A story in image: The coat of arms of the bishops of Corpus Christi (Part 1)

From ancient Roman times insignias were used on shields to identify military units. However, over the ages such images became means of recognizing families and individuals in unique heraldic designs.

In this spirit, bishops of the Catholic Church have adopted such coat of arms and mottoes to celebrate their ancestry or formational background as well as elements of the teachings of Christ to which they were especially dedicated.

The bishops of Corpus Christi have followed in that tradition. The coat of arms of each prelate offers insights into their personal histories, and the motto inscribed for each reflects an important truth of the faith that is a source of inspiration and direction to their lives and ministry.

In 1952-53 the city of Corpus Christi, incorporated in 1852, and the parish of the Corpus Christi Cathedral, founded in 1853 as St. Patrick’s parish in the Diocese of Galveston, prepared to celebrate their centennials. Bishop Mariano S. Garriga chose to mark the occasion of a “Century of Sacrifice” by consecration of the Cathedral.

The bishop prepared for the anniversary by dressing the interior of the Cathedral with stenciling, paintings, mosaics and extensive stain glass windows in the north and south walls of the church. The lessons on the Eucharist (Corpus Christi) enshrined in the large stain glass windows also contained the coat of arms of bishops and popes from the beginning of the Vicariate in 1874 to the consecration in 1952.

Bishop Manucy

On the north wall in the “Sacrifice of Abraham” can be found the earliest of those insignias–the coat of arms of Bishop Dominic Manucy. When the Diocese of Galveston, which embraced all of inhabited Texas, was first divided in 1874, the western section became what was then known as the Diocese of San Antonio and the southern section became the Vicariate of Brownsville and Father Manucy was appointed bishop. He came to south Texas in 1875 and ultimately chose to reside in Corpus Christi rather than Brownsville.

Bishop Manucy’s coat of arms depicts a sky blue field with a heavenly messenger who displays the cross as the sign through which a Christian can overcome all obstacles. The motto “In hoc signo vinces” (In this sign you will conquer) recalls the story of Roman Emperor Constantine I who learned in a dream in which Christ explained that Constantine should use the sign of the cross against his enemies.

Bishop Verdaguer

Bishop Peter Verdaguer succeeded Bishop Manucy as bishop of Brownsville in 1891, and his coat of arms can be found in the Cathedral stain glass entitled “The Sacrifice of Melchisedech”. The motto “Speravi in Te, Domine” (I have hoped in you, Lord) is found in such scripture as Psalm 71–“In you, O Lord, have I put my hope”.

The coat of arms features the anchor (the traditional symbol of hope) on a sea of blue and over this symbol is the Sacred Heart of Christ on fire with love for mankind and crowned with thorns as a sign of His sacrificial love in which we place our hope. The Sacred Heart is set on a field of violet–the color of Lenten penance and the passion.

Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical on the Sacred Heart in 1899 prior to also urging the consecration of the whole world to the Sacred Heart in the Jubilee Year of 1900. After reading the encyclical, Bishop Verdaguer promulgated his own letter in 1899 echoing the pope’s wishes for the consecration of the human race “to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Bishop Nussbaum

After the death of Bishop Verdaguer, the Holy Father decided that the Vicariate had grown sufficiently to warrant the establishment of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in 1912. He appointed a young Passionist priest, Paul Nussbaum, C.P., to be the first bishop.

The coat of arms of Bishop Nussbaum which appears in the stain glass “The Manna in the Desert” contains on the left side the coat of arms of the newly erected Diocese of Corpus Christi–three ciborium (the vessels for holding the Eucharistic Body of Christ) on a field of red that represent the sacrifice of Christ who gave himself Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.

To the right on the seal is Bishop Nussbaum’s coat of arms. The top half of his seal holds the symbol of the Passionist Congregation of which he was a member. This symbol chosen by St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Congregation, includes the branches of the palm and olive. The palm branch is a reminder of the Passion of Christ and his victory over sin and death. The olive branch is a reminder of his title as the Christ (the anointed one) since olive oil was used to make chrism by which the chosen were anointed. Inside the heart (surmounted by a cross) are the words “Jesu XPI (short for “Christi”) Passio”, i.e. the Passion of Jesus Christ.

The lower half of Bishop Nussbaum’s personal coat of arms contains a “walnut tree”—the meaning of his name “Nussbaum” (remember the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum”—a “fir tree” and hence the kind of evergreen tree used for a Christmas tree). The motto of Bishop Nussbaum, “Passio Christi in Corporibus Nostris” refers to the words of St. Paul and reminds the members of the Passionist Congregation that we bear “the passion of Christ in our bodies”.

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the coat of arms of the bishops of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.)