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Coat of arms

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On his appointment as Bishop of Sale, Archbishop O’Regan adopted a personal coat of arms which features a boat, an ancient image of the Church.

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The yellow boat sails on a blue background and features the Chi Rho symbol on the sail. The symbol is one of the earliest Christograms made up of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ.

When developing his arms, it was discovered that a boat featured on the original arms for the Diocese of Bathurst, and also on those for the City of Paris where he studied.

Two blue dolphins at the top of the shield come from an O’Regan coat of arms and a green shamrock denotes his Irish heritage.

When appointed Archbishop of Adelaide, he incorporated the main image in the coat of arms of the Adelaide Archdiocese – a boat sailing beneath the Southern Cross constellation, representing the missionary voyages of
St Francis Xavier, patron saint of the Cathedral.

Archbishop O’Regan’s coat of arms also includes his motto, ‘Ut Sit Deus Omnia in Omnibus’, taken from 1 Corinthians 15:28, ‘So that God may be All in All’.

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