Very Rev Harry Entwistle: Coats of Arms

Church heraldist Fr Guy Selvester:

Above we see the coat of arms of the Very Rev. Harry Entwistle, recently appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia for former Anglicans who are now coming into union with the Roman Catholic Church.

These coats of arms were designed by Richard d’Apice of the Australian heraldry Society in consultation with me and rendered by Sandy Turnbull also of the Australian Heraldry Society.

The top image shows the personal arms of Fr. Entwistle which are composed of a hand grasping a fleur de lis taken from a personal crest of a family with the same name and from the same part of England and, on a red chief the cross of St. Chad because he attended St. Chad’s College in Durham for his formation. This is ensigned with a crozier as an indication of his rank as Ordinary of the jurisdiction. In fact, he will also be granted the use of pontifical insignia despite not being promoted to the rank of bishop in the Catholic Church. Just as Abbot’s also ensign their coats of arms with a veiled crozier as a sign of their jurisdiction as Ordinary of the their monastery so here we have employed the same symbol but without the sudarium (veil) attached as this is primarily a monastic symbol and would erroneously give the arms the appearance of those of an abbot. In addition, at the moment Fr. Entwistle, although empowered to exercise Ordinary jurisdiction still holds the rank of simple priest.

Following the precedent of the coats of arms of Vicars General and Episcopal in the Catholic Church who also exercise Ordinary jurisdiction but may not possess any rank higher than simple priest the arms are decorated with a black galero that has black cords and 12 tassels. As in the case of Vicars General and Episcopal who constitute a kind of “black prothonotary” by virtue of their jurisdiction the hat is black as befits a priests but has 12 tassels like other prelates. This is also the same kind of galero used by abbots as well.

The bottom image shows the arms of Fr. Entwistle impaled (i.e. joined together on one shield) with those of the Ordinariate (also designed by the same team mentioned above).

In the case of the other two Personal Ordinariates for former Anglicans in the world, The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for the UK and the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter for the USA, the Ordinary was promoted to the rank of Prothonotary Apostolic (i.e. the highest level of prelate addressed as “Reverend Monsignor”) shortly after being named Ordinary. If this happens for Fr. Entwistle then the galero would then be purple and the cords and 12 tassels red. The motto ”Par ce signe” (in French) is a dual allusion to the Entwistle family motto and the (St. Chad’s) cross as representative of the symbol which appeared to Constantine in the sky just before the Battle of Milvian Bridge against Maxentius on 28 October 312 and “in hoc signo” from the legend.