Coat of Arms
Coat of Arms of the Most Reverend Brendan John Cahill, STD
VII Bishop of Joliet, Illinois
Coat of Arms Background
The episcopal heraldic achievement, or bishop’s coat of arms, is composed of a shield, which is the central and most important part of the design and communicates to whom the design belongs, the external ornamentation, which tells the owner’s position or rank, and a motto, placed upon a scroll. By heraldic tradition, the design is described (blazoned) as if being done by the bearer with the shield being worn on the arm. Thus, where it applies the terms “sinister” and “dexter” are reversed as the design is viewed from the front. For the bishop of a diocese, known as an Ordinary, his personal arms are joined (impaled) with the arms of his jurisdiction, in this case the Diocese of Joliet.
Blazon Description
Arms impaled, in the dexter: Azure, between two fleurs-de-lis and issuant from a trimount in base a cross throughout wavy all Or, overall, at the center of the cross a square Or charged with a crescent inverted checky Sable and Or. (Diocese of Joliet); in the sinister: Per fess, in chief, again per fess the chief Azure, a whale spouting water Argent; in the middle, gyronny of six Vert and Argent; in base, Gules, a lion rampant between two swords, points upwards, all Argent (Bishop Cahill). The achievement is ensigned with an episcopal cross Or behind the shield and a bishop’s galero Vert cords and twelve tassels disposed in three rows of one, two and three all Vert. On a scroll below the shield the motto: “Cor Mundum Crea In Me, Deus.”
Coat of Arms Significance
For his personal arms, seen in the dexter impalement (right side) of the design, Bishop Cahill combines symbols that are meaningful to him reflecting his heritage and family.
The upper half of the design is divided horizontally into two halves to represent the two branches of the Cahill family. The upper portion (i.e. “in chief”) is blue and displays a silver (white) whale and the lower portion is composed of six triangles in the two alternating colors of green and silver (white). The lower part (“in base”) of the Bishop’s personal arms is red and displays a lion rampant, reared up on his hind legs, between two swords, all in silver (white). This represents the Bishop’s mother’s side of the family, the Dempseys.
For his motto, His Excellency, Bishop Cahill has adopted the Latin phrase: COR MUNDUM CREA IN ME, DEUS. This phrase, from Psalm 51, expresses Bishop Cahill’s deep confidence in the mercy of God. St. Augustine wrote that this penitential Psalm reminds us that no sin is too great for God to forgive and God’s desire is to continually create anew. The phrase prayed every Friday morning in the Liturgy of the Hours, translates in English as “Create in me a clean heart Oh God.”
The shield is also ensigned with those external ornaments that indicate the bearer is a bishop. The gold (yellow) cross is placed vertically behind and extending above and below the shield. This is often mistakenly thought to be a processional cross like those used in liturgical processions. However, in former times archbishops, and later all bishops, had a cross mounted on a staff carried immediately in front of them while in procession or on solemn occasions. This cross was a symbol of their rank as bishop. While such an episcopal cross is no longer used practically it has been retained heraldically. In fact, there are other clerics who make use of the ecclesiastical hat with its many tassels but the one true heraldic emblem of a bishop, and the only essential one, is the episcopal cross placed behind the shield.
Above the shield is the ecclesiastical hat, called a galero which, in heraldry, replaces the martial helmet, mantling and crest. “The hat with six pendant tassels (green, purple or black) on each side is universally considered in heraldry as the sign of prelacy. It, therefore, pertains to all who are actually prelates.” (Heim, Bruno B., Heraldry in the Catholic Church 1978, page 114) The galero is green with green cords pendant from it and twelve green tas-sels arranged in a pyramid shape on either side of the shield. At one time in history bishops and archbishops wore green before adopting the more Roman purple we see today. In heraldry the green hat and tassels was retained for prelates with the rank of bishop according to the Instruction of the Secretariat of State, “Ut Sive” of March 1969.
The existing armorial bearings of Bishop Cahill were marshaled to those of the Diocese of Joliet and emblazoned by the Rev. Guy Selvester, a priest of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, October 2026.
