Joseph Lawson Howze

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JOSEPH LAWSON HOWZE

Born: August 30, 1923
Deceased:

Auxiliary Bishop of Natchez-Jackson, 1973-1977
Bishop of Biloxi, 1977-2001

Arms (crest) of Joseph Lawson Howze

Previous arms:

Official blazon
English blazon wanted

Origin/meaning

Traditionally, the dexter impalement is given over to the arms of the jurisdiction, in this case the Diocese of Biloxi.

Because his family does not have a coat of arms, His Excellency selected symbols, which signify the Christian aspects of his heritage and his life. These were originally designed for Bishop Howze, as Auxiliary Bishop of Natchez-Jackson.

The personal arms are quite overloaded with symbols. The upper right corner shows a white flaming chariot wheel for His Excellency's maternal grandfather, Elijah. Elijah, of the Old Testament, was carried into Heaven on a flaming chariot. The flaming wheel is also representative of the Negro Spiritual, "Ezechiel Saw the Wheel, Way in the Middle of the Air."

Below the flaming wheel is an open right hand, which is for the translation of the name Benjamin, His Excellency's paternal grandfather's name, which is "the right hand of the son." The hand is also representative of Bishop Howze's reception into the Catholic Church since the priest who received him into the Faith on December 4, 1948, was Father Benjamin Horton, S.S.J. On that day of his baptism, His Excellency chose the name "Joseph" as his baptismal name, which is symbolized by the white lily and carpenter's square of St. Joseph, seen below the open right hand.

On the other side a white lighted lamp symbolises St. Albert the Great, the Dom­inican scholar of the sciences, philosophy and religion, who is also the patron saint of His Excellency's father, Alberto Howze, Sr.

Below the lamp is the white conjoined cross and crown of St. Helen, patron saint of Bishop Howze's mother, who directed the excavations to locate the inscribed crosses of Calvary. When the three crosses were found, there was no way to determine which was the Cross of Christ, until Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem had a dying woman brought to the spot, and who, having touched the third cross, was hea:ea, that cross was then designated as the True Cross of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The middle section is blue and depicts a white dove, for the Holy Spirit, hovering over the world, which is blue and white, and sending forth the white rays of His Truth upon that world, to unify the people of God into a community of love, which gives rise to His Excellency's motto "Unity of God's People."

The achievement is completed with the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop by instruction of the Holy See, of March 1969.

Image gallery

Literature: Information obtained from the Diocese of Biloxi.


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