This week I finished a commission for a carved Bishop’s Crest for the Diocese of Saskatoon.

This is the second Bishop’s Crest I have carved for the diocese, the first being about 8 years ago. Recently a new Bishop was installed in the diocese, so a new Bishop’s Crest was in order.

It is carved in Red Birch, which is very close-grained, with a soft rose-brown cast, and which holds great detail.

Size: 17.5” x 24” x 2”

Clear finish.

Apparently, every bishop has their own crest. A search on Google will reveal thousands of images of Bishop’s Crests from all over the world. Fascinating stuff.

The symbols include the sun and mountains of B.C., the rivers and wheat of the prairies, the sword of the Word, and the winged lion which is an ancient symbol for Mark, the evangelist. Of course, every crest contains the cross of Christ and the Kai-Rho (The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ)

The 6 tassels on each side indicate the office of the Bishop. The hat at the top is the Bishop’s Hat of olden days, used when travelling between parishes, offering protection from sun and rain.

The latin inscription reads “Peace, Service, Hope”.

Bill Judt

Saskatoon, SK, Canada