Joseph Vincent Sullivan

JOSEPH VINCENT SULLIVAN

Born : August 15, 1919
Deceased : September 4, 1982

Auxiliary Bishop of Kansas City St Joseph, 1967-1974
Bishop of Baton Rouge, 1974-1982

Auxiliary Bishop of Kansas City St Joseph

Bishop of Baton Rouge

Official blazon

(personal arms) Per fess, the base per pale, in chief azure two lions rampant respectant or, supporting a crescent argent: in the dexter base or the last a carpenter's square as a chevron between in chief two quill pens, one bendwise sinister the other bendwise, and in base a hammer, all gules; in the sinister base of the last a garb or wheat or the second. Motto: SERVIAM.

Origin/meaning

As common in US episcopal heraldry, the arms show the arms of the diocese impaled with the personal arms of the bishop.

The lions in the chief are taken from the arms of an Irish Sullivan family and thus represent the family name of the bishop. They hold a crescent as a symbol for St. Mary, but the crescent is, in British family heraldry, also a differentiation for the second son of a family. Here it symbolises the fact that his native State of Missouri is the second state (Louisiana was the first) formed out of an area not in the original territorial limits or the United States. The crescent appears also as a prominent charge on the Missouri State seal. Finally, as a symbol of Mary, it recalls that the Bishop was ordained in the Cathedral or the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City.

The lower half shows symbols of the Bishop's baptismal patron St. Joseph: a carpenter's square and a hammer. The quill pens refer to the Office of Chancellor which Bishop Sullivan has held for almost 10 years.

The garb is taken from the arms of some Welsh Prosser family and symbolise the family name of the bishop's mother. Wheat is also a symbol or the Holy Eucharistas well as symbolic of the agricultural nature or the State or Missouri.

The motto "SERVIAM", recalls Our Lady who served Our Lord in His life on earth and reiterates the Vatican Council's stress on the service of the clergy.

Literature:

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