Bishop Hyland's Coat of Arms
The impalement of the personal Arms of Bishop
Hyland with those of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, along with its description,
was done by William F. J. Ryan. Ryan created the Arms of the Archdiocese
of Atlanta in 1956.
The entire "achievement," or coat of arms as it is
generally called, is composed of the shield with its charges, the
motto and the external ornaments. As one looks at the shield the terms
dexter (right) and sinister (left) must be understood contrariwise, as
the shield was worn on the arm in medieval days and these terms were
used in the relationship of the one bearing the shield.
The dexter impalement is given in ecclesiastical heraldry to the
arms of jurisdiction; in this instance, the arms of the Diocese of
Atlanta known as the "Crossroads of the South," because of
converging railroads which gave the city its early prominence,
received its name as the eastern terminus of the Western and Atlantic
Railroad which connected north Georgia with the Tennessee River.
Originally called Whitehall, then Terminus, and afterwards in 1843
Marthasville, the state legislature finally acquiesced to the wishes
of the railroad and accepted the name of Atlanta in 1847, thus naming
the city indirectly after the Atlantic Ocean.
The Atlantic Ocean is represented on the shield of the diocese by
white and blue wavy bars, the heraldic equivalent of the waves of the
sea; seven bars in number to symbolize the Seven Sacraments.
The crown of Christ the King denotes the title of the cathedral
church, the Eternal King whose redeeming Sacrifice on the Cross is
renewed daily in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Above the crown is
placed the Cherokee rose, the State flower of Georgia (Rosa
Laevigata), as befits a diocese located in the Capital City. The
Cherokee rose is a white flower with a yellow center.
The crown of Christ the King, in the arms of the Diocese of Atlanta,
also has the secondary representation of the crown of King George II
of England after whom Georgia was named. The blue and white wavy bands
may be said as well to symbolize the rolling foothills of the Blue
Ridge country; but, more important, these are the colors of our
The sinister impalement, on the right of the viewer, bears the
personal arms of Bishop Hyland.
The coat of arms is based on "faolan," the Gaelic
derivation of Hyland. "Faolan" is the diminutive of "faol"
which means "wolf." The name was common in the sixteenth
century in Offaly and Leix, whence it spread into other parts of
Ireland. Hyland is the usual form of the name in Leinster.
Consequently, a wolf's head erased (torn) is placed in the
pronominal or paternal quarters, the first and the fourth. In these
quarters there is also a reference to "McCarron," the maiden
name of Bishop Hyland's mother. McCarron is derived from the Gaelic
root "Ciar" meaning black, and the bishop has so tinctured
there quarters to commemorate his mother on his episcopal escutcheon.
The silver cross and the two fleurs-de-lis have been abstracted from
the second and third quarters of the coat of arms of Saint Francis de
Sales to honor Bishop Hyland's baptismal patron. The fleurs-de-lis are
golden on the arms of Saint Francis, but they have been changed to
silver in order that the colors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, blue and
white (silver) might be displayed and that this distinction might
constitute a brisure to make these Hyland arms particularly those of
The motto "Ad Jesum Per Mariam," is translated "To
Jesus through Mary."
The external ornaments are composed of the green pontifical hat with
its six like-tinctured tassels on each side disposed in three rows,
the mitre, the processional cross and the crosier, the latter in gold.
Prior to 1870, the pontifical hat was worn in solemn conclaves held
in conjunction with papal functions. The color of the pontifical hat
and the number and color of the tassels were signs of the rank of a
prelate, a custom which is still preserved in ecclesiastical heraldry.