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Saturday, January 25, 2025

Arms for an Episcopal Priest

The personal arms of the Rev. Garron Daniels, OCS impaled with the new arms of his parish
Both arms designed and rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
Recently, I had the privilege for the first time to design arms for an Episcopal priest.  Not only was I able to convince this cleric to assume personal arms, I was able to design arms for his parish church too.  The illustration above shows this new heraldic relationship by impaling the arms of the rector with those of his parish.  

I'm honored to share my design of a coat of arms recently assumed by the Rev. Garron Daniels, OCS


The newly assumed arms of the Rev. Garron Daniels, OCS
Designed and rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Arms: Argent, on a fess Sable two Mayflowers (epigaea repens) Argent barbed Vert charged with a fleur-de-lis Azure debruised by a pile Azure thereon a dove descending Argent haloed Or;

Motto: Dum Spiro Spero, Latin, “while I breathe, I hope.”

Design Rationale: The new armiger is an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, and referenced through the clerical color of black for the fess. The fess is charged with two Mayflowers (epigaea repens) honoring the armiger’s ancestor, William Bradford (1590-1657), who emigrated from England and arrived at Plymouth Colony aboard the Mayflower in 1620. 

The Mayflowers are charged with a fleur-de-lis representing not only the City of St. Louis where his ministry began, but also his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Additionally, the fleur-de-lis is used as the crest in the armiger’s order, the Order of Christ the Savior (OCS).  The blue pile represents the limitless heavens above as the dove of peace descends offering grace, healing, and hope in the world today.

The motto is attributed to King Charles the Martyr, representing another saintly model for the armiger.  The external ornament of a black galero, black and white cords pendant with a single tassel follow the guidance set forth in the Earl Marshal’s Warrant of 1976 which codified the use of ecclesiastical hats in the arms of clergy in the Church of England.

Designer: Chad M. Krouse, EdD Richmond, Virginia

Date: 10 January 2025

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Recent Finds Part III

Coat of arms, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA
Coat of arms, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
Finding well done US corporate heraldry on the Internet continues to inspire me--it's somewhat coincidental that the majority of arms found are from parishes in the Episcopal Church.  I will change up my keyword searches for some variety down the road.  I've included a few of my favorites from the latest batch which I've rendered, staying as faithful as I can to the images in the absence of blazons.

First up, St. Luke's in Baton Rouge.  For St. Luke's the "bordure" is the Diocese of Louisiana.  Clear, clean, and well done heraldry.  

Coat of arms, Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Thomaston, ME
Coat of arms, Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Thomaston, ME
Rendered by Chad Krouse

The coat of arms of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Thomaston, Maine was a fun discovery.  It's a coastal town, hence the fountain and the use of the Amalfi cross for John the Baptist is spot on too.  A lovely and simple design.   

Coat of arms, St. James Episcopal Church, Zanesville, OH
Coat of arms, St. James Episcopal Church, Zanesville, OH
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

The coat of arms of St. James Episcopal Church in Zanesville, Ohio avoided the traditional arrangement of three escallops, opting for one shell charged on a sword.  I think the sword references the city's role in hosting scores of Union troops during the Civil War.

Coat of arms, St. Peter's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Bayshore, NY
Coat of arms, St. Peter's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Bayshore, NY
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

One more red shield, but oh boy it's a good one.  The coat of arms of St. Peter's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Bayshore, NY nailed it by using the traditional crossed keys of St. Peter in an original way.  In fact, I would venture to say that this may be the best heraldic identification for a parish dedicated to Peter that I've seen. 

Coat of arms, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Walla Walla, WA
Coat of arms, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Walla Walla, WA
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Here's another splendid variation on a saint's attributed arms--the coat of arms of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Walla Walla, Washington.  I'm guessing with the Columbia River nearby, the barry wavy readily explains itself as does the sword in pale with point to base (for St. Paul).  Original heraldry!

Coat of arms, Christ Church, Pelham, NY
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
The next two examples are rather interesting.  The arms on the left for Christ Church Pelham, NY can be seen in one of the parish's stained glass windows; however, a processional banner and current wordmarks show the arms on the right.  My guess is that the canton was not popular enough to stand the test of time.  

Coat of arms, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Southern Pines, NC
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
The exact same issue occurs with the coat of arms of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Southern Pines, NC.  The arms on the left can be found in one of the stained glass windows of the church, in addition to a processional banner actively used!  I believe the stained glass version includes the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ child in pale.  Yet, the arms on the right are used in marketing word marks to identify the parish.  I believe the flowers are dogwood flowers--the official flower of the State of North Carolina.  However, without a blazon, its anyones guess.  Still, nice arms.

