Detroit -- When Archbishop Allen Vigneron was installed Jan. 28, his coat of arms were among the many things that received an update.
Now, since he is the Archdiocese of Detroit’s ordinary, the left half is the seal of the archdiocese. The right half remains his personal design.
The lower-right corner of the shield part of the coat of arms features a swan on alternating blue and white wavy lines, under a fleur-de-lis. That signifies the bishop’s background, his family living on Swan Creek since 1840. The fleur-de-lis honors not only Archbishop Vigneron’s French heritage, but the Blessed Mother in her title of the Immaculate Conception, and also his home parish, Immaculate Conception Parish in Ira Township.
Above that, in the upper right-hand corner of the blazon, in what’s called the “chief” part of the shield, is a bunch of purple grapes, with green stem and leaves, in a gold field. This also honors Archbishop Vigneron’s French heritage, as his name means “wine tender.”
The archbishop’s motto, “Aspicientes in Iesum,” “keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,” is at the bottom of his coat of arms. The phrase is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews (12:2).
The other ornamentation other than the actual seal are a gold processional cross behind the shield, and a pontifical hat, called a “gallero,” with ten tassels, in four rows, on either side of the shield, all in green. These symbols indicate the rank of bishop.
The left half of the shield, the seal of the archdiocese, honors Michigan’s spiritual father, St. Isaac Jogues, the Holy Trinity, and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the historic founder of Detroit. It’s divided by a black cross into four gold sections, the horizontal bar of the cross embellished with three gold stars, representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
A pair of antlers appears in the upper left section to represent the seal of Michigan and the shield of St. Isaac Jogues; black and gold are also the color of St. Isaac Jogues’s shield. The other three sections of the left half feature black martlets, mythical birds that appear on Cadillac’s shield.
