Registered: The
International Register
of Arms, 1st February
2024. Registration No.
0692 (Vol. 4).
Arms:
Argent, four leaves of
Silver Leaved Whitebeam
(Sorbus Aria Lutescens)
in saltire, stems
intertwined Vert, on a
chief Gules, three St.
Brigid's crosses Argent.
Motto:
Family is Everything.
Assumed:
1st
February 2024.
Arms
designed and
illustrated by Dr
Antonio Salmerón
Cabañas, SHA, FGSI,
Madrid, Spain.
The
armiger’s three recent
matrilineal ancestors, her
mother, grandmother, and
great grandmother, all
were called Bridget
(Brigid) after the early
Irish Saint Brigid who,
according to the annals
and various hagiographies,
died 1,500 years ago in
524AD.
These women, Bridget
Connolly (b. 1885),
Bridget Lewins (b. 1917)
and Bridget Robinson (b.
1936), by all accounts,
were formidable characters
– resilient, resourceful,
and independent. Each
inspiring their children,
particularly their
daughters, to follow their
example and, in many ways,
this reflects the
attributes associated with
Saint Brigid – an icon of
strength, piety,
resourcefulness and
independence. Her
Feast Day is the 1st of
February and she is one of
the patron saints of
Ireland along with Saint
Patrick (Feast Day 17th
March).
According to many
historians and some
hagiographers, the
fifth/sixth century Saint
Brigid assumed many of the
characteristics of the
earlier Celtic goddess,
Brigid, who was sometimes
depicted as a “trinity” –
goddess of water, goddess
of alchemical force of
fire and goddess of
poetry. In 2024, places
throughout Ireland are
marking the 1,500th
anniversary of the death
of St. Brigid.
So, the three Saint
Brigid’s Crosses represent
these three immediate
matrilineal ancestors of
the armiger. Saint
Brigid’s Crosses are woven
from straw or rushes and,
when blessed, are
traditionally hung in the
rafters or beams of the
house to ensure the
protection of the saint
throughout the year for
all in the household. The
symbolism here links the
matrilineal ancestors with
the home and the
protection of family,
which is, everything, as
per the Motto.
The four leaves of the
Sorbus Aria Lutescens
(Silver Leaved Whitebeam)
represent Kathleen’s
children, John, Ian,
Terrie and Zoé, and its
use here is a reference to
the family home in Dún
Laoghaire, outside which,
there is a Silver Leaved
Whitebeam tree which
produces beautiful
clusters of white flowers
in May that later produce
bunches of red berries.
So, the tree gives us the
colours for the arms,
Argent, Gules and Vert
(Silver/White, Red, and
Green).
The arms are assumed for
the armiger and her
descendants, male and
female.
