Armorial Bruno Bernard Heim

This is by any standard the most unusual armorial ever to have been published. In his Preface the Earl Marshal, His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, says: "What makes the Liber Amicorum an unusual armorial is that it extends beyond national insularity and embraces heraldry varying in origin and authority, but whatever the source, the creative and imaginative style which Archbishop Heim has developed, makes every shield and crest and device which he treats, a spectacular example of heraldic art. Here the heraldry of Europe is repre­sented side by side with British armorial bearings, and while different heraldic tastes and practices are catered for, by Archbishop Heim’s artistic skills all are brought into colorful harmony. No more fitting tribute could be paid to Archbishop Heim than the first publication of this important and unique work of art."

In his introduction, the Editor Peter Bander van Duren, presents a profusely illustrated biographical chapter on Archbishop Bruno B. Heim, the Holy See’s Authority on heraldic matters and the man to whom heraldry in the Catholic Church owes the high standards today. This is not just an armorial but a unique historic record of one of the most exciting periods in the history of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Bruno B. Heim, the Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain, has done more than any other man towards the creation of harmony and unity be­tween the Holy See and Great Britain, whose relations had been strained for over four hundred years. Historians and heraldists of the future will find this armorial an invaluable source of information because many of the armigers in this volume have a share in the joyful development of those relations between the Holy See and Great Britain.