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The
arms were designed and
emblazoned by The Rev’d.
Fr. Guy W. Selvester,
MDiv, MA.
The
coat of arms of the
Reverend Gregory Pilcher
of the Order of Saint
Benedict, Knight of the
Equestrian Order of the
Holy Sepulchre, reflects
his family name and his
ethnic heritage.
The name “Pilcher”
means, among other
things, a person who
makes “pylches”, that
is, garments of fur. The
main part of the field
is composed of one of
the heraldic furs called
pean. This is a black
background powdered with
gold coloured ermine
spots. The black of the
fur also alludes to the
black Benedictine habit.
The chief or upper third
of the shield has a red
background on which is
two symbols of the
armiger’s ancestry. On
his mother’s side he is
French Canadian (the
gold fleur de lis) and
on his father’s side he
is Scottish (the gold
thistle).
The shield is placed on
the symbol of the
Equestrian Order of the
Holy Sepulchre, a red
Jerusalem cross, to
represent the armiger’s
membership in that
chivalric order. In
addition, his priesthood
is reflected by the
ecclesiastical hat,
called a galero, placed
above the shield. This
hat is used in
ecclesiastical heraldry
in place of the more
martial helmet, mantling
and crest. The hat is
black with two tassels
that hang one each on
either side of the
shield.
Fr. Pilcher’s motto,
“Duc in Altum” (put out
into the deep) is from
the fifth chapter of
Luke’s gospel, verse
four.
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