Crest of the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

This Crest is the insigna of the Roman Catholic Church, which is used by Pontifical basilicas, seminaries and institutes. This is not the emblem used during the vacancy of the Holy See.

The Investiture of Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral Church as Minor Basilica took place on Sunday, June 20, 2010, at the noon Mass. Most Rev. Michael J. Bransfield, Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston celebrated the Mass and blessed the Ombrellino and the Tintinnabulum, symbols of a Minor Basilica. Through the generosity of a long time parishioner, the ombrellino, fabricated in Belgium and the tintinnabulum, made in Italy were donated to the new basilica, arriving in time for the celebration.

Diocesan Shield of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston

In the arms of Wheeling-Charleston, alternating points of silver and green chevrons form the background for a single golden lily, all against a red backdrop. The golden lily honors Saint Joseph, principal patron of Cathedral Church in Wheeling, and thus, principal patron of the Diocese. The chevrons represent the mountains of West Virginia.

THE BISHOP'S SHIELD

The Coat of Arms of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Michael Joseph Bransfield, D.D. Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston

Blazon: Arms impaled. Dexter: Gules, a base chevrony of six Argent and Vert; overall a lily in profile Or. Sinister: Azure upon a fess Argent three torteaux, each charged with a cross of the field; between in chief an “M,” of the second and issuant from base five stalks of wheat Or.

Significance: The episcopal heraldic achievement or bishop’s coat of arms is composed of a shield with its charges (symbols), a motto scroll and the external ornamentation. The shield, which is the central and most important feature of any heraldic device, is described (blazoned) in 12th century terms, that are archaic to our modern language, and this description is presented as if given by the bearer with the shield being worn on the arm. Thus, where it applies the terms dexter and sinister are reversed as the device is viewed from the front.

By heraldic tradition the arms of the bishop of a diocese, called the “Ordinary,” are joined, impaled, with the arms of his jurisdiction. In this case, these are the arms of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. These arms are composed of a red field on which is seen a base composed of six alternating chevrons of silver (white) and green. The chevrons are used to signify the mountains of West Virginia that are such a significant aspect of the geography of the region. Overall, in the design, is a golden lily to honor Saint Joseph, patron of the Cathedral-Church of Wheeling.

For his personal arms, His Excellency, Bishop Bransfield has selected a design that reflects his life and his heritage.

The design is composed of three main elements. At the center, on a silver (white) central bar called a ”fess,” are three red plates, in heraldry called “torteaux,” each charged with a silver cross. This is a variant on the arms of William Penn for whom the Bishop’s home state of Pennsylvania is named and these charges are part of the arms of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Bishop’s home diocese. Above the fess is a manuscript “M,” as taken from a display in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington, D.C., where Bishop Bransfield served for 25 years, the most recent as Rector. The use of this “M,” signifies the Bishop’s deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it is also taken from the arms of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, who has named His Excellency to receive the fullness of the holy priesthood as a bishop.

In the base of the design are five stalks of wheat issuant from the base. In the “Year of The Eucharist,” as declared by The Holy Father, as Bishop Bransfield enters his new ministry for The Church, these stalks of wheat are used to “cant” (i.e.- “to play on”) the Bishop’s name. Bran is the substance between the husk and the kernel of any of the cereal grains and so by using several stalks of such a cereal, graphically, we are representing a field of bran . . . thus, “Bransfield.”

For his motto, His Excellency, Bishop Bransfield has adopted the phrase from The Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Will Be Done.” By the use of this phrase, His Excellency expresses not only the sentiments of Our Lady at the Annunciation, but that all of us, as devout Christians, must always put God’s Holy Will before any of our own desires if we are to achieve the rewards that our Divine Lord has promised.

The achievement is completed with the external ornaments which are a gold processional cross, that is placed in back of and which extends above and below the shield, and the pontifical hat, called a “gallero,” with its six tassels, in three rows, on either side of the shield, all in green. These are the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop by instruction of The Holy See of March 31, 1969.

