COAT OF ARMS
Bal zon the diocesan arms is a “field of springs;” Arms impaled. Dexter: Or a cross thus, Springfield. At the center of the throughout Azure; within the quarters cross is a silver (white) crescent, to four fountains, Proper, and at the center of represent the moon, a classic symbolism the cross a crescent Argent. Sinister: Vert for our Blessed Mother, in her title of upon a Lattice Or an ogress charged with the Immaculate Conception, titular of a cross patée throughout Argent; upon a the Cathedral-church in Springfield, chief Gules two pan-balances of the second for as it is described in the Book of below a heart of the third, encircled by Revelation (Rev. 12:1), our Holy Mother thorns and enflamed of the second. has the “moon at her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Significance The episcopal heraldic achievement, For his personal arms, His Excellency, or bishop’s coat of arms, is composed Bishop Paprocki continues to use the of a shield, which is the central and personal design that was adopted at the most important part of the design, a time of His Excellency’s selection to scroll with a motto and the external receive the fullness of Christ’s most holy ornamentation. The design is described Priesthood, as he was ordained as an (blazoned) as if the description was being Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of given by the bearer (from behind) with Chicago. the shield being worn on the left arms. Thus, it must be remembered, where it On a green field is seen a golden applies, as the device is viewed from the (yellow) lattice, a device in which many front that the terms sinister and dexter individual slats form a single, integrated are reversed. device of strength, far greater than all of its components. By the use of this device, By heraldic tradition, the arms of the Bishop Paprocki expresses that all aspects bishop of a diocese, called an “Ordinary,” of Christian life, theology, church law are joined (impaled) with the arms of his and civil law, social involvements, form jurisdiction, in this case the Diocese of a framework of the total Christian. Springfield in Illinois, that are seen in the On the lattice is displayed an ogress dexter impalement (left side) of the design. (a black circular device) on which is displayed a silver (white) cross patée. These arms are composed of a gold The cross, which thanks to the research (yellow) field on which is displayed a and knowledge of the Reverend Mister blue cross of The Faith. Within each Edmund Gronkiewicz (a Permanent quarter that is formed by the cross Deacon of the Archdiocese of Chicago) is a roundel of alternating blue and has been determined to be the “clan silver (white) wavy bars. Each of these symbol” of the Paprocki’s family in roundels is known heraldically as a Poland and by its use His Excellency “fountain” and it is used to represent a acknowledges, with great love and small body of water, such as a pond or devotion, the heritage that has come to a spring. So, canting (playing on) the him from his parents, John and Veronica name of the See City, the background of (Bonat) Paprocki. The upper portion of the design, known Gentium (LG-#9)), expresses Bishop as a “chief,” is red and contains a Sacred Paprocki’s profound belief, as both a civil Heart, in silver and gold. The Sacred and a canon lawyer, that, truly, “the law Heart is placed above two pan-balances, of the heart is love.” the symbol of justice and law, emblematic of the fact that Bishop Paprocki is both a The achievement is completed by the civil and a church (canon) lawyer. external ornamentation which are a gold processional cross, that is placed in back For his motto Bishop Paprocki has of the shield and which extends above retained the Latin motto “LEX CORDIS and below the shield, and the pontifical CARITAS.” This phrase, which is hat, called a “gallero,” with its six tassels based on the texts from the Prophet in three rows on either side of the shield, Jeremiah (Jer. 31:33), Saint Paul’s Epistle all in green. These are the heraldic to the Romans (Rom. 13:10) and the insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop, Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic by instruction of The Holy See, of March Constitution on The Church (Lumen 31, 1969.