The coat of arms of Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, joins elements of his personal arms with the coat of arms of the Atlanta archdiocese. The new coat of arms is a visual representation linking the past and present, personal aspects of the archbishop’s life with the communal life of the Church in North Georgia.

A coat of arms identifies. In this case it identifies the institution of the archdiocese with its fourth archbishop. The design will be used on the official seal of the archdiocese, which is affixed to legal and other documents.

The shield is divided in half vertically. The dexter, or right side of the arms, as viewed by one who is behind the shield and bearing it on his arm, remains the same from bishop to bishop. It significance comes from symbols uniquely representative of the archdiocese of Atlanta. The sinister, or left side, as viewed by the one bearing the shield, contains symbols representing the individual archbishop. The combination of the two signifies the spiritual unity of the archbishop with his flock.

On the dexter for the archdiocese are three blue wavy bars which divide the shield into seven alternate wavy spaces of white and blue. In the center is an open gold crown and above on the upper wavy blue bar is a Cherokee rose.

The seven white and blue wavy bars are the heraldic equivalent of the sea and represent Atlanta, which is the See city and is indirectly named after the Atlantic Ocean. The seven bars also recall the seven sacraments administered in the archdiocese. Blue and white are the colors of the Blessed Mother. The wavy aspect of the bars can also be said to symbolize the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge country of North Georgia.

The open gold crown represents the crown of Christ the King, the title of the cathedral church of the archdiocese. The crown may also have a secondary symbolism commemorating King George II of England after whom Georgia was named.

The Cherokee rose on the upper wavy blue bar is a white flower with a yellow center and is the state flower of Georgia.

The personal arms of Archbishop Lyke consist of a quartered shield on the lower two-thirds of the sinister in black and green with a gold cross. Superimposed on it is a narrower red cross. The colors, red, black and green are significant to African-Americans because those colors were used by the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. They are dominant in the flags of many African nations. Red symbolizes redemption, blood and liberty; black is for black people; and green stands for hope and the blacks’ luxuriant ancestral lands.

The quartered shield with the gold cross recalls the mystery of the Church and honors Pope John Paul II from whose coat of arms it is derived. The narrower cross imposed on the gold cross is red, the academic color for theology and conveys Archbishop Lyke’s special interest in theology.

In the first quadrant of the quartered shield is a white chaplet of the Franciscan cord to emphasize Archbishop Lyke’s devotion to St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan ideal.

The upper portion of the shield displays the arms of the Friars Minor. The field is silver (white) with a black Latin cross above two crossed arms. One arm is in a Franciscan robe representing St. Francis. It is pierced, recalling that the saint suffered from the stigmata. The other arm with pierced hand represents the crucified Christ.

The Latin motto beneath the shield translates as “Christ Our Peace,” and is taken from St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. The motto further emphasizes the cross of Christ which reconciles our differences and unites all in faith.

Behind the arms is placed a gold archiepiscopal cross with double traverse. Surrounding the shield, or “achievement,” as the full display of a coat of arms is called, is a pontifical hat with ten tassels on each side in four rows, all in green. These are the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of archbishop. Before1870 the pontifical hat was worn at solemn processions held in conjunction with papal ceremonies. The color of the hat and the number of tassels were signs of the rank of a prelate, a custom still preserved in ecclesiastical heraldry.

The personal arms of Archbishop Lyke were devised by A.W.C. Phelps of Cleveland in 1979. The arms of the archdiocese of Atlanta were devised in 1956 by late William F.J. Ryan of New York and West Chatham, Mass.

The impalement of the personal arms of Archbishop Lyke with those of the archdiocese was undertaken by A.W.C. Phelps of Cleveland, a member of The Heraldry Society, London, England, in May, 1991.