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Staying with St. Stephan for a moment.

This was a challenge!

Not so much the image of the crest on the north portal of the church.

That was dead easy (Nikon D80, 18-70mm lens, f4.5, 1/60s. 400 ASA, 62mm focal length. Ah, the wonders of modern technology…!)

But whose crest is it?

The lady at the Information office in Mainz pointed me (i.e. got rid of me) very quickly in the direction of St. Stephan where the initial reaction was “Hmmm..!”

But a delightful lady there did a rapid job of researching it and we now know that…

….it’s the crest of Dr. Albert Stohr, Bishop of Mainz from 1935 to 1961 and 127th in a lineage that runs back through

• the Bishops of Mainz (1803 to the present)
• the Archbishops-Electors of Mainz (1251-1803)
• the Archbishops of Mainz (745-1251)
  and
  
• the Bishops of Moguntiacum (80-745)

Given that he was instrumental in the post-war restoration of St Stephan, he gets an inadequate press. 4 pages in Wikipedia. In German.

So – here’s to you Albert!

The crest. Wheels, key and stars. (Good name for a pub, actually…)

Wheels are a recurring theme in Mainz, linking in with the legend that Bishop Willigis – a towering figure in the history of the city – was the son of a wheelwright

The key traditionally stands for guardianship and dominion.

The stars signify celestial goodness.

Dominus fortitudo – under the crest – is the motto that the bishop chose for his tenure. (It’s also the name given in the church calendar to the 6th Sunday after octave of Pentecost. If you’re interested.)

It means… hmmm…. “With the strength of the Lord”?

And – no – I don’t know the significance of the quill and the sword in the middle of the crest.

Perhaps the delightful lady at St. Stephan can help us on that one….

28 Feb This entry was published on 28 February, 2007 at 07:26. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.