BLAZON

SYMBOLISM

The personal coat of arms of the Most Reverend Paul S. Coakley, is particularly symbolic of his steadfast love and devotion to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and to his veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It also carefully honors both his French maternal heritage and his paternal Irish birthright.

The top of the bishop’s shield is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist and commemorates Pope John Paul II’s nomination of the current ecclesial year (2004-2005) throughout the Universal Church as the «Year of the Eucharist». The color of deepest red is representative of the Blood of Christ. Here also are found two sheaves of wheat, known properly in heraldry as garbs wheatear. The first of these represents the Eucharist. The second was selected by Bishop Coakley in representation of the people and landscape of Kansas, his familial home, where the lifeline of wheat plays so integral a role.

Bishop Coakley likewise wished to honor both the Mother of God and his own mother in the design of his personal coat of arms. In so doing, he selected the Fleur de Lys, the Lily of France, which the Church has used to symbolize the Blessed Virgin for twelve centuries. Here in the bottom half of his arms, the Fleur de Lys appears in gold, also the color of honesty and truth. Our Lady’s Lily, as the Fleur de Lys is known within the Church, herein also represents Our Lady in the title of "the Immaculate Conception".

In the year of his consecration to the episcopacy, Bishop Coakley selected this particular Marian title for symbolic depiction in his coat of arms in honor of the 150^th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This title for the Blessed Virgin was adopted by the Catholic Church in America at the Council of Baltimore in 1846, eight years prior to the Universal proclamation of this dogma in Rome in 1854.

The Fleur de Lys is also the ancient emblem of the French people and in selecting it for his coat of arms, Bishop Coakley also honors his beloved late mother, Mary Coakley, who passed away on 10 March 1988 and who was, herself, of French heritage.

The shield is divided by a heraldic device known as a chevron. It is best described as an inverted "V" and is one of the most ancient marks of division (known as ordinaries) utilized in the heraldic science. Bishop Coakley selected the use of ermine for this special division, the heraldic depiction of white fur marked with black tails, which has been the heraldic emblem of the Coakley family in Ireland for several centuries. More so than this, however, is the use of ermine in ecclesiastical heraldry representing both the ecclesial title of "Christ the King" and the ecclesiological theology of the sovereignty of Christ’s Church on Earth.

Surmounting the episcopal shield is the Pilgrim’s Hat, the heraldic emblem for all prelates and priests of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. For the rank of bishop, both residential and titular, the Pilgrim’s Hat is worked in deep green, the true color of the Office of Bishop. For bishops, there are six tassels suspended on either side of the hat in a pyramidal style. The hat is properly known in the Church as the galero and the tassels take the name fiocchi. These, too, are worked in green for the rank of bishop. Behind Bishop Coakley’s coat of arms is the episcopal cross. For the bishops, this cross has only one transverse arm. The cross may be jeweled or depicted as plain and most resembles the processional cross used at Mass. Bishop Coakley’s episcopal cross bears a green stone and is intended to further recall his Irish roots.

Overall, Bishop Coakley’s episcopal coat of arms has remained faithful to the style of heraldry originally developed in the Middle Ages. It is this ancient style that the Church continues to prefer in the seals of office of each diocesan bishop, seals traditionally derived from the design of a new bishop’s personal coat of arms.

In heraldry, a motto has been both a personal philosophy of life as well as a family dictum, and sometimes even a cry for battle. But in Church heraldry, a prelate’s personal motto has always been intended to represent his personal spirituality and theologically based philosophy of life and is most frequently grounded in Sacred Scripture.

Bishop Coakley has selected the phrase DUC IN ALTUM that translates into English as Put out into the Deep. It can be found in St. Luke’s gospel and relates the moment in scripture when Jesus, after teaching the crowds from Simon’s boat, invites the apostles to "put out into the deep" and lower their nets for a catch (Lk.5:4). Obedient to Jesus’ command, Simon/Peter and his companions cast their nets as directed, and "caught such a great number of fish that their nets were at the breaking point" (Lk.5:6).

In his apostolic letter at the close of the Great Jubilee Year 2000, Novo Millennio Ineunte, Pope John Paul II remarked on the timeliness of these words for the Church as she launches into a new millennium and a new evangelization. Put out into the deep! Duc in Altum. He wrote, "These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Heb.13:8)."

The abundance of the apostle’s miraculous catch was the fruit of their obedience to Jesus urging them to put out into the deep. It came as a result of overcoming their discouragement at having labored through the night while catching nothing. Jesus calls the Church today, as always, to put out into the deep, as a witness to hope, to hear, and to respond joyfully to his word with courage and confidence.

Addressing the bishops of the world in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Pastores Gregis, Pope John Paul II applies these words in a particular way to the life and ministry of bishops: "Duc in Altum! It is Christ himself who repeats these words to the Successors of the Apostles who heard them from his lips and who, putting their trust in him, set forth on missions along the byways of the world. (PG 5)."

With this motto as his guide, Bishop Coakley undertakes his episcopal ministry in response to the Lord’s invitation to lay aside all fear and to move forward confident in the fidelity and grace of the One who calls him into His service.

DUC IN ALTUM. Put out into the deep, and lower your nets for the catch. (Lk.5: 4).

James-Charles Noonan, Jr.

17 November 2004

James-Charles Noonan, Jr. is a world-renown Church historian and ecclesiastical protocolist. He has published numerous books on these subjects, in the United States and Europe, including the best selling text The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church (Viking, 1996). He holds several academic degrees and is an alumnus of the Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), The Gregorian University (Rome), St. Charles Borromeo Seminary (Overbrook) and LaSalle University (Philadelphia) amongst other institutions in the United States and Europe. He is also one of the most highly decorated Americans alive today, having received nine orders of knighthood from foreign heads of state, royalty, and from the Vatican. Noonan, in particular, is a Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a high Vatican honor.

Trained in ecclesial heraldry by the undisputed leaders of this field of study, namely the late Archbishop Bruno B. Heim (private secretary of Pope John XXIII whose arms Heim designed along with the papal arms of Paul VI, John Paul I and the present pontiff), as well as the late Cardinal Jacques Martin (Prefect of the Papal Household during three pontificates), Mr. Noonan is now recognized at the leading Catholic heraldist of our own time. His select clients include cardinals, archbishops and bishops, and he had designed arms for basilicas, shrines, priests and minor prelates the world over. Mr. Noonan resides in Montgomery County Pennsylvania’s Gwynedd Valley.

Linda Nicholson, who expertly paints the heraldic arms designed by James-Charles Noonan, Jr., completes the partnership of this unique team in Church service. Nicholson’s talented renderings complement Noonan’s rich designs. She is a fellow of the prestigious Society of Heraldic Arts in England and paints the grants of arms for the Governor General of Canada and the British Crown. According to Noonan, "Linda Nicholson is one of the great heraldic painters of all ages and one of the few remaining experts in her craft". In addition to her artistic talents, Nicholson holds a Master’s Degree in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto.