Saint Romero takes Manhattan

 

[ESPAÑOL]

For the first time in history, the coat of arms (or shield) of a major American prelate will contain an element allusive to St. Oscar Romero when Bishop Ronald A. Hicks is named Archbishop of New York, as exclusively reported earlier in the week by Religión Digital, the influential Spanish language religion portal.

VIDEO: Bishop Hicks honors St. Oscar Romero (2022)

If Bishop Hicks follows protocol, when he assumes the Big Apple cathedra, he will combine his personal episcopal shield with that of his new see (as seen in the illustration above). His shield, unveiled when he became Bishop of Joliet, Illinois, includes a reference to Oscar Romero. Per the Joliet diocesan website:

In the middle of the blue field resides a white, wavy bar known as a fess, which features a sprig of rosemary. The Spanish word for “rosemary” is “romero.” This pays homage to the martyred archbishop of El Salvador, St. Oscar Romero, and to the people of Central America with whom Bishop Hicks lived and worked for five years.

Bishop Hicks participated in the beatification of Saint Romero, carrying the martyr's relics.

Romero had the rosemary sprig in his own episcopal shield. El Salvador’s Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez also included rosemary sprigs in honor of Romero in his own coat of arms.

However, this will the first time that a leader of the U.S. church uses a Romero symbol in his coat of arms. The New York Archdiocese is the second largest in the United States.

Romero had accepted an invitation to the New York Archdiocese in 1979 and a great crowd gathered in St. Patrick’s Cathedral to greet him on Wednesday November 7, 1979. Unfortunately, Romero was forced to cancel the itinerary at the last minute due to the deepening crisis at home. New Yorkers did not hear from Romero back then. But they may hear from him now.