dextera) of the person carrying the shield. The arms of the bishop are on the sinister side — the bearer’s left, the viewer’s right.
The see city of Davenport, Iowa, was named for Colonel George Davenport (1783-1835). Born in Lincolnshire, England, he arrived in New York in 1804, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1806. After 10 years of service he left the Army and moved to the area of Fort Armstrong (now Rock Island), Illinois, spending the rest of his life helping to organize the “Quad Cities” on either side of the Mississippi River. An English Davenport family bore the arms Argent, a chevron between three cross-crosslets fitchée sable, that is, a white or silver shield (argent) with an inverted “V” shape (a chevron) between three crosses that have smaller cross-beams on the ends of the top, left and right arms, and a point at the bottom.
The diocese adopted these Davenport family arms with two adjustments. First, the chevron is now depicted raguly, with crenellations on its upper edge resembling the walls of a fort or castle. This recalls Colonel Davenport’s connection with the Army and Fort Armstrong, as well as the city’s status as the first military headquarters of Iowa during the Civil War. Second, the Davenport family arms depicted the “crosslets” with squared-off sides, while those on the diocesan arms are rounded, or bottony. Resembling Saint Patrick’s shamrock, such a cross is often used to allude to the Most Holy Trinity.
The Bishop’s personal coat of arms employs the colors of the arms of his home Diocese of Toledo: blue (azure), silver (argent) and red (gules). On the center silver stripe (called a pale) appears a slightly narrower red stripe drawn with points at the bottom (indented). This stripe represents the Oriflamme, the battle standard borne by the King of France from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. In peacetime, the Oriflamme was kept in the Abbey of Saint Denis in Paris, and according to legend its red color came from its being soaked in the blood of the bishop Saint Denis — Bishop Walsh’s baptismal patron saint —when the saint was martyred in Paris around the year 250.
The historical Oriflamme (whose name derives from the Latin aurea flamma, “golden flame”) was often embroidered with gold letters, words or images that varied through the centuries and served as identifying marks of the various kings who carried it into battle. The Bishop has chosen three symbols (called charges) to recall important aspects of his life, and they are likewise depicted on the red banner in gold (Or).
At the bottom is an arrowhead or pheon, which is taken from the Irish coats of arms of several Walsh families. In the middle is a sheaf of wheat, also called a garb. This symbol has a prominent place in the Great Seal of the Bishop’s home state of Ohio. It also traditionally alludes to the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist. This sacrament, “which the Bishop celebrates daily … should be the center and source of his ministry and of his personal sanctification.”
At the top of the red stripe is an eight-pointed star (estoile) with wavy arms. This is a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, “[a]s a mother … sustains the Bishop in his interior task of configuration to Christ and in his ecclesial service.” In particular, it alludes to a similar star depicted on the forehead of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a fifteenth-century icon that is particularly dear to the members of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Redemptorists. The Bishop began his vocational life as a Redemptorist, professing temporary vows in 1986 and final vows in 1991. Ordained a priest in 1992, he served in several assignments as a Redemptorist until 1998. In 2000, he was incardinated as a diocesan priest of the Diocese of Toledo.
On the scroll below the shield is inscribed the Bishop’s motto. Taken from Psalm 31:5, (Psalm 30:6 in the Latin vulgate) these words are prayed each night as part of the Liturgy of the Hours: In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum; redemisti me, Domine Deus veritatis — “Into your hands I commend my spirit; you have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.” Our Lord himself prayed with these words as he hung dying on the Cross: “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).
The shield is ensigned with external elements that identify the bearer as a Bishop. A gold processional cross appears behind the shield. The galero or “pilgrim’s hat” is used heraldically in various colors and with specific numbers of tassels to indicate the rank of a bearer of a coat of arms. A bishop uses a green galero with three rows of green tassels.
