Ecclesiastical heraldry
Coat of arms of Cardinal Agostino Bausa in
the courtyard of the archiepiscopal palace of
Florence
Ecclesiastical heraldry is the tradition of
heraldry developed by Christian clergy. Ini-
tially 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 bish-
ops, including the Pope, have a personal coat
of arms. Clergy
in Anglican, Lutheran,
Eastern Catholic, and Orthodox churches fol-
low similar customs, as do institutions such
as schools and dioceses.
Ecclesiastical heraldry differs notably
from other heraldry in the use of special in-
signia 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 or Scottish Geneva Bonnet. In
Scotland for example the Public Register of
Arms show Roman Catholic, presbyterian
Church of Scotland and Anglican Episcopali-
an clergy all using the wide brimmed, low
crowned hat. The color and ornamentation of
this hat carry indications of rank. Cardinals
are famous for the "red hat", but other offices
and other churches have distinctive hat col-
ors, customarily with a number of tassels in-
creasing with rank.
Other insignia include the processional
cross, the mitre and the crosier. Eastern tra-
ditions favor the use of their own style of
head gear and crosier, and the use of the
mantle or cloak rather than the ecclesiastical
hat. The motto and certain shapes of shields
are more common in ecclesiastical heraldry,
while supporters and crests are less common.
The papal coat of arms has its own heraldic
customs, primarily the Papal Tiara (or mitre),
the keys of Saint Peter, and the ombrellino
(umbrella). The arms of institutions have
slightly different traditions, using the mitre
and crozier more often than is found in per-
sonal arms, though there is a wide variation
in uses by different churches. The arms used
by organizations are cal