Crest of the Holy See

Holy See

The first blazoning of the arms of the Holy See is in Froissart's Chronicles: "gules two keys in saltire argent". The tiara was included in the arms from the late 14th century. "From the beginning of the 14th century, the two crossed keys constitute the arms of the papacy. The field of the shield is generally gules (red) and the cord is azure (blue). Most often the key placed in bend is gold and the one placed in bend sinister, silver; sometimes they are both gold, or, less often, silver." A 15th-century "scudo della Santa Sede" (escutcheon of the Holy See) with crossed keys and tiara is illustrated also in a publication of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Property and Activities. On the history of the choice of tinctures of the keys, Donald Lindsay Galbreath, writing in 1930, soon after the institution of the independent state of Vatican City, states: "At first the keys are white, then comes a time when gold keys are found, and finally the present usage of placing a gold key in bend across a silver one in bend sinister slowly makes its way." This practice of placing a gold key in bend over another of silver in bend sinister is found with certainty from the time of Pope Pius II (1458-1464). Another authority gives the blazon of the present arms of the Holy See as "Gules a key or in bend above a key argent in bend sinister, both wards upwards, the bows united by a cord or, above the shield a tiara, its three crowns or, the mitre argent". In his Heraldry in the Catholic Church, Archbishop Bruno Heim describes the same arrangement. These accounts of the arrangement of the keys in the present coat of arms of the Holy See distinguish it from that of Vatican City State by a reversing of the gold and silver keys. The website Flags of the World has this remark: "When what is represented is the Holy See, not Vatican City State, the keys are reversed. Rather, when the state was set up in 1929, the keys in the arms of the Holy See [...] were reversed to provide a distinctive symbol for the new entity. In the personal arms of the popes, the keys are, of course, arranged as in the arms of the Holy See: the other arrangement would be equivalent to treating him as merely the head of that little state." Charges on the escutcheon

The oldest known representation of the crossed keys beneath the papal tiara dates from the time of Pope Martin V (1417–1431). His successor, Pope Eugene IV (1431–1447), included it in the design of a silver coin.

The keys

The keys refer to the promise of Christ to Peter, "I will entrust to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven." They are a symbol of the power the Catholic Church believes that Christ gave to Saint Peter and his successors, with the gold key signifying that the power reaches to heaven and the silver key that it extends to all the faithful on earth, the interlacing indicating the linking between the two aspects of the power, and the handles of the key being at the base to symbolize the power being in the hands of the pope.

The tiara

Recent popes have not worn a tiara, but the papal tiara remains as a papal heraldic symbol. A crown was added to the headgear of the Pope in 1130 to symbolize sovereignty over the Papal States. In 1301, Pope Boniface VIII, at that time in conflict with Philip the Fair of France, added a second crown to indicate that his spiritual authority was superior to any civil power. In 1342, Pope Benedict XII added a third crown to symbolize the superiority of papal religious authority over that of non-religious monarchs. The original significance of the three crowns was lost over time and they came to represent instead the Pope's powers as priest, ruler and teacher.

The sede vacante emblem

The gold key is placed in bend also in the sede vacante emblem, with the tiara replaced by an umbraculum said to represent the absence of a pope and the temporary governance of the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church over the temporal affairs of the Holy See.

The distinction between the coat of arms of the papacy and that of the territory ruled by it dates back at least to the 16th century. Galbreath states: "From the 16th century on, this, the third coat of the Papacy — which may be blazoned Gules a pair of keys crossed in saltire, one gold, one silver, tied gold, surmounted by a tiara silver, crowned gold — is taken to represent the Papacy as distinct from the Papal States." This statement is quoted with approval by Heim.

The arms of the Papal States differed in having the umbraculum (the emblem of the Pope's temporal powers) in place of the tiara, and were incorporated as the first quartering of the royal coat of arms of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814). This coat of arms was not resumed for the territory over which the Pope's temporal powers were restored in 1929 with the creation of Vatican City State.

Crest of Vatican City

Displayed on the Front of The Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

Adopted: 1929

Escutcheon: Gules, two keys in saltire argent and or, interlaced at the intersection gules, beneath a tiara argent, crowned.

Vatican City

The coat of arms of Vatican City State is officially described in article 20 of the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State in force since 22 February 2001, which repeats the contents of article 19 of the original Fundamental Law of Vatican City State adopted on 7 June 1929 with immediate effect. Each of these official documents includes an illustration of the coat of arms of the state accompanied by the words "Chiavi decussate sormontate dal triregno in campo rosso" (Crossed keys beneath the papal tiara on a red field) under the heading "Annex B. Official coat of arms of Vatican City State."