Bishop’s Coat of Arms

Blazon: per pale: Dexter: Azure, two barlets wavy Argent between to chief a scattering of twelve stars of the second and in base a crescent Or, to sinister Argent issuant from a base of three mounds Vert an archiepiscopal cross Glues, all below three nails Sable.

Significance: The epicopal heraldic achievement, or bishop’s coat of arms, is composed of a shield, with its charges (symbols), a motto scroll and the external ornaments. The shield, which is the central and most important feature of any heraldic device, is described, (blazoned) in 12 th century terms, that are archaic to our modern language and this description is presented as if being given by the bearer with the shield being worn on the arm. Thus, it must be remembered, where it applies, that the terms dexter and sinister are reversed as the device is viewed from the front.

The arms for Bishop Alleyne are composed of two sections, the left half (heraldic “dexter”) emblematic of the Diocese of Georgetown and the right half (heraldic “sinister”) representing the Bishop’s personal and Benedictine heritage.

Based on the national arms of Guyana with the colours reversed for difference, a blue field has two silver (white) wavy bars to represent the water that is so significant to the geography of Guyana. Displayed with the wavy bars are a scattering of silver stars and a golden crescent to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary, in her title of the Immaculate Conception, titular of the Cathedral-church in Georgetown, for Mary is described in the Book of Revelations as “having the moon at her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev.12:1)

The right side of the shield represents the Bishop’s patron, St. Francis of Assisi, who bore the stigmata, the sign of three nails marks on Christ’s body, and the mound and cross which are a classic representation of the Benedictine Order, the Bishop’s religious family, for that the time of his call to become Bishop of Georgetown, His Lordship was Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Mount Benedict, at Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago.

For his motto, His Lordship, Bishop Alleyne has selected the phrase, “THAT ALL AMY HAVE ABUNDANT LIFE,” This phrase, from ST. John’s Gospel (John 10:10) expresses the Bishop’s profound belief that through his ministry as a bishop, joined to the ministries of all priests, deacons, and religious brothers and sisters, that mankind may come to achieve the ultimate of all life, that is Christ, in the eternity of Paradise.

The device is completed with the external ornaments which are a processional cross which is placed in the back of the shield and which extends above the shield, and a pontifical hat, called a “gallero,” with 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