Introductions

Welcome to my first blogpost! I am Johnel Dimco, also known as GiovanniYosh12 in Wikipedia, head artist of Auxilium Christianorum Ecclesiastical Heraldic Arts and member of Escudos Eclesiasticos PH.

As I started the vectorization project of all the coats of arms of Filipino bishops and archbishops uploaded to Wikipedia in 2021, I have made many discoveries regarding the history of ecclesiastical heraldry in the Philippines. It’s very disheartening to witness that, in several heraldic circles, Filipino heraldry is being maligned due to the many bad coats of arms our bishops adopt. This usually stems from the lack of knowledge on the heraldry rules, thinking that a coat of arms is just a mere logo.

Inspired by other blogsites of heraldic researchers and artists such as Fr. Guy Selvester of EXARANDORUM and Dr. Chad Krouse of Walsingham Wanderings, I started this blog to share my research on how ecclesiastical heraldry in our country came to be, and its impact to our visual identity as the Catholic Church of the Philippines. Although I have already shared about past coats of arms in our Facebook page, I feel it can be limiting since most of the work done is in the pictures and not on the caption.

I am excited to share in the following days articles on my insights on select themes of Philippine ecclesiastical heraldry, dissecting select coats of arms of Filipino bishops and corporate arms, and introducing the people behind its design. I will be also sharing some of my commissioned work and delving deeper into the design choices we made. Take note that articles will be solely the opinion of the author, so I am not representing the opinions of all the members of the Escudos Eclesiasticos in my articles.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Help of Christians, and her blessed Spouse, Saint Joseph, intercede for us and our work!