The Coat of Arms used by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville.

It's a tradition that bishops have a specially designed coats of arms. These traditional designs are used for symbolic purposes on documents and in other official settings.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz recently unveiled his in advance of his installation today today as head of the Archdiocese of Louisville.

The shield in Kurtz's coat of arms, beginning at left, has a field of blue symbolizing the Bluegrass region of Kentucky.

The wavy white lines at bottom left symbolize the Falls of the Ohio; the fortress-like horizontal white line at center left symbolizes the old fort at Corn Island on the Ohio river; and the three red arrows represent arrowheads and refer to the French and Indian War, which raged in these parts.

The fleur-de-lis is an obvious symbol for Louisville, but why two of them? One represents Louisville's being named in honor of Louis XVI of France; the other represents the early French missionaries who brought the Catholic faith to the region, including pioneering Bishop Joseph Benedict