Swedish Heraldry - Ecclesiastical Heraldry

Ecclesiastical Heraldry

The Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan) is the national church (folkkyrka) and, until 2000, was the state church (statskyrka) of Sweden. The arms of the church have been found displayed on a 14th century heraldic flag discovered in Uppsala cathedral, and are blazoned: Or, upon a cross gules, a crown Or.s The crown has long been said to represent St. Erik, but in early 2005, the church issued a press release adopting "a new interpretation of the 600-year-old coat of arms which was found in Uppsala cathedral," calling it the victory crown of Christ (Kristi segerkrona). The Church of Sweden also has many dioceses and parishes with their own coats of arms.

According to tradition, bishops may use the arms of their diocese marshalled with their own personal arms, with a mitre in place of the helmet and a crosier displayed behind the shield, but these are removed when the bishop retires. These arms may take the form of a shield divided per pale or quartered with the arms of the diocese in the first and third quarters and the bishop's personal arms in the second and fourth quarters.t The cross staff or "primate cross" is used only by the Archbishop of Uppsala and the Bishop of Lund, crossed with the crosier behind the shield. Bishop Antje Jackelén of Lund uses the traditional oval shield of a woman's arms, and her arms were designed by the diocese's heraldist, Jan Raneke, who also designed the arms of her predecessor, Christina Odenberg, who was the first female bishop in the history of the Church of Sweden.