Bishop Kevin Kenney’s coat of arms and episcopal motto reflect his heritage, his native place and his personal devotions. It also reflects his love of family –– he called on a niece who is an artist to render his thoughts into impactful images.
Emilie Kovacs, 42, is the daughter of Bishop Kenney’s oldest sibling, Pat, and the bishop’s goddaughter. She runs an art studio from her home in Brookings, South Dakota, where she and her husband, Peter, attend St. Thomas More.
“I felt incredibly honored because my uncle asked me,” Kovacs said. In addition to being her godfather, the bishop presided over her wedding three years ago, she said.
“And as I learned about heraldry, I realized how big this project was, and what an honor it was. And how this will (outlast) me and my uncle. … It’s amazing.”
The training in heraldry came from Father Guy Selvester, pastor of St. Mary, Star of the Sea in South Amboy, New Jersey, who has studied and worked in the field of heraldic research and design for over 30 years. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Communications assisted with final production.
But key elements of the design came from Bishop Kenney, with his niece rendering his thoughts and prayers first into pen and pencil drawings and ultimately transferring her work into Photoshop to produce the images on the coat of arms’ shield. The images include a red rose as a symbol of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Sacred Heart of Jesus crossed with thorns and purple grapes with wheat symbolizing the Eucharist and, in Bishop Kenney’s words, “the fruit of the land and work of our hands that lead to Jesus on the cross and the spirit strengthening him.”
As described in the “Blazon and Explanation of the Coat of Arms of the Most Reverend Kevin Thomas Kenney, DD,” “The main part of the shield shows blue and silver (white) wavy vertical lines in a stylized version of water as an allusion to Minnehaha Falls” in Minneapolis. The coat of arms of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis depicts similar –– but horizontal –– waves representing the lakes and rivers of Minnesota.
“The Falls symbolize for Bishop Kenney the abundance of God’s grace and blessing poured out upon us, the waters of life, baptism, and the forgiveness that flows into all of our lives from the Heart of Jesus,” the explanation states.
A gold rendering of the Tower of St. Kevin in Glendalough, Ireland, symbolizes Bishop Kenney’s Irish heritage and provides “a reminder of an apostolic outreach as the faith of many Irish immigrants brought the (G)ospel message to many parts of the world,” the explanation states. The tower, also known as the Round Tower and located in the ruins of a monastery founded in the sixth century by St. Kevin of Glendalough, is a symbol of solitude, prayer and reflection, “as Jesus often went off by himself to pray.”
A Greek cross done in a Celtic style also represents Bishop Kenney’s Irish heritage. It is depicted as a cross of peace in gold and charged at its center with a silver dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and of peace.
On a scroll beneath the shield is the bishop’s episcopal motto, “The Love of Christ Impels Us,” taken from 2 Corinthians 5:14. Bishop Kenney told The Catholic Spirit that the same verse inspired the motto of St. Anthony Mary Claret and his Claretian Missionaries. Bishop Kenney spent several years with the Claretians before entering the diocesan priesthood.
The shield is accompanied by external ornaments that indicate a bishop. These include a gold episcopal cross placed vertically behind and extending above and below the shield; and the ecclesiastical hat above the shield, called a gelaro, with six pendant tassels on each side.
