Blazon for arms: Azure a fess between a star of eight points in chief and three hills formal in base Or
SOURCE/NOTES & CREDITS: Illustration for background, the blazon from “Heraldica Collegii Cardinalium” Vol. I, Michael Francis McCarthy, Thylacine Press, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2002, Pages 433 & 443. The text is from the Wikipedia articles on Pope Clement XI and St. Louis de Montfort with additional text from “True Devotion to Mary”, by St. Louis de Montfort, TAN Books, 2010, two pages: xi & xii.
Pope Clement XIwas born Giovanni Francesco Albani on 23 Jul 1649. He was elected pope on 23 Nov 1700. As such he was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States until his death in 1721.
Clement XI was a patron of the arts and of science. He was also a great benefactor of the Vatican Library; his interest in archaeology is credited with saving much of Rome’s antiquity. He authorized expeditions which succeeded in rediscovering various ancient Christian writings and authorized excavations of the Roman catacombs.
We have entered Pope Clement XI here due to his encouragement of St. Louis de Monfort! St. Louis encountered great opposition from French religious authorities due to his preaching and teaching, etc. He then walked 1000 miles to Rome to ask Pope Clement XI if he was doing God’s will. The Pope responded that he should continue his missionary work and named him Missionary Apostolic but to pursue his work under obedience to the diocesan authorities.
Clement XI died on 19 Mar 1721
The artwork is an interpretation of John Hamilton Gaylor
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