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The coat of arms of Christ Church (Episcopal) in Alto, Tennessee Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
I saw the most unusual post recently in Facebook's Ecclesiastical Heraldry group which immediately caught my attention. While Roman Catholic heraldry usually dominates group discussion, I tend to perk up whenever the focus shifts to Episcopal Church heraldry. This special posting began as a mystery, but one wrapped as a gift to me from the heraldic gods.
Based on data in my ongoing project collecting both US scholastic and heraldry from the Episcopal Church, I offer a few data-informed insights to help us understand the design rationale and identify the designer of the arms for Christ Church (Episcopal) in Alto, TN.
Abstract Clues
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Needlepoint cushion depicting the arms of Christ Church Alto, TN Image source: Facebook Ecclesiastical Heraldry Group |
The cleric posting his query is resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and was seeking insight regarding a coat of arms for a parish in his diocese which closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Immediately, wheels began turning and I started thinking critically about this unusual design for a parish coat of arms in the Episcopal Church. I assert that Dr. J. Waring McCrady (b.1938) from The University of the South designed the arms for Christ Church in Alto during the late 20th century.
Allow me to cite my data.
Clue #1 - Location
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Christ Church located in Alto, Tennessee Image Source: Parish Facebook page |
I knew somewhere in my past that I was familiar with the parish in question. I've heard the name many times.
Christ Church located in Alto, Tennessee lies at the base of the Holy Mountain where the Domain of my alma mater Sewanee: The University of the South dominates the landscape. The University and its School of Theology are but a stone's throw from where Christ Church is located. Also, both university and parish are situated within the bounds of the Diocese of Tennessee. When I was a seminarian at Sewanee, I recall many classmates attending Christ Church which frequently was supplied by ordained faculty members from the School of Theology.
It would not be out of the question for Dr. McCrady to design arms for a nearby parish. However, I have not seen or discovered any parish arms designed by the French professor and this fact did give me pause when attributing him as the designer.
Note the bell tower in the photograph above which likely explains the bell in the base of the parish arms.
Yet, we know McCrady designed corporate arms for others outside of the university due to his status as the former chair of the Advisory Committee on Heraldry. General Convention (1982) notes that the General Convention in 1982 gave the Presiding Bishop authorization to create this new advisory group concerning matters of church heraldry; however Wright (2005) reveals the committee met only once and without minutes or records from the discussion.
One example of McCrady's work outside of Sewanee can be found in the arms of the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, adopted by the see in 1971.
McCrady's blazon for the arms of the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast: "Barry wavy of seven Or and Azure, an anchor in pale Gules; on a chief of the third a dove descending Proper between two saltires couped of the first" (Diocese of Central Gulf Coast, n.d.).
Clue #2 - The Pale
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Quilted processional banner of arms of Christ Church Alto, TN Image Source: Facebook Ecclesiastical Heraldry Group |
The Facebook post contained two images of the parish coat of arms--a needlepoint cushion and a quilted processional banner. When I began comparing the two images, I noticed that the pale on the banner was not entirely in gold which seemed rather odd and out of place.
Below is my rendering of how the processional banner should appear if my guess regarding a solid gold pale is correct. I continue to follow Pierre de Chaignon la Rose's (1872-1941) design methods for processional banners, which I call processional banners of arms. Click here to see more examples of la Rose's design method for processional banners.
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Processional banner of arms, Christ Church in Alto, TN Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
Thinking more about what I was seeing on the needlepoint cushion led me to believe that the banner's rendering must have been the result of an artistic error. The cushion seemed correct in my mind, and immediately raised questions about the third clue staring me in the face.
Clue #3 - Counterchanging
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L-R: Arms of The University of the South, Christ Church Alto, TN, and The School of Theology Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
When tertiary charges, or elements, of the same metal or color are placed over an ordinary, the designer has to make a decision in order to avoid violating the rule of tincture. In other words, metal cannot be placed upon another metal and the same goes for colors.
