James Peter Sartain

JAMES PETER SARTAIN

Born : June 6, 1952
Deceased :

Bishop of Little Rock, 2000-2006
Bishop of Joliet in Illinois, 2006-2010
Archbishop of Seattle, 2010-2019

Bishop of Little Rock	Bishop of Joliet
Archbishop of Seattle

Official blazon

Origin/meaning

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

The personal arms are composed primarily of the three colors (red, blue, and silver) that are used in the coat of arms of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, where he was serving as Vicar General when he was elected to receive the fullness of Christ's priesthood as a bishop, and then to lead God's people in the Diocese of Little Rock.

On the upper red portion of the design is a cross of eight parts, in alternating silver and gold. Such a cross is used here to pay devotion to several of Archbishop's Sartain's patron saints who followed the Lord along the way of the Beatitudes, St. Thomas More, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.

On the lower silver portion of Archbishop Sartain's design are the blue wavy bars that are used to signify three rivers, the Mississippi, the Tennessee and the Arkansas, that represent, the geographic region of America that have been his life, his heritage and his roots.

For his episcopal motto, Archbishop Sartain has selected the beginning of the verse from the Book of Psalms (27:8), "OF YOU MY HEART HAS SPOKEN." In this phrase, the psalmist expresses his spontaneous love for God and his trust in God's ways.

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