Michael Joseph Bransfield

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MICHAEL JOSEPH BRANSFIELD

Born : September 8, 1943
Deceased :

Bishop of Wheeling–Charleston, 2004–2018

Official blazon

Arms impaled. Dexter: Gules, a base chevrony of six Argent and Vert; overall a lily in profile Or. Sinister: Azure upon a fess Argent three torteaux, each charged with a cross of the field; between in chief an "M," of the second and issuant from base five stalks of wheat Or.

Origin/meaning

The arms show the diocesan arms combined with the personal design of the bishop.

The three red plates are a variant on the arms of William Penn for whom the Bishop's home state of Pennsylvania is named and these charges are part of the arms of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Bishop's home diocese.

Above the bar is a manuscript "M," as taken from a display in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington, D.C., where Bishop Bransfield served for 25 years, the most recent as Rector. The use of this "M," signifies the Bishop's deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it is also taken from the arms of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, who elevated him to a bishop.

In the base of the design are five stalks of wheat issuant from the base. These stalks are used as a canting element. Bran is the substance between the husk and the kernel of any of the cereal grains and so by using several stalks of such a cereal, graphically, it represents a field of bran ... thus, "Bransfield."

For his motto, His Excellency, Bishop Bransfield has adopted the phrase from The Lord's Prayer, "Thy Will Be Done." By the use of this phrase, His Excellency expresses not only the sentiments of Our Lady at the Annunciation, but that all of us, as devout Christians, must always put God's Holy Will before any of our own desires if we are to achieve the rewards that our Divine Lord has promised.

The achievement is completed with the external ornaments which are a gold processional cross, that is placed in back of and which extends above and below the shield, and the pontifical gallero, with its six tassels, in three rows, on either side of the shield, all in green. These are the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop by instruction of The Holy See of March 31, 1969.

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Literature : http://www.dwc.org/bransfield/bransfield_shield.shtml (22-2-2005)