01. Manchester
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Blazon: Argent on a cross gules a bundle of arrows palewise points upward bound around a staff topped with a lily argent.
SOURCE, NOTES & CREDITS: Source for blazon: “Armorial of the American Hierarchy”, Volume III, The New England States, the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston and Hartford, pages 74-85, by Brother Gerard Brassard, A.A., The Stobbs Press, Worcester, Mass., 1956. Some of the blazons were re-worked by J. H. Gaylor. Source for illustrations for background: same. Sources for text background: Same plus, “Memoir of Rev. William McDonald”, by a Sister of Mercy, Mount Saint Mary’s, Manchester, 1909 and “Upon this Granite” Msgr. Wilfrid H. Paradis, Peter E. Randall Publisher, Portsmouth. 1998.
Diocese of Manchester, Dioecesis Manchesteriensis
New Hampshire was slow starter in growing a Roman Catholic population. Until 1889 there were religious tests in the state which excluded Catholics legally from official positions. The first priest assigned to New Hampshire was Fr. Virgil Barber in 1822 by Bishop Cheverus of Boston to the town of Claremont. Around 1848 Bishop Fitzpatrick of Boston sent Fr. William McDonald to the City of Manchester, a “ turbulent town” where Catholics “were faring badly” at the hands of “Know-Nothings”. He focused on getting things up and running and founded the Parish and Church of St. Anne’s and worked effectively to build from there. Fr. McDonald was still working when the Diocese was erected in 1884.
The Bishops with jurisdiction for the State of New Hampshire before it was erected into a diocese and for all of whom we have arms, are:
[01] Archbishop John Carroll, 1789-1808, 1st Bhp & Abp of Baltimore ( and of the whole US ). He was the first Roman Catholic bishop appointed in the United States.
[02] Bishop John Cheverus, 1808-1823, 1st Bishop of Boston
( having jurisdiction for the States of CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, & VT )
[03] Bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick, 1825-1846, 2nd Bishop of Boston
[04] Bishop John Bernard Fitzpatrick, 1846-1855, 3rd Bishop of Boston
[05] Bishop David William Bacon, 1855-1874, 1st Bishop of Portland
( having jurisdiction for the States of ME & NH )
[06] Bishop James Augustine Healy, 1875-1884, 2nd Bishop of Portland
( Please see their files ).
The Bishops of Manchester for whom we have arms are:
[1] Bishop Denis M. Bradley, 1884-1903, 1st Bishop of Manchester
[2] Bishop John B. Delany, 1904-1906, 2nd Bishop of Manchester
[3] Bishop George A. Guertin, 1907-1931, 3rd Bishop of Manchester
[4] Bishop John B. Peterson, 1932-1944, 4th Bishop of Manchester
[5] Bishop Matthew F. Brady, 1944-1959, 5th Bishop of Manchester
[6] Bishop Ernest John Primeau, 1959-1974, 6th Bishop of Manchester
[7] Bishop Odore Joseph Glendron, 1974-1990, 7th Bishop of Manchester
[8] Bishop Leo Edward O’Neil, 1990-1997, 8th Bishop of Manchester
[9] Bishop John Brendan McCormack, 1998-2011, 9th Bishop of Manchester
[10] Bishop Peter Anthony Libasci, 2011-date, 10th and current Bishop of Manchester
( Please see their files ).
Additionally there have been three Auxiliary Bishops of Manchester
[1] Bishop Robert Edward Mulvee, 1977-1985, 1st Auxiliary of Manchester,
he is also the retired Bishop of Providence, RI
[2] Bishop Joseph John Gerry, OSB, 1986-1989, 2nd Auxiliary of Manchester, ,
he is also the retired Bishop of Portland, ME
[3] Bishop Francis Joseph Christian, 1996-2018, 3rd Auxiliary of Manchester,
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Manchester still serving as a pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Nashua, NH in the Diocese of Manchester, NH.
( Please see their files ).
In 1853 the States of Maine and New Hampshire were created as a Catholic diocese, the Diocese of Portland. But it wasn’t until 1855 that Pope Pius IX appointed the 1st Bishop of Portland, David W. Bacon. The second Bishop of Portland, Bishop James A. Healy, after a period of time recommended that New Hampshire be separated into a diocese of its own. This happened when Pope Leo XIII erected New Hampshire as a new diocese in the Bull: Quod erat in votis Sacrorum Antistitum Bostoniensis on 18 April 1884 as the Diocese of Manchester, a Suffragan See of the Archdiocese of Boston. Bishop Healy also had a candidate to recommend to His Holiness to be the first Bishop of Manchester, Fr. Denis Bradley.
It may be wondered why we chose to put the arms and biographies of the bishops having to do with the State of New Hampshire and the Diocese of Manchester into our armorial. The answer is simple enough, our maternal grandparents, James Dwyer and his wife, Mary Ann McMahon (Dwyer), were members of the Cathedral Parish of St. Joseph, of the Diocese of Manchester for over 50 years. In our earliest years during WW2, we lived with them while our father was in the Army. We attended St. Joseph's Cathedral Church in Manchester in the Fall, Winter and Spring, and the predecessor church of the current St. Joseph's Mission Church in Northwood, NH, in the Summer. Our grandfather also helped to underwrite the building of the fine brick St. Joseph's Mission Church complex which was completed and consecrated, we believe, in 1958. We have many fond memories of those years.
The artwork is an interpretation of John Hamilton Gaylor
2023 1012
dqw266@gmail.com
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