Saturday 30 May 2009

The Diocesan Coat of Arms

As promised earlier when we looked at Bishop Campbell's coat of arms, today we feature the diocesan coat of arms, which in recent months has been featuring ever more prominently both in the Cathedral and on diocesan documents. In the gold band at the top are a red rose representing Lancashire and symbols of water representing Cumbria (a reference to the Lake District). Below, on a dark blue background, a castle represents Lancaster and two fleur de lys, traditional symbols of Our Lady, are seen. A crozier (bishop's staff) is depicted, along with a mitre (bishop's hat) above the shield. Seemingly it is correct for diocesan arms to feature a mitre, but not usually for a bishop's personal coat of arms to do so.

In these warmer and brighter days, the main west doors of the Cathedral are open each day. The diocesan coat of arms makes a striking impression as people approach this entrance, and can easily be seen from the road below.

The Cathedral's version has a 3-D element to it (rather than simply being painted on something, the individual shapes have been cut out) and is a fine piece of work. It was produced for us by local artist Wendy Moore and made its first appearance on 1st May, just in time for Bishop Campbell's Mass of inauguration.