Bruno Heim
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Appointed
| 9 November 1961
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Installed
| 10 December 1961
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Term ended
| 18 March 2003
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Predecessor
| None
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Successor
| None
(as of May 2011)
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Other post(s)
| Grand Prior
of the
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
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Ordination
| 29 June 1938
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Consecration
| 10 December 1961
by
Franz von Streng
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Born
| Bruno Bernard Heim
(
1911-03-05
)
March 5, 1911
Olten, Switzerland
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Died
| 18 March 2003
(2003-03-18)
(aged 92)
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Denomination
| Catholic Church
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Previous post(s)
| - Apostolic Delegate to the Arab Republic of Egypt (1961 - 1969)
- Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Finland (1966 - 1969)
- Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the Arab Republic of Egypt (1969 - 1973)
- Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain (1973 - 1982)
- Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Great Britain (1982 - 1985)
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Coat of arms
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Bruno Bernard Heim
(5 March 1911 ? 18 March 2003) was a Swiss
prelate
and Latin
Titular Archbishop
of
Xanthus
, a long-serving diplomat of the
Holy See
who among other appointments was Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain, and later Apostolic Pro-Nuncio, and eventually Apostolic Nuncio, serving until his retirement as a diplomat in 1985.
Heim was also one of the most prominent
armorists
of twentieth century
ecclesiastical heraldry
. He published five books on heraldry and was responsible for designing the coats of arms of four popes.
He was also Grand Prior of the
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life
[
edit
]
Bruno Bernard Heim was born in
Olten
,
Switzerland
, the son of a stationmaster, Bernard, and his wife, Elisabeth Heim-Studer. His artistic talent was evident at an early age. He was introduced to
heraldry
at the age of 16 when a college professor persuaded him to illustrate a book the professor was writing. Thus began a lifelong interest in the subject.
Education
[
edit
]
In 1934 Heim was awarded a
doctorate
in
philosophy
at the
Pontifico Collegio Internazionale
Angelicum
in
Rome
, and went on to study
theology
in Rome, at
Freiburg University
and at
Solothurn
, Switzerland.
He was
ordained
a priest in 1938 and worked as a
curate
in two Swiss parishes. In 1942 he returned to Rome to study at the
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy
, later returning to Switzerland. In 1946 he was awarded a doctorate in
canon law
from the
Gregorian University
.
Diplomacy
[
edit
]
Heim's diplomatic career began in January 1947, when he was assigned to the
Apostolic Nunciature
in
Paris
to become personal secretary to Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, the future
Pope John XXIII
. Heim stayed in Paris for four years, during which time the two of them laid the foundations for a renaissance of heraldry in the
Roman Catholic Church
.
Heim was next sent to the Vienna Nunciature in 1951. When he was made Apostolic Delegate to Scandinavia in 1961, he was also consecrated
titular archbishop
of Xanthus, a defunct
see
. When asked where Xanthus was, Heim would jokingly reply: "Most of it is now in the British Museum".
In 1966 he was appointed Pro-Nuncio to Finland, and in 1969, Pro-Nuncio to Egypt.
In 1973 he became apostolic delegate to Great Britain.
He was known as a personal friend of the
Queen Mother
, and he liked to gossip with journalists. In 1976 he persuaded the Vatican to appoint
Basil Hume
as
Archbishop of Westminster
. When
Pope John Paul II
visited Great Britain in 1982, the United Kingdom and the Vatican had established full diplomatic relations, and Heim became the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio, the Vatican's first fully-fledged ambassador to the
Court of St. James's
since the
Reformation
. When he retired as a diplomat in 1985,
The Times
referred to him as "tact personified".
Heraldry
[
edit
]
When Heim was sent to Vienna in 1951 he maintained close contact with Archbishop Roncalli, who commissioned him to design his new coat of arms as
Patriarch of Venice
. When Roncalli was elected Pope in 1958, he asked Heim to design his
personal papal coat of arms
. The new Pope asked Heim to be the head of a new heraldic secretary in the Vatican but Heim not only declined, but also advised against such an authority. It would, in his eyes, have been stifling the artistry that is a great part of the attraction of heraldry.
Although possibly considered a "maverick" by English heraldry standards, he was in time responsible for the designs of the coat of arms of four popes, from
Pope John XXIII
to
Pope John Paul II
.
In 1978, he had written in
Heraldry in the Catholic Church
that letters of the alphabet should be avoided as heraldic charges, but supported the letter
M
in John Paul II's coat of arms because
Polish heraldry
has "frequent inclusion of letters".
After he retired from diplomacy in 1985, he wrote
Or et Argent
(1994), wherein he examined the heraldic
rule of tincture
, presenting more than 300 coats of arms where the rule had been broken.
Archbishop Heim served as patron of
Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society
from 1980 until his death in 2003 at the age of 92 in Olten.
Publications
[
edit
]
- Heim, Bruno Bernard.
Wappenbrauch und Wappenrecht in der Kirche
. Walter AG, Olten 1947.
- Heim, Bruno Bernard.
Coutumes et Droit Heraldiques de l'Eglise
. Beauchesne, Paris 1949, new edition 2012 (
ISBN
978-2-7010-1995-6
).
- Heim, Bruno Bernard.
Armorial: Armorial Liber Amicorum
. Gerrards Cross, UK: Van Duren, 1981 (
ISBN
0-905715-16-0
).
- Heim, Bruno Bernard.
Heraldry in the Catholic Church: Its Origins, Customs, and Laws
, New Jersey: Humanities Press Inc, 1978 (
ISBN
0-391-00873-0
).
- Heim, Bruno Bernard.
Or and Argent
, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England, UK, Van Duren, 1994 (
ISBN
0-905715-24-1
).
Distinctions
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- References
- Works cited
External links
[
edit
]
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