The Seal of the Diocese of Montana
History
In the 19th century many of the dioceses of The Episcopal Church began to develop heraldic
shields which revealed something about the identity of that diocese. Some of these began life
as the personal shield of the bishop, which became the shield of the diocese. For instance, I
believe that the shield of the Diocese of Utah is, in fact, the shield of Bishop Tuttle. All of this is
to say that a diocesan shield is also the shield of the bishop, and vice-versa.
I am aware of four different versions of our shield. The oldest is painted on a wall in Brewer
Lodge at Camp Marshall, and is dated 1922. There are variants of this at the cathedral, at the
diocesan office, and on the stationary used now by the diocese. Since the shield notes that the
diocese was formed on June 20, 1904, I suspect that there was an early form that appears to be
lost.
Issues
The current seal has several problems. The most obvious is that the motto surrounding it does
not entirely make sense. It says, “I lift up my eyes to your holy mountains, O Jerusalem.” The
shield of 1922 has bits of this in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Further, the motto appears to be a
corruption of Psalm 121.1.
The seal also contains a piratical cross, that is, a cross with a short cross beam above a longer
cross beam. This is the symbol of a presiding bishop or archbishop, and is used only by them. I
am neither the PB nor an archbishop, which means that the presence of such a device on the
shield is inappropriate. It may originally have been added as a point of pride that Bishop Tuttle,
late in life when he was Bishop of Missouri, served as Presiding Bishop. Incidentally, a primate
is the senior bishop of a province of the church; in The Episcopal Church the PB carries that
title, and in other provinces of the Anglican Communion archbishops are primates.
A Cleaned-up shield
I have spent about a year working with several experts to “clean-up” our current seal. What
you see in the new seal has most of the components of the older seals, but in a simpler form.
In the middle is the Jerusalem cross, a constant part of our diocesan identity; it symbolizes the
five wounds of Christ on the cross, thus lifting up the centrality of the crucifixion in our identity
as a diocese. Behind the cross in green are stylized mountains and plains, suggesting the
geography of our state. At the bottom, two rivers, the Missouri and Yellowstone, flow in
curved lines. Behind the mountains is a rising gold sun with white and gold rays extending from
it. This symbolizes the new day, the new creation, and the resurrection, which is, along with
the crucifixion, the other great and central part of our identity as the church.
Also, the gold color suggests the mining background of the Treasure State. Around the edge
are the name of the diocese and the date of its formation. Some have suggested that the seal
has something of a Native American feel to it, as well.
Use
Any of the shields can continue to be used. I will, however, begin to use the new seal in my
work, and invite you to do the same.
+CFB
10/19/11