Bishop José María Garcia-Maldonado's coat of arms

Bishop Garcia-Maldonado’s coat of arms is representative of the themes of his family and his historic and faith roots in Mexico.

In tribute to Holy Name Cathedral, the upper third of the shield is separated from the lower part by a line that takes the form of the Gothic arches of Holy Name.

In the upper third of the shield, above the Holy Name tribute, is a special tribute to the title of Our Lady most important to the bishop — Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, to whom Bishop Garcia-Maldonado entrusted his episcopal ministry. In every image of this Marian apparition, the Blessed Virgin appears in a white gown emblazoned with golden roses. So to honor Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, a golden heraldic rose is in the place of honor in his shield. This rose appears on a field of Bleu Celeste, a special lighter hue common for the Blessed Virgin in Central and South America, but here also intended as a geographical reference to the bright blue skies and soft blue seas of his native Mexico.

The lower part of the shield contains an homage to his home parish as a child, and the place where his vocation was first inculcated while serving as an altar server there. The English translation for this church is St. Joseph the Worker. The proper heraldic symbol for St. Joseph the Worker is the carpenter’s square which appears in this part of the shield.

Atop the peak that the inverted carpenter’s square creates are two palm fronds. These represent two specific Mexican martyrs: San Julio Alvarez Mendoza, who was arrested and later murdered in Bishop Garcia-Maldonado’s home town; and San José Sánchez del Río, a 15-year-old boy determined to defend the Christian faith during the brutal reprisals on the church in Mexico. In addition, the palms pay tribute to every Mexican who suffered death at the hands of the anti-Catholic regime in decades past.

Below the carpenter’s square rises a single olive branch with nine distinct leaves. Each leaf represents one of the nine children in the Garcia-Maldonado family, Bishop José María being just one of the nine.

The motto below the shield is “Jesu Cristo mi defensa y remedio” (“Jesus Christ my defense and remedy”), which is adapted from the prayer the priest prays silently before he himself receives Communion at Mass.