On the back page of the June 2006 edition of ‘National Jesuit News’ is the following article on a Jesuit heraldic enthusiast. See the pdf version at this link.

‘Jesuit Makes Heraldry His Hobby’

By Julie Bourbon (National Jesuit News)

Every kid’s got a hobby. For some it’s sports,

or collecting stamps. Some Jesuits, back in the

day, might have pretended to say Mass at the

coffee table, a kid brother and sister dutifully

playing congregants.

For George Cannizzaro, it started out as a

fascination with flags - the colors, the symbolism,

the emblematics. “I’ve had an interest in

flags for as long as I can remember,” said Cannizzaro,

25, a first year student in First Studies

at Loyola University Chicago.

That fascination would lead him, ultimately,

to a most unexpected honor: designing the coat

of arms for the newly installed Cardinal Albert

Vanhoye of France this past March. But first

Cannizzaro (NYK) had to get over his misapprehension

that “you had to be British and grow

up there” to study heraldry.

As a junior at Fordham University, Cannizzaro

spent a year abroad at Oxford University.

It was there that he made the transition from

flags to coats of arms, a natural progression for

one with his interests and his inclination, held

over from childhood, to mimic the colorful

designs in his own drawings. As an American,

heraldry, particularly the ecclesiastical variety,

was all new to him.

“We don’t have a lot of that in the U.S.,” said

Cannizzaro, who checked out as many heraldry

books as he could from the Oxford libraries.

There was no shortage, as it turns out, and Cannizzaro

even pursued formal coursework in the

subject. “I just sort of felt like I was in the home

of emblems.”

The interest followed him back to the States

and through his entrance into the Society, in

August of 2003. He kept up his hobby, occasionally

daydreaming about what his own coat

of arms would look like. In his studies in England,

Cannizzaro had learned that any priest

ordained in the Catholic Church has a right to

a coat of arms, “a custom long abandoned,” he

said.

It became a joke among his friends that he

would design their coats of arms upon ordination,

although Cannizzaro would not presume

to do such a thing for himself just yet. “Since

I’m relying on God’s grace to get me from here

to ordination,” he said with a laugh, “I don’t

want to jinx it.”

Still he pursued it, in his free time, and last

year, with the help of a fellow Jesuit, built a light

box, a crucial tool for his handiwork. The light

box allows Cannizzaro to draw - using rulers

and freehand - an outline of the design on one

side of the page, then flip it over to complete

the design, free of tracing lines. The light illuminates

the outline through the paper.

It was through word of mouth - a friend

from the New York Province traveled to Rome

and mentioned Cannizzaro’s design work to the

rector at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Fr. Steve

Pisano (CFN), who happened to know Vanhoye

- that Cannizzaro was tapped to design the cardinal’s

coat of arms.

The cardinal, Cannizzaro was told, “is the

humblest of men,” and his request was for simplicity.

Cannizzaro responded with a design

that incorporated the Jesuit sun and splendor

symbol and an open book, representing the

Bible and Vanhoye’s professional life in exegesis.

The design also had to include the galero,

the fanciful red hat with tassels that signifies a

cardinal. “The primary designation of rank is

color,” Cannizzaro explained, “then the number

of tassels.”

He came up with three different designs

then waited to learn if any were chosen. “There

was no guarantee that any would suffice,” Cannizzaro

said. “It was a real thrill.”

And not just for Cannizzaro. “We at the Biblical

Institute are extremely honored that Fr.

Vanhoye’s career dedicated to biblical studies

in addition to his years of service to the Holy

See has been recognized in this way,” said

Pisano, who praised Cannizzaro’s artistic

endeavor. “I must say that George … was quite

creative in the design. Fr. Vanhoye said that he

would like to have a book in order to symbolize

the Bible. It was George who came up with the

idea of having an ‘alef ’ on one page, symbolizing

the Old Testament, and an ‘omega’ on the

other, symbolizing the New Testament.”

Once Vanhoye chose a design, it was sent

to an engraver in Rome for the next step. “For

me, this is the most exciting part,” said Cannizzaro.

“The engraver blew it up, recopied it,

gave it his own flourish, light, depth.” After that

was done, the design was printed on Vanhoye’s

stationary and cards, and then was sent to a

wood carver. Ultimately, it will be nailed to the

door of the cardinal’s titular church.

Cannizzaro has never been to Rome but

says he has even more reason to make the journey

now. “It’s climbing high on my list of places

I must go. Not even want to, but must,” he said,

still reeling from the honor of having his design

chosen. But heraldry, like drawing flags,

remains a hobby for him and not something

he’d like to do full time.

“I really do see it as a service I can offer,

especially since it’s part of the Church’s living

tradition,” he said. And what a tradition it is.

“You can’t get more symbolically rich than the

Catholic Church.”