Walter Philip Kellenberg

WALTER PHILIP KELLENBERG

Born : June 3, 1901
Deceased : January 11, 1986

Auxiliary Bishop of New York, 1953-1954
Bishop of Ogdensburg, 1954-1957
Bishop of Rockville Centre, 1957-1976

Auxiliary Bishop of New York	Bishop of Ogdensburg
Bishop of Rockville Centre

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 coat of arms of Bishop Kellenberg is based on the arms of a Kellenberg family (no relation to the bishop though), which has been differenced by changing the tincture of the field from black to green to recall Saint Patrick as the patron of the Bishop's native Archdiocese of New York, and to commemorate the eighteen years which the Bishop spent as a priest in Saint Patrick 's Cathedral.

The mountain in the base and the two ears of corn form canting arms which bear symbols for the name of the bearer, "Berg," the last syllable of Kellenberg, means mountain in German; and "Kern," the family name of the Bishop's mother, means an ear of corn.

A trinitarian number of ermine spots are charged on the mountain for patronage to His Eminence Cardinal Francis Spellman, whom Bishop Kellenberg served as Auxiliary Bishop.

The blue star between two like-tinctured piles (reversed triangular objects) on a silver field honors the Blessed Mother of God by her colors, blue and white. The star is the symbol of the Blessed Virgin under the title of Morning Star from her litany. This star also recalls Saint Mary's Cathedral in the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

The motto is taken from the hymn of first vespers in the new office of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady on August 15. It is translated: "Queen, guide me by thy light."

The achievement is completed with the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop by instruction of the Holy See, of March 1969, confirmed in March 2001.