Rev. Fr. Adrian Fortescue, D.D.
ARMS: Azure a bend engrailed Argent, plain cotised Or.
SOURCE/NOTES & CREDITS:
Source for blazon: Dwyer Wedvick, source for arms: the tombstone of Fr. Fortescue and a bookplate he designed for his cousin, Lady Winifred Fortescue and other illustrations from “The Wisdom of Adrian Fortescue” by Michael Davies, Roman Catholic Books, Fort Collins, 1999 and BGA, 1884, reprint 1989, page 369.
Fr. Adrian Fortescue, DD, 1874-1923, was possibly the most brilliant Catholic priest in England in the first half of the 20th century. Of ancient Norman stock, he eventually settled in Letchworth, England and founded the parish there and built the Church of St. Hugh there in 1908-1909.
It is he who said a gentleman brings his sons up knowing Latin, how to fence properly and to have an understanding of heraldry. Not bad, but we should add that one should be brought up to ride capably also… So we must be a real dilettante, we can screw up our Latin with ease, can fence indifferently, write bad blazons but can ride like blazes…
In addition to Fr. Fortescue, we should remember his ancestor, the Blessed Sir Adrian Fortescue, KM, martyred by Henry VIII in 1539 in our prayers.
The artwork is a rendering by John Hamilton Gaylor.
Wedvick Armorial, 055b, Fortescue, 20080621
