In according to the Roman Catholic Church heraldic tradition, the Coat of Arms of a Bishop is normally composed by: -a shield with its charges (symbols) coming from family, geographic,
religious and historical meanings and/or referred to the name of the Bishop; -a golden processional cross, with one traversal bar, to represent the rank of the Bishop, impaled (vertically) behind the shield;
-a green hat (galero) with 12 (six on each side) attached tassels, ordained 1; 2; 3; from the top; -a scroll with the motto, written generally in black, below everything.
Heraldic description (blazonry) of the Coat of Arms of Bishop Vira Arpondratana
Per Pale: 1st azure, a flame radiant or, surmounting an open book of the same, charged with the letters A and ? gules; 2nd argent, a fess
chequy sable and or between a seven points star azure and a mount of six coupeaux vert issuant from the base
Motto OMNIA FACIO PROPTER EVANGELIUM (1 Cor 9,23)
For his motto, Bishop Vira, has chosen
the words from the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians of St.Paul to mean that his pastoral plan is founded on the total adhesion to the message of love and salvation of the Gospel.
Interpretation The blue (azure)
symbolizes the separation from the worldly values and the ascent of the soul toward God, therefore the run of the spiritual Virtues which raise themselves from the things of the earth toward the incorruptibility of the sky. On
this background we see the flame radiant, symbol of the light which comes from God, from His Word here represented by the book of the Holy Scripture. The concept of the light wants also to recall the Lux Mundi seminary where
Msgr. Vira Arpondratna served as a teacher. The flame and the book are in gold (or) the metal most noble, the symbol of the first virtue, the Faith; indeed is by the Faith that we can totally understand the strength of the
guiding light which comes from God and from His Word. The letters Alpha and Omega are in red, the colour of love, the love of the Father for us.
The silver (argent) is the symbol of the transparency, then of the Truth
and Justice, fundamental dowries of the pastoral solicitude of the Bishop.
The star symbolizes Our Celestial Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; the chequy fess comes from the coat of arms of St.Xavier family, to remind the
name of the Bishop while the green mountains, in heraldic shape, want to underline the nature of the diocese of Chiang Mai.
|