Why? Simple.
If you're standing on a 13th century European battlefield as a knight covered in metal armor from head to toe, those abstract designs painted on shields offer the only identification of friend or foe. Gold and silver might not contrast enough on a shield, for example, and failure to notice the difference could mean life or death. Therefore, we avoid using color on color and metal on metal even in the 21st century.
In preparation for the University of the South's 125th anniversary celebration, McCrady's designs for new arms identifying the university, its undergraduate college, and the seminary were adopted in 1983. Click here to read my article on the heraldry of the University of the South. His design work prominently featured the newly created Sewanee tressure unifying all three coats of arms.
McCrady (1983) offers the following blazons for the arms of the University of the South and its School of Theology:
"Blazon for the arms of The University of the South: Purpure, a cross pall Or overall a double tressure long-crossed and counter long-crossed counterchanged (known as the Sewanee tressure).
"Blazon for the arms of The School of Theology, University of the South: Gules on a cross Or surmounted by a Sewanee tressure counter-changed a crossed fleam Sable" (30).
As seen in the illustration above, when the Sewanee tressure is overlaid upon the ordinary in the arms of the university and the seminary, McCrady counterchanges the colors to avoid violating the rule of tincture. It is a bit decadent, I believe, and I can only recall McCrady employing this technique within both US scholastic and Episcopal Church heraldry. I won't lie when I say it took weeks to figure out how to digitally create this counterchanged Sewanee tressure in Adobe Illustrator.
Thanks be to God for clipping masks...
The counterchanged chevron and corresponding cross crosslets fitchy hightened my suspicion of a McCrady design for a parish. I felt as though I was on the verge of actually seeing one and having data supporting my theory.
One final clue helped put matters to rest regarding the parish arms.
Clue #4 - Corporate Unification
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The coat of arms of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
McCrady's designs for the University of the South continue a proud, albeit small, tradition in American heraldry of illustrating unification in corporate arms. Two early examples of unification in arms can be found for both Episcopal Church and US scholastic heraldry in the early 20th century.
US scholastic heraldry produced its first example to illustrate unification not long after la Rose's work in Quincy, seen on the campus of Kenyon College in Ohio.
Click here to learn about The Rev. Canon Watson's designs for Kenyon College and its seminary.The idea of abstractly creating a charge or design element that could be used to show unification between the corporate sole and its foundation(s) was important, it seems, to McCrady. The sprigs of wheat in the arms of Christ Church
likely hold dual references--geographical and unification. Let me explain.
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Arms of Christ Church (Episcopal) in Alto, TN Rendered by Chad Krouse
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The best corporate heraldry, in my opinion, follows a carefully constructed framework producing bespoke identification for the organizational bearer of those arms. Geographical location, topographical features, saintly dedication, and even local history provide important building blocks when designing corporate coats of arms.
The seal of the State of Tennessee, as well as the arms of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, feature the garb of wheat within their design. I believe McCrady used these sprigs of wheat in the arms of Christ Church Alto to illustrate 1) the rural/agricultural landscape surrounding the parish, and 2) identify it as a parish church in the State and Diocese of Tennessee.
Following McCrady's blazon he constructed for the arms of the University of the South, I offer the following:
Blazon for the arms of Christ Church Episcopal in Alto, TN: Vert, on a pale Or surmounted by a chevron Argent counterchanged Sable and charged with three cross crosslets fitchy counterchanged a bell in base of the field between two sprigs of wheat Or.
What a gift to discover a parish coat of arms by McCrady illustrating parish unification with its diocese. So far, this new find represents a first to illustrate such unification and clearly got me excited. Kindly let me know your thoughts.
Works Cited
General Convention (1982). Journal of the 67th General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Seabury Professional Services.
McCrady, J. W. (1983). After 125 years completing the university's heraldry. The Sewanee News, 49(1), 29-30.