Ignatius Jerome Strecker

IGNATIUS JEROME STRECKER

Born : November 23, 1917
Deceased : October 16, 2003

Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, 1962-1969
Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas, 1969-1993

Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas

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 of a (non related) Strecker family of Germany bear a bird in the first and fourth quarters, and a bar encompassed by a green garland in the second and third quarters; over all is a small inescutcheon emblazoned with a stag. These arms have been used as a base for the arms of the bishop.

To avoid complicating the Bishop's personal arms, the bird in the first and fourth quarters has been placed in chief of the personal arms, and the bar and wreath of the second and third quarters have been placed in base, omitting the inescutcheon with the stag entirely.

A dove has been chosen for the bird because it is at once the symbol of the Holy Ghost and of peace, prayed for so urgently in our time. The wreath in the base has also been charged with three roses to honor Our Lady under her title from the Litany of Loreto, Mystical Rose." The straight lines of the silver bar were made wavy to represent the Arkansas river which flows through the State of Kansas, where Bishop Strecker was bom and served as a priest until his appointment to the Episcopacy.

he motto "Sanctificetur nomen tuum."- "Hallowed be Thy Name" - is taken from the Lord's prayer.