Both of these latter examples show how two parish coats of arms have seemingly evolved over time--likely those rendered in stained glass were the original arms only to be amended in time.  Why?  Possibly due to a parish leader's belief that "more" is needed in the design in order for the arms to be "more" dignified.  Both arms in stained glass, in my opinion, are perfectly acceptable.  

Finding Patterns in Temple's Heraldry

Four ecclesiastical coats of arms by Col. Harry D. Temple
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
click to enlarge

Searching the Internet for what I deem to be "good" US corporate heraldry has yielded quite a few finds.  For this article, I want to highlight a few themes (or patterns) in the data so far likely identifying the designer.

Col. Harry D. Temple (1911-2004) was a proliferate heraldic designer in the Episcopal Church, active from the mid-to-late twentieth century.  While he was head of the US Army's Institute on Heraldry, he must have been a devout Episcopalian given the sheer volume of arms he produced for cathedrals and parishes.  To date, I've only discovered two coats of arms for Episcopal dioceses designed by Temple--Virginia and Georgia.  The Diocese of Virginia, however, plays an integral part in one theme under examination here.  

Coat of arms of Christ Church in Alexandria, VA
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

The chief of St. George, argent a cross throughout gules, is seen in two known arms by Temple as illustrated above in the top row--Diocese of Virginia and Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville, KY.  Two designs that I found recently play perfectly into this design scheme, St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg and Christ Church Alexandria, both in Northern Virginia.  In these two later coats of arms, we see Temple adding differencing marks in the chief for variation.  Due to Christ Church's geographic location in Washington, DC, the undifferenced arms of Washington are used in chief--kind of brilliant I think.

Blazon for the arms of Christ Church Alexandria:  Azure, three lymphads Or on a chief Argent two bars and three mullets in chief Gules. 

Coat of arms of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg, VA
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

St. James' avoids using the traditional three escallops and places one at fesspoint on the chief.  The checky base comes from the Lee arms to play on the geographic location of the parish    

Blazon for the arms of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg, VA:  Checky Or and Azure, on a chief Ermine a cross throughout Gules charged at fesspoint with an escallop Or.  

I feel very confident attributing the designs of Christ Church and St. James to Temple--once a designer has developed her or his framework for illustrating unification and differencing, those designs tend to be repeated and variated throughout their work.  I learned this lesson through my research on Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941).

Another example of Temple's framework showing unification through the canton
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024

Another example of Temple's framework for showing unification can be shown above in the arms of Augustine Parish (left) and Trinity Cathedral (right) in the Diocese of Easton.  

Temple's framework using the canton for differencing
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Temple also used the canton for differencing and/or to provide additional historical facts/names/etc. for the corporate arms in question.  Here we see (left) Cathedral of St. James in South Bend, IN, (center) St. Luke's Cathedral in Orlando, FL, and (right) the retired arms of St. Paul's Parish in Richmond, VA.

Likely another example of Temple's framework for unification
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Finally, I'm currently on the hunt for evidence to support my hypothesis that these two arms were designed by Temple.  First, the canton raised my suspicion followed by the "bordure" of the arms of the diocese where the parish is located--Central Gulf Coast (left) and New Hampshire (right).  The cantons, here, provide additional geographic references--the star for Texas and the chevron between three estoiles refers to the arms of the Earls of Peterborough.

I love finding patterns in data, especially in heraldry.  Yes imitations exist, but more often than not, a designer's framework is easily recognizable once understood.  More to come. 

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Scouting Medals

Scouting medals earned by the author
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
One more off-topic post.  After I shared my renderings of various medals from orders and societies I belong to, a old Scouting buddy asked why not do Scouting medals as well.  Well, here goes.  Knowing the hard time I always get from this friend, I'll most likely get a "meh."

Above L-R:  Eagle Scout Award, God and Country (Episcopal), and the Kanawha Trace medal for completing the trail.

Kanawha Trace Medal
Kanawha Trace Medal
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025
Perhaps the unusual medal in the trio above is that of the Kanawha Trace.  Conceived in the 1950s, the Kanawha Trace is an incredible 31.68 trail located near Huntington, West Virginia as an hiking and backpacking outlet for Boy Scouts.  My Exploring Post was the inheritor of maintaining the trail and finisher medals were awarded to those scouts and explorers completing the trail.  My Eagle Scout project was even completed on the "trace."  I have lots of fond memories there.  Nowadays, there is a burgeoning trail running club hosting all manner of competitions along the Trace and keeping its pathways in constant use.  Please click here for more information on the Kanawha Trace.

BSA Exploring G.O.L.D. Award
BSA's Exploring G.O.L.D. Award
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Lastly, I've rendered the old Exploring G.O.L.D. Award which was phased out not long after I earned it in 1998.  The medal hangs from a white neck ribbon.  I received my Eagle Scout Award as an Explorer and received the G.O.L.D. Award during my Court of Honor.