The Pope's Coat of Arms

Submitted by Kofi Khemet (United States), Jun 2, 2009 at 07:49

You're correct each pope does design their own coat of arms. Pope Benedict however, is not the first pope to place a Black image on his coat of arms. Pope Pius VII also had a Black image on his coat of arms. Pope Benedict hails from Freising Germany where he was Bishop and later Cardinal. In each instance he placed the same Black man with the crown. This is no surprise if you know anything about Freising Germany you'd understand, because both the city and the district of which it is the capital display the same image. It is undoubtedly a religious image and depicts St. Maurice. St. Maurice was the patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire from its inception in 1,000 AD. Emperor Otto I, The Great was so enthralled with St. Maurice that he had his remains reinterred in a tomb at the Cathedral of St. Maurice in his new capital of Magdeburg, Germany. To this day St. Maurice is known as Maurice of Magdeburg, among other things.

Legend has it that St. Maurice was the leader of the Theban Legion, which was a part of the Roman army and that he and his men sacrificed their lives in defense of their religious beliefs, which were Christian. I'm currently researching the impact this group of Africans from the 3rd century AD continue to have throughout Europe. So far, I've found over 60 cities named St. Maurice in France; 30 plus cities with St. Maurice on their coat of arms in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Spain and possibly the Netherlands. I'm sure I'll find even more coats of arms of families with St. Maurice prominently displayed on them. There's also a town in the U.S. named after him and one in Canada. In fact, the first major industry in Canada, an iron mine, is located in the town of St. Maurice near the St. Maurice river.

Last, but not least, you'll find St. Maurice memoralized in the names of many Americans, like General Norman Schwarzkopf, which I just realized comes from the name of a famous miliaristic organisation founded on the continent of Europe, known in English as the Blackheads, in other words Schwarzkopf in English.

There's a lot of misinformation out there about the pope's coat of arms, but you can verify everything I've stated here by starting with a search of Wikipedia's files. The researchers have done a thorough investigation of the topic and I've been able to independently verify the bulk of their findings.

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