Edward Bernard Scharfenberger

EDWARD BERNARD SCHARFENBERGER

Born: May 29, 1948
Deceased:

Bishop of Albany, 2014-Present

Arms (crest) of Edward Bernard Scharfenberger

Official blazon
English	blazon wanted

Origin/meaning

As common in US episcopal heraldry, the arms show the arms of the diocese impaled with the personal arms of the bishop.

At the top of Bishop Scharfenberger’s shield are three green triangles which represent mountains. The image has been found on arms belonging to a Scharfenberger family (no relation to the bishop though). The original form was one mountain with an elk or a deer standing upon it. In addition, the Diocese of Albany connects the Catskill and Adirondack mountain ranges. From a theological perspective, mountains have always been a special place of encounter with God; in the Old Testament, Mount Sinai was where Moses received the Law, and in the New Testament, Mount Tabor was the mount of the Transfiguration where Jesus revealed his glory. The Church is the third and central mountain which unites the faith and witness of both the Old and New Covenants. The mountains are green, the color of hope, symbolizing the abundant life available through faith.

The Star of David represents the bishop’s mother who was given the name Miriam at her baptism. The family, of Jewish origin, began in Kyiv, Ukraine, and eventually moved to Dubuque, Iowa. Significantly, Kyiv and Dubuque are both built alongside a river, as are Albany and Brooklyn. These wavy pale symbolises the rivers of the bishop’s life: the Dnieper; the Mississippi; the Hudson; the Mohawk; and the East Rivers. All flow into the sea, as all life flows into the Kingdom of God.

In the base of the shield is a gold feather, a reminder of the Holy Spirit and a connection to the Native American tribes of the Albany area, especially St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks. The feather has a long symbolic history going back to ancient Egypt, where the feather of Maat was the feather of truth and righteousness which often tipped the balance between salvation and condemnation.

Bishop Scharfenberger’s motto, “Lord, make me a channel of your peace,” is taken from the prayer often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.

The achievement is completed with the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop by instruction of the Holy See, of March 1969, confirmed in March 2001.

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