Coats of arms date to the late 11th century in Europe. Their first use was on the battlefield so warriors could tell their comrades. The same insignia were used on seals to authenticate documents.

The Catholic Church also identified the authenticity and ownership of documents and buildings with seals. These originally depicted the likeness of a specific person, but as secular seals began to depict only shields, clerical seals did the same. 

Personal seals of bishops and abbots continued to be used after their deaths and gradually became the impersonal seals of dioceses. Clergy tended to replace images of war with clerical devices. The shield was retained, but helmets and coronets were replaced by ecclesiastical hats.

Today, a bishop’s episcopal heraldic achievement – a more formal term for a coat of arms – includes charges (symbols) with personal significance to him as well as symbols of his diocese. 

The symbols are displayed on a shield, which is the central and most important feature of any heraldic device. On Columbus Bishop-elect Earl Fernandes’ coat of arms and those of many bishops, the shield is divided in half, by a technique known as impaling, along the pale or central vertical line.

Below the shield is the bishop’s motto – usually a passage from Scripture – on a scroll. Bishop-elect Fernandes’ episcopal motto will be Veni Per Mariam – Latin for “Come Through Mary.” These words are taken from a famous short prayer of Servant of God Msgr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of the lay ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation, with which the bishop-elect is close.

The shield is surrounded by ornamentation that consists of a gold processional cross in back of and extending above and below the shield, and a pontifical hat called a galero, with six tassels in identical rows of one, two and three on either side of the shield, all in green. These heraldic insignia signify the rank of bishop.    

On Bishop-elect Fernandes’ coat of arms, the symbols of the diocese appear on the dexter side – the side of the shield to the viewer’s left, which would cover the right side (in Latin, dextera) of the person carrying the shield. The arms of the bishop are on the sinister side – the bearer’s left, the viewer’s right.

The diocesan half of the shield consists of a blue field or surface with wavy bars, the heraldic symbols of water, in the base. Water is a key symbol of baptism, and its presence is a reminder that the bishop is the primary sacramental minister in his diocese. The blue and white colors also recall Bishop-elect Fernandes’ close association with the Missionaries of Charity, founded by St. Teresa of Calcutta. 

The ancient sailing ship in silver (white) with the letter “M” in red on its sail represents the Santa Maria, the largest of the three ships that brought Christopher Columbus to the New World. Ohio’s capital city, the seat of the Columbus diocese, was named for the explorer when it was founded in 1812. The ship’s mast is topped by a gold cross. 

 The other side of the shield includes the bishop-elect’s personal coat of arms. On a golden field, there is a red chevron with three golden scallop shells and, at the base of the shield, a red plow.

The chevron is a heraldic device resembling an inverted “V” and is one of the oldest figures in heraldry. Frequently, in Church heraldry, it signifies the rafter that holds the roof of the church, signifying protection. The scallop shells, which also appear on the Fernandes family crest, symbolize the pilgrimage of the Church on earth. There are three to recall the Holy Trinity and baptism into the life of the Trinity.

The bishop-elect is the son of immigrants from India, a nation renowned for its tradition of peace and non-violence. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The red plow appears on the coat of arms of the archdiocese. It recalls the Roman hero Cincinnatus, who lived from about 519 to 430 B.C. and was asked by Rome’s senators to abandon the field he was plowing to lead the Roman soldiers against invaders. Besides this, the plow symbolizes peace, serenity and good works amid the beauty of creation.

Red is the color of charity and of blood, a symbol of the infinite love of the Father who sent His Son to shed His blood for our redemption and for the forgiveness of sins. Gold is the first among the “noble” metals (those resistant to corrosion) and is a symbol of the first virtue, faith, which helps us to understand the mystery of salvation.