Michael Gerard Woost
MICHAEL GERARD WOOST
Born: September 17, 1958
Deceased:
Auxiliary bishop of Cleveland, 2022-present; Titular Bishop of Sertei
| English | blazon wanted |
Argent, a Cross emerging from a pile embowed reversed Or, charged in base with a closed book Gules, in dexter chief a gutté d’eau surmounted in bend sinister by a gutté de sang, and in sinister chief a tongue of flame proper.
Origin/meaning
The field is silver and gold (sic). Gold and silver have long been used to paint the crossed keys of Saint Peter, and thus have come to represent the Roman Pontiff and the Apostolic See. Bishops only exercise their ministry by “maintaining the bond of communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter,” the Pope.
This pile ending in a cross appears prominently on the coat of arms of the Discalced Carmelite order. While the Carmelite shield depicts this figure in brown (tenné) to recall the Carmelite habit, the gold in the Bishop’s coat of arms alludes to sand. The Bishop’s surname is an Anglicization of the German word wüst, meaning “wild,” which is itself derived from the German Wüste, a wilderness or desert.
In the top right corner of the shield appear two drops of liquid, painted red and blue: they are described as a drop of blood and a drop of water. Recalling the blood and water that flowed from the side of Christ when it was pierced by the soldier’s lance after his death, they symbolize the Divine Mercy and the sacramental grace that is given to each Christian by the sacraments, especially Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. Having celebrated these sacraments as a priest, and taught about them as a professor of Liturgical Theology, the Bishop is now given the responsibility to be the steward of this grace and the guardian of sacramental celebrations.
The book with the red cover trimmed in gold reminds the viewer of the typical design of liturgical books like the Roman Missal and the Lectionary, and recalls both his priestly ministry and his years of service as professor and as director of liturgy for St. Mary Seminary and for the Diocese of Cleveland. The clasps on the book also remind one of the books that contain the writings of the Church’s doctors and saints, and the prayers and devotions that foster the spiritual life of the faithful.
In the top left corner is a tongue of flame, Saint John of the Cross’s “living flame of Love.” It recalls the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church at Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:3), as well the ordination of Bishop Woost as a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, and the celebration of his first holy Mass, which took place over the weekend of Pentecost 1984.
The motto: "REVEAL YOUR PRESENCE" is the first line of stanza eleven in the poem The Spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross, 16th century Carmelite, spiritual guide, mystic, and Doctor of the Church. Throughout his priestly ministry, both as an explorer of spiritual theology and as a retreat director, the Bishop has been formed, and formed others, by the spiritual tradition of the Discalced Carmelites, particularly the teaching of Saint John of the Cross and his call to encounter the presence of God in the nada, the quiet and solitude of the literal and spiritual wilderness.
The achievement is completed with the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop.
Literature: Ordination leaflet to Bishop Woost, August 4, 2022.
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