Some Recent Emblazonments

Coat of arms, St. Francis de Sales Seminary in St. Francis, WI, designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Lots going on as spring is proving to be rather busy.  I want to quickly share a few emblazonments that I recently completed.  As a true novice messing around with digital artwork, I sincerely appreciate how Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941) reuses certain base charges throughout his heraldic work.

Regarding the arms of St. Francis de Sales Seminary (seen above), I sent multiple file versions to the school in appreciation for their assistance in my research.  Likewise, I did the same for the arms of St. John's Cathedral (seen below) and the rector was most appreciative.  It feels good to keep these works of art alive!  Enjoy.

Coat of arms, the American Heraldry Society.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, St. John's Cathedral and Parish, Quincy, IL designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, the Archdiocese of Chicago designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, the Archdiocese of Baltimore designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, Father Ryan Catholic High School, Nashville, TN designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, the St. George's Society of New York, devisal by the College of Arms.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, Mundelein College (now closed) in Chicago, IL designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Pro Fide: The Honour of a Lifetime

The arms of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

"The KING has been graciously pleased to sanction the following Promotions in, and Admissions to, the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem with effect from 4 April 2024 the date of His Majesty's sign-manual."  With those words published in the 19 April 2024 edition of The London Gazette, I found myself officially a member of the Order of St. John.  Even now, well over a week or more since the announcement, I still have moments of "that can't be true."  

True, though, it is.  

It is the honor of a lifetime, and one that I am humbled to accept--though my children haven't a clue as to what its all about!

Of course, there is a heraldic element in this as well.  To help curb my excitement, I spent some time studying the arms of US Priory which were granted by the College of Arms in 1996 in recognition of its elevation to a priory.  The 1996 grant effectively replaced an earlier grant from 1988--made to the "American Society of the Order of St. John."  

The main arms are simply blazoned, "Gules, a white cross throughout and in dexter canton the Royal badge proper."  Each priory is then differenced through an emblem placed at the fess point.  For the US Priory, it is, "on a roundel Azure a bald eagle head erased proper surrounded by thirteen mullets Argent."  

Coat of arms, the US Priory of the Order of St. John.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The Order has two mottos:  Pro Fide and Pro Utilitate Hominum.  These two mottoes are translated from Latin, "for the faith," and "in the service to humanity."  Noble goals for us to work towards.  

Coat of arms, the US Priory of the Order of St. John with mottos.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Funny aside.  I was invited to join the members' Facebook Group where I shared my emblazonments of the US Priory and received positive feedback.  However, my good deed sparked several requests for emblazonments of other priories! 

Banner, the US Priory of the Order of St. John.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

As my old mentor used to say, "no good deed goes unpunished."  Indeed.  Thankfully, the differencing of the arms for each priory is fairly simple and straightforward and I was able to make some happy new confreres.

Coat of arms, the Priory in Canada of the Order of St. John.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Coat of arms, the Priory in Australia of the Order of St. John.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024

Banner, the US Priory of the Order of St. John.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

In addition to the excitement surrounding the announcement, this year's investiture will be held at one of my favorite parishes, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York later this year.  My head continues to spin.

The Heraldry of England's Nazareth

The arms of the College of Guardians of the Holy House of Our Lady of Walsingham. 
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

During the Pandemic, I wrote a bit about the heraldry identifying "England's Nazareth," that holiest of places in England where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the Lady Richeldis.  Please click here to read my post on these arms.  As I continue to dabble in digital design, I thought it would be best to render the arms of the name of this blog's dedication.  More to point, I've never encountered a digital emblazonment for Walsingham and I rather liked the challenge to see what I could do.  

The arms of the Priory of Walsingham circa 1510 based on records indicating the blazon.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The emblazonment above is the earliest known coat from the Augustinian priory established in Walsingham.  The simple and clear arms are blazoned:  Argent, on a cross Sable five lilies slipped and seeded proper.

In 1945, a grant of arms was made to the College of Guardians of the Holy House of Our Lady Walsingham based on the historic coat borne by the Augustinians, albeit differenced of course.  Please click here to read more about the College's grant.  The College of Arms design is blazoned:  Argent, on a cross Sable five lilies slipped and seeded proper, on a canton Azure a holy house Or.

The biggest challenge in pulling these arms together is the image of the Holy House.  From the image below of the complete achievement (crest, arms, motto), I was able to get a basic sense of the layout and proportion, after all heraldic charges need not have too much detail.  And so I was able to render my own version of the Holy House following the spirit of the emblazonment above.  Naturally I had to render a proper banner of arms for the College.

Banner of arms (or armorial flag) for the College of Guardians.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

However, there are regulations for ecclesiastical flags laid down in the Earl Marshal's Warrant of 1938.  Thus, I've rendered this design based on a photograph I found.

Flag arranged based on the 1937 Earl Marshal's Warrant concerning flag design in the Church of England.  Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Finally, this post would not be complete without the arms of the Shrine's Restorer, The Rev. A. Hope Patten (1885-1958) after his bookplate.

The arms of the Shrine's Restorer, The Rev. A. Hope Patten (1885-1958) after an emblazonment on his bookplate.  Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Some Recent Shield Work

The arms of St. George's School (RI) designed by la Rose.  
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

I figured my rectangular-flag-shaped world needed some spice, and so we're now moving (albeit slowly) into proper shields.  Here are a few of my latest attempts.

The arms of Lancaster Catholic High School (PA) designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The coat of arms of Brooks School (MA) designed around 1932, a suspiciously la Rosian design.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of St. Vincent Archabbey (PA) designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of St. Mary's Abbey (NJ) designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of Harvard University.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of the Episcopal Church designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of St. Edward's Seminary (WA) designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of The Catholic University of America designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The former arms of Harvard Law designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of Harvard Business School designed by la Rose.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of former Calhoun College at Yale, both name and arms have since been retired by the university.  Designed by la Rose.  Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

A few arms not designed by la Rose:

The arms of Kenyon College in Ohio designed by The Rev. Canon Watson in 1908.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

The arms of Bexley Hall Seminary which was under Kenyon College in Ohio.  Designed by The Rev. Canon Watson in 1908.  Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024

The arms of the College of Guardians of the Holy House of Our Lady of Walsingham, granted by the College of Arms in 1945.  Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.