John Joseph Wright

JOHN JOSEPH WRIGHT

Born : July 18, 1909
Deceased : August 10, 1979

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, 1947-1950; Titular Bishop of Aegeae
Bishop of Worcester, 1950-1959
Bishop of Pittsburgh, 1959-1969
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, 1969-1979
Cardinal : 1969

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston	Bishop of Worcester
Bishop of Pittsburgh	Cardinal

Official blazon

(personal arms) Gules, a cauldron argent sitting upon a fire or, rising therefrom an eagle of the last, nimbused and between in fesse two fleurs-de-lis of the second.

Origin/meaning

As common in US episcopal heraldry, the arms show the arms of the diocese impaled with the personal arms of the bishop. Only as Cardinal the personal arms were used as he was no longer associated with a diocese.

The personal arms of Bishop Wright are based upon those sometimes attributed to his Patron, St. John the Evangelist, in allusion to the Roman tradition of St. John before the Latin Gate and the miraculous escape of the Saint from a cauldron of boiling oil prepared for him under the Emperor Domitian. The fleurs-de-lis are taken from the arms of the Archdiocese of Boston; these symbols also appear frequently on the arms associated with the name Wright.

The motto chosen: Resonare Christum is taken from a passage of Paulinus of Nola : "per te barbari discunt resonare Christum corde Romano placidamque casti vivere pacem."