Tod David Brown: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:51, 2 August 2023

TOD DAVID BROWN

Born : November 15, 1936
Deceased :

Bishop of Boise, 1989-1998
Bishop of Orange, 1998-2012

Bishop of Boise

Bishop of Orange

Official blazon

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 arms are composed of a silver field on which can be seen two gold mountains coming forth from a base that is wavy bars of blue and silver. The mountains are used to signify the various Coastal Ranges of California and the blue and silver wavy bars, the heraldic representation of water, is for the Pacific Ocean, at Monterey Bay and the Big Sur region of Coastal California. The water is also used to signify that the countries of the Bishop's ancestral heritage, Denmark, Ireland, England and the Azores, are all coastal countries. The water and the mountains are the major geographic features of the Diocese of Monterey that His Excellency had the honor to serve as a priest, Moderator for the Curia, Vicar General and Chancellor until his appointment to be Bishop of Boise.

Within the Diocese of Monterey is the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (Carmel Mission Basilica) which is the final resting place for Blessed Junipero Serra. Tradition had it that Father Serra used a rugged, wooden cross to aid in his evangelization of the California Native Americans. Such a cross has been placed at the center of Bishop Brown's design. The cross is represented in brown for the Bishop's surname.

The crescent is the classic symbol of St. Francis Xavier, a particular patron of the Bishop, that was also the titular of the church, in Seaside, California, where the Bishop was stationed at the time of his appointment to the Diocese of Boise.