page_title: Ecclesiastical heraldry
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ecclesiastical heraldry / History
caption_attribution_description: English: See Luther_rose
context_page_description: Ecclesiastical heraldry refers to the use of heraldry within the Christian Church for dioceses and Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses. It is most formalized within the Catholic Church, where most bishops, including the Pope, have a personal coat of arms. Clergy in Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches follow similar customs, as do institutions such as schools and dioceses.
  Ecclesiastical heraldry differs notably from other heraldry in the use of special insignia around the shield to indicate rank in a church or denomination. The most prominent of these insignia is the low crowned, wide brimmed ecclesiastical hat, commonly the Roman galero. The color and ornamentation of this hat indicate rank. Cardinals are famous for the "red hat", while other offices and churches have distinctive colors of hat, such as black for priests and green for bishops, customarily with a defined number of tassels that increases with rank.
  Other insignia include the processional cross, and the episcopal mitre and crosier.
context_section_description: Heraldry developed in medieval Europe from the late 11th century, originally as a system of personal badges of the warrior classes, which served, among other purposes, as identification on the battlefield. The same insignia were used on seals to authenticate documents. The earliest seals bore a likeness of the owner of the seal, with his shield and heraldic insignia included. In time the seals were reduced to only their shields.
  The Catholic Church likewise identified the authenticity and ownership of documents and buildings with seals, which were ordinarily enclosed in a pointed ovular shape denominated a "vesica piscis", or simply "vesica", to distinguish them from the circular seals of secular use. King Edward I of England decreed in 1307 that all legal documents required a seal. These seals originally depicted a person, but as secular seals began to depict only shields, clergy likewise used seals with heraldic insignia. Personal seals of bishops and abbots continued to be used posthumously, and gradually became the impersonal seals of dioceses. Clergy tended to replace martial devices with clerical devices. The shield was retained, but ecclesiastical hats often replaced helmets and coronets. In some religious arms a skull replaced the helmet to symbolize mortality.
  Ecclesiastical heraldry developed significantly in the 17th century when a system for ecclesiastical hats that is attributed to Pierre Palliot came into use. The full system of emblems around the shield was regulated in the Catholic Church by the letter of Pope Pius X Inter multiplices curas of 21 February 1905, while the Heraldry Commission of the Roman Curia regulated composition of the shield itself until Pope John XXIII abolished the body in 1960. The Annuario Pontificio ceased to publish the arms of cardinals and previous popes after 1969. International custom and national law govern some aspects of ecclesiastical heraldry, but composition of shields is now mostly guided by expert advice. Archbishop Bruno Heim, a noted ecclesiastical armorist, i. e., designer of arms, stated that:
  Ecclesiastical heraldry is not determined by heraldic considerations alone, but also by doctrinal, liturgical and canonical factors. It not only produces arms denoting members of the ecclesiastical state but shows the rank of the bearer. ... In the eyes of the Church it is sufficient to determine who has a right to bear an ecclesiastical coat of arms and under what conditions the different insignia are acquired or lost... . The design of prelatial arms is often a disastrous defiance of the rules of heraldry, if only as a breach of good taste.
  A similar system for the Church of England was approved in 1976. The traditions of Eastern Christian heraldry have less developed regulation. Eastern secular coats of arms often display a shield before a mantle topped with a crown. Eastern clergy often display coats of arms according to this style, replacing the crown with an appropriate hat drawn from liturgical use.
  Marking documents is the most common use of arms in the Church today. A Roman Catholic bishop's coat of arms was formerly painted on miniature wine barrels and presented during the ordination ceremony. Cardinals may place their coat of arms outside the church of their title in Rome. Impersonal arms are often used as the banner of a school or religious community.
caption: personal seal of Martin Luther from 1530, now a symbol of Lutheranism
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