The Coat of Arms of His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Henry Joseph Mansell, D.D.,
Archbishop of Hartford

BLAZON: Arms impaled. Dexter: Gules, a hart Or, bearing the Paschal banner, Proper, the staff paleways of the second and trippant over a ford barry wavy of six Argent and Azure. Sinister: Azure, a saltair Argent; within the quarters, to chief a crescent, to sinister and to dexter a flame of three tongues and to base a Cross formeé, all of the second.

SIGNIFICANCE:
The archiepiscopal heraldic achievement, or archbishop's coat of arms, is composed of a shield with its charges (symbols), a motto scroll and the external ornaments. The shield, which is the central and most important feature of any heraldic device, is described (blazoned) in 12th century terms that are archaic to our modern language, and this description is presented as if given by the bearer with the shield worn on the arm. It must be remembered, therefore, that the terms dexter and sinister are reversed as the device is viewed from the front.

By heraldic tradition the arms of the Metropolitan Archbishop are joined to the arms of his diocesan jurisdiction, seen in the dexter impalement (left side) of the shield. In this case these are arms of the Archdiocese of Hartford.

These arms are composed of a red field on which is displayed a golden hart (stag) crossing a ford. They represent a canting of, or "play on," the name of the See City. This coat is analogous to the ancient arms of Oxford in England, which shows an ox crossing a ford in a similar manner. The hart bears a golden staff from which flies a Paschal banner in its proper colors of red and silver (white), a symbol of Jesus Christ, the Founder and Invisible Head of the Catholic Church, of which Hartford is a jurisdictional unit and the seat of the Metropolitan Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province. The blue and silver wavy bars at the base of the design are the conventional heraldic representation for water, as the waters at the river's ford.

For his personal arms, seen in the sinister impalement (right side) of the shield, His Excellency Archbishop Mansell has retained the arms that he adopted at the time that he was ordained a bishop in 1993 and appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of New York. His Excellency retained the same design during his tenure as Bishop of Buffalo and he now uses it as he becomes the Archbishop of Hartford.

Archbishop Mansell's coat of arms is composed in the colors of blue and silver (white) to reflect his deep and profound devotion to our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary. The main charge in the design is a silver saltair ("X"). This charge is taken from the arms of the Archbishop's home diocese, that of the Archdiocese of New York, for the silver saltair on a red field is called a "Cross of St. Patrick," and it thus honors the titular of the Cathedral Church, the Mother Church of the See of New York.

Within the quarters of the shield that are created by the saltair are other charges of special significance to Archbishop Mansell. In the upper center is a silver crescent to honor Our Lady in her title of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States. On either side are flames, which are taken from the Mansell "family" coat of arms and recall the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Pentecost. In the base is a cross formeé that has arms that are spread out, as the Gospel is to be spread throughout the world and touch all people.

For his motto His Excellency Archbishop Mansell has retained the invocation, "BLESSED BE GOD." This prayer, which is taken from Psalm 68:36 and Tobit 13:1, evokes the recitation of "The Divine Praises" and expresses Archbishop Mansell's deep belief that each of us is called to give glory and praise to God in all that we do.

The device is completed with the external ornaments which are an archiepiscopal processional cross (having two cross members), placed in back of the shield and extending above and below the shield, and a pontifical hat, known as a "gallero," with its ten green tassels in four rows on either side of the shield. These are the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of archbishop by instruction of the Holy See on March 31, 1969.

By: Paul J. Sullivan, P. Sullivan & Co., Narragansett, Rhode Island