Bishop
Dorsey
Since the Middle Ages, bishops have been
accorded the privilege of displaying
a personal crest as a sign of their
authority.
THE COAT OF ARMS OF BISHOP NORBERT M.
DORSEY, C.P.
THIRD BISHOP OF ORLANDO
The coat of arms of Bishop Norbert Dorsey
is impaled, that is, it is a combination
of the shield of the Diocese of Orlando
and that of Bishop Dorsey. As a
viewer looks at it, the left side is that
of the Diocese and the right is personal
to the bishop.
On the left side, for the
Diocese of Orlando, the main colors
of red and gold recall the colors of the
flag of Spain, for it was missionaries
from that country who first brought
the Gospel to Florida. The
Chi-Rho (X-P) is taken from the two first
letters of the Greek for Christ, the Son
of God and the center of all Christian
faith. The golden shell is a traditional
symbol for the Apostle St. James the Greater,
patron of the Cathedral. The orange
blossom indicates that the nine counties
of the diocese are centered in Orange
County.
In the upper portion or “chief” of
the diocesan arms is a blue fleur-de-lis
on a background of white or silver. This
is in deference to the Mother of God,
the patroness of the diocese.
On the right
side, the personal arms of Bishop Dorsey
the main colors are blue and gold. These are taken from the
Arms of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul
II, who nominated the bishop to serve
as Auxiliary Bishop in Miami and now as
the Ordinary of Orlando. Blue and
gold were also the main colors in the
Arms of the Archdiocese of Miami.
As is
customary in the case of the priest-religious
who is made a bishop, a place of honor
in the shield is given to the symbol
of his Congregation. Here, it is a
stylized version of the familiar Passionist “sign” or
badge, a heart surmounted by the Cross
and the nails of the crucifixion. This
indicates the fourth vow of the Passionists
to keep in mind the love of God as shown
for us in the dying of Jesus. The “sign” is
within a branch of olive tree and palm,
signifying that the Way of the Cross is
the way to glory.
The lower section, on
a field of blue, contains two “roundles” with
wavy lines of silver and red, signifying
water. (Usually of blue and silver,
red is used here because of the blue background.) In
heraldic terms, this is a way of denoting
a field of springs of water, and these
are taken from the Arms of the Diocese
of Springfield, Massachusetts, were Bishop
Norbert was born and baptized as Leonard
James Dorsey.
This section also contains
a third silver circle, in deference
to Archbishop Edward McCarthy who ordained
Bishop Dorsey to the episcopacy and
who also has such a “roundel” in
his arms. Here, however, the ornament
is a single shamrock, alluding to the
Irish ancestry of Bishop Dorsey’s
family.
The motto endeavors to capture
the personal ideal or theme of the bishop’s ministry. Bishop
Dorsey has chosen some words of St. Paul
of the Cross from the Passionist Rule
to express that ideal, “Love is
ingenious.” The full text
reads: “For the love of God
is very ingenious, and is proved not so
much by words as by the deeds and examples
of the lovers.”
The external decorations are composed
of the ancient bishop’s hat with
its six tassels on each side and, behind,
an episcopal cross.
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