Bishops' coats of arms

[didymus]

From looking at different diocese’s websites I’ve noticed that all the bishops’ coats of arms have one feature in common; the wide-brimmed hat with the long, six-tasseled cord.
Two examples:

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/FRONTD%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpghttp://www.dio.org/images/stories/bishop/lucas-own-coat.jpg
Diocese of Arlington, Va.

http://www.dioceseofraleigh.org/images/photo_burbidgeshield_color.jpg
Diocese of Raleigh, NC

Any idea what it is, stands for, &c? And is it the Bishop’s coat of arms or the diocese’s?

 

[yinekka]

The hat is called a galero and it used to be given to a bishop/cardinal when they were elevated to the position. The galero used to be hung in the sanctuary of the cathedral when the bishop/cardinal died and it stayed there until it fell apart.

The tassels indicate rank - 15 on each side for a cardinal, 7 for a bishop, 6 for a monsigneur, 2 for a priest.

The shield can be divided into halves or quarters. If halves the left side usually consists of the arms of the diocese and the right half the bishop’s arms.

If you go to the dioceses there is usually an explanation of the meaning of the coat of arms.

The coat of arms isn’t compulsary. The late Cardinal Lustinger didn’t have a coat of arms.

 

[chicago]

Also the color of the hat and tassels corresponds to their “rank”. Black for a priest, green for a bishop/archbishop, red for a cardinal.

Typically (though priests, bishops, cardinals are entitled to a gallero), they are rarely owned or worn nowadays. But it still remains as a common testimony and sign on heraldry and shields as a longstanding recognizable symbol.

 

[Kanda]

Here is one that doesn’t have the hat/tassels:

dsj.org/about/coa.asp

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Here is one that doesn’t have the hat/tassels:

dsj.org/about/coa.asp

Note that this is for the diocese, not for the bishop. For the bishop it will be combined with his arms and the hat and tassels added.

 

[Cat]

Here’s another hat:

rockforddiocese.org/bishop/Default.htm

 

[didymus]

Thanks for all the replies. Here is the CofA for the Diocese of Albany:

http://rcda.org/images/logo.gif

Sorry it’s so small but that’s all that’s on the diocesan website. Don’t ask me why a beaver is holding a crozier.

http://rcda.org/index.html

 

[bpbasilphx]

The reason for the bishop’s galero being green (actually green and gold in modern use) is that it’s the heraldic color of the episcopacy.

And the reason for THAT is that once upon a time, bishops wore forest green cassocks.

 

[Leopard]

Thanks for all the replies. Here is the CofA for the Diocese of Albany:

http://rcda.org/images/logo.gif

Sorry it’s so small but that’s all that’s on the diocesan website. Don’t ask me why a beaver is holding a crozier.

http://rcda.org/index.html

From the Diocese of Albany’s web site:

A BRIEF HISTORY

No one knows the name of the first Catholic to set foot in what is now the Albany Diocese. That’s because the history of Catholicism in the region begins far earlier than the official creation of the Diocese on April 23, 1847.

That first footstep could have been taken by one of the anonymous Irish monks who, many historians believe, sailed the North Atlantic long before Christopher Columbus. But it’s doubtful that those visitors, if they got to North America at all, ventured so far inland. Maybe it was a French voyageur from Canada, canoeing down the Hudson to Beverwyck in search of fur…

It seems obvious that the beaver is a reference to the diocese’s origins.