An Updated Coat of Arms for our Archdiocese
The coat of arms of the archdiocese was created in 1937. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church's heraldic regulations have been simplified and radically modified. Our coat of arms contained many obsolete elements and was too heavily detailed. A modern adaptation was produced recently in accordance with the new heraldic standards, by Archbishop Guy Desrochers, who is also an experienced professional graphic artist.
Every detail has its meaning, and the symbols have not changed. Here is a simplified explanation of the symbolism of the coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Moncton:
The star is the Stella Maris, the star of the sea, symbol of Acadia;
The monogram MA symbolises the Virgin Mary;
The crescent is the Virgin's pedestal, according to the text from Saint John on Patmos: ‘A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Revelation 12, 1);
The ‘ancient vessel’, i.e. the nave or galley, is borrowed from the coat of arms of the province of New Brunswick, of which it is the main symbol;
The main mast is crowned by a cross with double braces to symbolise the metropolitan see of New Brunswick, while the two smaller masts with double braces end in a cross to symbolise the two suffragan dioceses at the time, Saint John created between 1852 and 1854, formerly the diocese of New Brunswick (1842), and the diocese of Chatham erected in 1860, transferred to Bathurst in 1938;
The white sail inflated by the wind and loaded with keys symbolises Rome and the ‘sovereign power entrusted to the successors of Saint Peter’;
The seven golden oars symbolise the seven sacraments, ‘channels of grace through which the soul of the Christian sails safely over the dangerous seas of the world’;
The dove haloed with seven rays ‘reminds us that the Holy Spirit watches over the Church, inspires her with his gifts and guides her’;
The motto Ut videntes Jesum can be translated into English as ‘Like seeing Jesus'. Donat Chiasson (1930-2003), the third archbishop of Moncton, gave the following explanation in the summer of 1986: ‘It can mean: ’Let us walk together in faith - as if we saw Jesus. It can also mean: ‘Live as true witnesses, for when we look at you - it is as if we see Jesus’;
