Thomas Francis Markham

THOMAS FRANCIS MARKHAM

Born : March 22, 1891
Deceased : July 9, 1952

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, 1950-1952; Titular Bishop of Acalissus

Official blazon

Azure, on a cross engrailed or, a torteau inscribed with the letters IHS of the last between two fish naiant gules, on a chief of the second a demi-lion rampant issuant of the third.

MOTTO: Nil nisi Teipsum Domine.

Origin/meaning

The gold indented cross on a blue field symbolizes his ordination to the priesthood and also the College of the Holy Cross, of which he is a graduate. In the center of the cross the disc with the name of Jesus is the heraldic representation of the Holy Eucharist.

The two fish, red for martyrdom, are an heraldic device to represent St. Peter the Apostle. They stand for Bishop Markham's connection with St. Peter's Parish in Lowell, the parish of his birth and the parish to which he returned as pastor in 1942.

The chief displays a demi-lion in honor of Saint Mark and has been used in the Markham family for several centuries. The cross behind the shield is to show Bishop Markham's membership in the Knights of Malta, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.