Romeo Roy Blanchette
ROMEO ROY BLANCHETTE
Born: January 6, 1913
Deceased: January 10, 1982
Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet in Illinois, 1965-1966; Titular Bishop of Maxita
Bishop of Joliet in Illinois, 1966-1979
 Auxiliary bishop |
 Bishop |
| English | blazon wanted |
- (personal part) Argent, a cross throughout gules, in the first quarter a fleur-de-lys of France proper, on a chief azure a crown or.
Origin/meaning
As common in US episcopal heraldry, the arms show the arms of the diocese impaled with the personal arms of the bishop when he became Bishop of Joliet.
The white field of the shield suggests the French root of the surname Blanchette which means white.
The gold fleur-de-lys from the former Royal coat of arms or France signifies several aspects. It memorializes the history of the Blanchet(te) family which emigrated from France to Canada in 1667 and thence to the area which is now the Archdiocese of Chicago. In the middle of the nineteenth century, this family had two brothers as bishops Francis Xavier Norbert Blanchet, the first Archbishop or Oregon City, and Augustin-Magloire Blanchet, the first Bishop or Walla Walla and later the first Bishop of Nesqually. The fleur-de-lys is also a charge on the coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Chicago and in the arms of the Diocese of Joliet, thus symbolizes the metropolitan province and the diocese in which he has served as a priest and later as a bishop.
The village of Saint George in Kankakee County in lllinois, where the Blanchette family settled around 1850, and where the Bishop was born and raised, is represented by the Cross of Saint George, a red cross on a white field. This cross also honors the late Cardinal George William Mundelein who ordained the bishop to the priesthood.
The blue chief is a reference to Saint Mary. The crown represents Christ the King.
The crown also recalls the chaplaincy or the Bishop in various Young Christian Students and Young Christian Workers groups. The Marian blue chief also honors Saint Mary of the Lake seminary where the Bishop studied for the priesthood, and Santa Maria de Lago, the college in Rome where the Bishop resided while attaining bis degree in Canon Law from the Gregorian University. Last, but not least, it recalls the chaplaincy of the Bishop at Lourdes, France.
The motto, "Kyrie Eleison" (Lord, have mercy), ecumenical in character, bespeaks the universality or the Church.
newspaper article, 1965
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